Highlands and Islands Equality Forum

The Highlands & Islands Equality Forum (HIEF) is a third sector project operating in the Highlands & Islands of Scotland that works with others to enhance and protect equality and human rights. We do this through four main aims:

Promote equality and human rights
Act as a first point of contact for information and support
Connect people to share information, knowledge and experiences and identify opportunities for collaboration
Use the information, views and experiences gathered to influence policy

The types of services and support that HIEF offers in order to achieve these aims are outlined below. If you are interested in what HIEF can offer, or think we can help in another way, then please feel free to get in touch with us using the contact details at the bottom of this page.

Practical support for organisations
HIEF offers tailored training, facilitation, public speaking and consultancy, including:

Recognising and challenging discrimination and infringement of rights
Working with public agencies - using equality and human rights to evidence positive impact, strengthen funding applications and challenge decisions
Organisational development - using an equality and human rights based approach
Assessing impact - considering the effects of what we do
General awareness raising - introducing equality and human rights, raising attitudinal awareness, and your legal rights and responsibilities

Information, advice and signposting
HIEF is a first point of contact for enquiries, advice and support, helping directly where possible and signposting to others where appropriate. If you would like our help then please feel free to get in touch.

Roadshows and events
HIEF roadshows and events take us around the region, raising awareness of HIEF and SCVO services and providing opportunities for people to connect, access information and support, and discuss the important issues in their own areas. We also organise or take part in other events as and when opportunities arise. Information about a new programme of events for 2012 will be coming soon.

Forum meetings and our online network
In 2012 HIEF will be starting regular forum meetings, inviting people to come along and discuss common interests, share ideas and experiences, identify opportunities for collaboration and develop collective responses to policy issues. We also hope to support these meetings with an online forum and social networking opportunities. More news about this will be coming soon, but in the meantime if this is something you would like to get involved in then please let us know.

Strategic and policy work
HIEF feeds the information, views and exeriences it gathers from across its activities into important strategic and policy decision making, including the Highland Public Services Partnership, the EHRC and SHRC regulatory bodies, and Scottish and UK Governments. We also feed into SCVO's wider policy work to support the third sector in Scotland.

HIEF is an SCVO project part funded by the European Social Fund/Highlands & Islands Partnership Programme.