With successfully secured funding from the BIG Lottery Fund and additional support from the Commission for the Compact, BTEG embarked upon a three-year project on 31 July 2009. In partnership with Voice 4 Change England (V4CE) and MENTER, BTEG leads on the policy aspects of the project 'Strengthening the Voice of the Black and Minority Ethnic Third Sector', which aims to assist organisations working in the voluntary and comnunity sector including charities and social enterprises, whose work is largely focused on meeting the needs of BAME communities.

Building on BTEG's strong track record on providing policy advice and advocacy for the BAME voluntary and community sector, the project aims to increase access to, and effectiveness in policy making processes. Project activities include producing policy briefings and online updates as well as creating a BAME Policy Forum, which will ensure that policy leads can meet and learn about new policy developments and discuss coordinated policy responses. The Forum will also provide the opportunity for formal meetings, seminars with subject experts and joint ventures with mainstream organisations.

Other project activities include:

• Improving collaboration, communication and peer support between BAME infrastructure organisations and specialist support agencies, ensuring better support for BAME voluntary sector organisations and social enterprises;
• Improving the understanding, awareness and use of Compact scheme;
• Strengthening relations between BAME-led infrastructure organisations and mainstream infrastructure organisations, leading to better support for BAME groups and social enterprises.

As part of the project, BTEG and V4CE invited BAME support organisations and social enterprises to participate in one of the biggest national surveys of the BAME third sector during the first half of 2010.

The data from the survey informs a definitive suite of resources and directories which will help BAME support organisations to better engage in policy, collaborate for funding and delivery, work with local government and interact with mainstream organisations.

On the basis of the survey findings the project team will create a comprehensive directory of organisations for each region, set up a BAME voluntary and community sector online portal which will signpost to key resources tailored to identified needs, and establish the BME Policy Forum.