Fairness Work
Faith in Community Dundee have facilitated 3 key strands of Fairness Work: 2 Fairness Commissions (2017-18; 2019-2021) ; Dundee Fighting for Fairness (2019 ongoing); Dundee Fairness Leadership Panel (2021 ongoing).
Fairness Commissions
What is a fairness commission?
A Fairness Commission is a unique form of community development and empowerment.
A Commission brings together people who have been through financial insecurity and inequality with very senior managers and directors from different areas of society, however, there is no hierarchy and no agenda.
These people spend 18 months together, first listening to personal experiences of financial insecurity and the impact it has, then drawing out themes from the stories they hear.
Next they do further research in the community and with local services and organisations to get a deeper understanding about how these themes impact Dundee, and finally they form recommendations that challenge the status quo of how services and organisations in Dundee work with people experiencing financial hardships.
Faith in Community Dundee was commissioned by the Dundee City Council and the Scottish Government to facilitate a Fairness Commission in 2017-2018 and then a second one in 2019-2020 (which was extended into 2021 due to the Covid-19 Pandemic).
2017 - 2018 Commission
This Commission looked into the areas of:
Mental health
Stigma
People and money
All themes were researched through the lens of financial insecurity and inequality. To read their recommendations around how to make these areas better for people, read their full report here.
2018 - 2019 Commission
This Commission looked into the areas of:
Mental health and wellbeing
Disability
Food and fuel insecurity
All themes were researched through the lens of financial insecurity and inequality. To read their recommendations around how to make these areas better for people, read their full report here.
Dundee Fighting For Fairness
Members from the previous Fairness Commissions have become an independent group who are continuing to be a voice for people experiencing financial insecurity and inequality in Dundee, holding the Dundee Partnership accountable to the Recommendations from the Fairness Commissions. For more information visit their website.
Here is a short video of Commissioners explaining the process and what it meant to them (shared during a Joseph Rowntree Foundation event in 2019).
Dundee Fairness Leadership Panel
The Fairness Leadership Panel (FLP) brings together senior Council members and officers with other partners and community leaders on poverty issues to scrutinise and report on ongoing delivery of the Dundee Fairness Action Plan. Members of Dundee Fighting for Fairness are also members of the FLP and represent the voices of lived experience. The overarching theme for 2022 is the Rising Cost of Living, the Panel will meet 6 times during the year to scrutinise the Action Plan and seek increased responses to this crisis.