The TRUE Colours project was formed in 2012 by young people who experienced racial bullying in school. Its focus is to implement a peer education programme tackling issues of bullying, prejudice and discrimination, and promoting equality and good relations among students in the Edinburgh area.
Charity information: Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council
For young people - with whom the TRUE Colours project engages - experiences of bullying and discrimination due to identities such as race, gender, sexuality, and disability can be particularly traumatising and isolating. Young people are not only more vulnerable, they are also our future. Building a future that is fair, with citizens who are engaged rather than isolated, empowered rather than disenfranchised, starts with projects like TRUE Colours.
The project’s aim is to focus on empowerment of young people and to provide them with the tools and resources to tackle challenging behaviours, question attitudes and be more acceptable towards marginalised groups. It has been sown that peer education based approaches tend to reframe negative perceptions, provide ongoing personal development opportunities and are means of transferring knowledge. Our project will have a long lasting positive effect on individuals, their schools and communities.
Improve knowledge & awareness of 25 young people on equality, human rights, and discrimination.
Activities» Educate 25 volunteers on the basics of human rights & equality; improving their skills in teamwork, research, presentation and social media.
» Deliver 2-3 workshops for the volunteers on employability, up-skilling training, community engagement and youth work training.
» Volunteers to design workshops on topics related to equality and prejudice-based bullying, and gain knowledge and skills of workshop facilitation.
» Volunteers promote the project’s social media presence and improve their social media skills.
What success will look like
Success will be measured through gathering feedback from the individuals involved about their awareness of these issues before and after the project.
Enhance confidence among young people by increasing their knowledge in relation to equality.
Activities» Deliver 25-35 awareness raising workshops on various equality topics in schools, youth and community centres.
What success will look like
We will measure our success by the number of individuals participating in our project and by their qualitative feedback at the end of the sessions about their experiences.
Promote anti-bullying culture in schools through film-making.
Activities» Develop a filmmaking programme for students. The sessions aim to stimulate discussions and, whenever possibile, propose solutions to bullying.
» Students will create their own anti-bullying videos. The main purpose is to encourage them to use art in video creation to promote the cause.
» Organise and deliver a peer education event and launch of the anti-bullying videos.
What success will look like
Success will be measured through the number of students involved, their understanding of anti-bullying culture and feedback from students and teachers.
One of the best ways to tackle hate-based bullying and prevent future discrimination in schools is to focus on education and awareness-raising activities with young people. The project’s aim is to focus on empowerment of young people and to provide them with the tools to tackle challenging behaviours, question attitudes and be more acceptable towards marginalised groups. By engaging with schools, organisations and services in Edinburgh, we will be able to increase the project’s impact.
There is a risk that students, teachers or schools may not be interested in participating. To combat this, we have taken suggestions from students and teachers regarding new topics, and have started to work on new topics for the workshops, such as Islamophobia, racial discrimination and prejudice, immigration and refugee crisis, LGBT issues in general, labelling, and gender and sexism in order to increase interest and participation.
We will track the effectiveness of the overall project through constant monitoring and evaluation of set goals and timelines. Donors will receive quarterly updates through our newsletter and we will create yearly reports concerning our finances and activities for interested parties.
TRUE Colours is based with the Edinburgh and Lothians Regional Equality Council, which means that it is equipped and resourced to approach issues of discrimination from an intersectional standpoint. ELREC is a non-partisan and non-sectarian organisation with a remit to work across the areas of City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian and West Lothian Councils. Our main focus is to promote equality of opportunity, equal access to services, and the promotion of equality within society.
The project coordinator has been in post for over three years and has considerable experience in leading the project as well as community engagement.
Project Lead Officer
The Project Lead Officer will support the Project Coordinator and will provide their expertise, supervision and advice throughout the project.
The Administrator/Finance Officer will will be integral to the project through providing support on admin, finance and budget matters.
We do not specify any particular volunteer but all will be important to the success of the project through their enthusiasm, empathy and dedication.