{"alias":"blogEntry","byline":"Keyur (Kiwi) Patel \u2013 National Volunteer Inclusion Manager \u0026 Creator of Community of Practice","standfirst":"We hear from volunteer Keyur (Kiwi) Patel about our Community of Practice, and why you should get involved.","content":{"layouts":[{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"value":"https://player.vimeo.com/video/725185856?h=8dc1b3fa10\u0026amp;app_id=122963","gridType":"embed","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass"},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u00A0\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOn 30 March 2021, a group of Scouts joined together for the first Community of Practice meeting. Outside the group, there was some trepidation and resistance from those who wondered why we needed a group like this.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESo far, the Community of Practice has been doing brilliant work to represent more communities in various projects. We\u2019re looking for more people to join, so we can keep making a positive impact and giving voices to underrepresented areas.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI hope this blog answers your questions about the Community of Practice, and I\u2019m always happy to have a conversation about any other queries you have.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Ch3\u003EChampioning underrepresented communities\u003C/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs Simon Sinek says, it\u2019s important to start with \u2018why.\u2019 Initially, for me, setting up the group was about making sure interview and search panels became more representative of underrepresented communities.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHowever, myself and others later realised there was a greater opportunity for the Community of Practice to increase representation across other projects.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe group is made up of volunteers all across Scouts, with different backgrounds, experiences, ethnicities, and volunteer roles. As part of this community, we work together to increase diversity in lots of projects in Scouts. At the moment, we have 19 members, but we\u2019re looking for more to join us.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Ch3\u003EWhat we\u0027ve been up to\u003C/h3\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ESince the group started, we\u2019ve been involved in several interview panels. This includes the recent recruitment of the \u003Ca href=\u0022/about-us/our-people/uk-leadership-team/\u0022 title=\u0022UK Leadership Team\u0022\u003EUK Leadership Team\u003C/a\u003E, and the Team England recruitment.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAlongside these recruitment projects, the Community of Practice has been involved in other projects from Headquarters, such as the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteer/volunteering-with-scouts/\u0022\u003E#GoodForYou\u003C/a\u003E volunteer recruitment campaign, the \u003Ca href=\u0022https://www.scouts.org.uk/about-us/strategy/our-programmes-of-work/race-equity/\u0022\u003ERace Equity\u003C/a\u003E consultation, and much more.\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Ch4\u003ELet\u2019s hear from members of the Community of Practice\u003C/h4\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ENirav Patel, Deputy County Commissioner, Kent Scouts\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I joined the Community of Practice because I wanted to be involved in making Scouts more diverse.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027When I joined, I was pleased to be joined by other people from underrepresented ethnic communities who\u2019d like to do the same.\u2019\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/17816/nirav-patel.jpg","width":3264,"height":3264,"altText":"A Scouts volunteer wearing a necker outside and smiling","caption":"Nirav Patel, Deputy County Commissioner, Kent Scouts","link":null},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBijal Bhagwan, District Commissioner, Leicester North East\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018As a Scout, I\u2019ve gained so much, both in my youth and my adult career. Scouts is always about giving back, and joining the Community of Practice was a big part of this.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027In my District, we\u2019re still not representative of our community. I don\u0027t want to be the exception, either \u2013 I want to learn how to encourage local families to get involved.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027When my District Commissioner stepped down, I didn\u0027t want to go for the role, but members of the Community of Practice were very encouraging and made me rethink my decision. They were a big part of the reason I went for the role, and I\u2019m hoping to do more to help young people benefit from Scouts.\u2019\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/17817/bijal-bhagawan.jpg","width":1520,"height":1782,"altText":"A Scouts volunteer in uniform smiling in front of a blue background","caption":"Bijal Bhagwan, District Commissioner, Leicester North East District","link":null},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EPupsi Phull, Group Scout Leader, 1\u003Csup\u003Est\u003C/sup\u003E\u00A0Burnham \u0026amp; Hitcham\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u2018I joined the Community of Practice for two main reasons. Firstly, as a member of minority ethnicity within Scouts, it\u2019s been great connecting with others from minority groups. Secondly, to use our shared experiences to help Scouts become more representative of modern society.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Joining the CoP has allowed us to understand some of the national programmes being developed, as well as hear from guest speakers, such as \u003Ca href=\u0022/about-us/our-people/uk-chief-commissioner/\u0022 title=\u0022UK Chief Commissioner\u0022\u003ECarl Hankinson\u003C/a\u003E. This level of information sharing doesn\u2019t exist locally.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Through the COP, I could take part in an interview for a County Commissioner, which gave a greater awareness of the differences in Scouts across the country.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0027Finally, I believe the COP provides a platform for minorities to feel part of the larger Scouts movement. Thanks Keyur for setting this up.\u2019\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""},{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/17818/pupsi-phull.jpg","width":791,"height":791,"altText":"A Scouts volunteer in uniform smiling in front of a purple fence","caption":"Pupsi Phull, Group Scout Leader, 1st Burnham \u0026 Hitcham Scouts","link":null},{"type":"Promo","cta":"Get in touch with the Community of Practice","body":"\u003Cp\u003ENo matter your role in Scouts, we\u2019d love to join our Community of Practice and help us make positive changes across different projects in Scouts.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe usually get together as a group every couple of months. We do this via Teams, since members are all across the UK.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAs well as supporting projects, we want to be part of the race equity changes, and engage more communities. We\u2019re currently working on ways we can help, so our next few meetings will be about how we can get involved. If you feel you could contribute, now is a great time to join.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThere\u2019s absolutely no pressure to be involved in projects. Even if you want to come along just to engage with Scout members from underrepresented communities, that\u2019s perfectly fine. I know we\u0027re all so busy with our current commitments in Scouts!\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIf you\u2019d like to become a member of the Community of Practice, or have any questions about the group, please \u003Ca rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 href=\u0022mailto:Keyur.Patel@scouts.org.uk\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 title=\u0022Keyur Patel email address\u0022\u003Esend me (Keyur Patel) an email\u003C/a\u003E \u2013 I\u2019d love to hear from you.\u003C/p\u003E","link":{"name":"Keyur Patel email address","id":null,"url":"mailto:Keyur.Patel@scouts.org.uk","newWindow":false,"target":"_blank"},"colour":"#f1f1f1","title":"Get involved","image":null,"imageFocus":"","imageId":0,"imageKey":"00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000","imageCrop":"","gridType":"card","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"searchDescription":null,"pageType":null,"location":null,"versionDate":"28 June 2022","reviewDate":null,"furtherReading":[{"caption":"","title":"Race Equity","url":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/about-us/strategy/our-programmes-of-work/race-equity/","newWindow":false},{"caption":"","title":"#GoodForYou","url":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/volunteer/volunteering-with-scouts/","newWindow":false},{"caption":"","title":"Get in touch with Kiwi","url":"mailto:Keyur.Patel@scouts.org.uk","newWindow":true}],"relatedLinks":[],"id":50400,"nodeName":"Join our Community of Practice","title":"Come and join our Community of Practice","type":"blogEntry","image":{"url":"/media/17814/cop.jpg?rxy=0.5033333333333333,0.5033783783783784\u0026width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1d9becd1e6244b0","caption":"Cop","type":"jpg","size":1353845,"width":3581,"height":1767,"altText":"A collage of smiling Scouts volunteers from different backgrounds who are in the Community of Practice "},"assets":null,"headerOptions":{"headerTitle":"Come and join our Community of Practice","headerSubTitle":null,"headerCta":null,"headerCtaText":null,"headerCtaLink":null,"headerBackgroundColour":null,"showSEOImage":false,"headerBackgroundImage":null,"quickLinks":null},"subHeader":"Get involved with our Community of Practice to help Scouts represent more communities.","browserTitle":null,"silktide":"eyJjbXMiOiJVbWJyYWNvIiwiZWRpdG9yVXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9wcm9kLWNtcy5zY291dHMub3JnLnVrLy91bWJyYWNvIy9jb250ZW50L2NvbnRlbnQvZWRpdC81MDQwMCJ9","canonicalUrl":"https://www.scouts.org.uk/news/2022/june/join-our-community-of-practice/"}