• Increase awareness of equalities (from grassroots experience to legal reform) within a mainstreaming context;
  
  
• Encourage and support organisations to embed equalities considerations across all aspects of organisational policy and practice;
  
  
• Develop and test innovative ways of awareness raising, education; policy development and implementation;
  
  
• Create effective partnership working and promote practice exchange across the voluntary sector and between different sectors. 

Specifically, the programme offers: 

• The Organisational Development Programme which addresses key organisational development themes from an equalities perspective, for example, effecting culture change; leadership and management; and recruiting for diversity. There are 27 voluntary organisations, from National Children’s Homes and SAMH to Say Women and the Taleem Trust, committed to the modular programme which runs for two years from September 2002. 
  
  
• The Equality Forum series which is a programme of topic-based seminars targeted at voluntary, public and private organisations interested in debating in more depth key equalities issues of the day. Topics so far have range from, religious discrimination to the relationship between social justice and equalities.
  
  
• The Equality Briefing series which highlights the key issues addressed at each of the topic-based Equality Forum events and which signposts readers to useful sources of information and support.
  
  
• A conference series which involves large scale events, targeted at the voluntary sector and beyond with high profile speakers and stimulating debate. Events so far have included the ‘Building Bridges’ conference which brought together all the key equalities institutions and campaigning organisations; ‘An Audience with Jane Elliot’; and the series of ‘Images of Ourselves’ events across Scotland. 
  
  
• Learning tools which complement the other aspects of the equalities programme and the work already being undertaken by other voluntary organisations and networks. This includes the ‘Images of Ourselves’ interactive CD rom. The Development Department also has a resource base of equalities publications and materials.