For what reason £45,000 was provided to Men in Childcare between 2017-18 and 2020-21 as part of the Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund; w…

The Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund initially ran from 2017 to 2020, and was then extended to October 2021 due to the impacts of covid-19. It was superseded by a revised funding programme: the current Equality and Human Rights Fund.The Promoting Equality and Cohesion Fund was used to fund projects that would contribute to one or more of four outcomes:Discrimination against people who share protected characteristics is reduced and multiple discrimination is addressed so that barriers to participation are reduced.People covered by hate crime legislation experience lower levels of hate crime.People and communities are supported to participate in and engage with services and civic society; their contribution is recognised, and community cohesion is increased.Current imbalances in representation in all aspects and levels of public life, including education and employment are addressed to better reflect our communitiesThe Men in Childcare project was funded to support national media advertising of college based SQA certificated training courses, that would help encourage men to consider childcare as a career. It would support the offer of SQA level 6 qualifications to encourage better parenting and an awareness of the importance of Play and Child Development. Through HNC qualification the number of men working in Early Years settings would increase, providing a more gender balanced workplace. The project would also promote the importance of fathers’ involvement with their child from birth.The specific outcomes to be achieved were:Men in Childcare will increase the number of men entering the childcare workforce, by recruiting male students to a free of charge College based SQA Certificated Training Course.Men in Childcare to advise a network of employers in the Early Years Sector on positive effect gender balance in the workforceMen in Childcare will promote awareness of the need for more Father friendly Early Years environments throughout Scotland, in keeping with the National Parenting Strategy and the principles of Getting it Rights for Every Child (GIRFEC)The Fund was managed on a day to day basis on the Scottish Government’s behalf by Impact Funding Partners initially and then Inspiring Scotland. You can find a Final Progress Update report for the Fund summarising its impacts here: Promoting-Equality-and-Cohesion-Fund-Final-Report-Jan-Sep-2021-for-SG-publication.pdf