Role description: CLP BAME Officer

CLP BAME Officer

As CLP BAME Officer, you’re the key representative of BAME members within the CLP, and you will work to ensure that BAME members are fully involved in the work of the local party, and you’ll take a leading role in making sure that the campaigning work of the constituency reaches out and engages with Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority voters.

You should be friendly and approachable, organised, able to run events and above all be prepared to work hard to ensure that BAME members have a real voice within the local party.

Key Responsibilities and tasks

• Making sure that BAME members are included in all of the Party’s activities and that meetings are relevant and accessible to BAME members
• Welcoming new BAME members to your CLP
• Reaching out to BAME communities through local campaigns, and working with BAME organisations in the constituency to engage ethnic minority voters, highlight issues, and get a better deal for BAME people
• Bringing BAME members together to empower each other and gain the knowledge and skills they need get involved
• Running events for BAME members, including training, policy development and social events
• Working to recruit more BAME members into the Labour Party and helping to make sure that those members make the jump from member to activist
• Listening to BAME communities’ views and ensuring that they are reflected in Labour’s policy making
• Working closely with constituency and branch officers to ensure the concerns of the BAME community are reflected and included in policy debates
• Acting as a CLP link to BAME Labour, the Party’s national affiliate representing BAME party members

Activity

This role is varied and exciting, and you can make a real difference to your local party through this position. You can choose how to focus your role and what to make your priority depending on what sort of activities that local members want to see.

At the heart of all your activity should be the aims of building an inclusive party for BAME members and building campaigns with BAME communities in mind – playing a leading role in making sure that your local party campaigns to win BAME votes.

Organising local policy forums or events are great ways to ensure BAME members have the opportunity to get involved and have their voices heard – you could even open this up to the wider BAME community. You should also make sure party meetings are accessible and relevant to BAME members.

The other part of your role involves looking outside of the party to your local community, and exploring how your CLP can engage with BAME voters.

You could set up a campaign team to recruit local BAME people who have expressed support for the party, or a team to canvass areas with a high percentage of BAME voters, run street stalls, or target campaigns at particular groups. Bring Labour Party and BAME Labour membership forms along with you to sign up supporters.

It’s a good idea to make contact with local branches of BAME voluntary organisations, set up consultation meetings, exchange speakers and run a joint campaign in the local community. Think about keeping campaigns relevant to BAME communities in the local area and identify key stakeholders in that can get involved, such as local BAME charities and voluntary organisations.

Meetings

As BAME Officer, it is your role to ensure BAME members are able to get fully involved and that their views and concerns are reflected and listened to. Local meetings are a fantastic opportunity to increase participation by BAME members in the CLP. At each CLP meeting, you should:

• Actively encourage BAME members to get involved in meetings and contribute to discussions
• Report back on your activity, campaigns and community work and highlight any forthcoming events or campaigning
• Introduce yourself to any BAME members attending a meeting for the first time

Contacting BAME members

As part of your role, you will be in regular contact with BAME members, and should be aware when a new member joins so you can get in touch to introduce yourself and welcome them to the CLP. Your CLP Secretary will be able to provide you with a list of BAME members in your CLP, and you should ask them to let you know when a new BAME member joins your CLP. You can encourage your CLP to issue an equalities monitoring form to allow people to self-define as BAME and ensure the CLP holds an accurate list of BAME members.

Useful links and contacts

BAME Labour are the national affiliate group to the Labour Party that exists to represent and support the interests of black and ethnic minority Labour Party members and supporters. You can visit their website and contact them using the details below. If you have any questions about the role of BAME Officer you can also get in touch with the Party’s Stakeholders Team.

There are many other contacts and resources to assist you in your role. Keep up to date with our latest campaigns, find out more about Campaign Technology team, find resources for role holders and check our online training offer at www.labour.org.uk/resources. You can also purchase and download membership recruitment and campaign materials from the Campaign Shop.

For useful guides and resources on membership engagement and how to use Organise to full effect, visit help.labour.org.uk, and if you need support or advice, you can contact your national or regional office.

Training resources are available at achieve.labour.org.uk.