A New Start for EMEN – Get Involved!

The Ethnic Minority Environmental Network (EMEN) is a project that was begun by CEMVO some years ago, and while it has proved an invaluable resource there’s no doubt that it has become dormant over the past year or so. For the past few months, we have been working behind the scenes to revitalise EMEN, and we hope that with your help we can make this a vibrant, practical tool to amplify ethnic minority voices within the environmental movement in Scotland. The first step is our brand new website, which we hope you like! Following shortly will be our new fortnightly news bulletin, supported across various social media channels. And still to come we have a range of other new initiatives such as a podcast series, and more in-depth policy work.

So what is EMEN? We hope it fulfils a number of roles:

• Allowing ethnic minority voices to be heard in the mainstream environmental movement. This doesn’t just mean a token seat at the table – we will push for genuine engagement to allow the voices of marginalised communities to be heard.
• An opportunity to network. We’ll run regular engagement events, and our fortnightly news bulletin will allow us to disseminate information quickly and effectively to partners.
• Access to funding. We will select relevant funding opportunities to showcase to our network members, allowing them to build capacity and widen their reach.
• Engagement with the mainstream environmental movement. We want to build bridges between ethnic minority organisations doing work on the ground, and mainstream organisations who can learn from their expertise as well as contributing in terms of resource and reach.
• We want EMEN to be a powerful, provocative voice, undertaking its own research and policy work to challenge the mainstream narrative and ensure that the voices of our communities aren’t just being heard – they are being listened to.

To do all of this we need your help. Spread the word about EMEN, and encourage colleagues to sign up to the network. The opportunity is there to build a powerful platform which can make a real difference to the mainstream environmental movement in Scotland. Join us!

Author: admin