The Equality Pathfinders is a capacity building programme created and delivered by Fife Centre for Equalities.

At the core, it is a local equality recognition scheme designed to be non-competitive, inclusive and readily achievable by organisations of any size or sector in Fife. The award is free, voluntary and non-competitive.

Organisations signing up to the programme choose to lead the way in making Fife a fair, equal and inclusive place to live, work and study. The learning and development programme is based on FCE’s approach of mainstreaming equality and integrated services for all the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010.

This provides participating organisations with the foundation to develop their own fair and inclusive practices based on equality and human rights principles. Each level of the award is structured so as to build on the achievement of the previous level and requires participants to demonstrate a more significant and sustainable contribution to promoting Equality and Diversity.

To achieve the award, Kingdom Group has supported staff from across the group (Kingdom Housing Association, Kingdom Initiatives, Kingdom Support & Care) through equality and diversity training.

Kingdom Group is undertaking an assessment of their equality and diversity policies and has pledged to:

• Actively promote Equality and Diversity
• Actively challenge discrimination
• Adopt inclusive practices and help make Fife fairer
• Adopt the Living Wage, Flexible Work and Equal Pay.

Bill Banks, Kingdom Group chief executive, said: “We’re delighted to receive the Equality Pathfinders Award from Fife Centre for Equalities. As an organisation, one of our strategic goals is to be an Employer of Choice and being recognised formally like this demonstrates our commitment to challenging discrimination, promoting equality and diversity and cultivating an environment where our people feel safe, secure and valued.”

He added: “The Bronze Award is just the start for us. The Kingdom Group will be working towards the Silver Award and I’d wholeheartedly recommend other organisations in Fife, whatever their size, join us in pledging their support as Equality Pathfinders.”

Nina Munday, Fife Centre for Equalities manager, said: “We are delighted that the entire workforce of Kingdom Group has undergone the first level of the Pathfinder training programme. We commend the commitment from their leadership to ensure that their services are delivered in a fair and inclusive manner, guided by equality and human rights principles.”

She added: “We are really appreciative of the time given by Andrew Smith, learning and development officer at Kingdom Group and Elric Honoré, development officer at Fife Centre for Equalities in coordinating this programme.”

The Kingdom Group is the latest participating organisation in Fife gaining the Bronze Award and several other organisations are currently taking part in the local recognition scheme.