Sponsors
Speakers’ Corner Trust is grateful to the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and the Ministry of Justice which have provided funding to enable SCT to undertake its projects and develop its services, including this website, in the UK.
SCT is also grateful to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office for its support of its Nigerian project and to the Paul Hamlyn Foundation which is funding the educational project which it is undertaking with the University of Leeds.
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The Paul Hamlyn Foundation is one of the larger independent grant-making foundations in the UK.
We make grants to organisations which aim to maximise opportunities for individuals to experience a full quality of life, both now and in the future. In particular we are concerned with children and young people, and others who are disadvantaged. They charity was established in 1987 by the publisher and philanthropist Paul Hamlyn whose values were summarised in the motto he chose when given a peerage in 2000 – ‘There must be a better way’, words which we have adapted in our strapline to describe what we want to achieve – ‘Towards a better way’. That way is towards being a society that is fair, allows people to realise their potential, fights prejudice, encourages and assists participation in and enjoyment of the arts and learning, and understands the importance of the quality of life for all communities. The Education and Learning Programme, through which SCT is being funded, has a strong focus on supporting innovation and aims to achieve significant impact across a range of education themes or issues and foster the development and sharing of new practice, experiences and learning between and within schools, local authorities and voluntary organisations. For further information on the Foundation and its programmes, please visit http://www.phf.org.uk. |
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Esmée Fairbairn Foundation is one of the largest independent grant-making foundations in the UK. We have an endowment of approximately £950 million and spend in the region of £30 million each year mainly in the arts and heritage, education, environment, and social development sectors. We make grants to organisations which aim to improve the quality of life for people and communities in the UK, both now and in the future.We define quality of life not simply in terms of economic well-being, although clearly that is important, but also that we are enriched by our environment, both natural and human, by our culture, heritage, and education, and by our sense of belonging and community. We are also concerned that everyone should have the opportunity to flourish as part of a healthy and dynamic society. The education programme at the Foundation is interested in encouraging young people to air their views on political, social and economic issues. We feel that the Speakers Corner project will help to rekindle interest in live debate and will encourage people of all ages to vote and to get more engaged in local and national decision-making.
For further information on the Foundation and its programmes, please visit www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk. |
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The Ministry of Justice Democratic Engagement Branch has actively sought to improve the government-citizen relationship by encouraging open and transparent dialogue and deliberation during the policy development process.The government’s Governance of Britain Green Paper reinforces this agenda as it emphasises the importance of engaging the public and providing genuine opportunities to influence decision-making. The Speakers’ Corner Trust initiative is an integral part of assisting government achieve it’s public engagement agenda, as it provides a practical model for government institutions to engage, listen and respond accordingly to civic issues/concerns. For further information about the Democratic Engagement Branch, please visit www.justice.gov.uk/whatwedo/ democraticengagement.htm. |
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The Foreign & Commonwealth Office seeks to promote human rights and democracy across the range of its international work. It does so both as a reflection of Britain’s values and international obligations and through a recognition that countries which are democratic, respect the rights of their citizens and observe the rule of law at home and abroad, are also safer places in which to live and work, trade with or visit.The FCO, through the British High Commission in Abuja, is supporting Speakers’ Corner Trust’s work in Nigeria as it promotes key elements of the its Human Rights & Democracy programme. The Programme is founded on the principle that democracy, and its commitment to freedom of expression and association, is the only system of government in which individuals have the opportunity fully to realise their human rights and which respects a plurality of opinion, provides a framework for non-violent change and manages conflict peacefully, based on equal opportunity to participate in the political process.For further information about the FCO’s Human Rights & Democracy programme, please visit http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/about-us/what-we-do/spend-our-budget/funding-programmes1/strat-progr-fund/human-rights. |
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Regional Action West Midlands (RAWM) supports the voluntary and community sector at regional level. RAWM was established in 2000 as a result of Government policy to move decision-making powers and resources from Central Government departments to the newly created English regions. RAWM supports the voluntary and community sector in the following ways: 1) Promoting a sector perspective on regional strategies by reflecting the sector’s voice at key meetings 2) Maximising the sector’s contribution to regional strategies by supporting organisations to engage with and influence regional work; 3) Sharing important regional information with voluntary and community organisations and feeding information about the sector back into regional structures; 4) Influencing the development of government programmes and unlocking resources for the sector.For more information please visit www.rawm.org.uk |
