Advancing anti-racism: civic society’s role

In this short blog, Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo, Director of The Open University's Centre for Voluntary Sector Leadership, discusses his experience on a panel on anti-racism in the voluntary sector and encourages the sector to play its role in fighting against racism.

Due to its close relations with communities around the country, the voluntary sector is expected to be close to all the communities, including the minority ethnic community. It is natural, therefore, to expect the voluntary sector to be anti-racist. 

Moreover, the voluntary sector does not exist in a vacuum. It is part of the wider society, and the debate on its role in fighting against racism is timely and should be ongoing. 

One lens to explore the issue is the statistics on who works in the voluntary sector. According to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, the percentage of Minority Ethnic (Global Majority) employees in the voluntary sector in the UK in December 2022 was 9%, compared to 15% in the private sector and 14% in the public sector. 

Statistically, good representation would be around 18%. Looking at its employment record alone suggests that the picture is not as rosy as one would expect. 

The Open University (OU) hosted a keynote workshop on 'Civic society’s role in advancing anti-racism' at Scotland’s largest conference for the voluntary sector, The Gathering 2025. 

As a member of the workshop panel, I was joined by author and trade unionist layla-roxanne hill, and equality campaigner and researcher Talat Yaqoob. The panel chair was the Chief Executive Officer of the Scottish Refugee Council, Sabir Zazai. 

The lightening speeches by the panel members covered the prevalence of racism in Scotland, the role of civil society in fighting racism and discrimination, addressing the challenges associated with populism and extreme ideologies on issues about racism, and the capacity and capabilities of the voluntary sector in fighting racism. 

The questions from the audience covered a broad spectrum of issues, including institutional racism, decolonising the curriculum, diversity in the voluntary sector, tokenism and having difficult conversations on race.  
 

The response from hundreds of people in the audience was very positive, and a few participants went on to list their feedback on their social media accounts. Highlights include:

• The need to move away from training and awareness-raising and developing actual anti-racist plans, setting milestones and monitoring the implementation.
• Taking into consideration the specific needs of communities while at the same time keeping in mind the intersectional approach.
• Combating racism is our shared responsibility and should not be delegated to the victims and a few of their allies.
• We need to do more in the face of fascism.
• We need to do more about who gets to lead, have influence, and gain access to resources within the sector to ensure that the most impactful organisations, including those at the grassroots level, are supported in fighting against racism.

After the workshop, I met delegates at our exhibition stall and was overwhelmed by the positive response and the need for more discussions on such an important debate. Some participants wondered whether organisers in the future should afford such a workshop a longer session time.

Pictured: Talat Yaqoob, layla-roxanne hill, Sabir Zazai and Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo.