Community cohesion principles for practitioners

Community (or Social) cohesion matters for Wales because it is the foundation for how we can all live well together in safe, inclusive societies, where individuals can thrive and collective progress is possible. Building cohesive communities requires both individual and collective responsibility to be taken, for the benefit of us all.

The Welsh Government has a working definition of cohesion:

Cohesion is the extent to which people in a community treat each other with respect, get along and participate to ensure everyone can access their human rights and fulfil their potential. 

Cohesive communities enable people to feel safe and have resilience to division and false narratives, as well as having a sense of belonging to their community. 

Cohesive communities require strong social connections between and within communities, a focus on shared identity and values, and inclusive attempts to ensure everyone feels heard and valued.

A lack of cohesion is characterised by polarised communities where disengagement, segregation, isolation, dehumanisation and victimisation are commonplace or considered acceptable.

The Principles developed below are interdependent and all should be considered for effective cohesion work. They are intended to help guide those implementing cohesion work in the public, private or third sectors in Wales.

1. Foster good relations between and within communities

• Fostering good relations is central to community cohesion. It means creating spaces where people from different backgrounds or with different viewpoints interact positively, build mutual respect, and develop shared values. The Public Sector Equality Duty explicitly requires public bodies to foster good relations between people who share protected characteristics and those who do not.
• Actively facilitate meaningful interactions through inclusive communication and proactive engagement. Break down barriers and challenge stereotypes though initiatives like interfaith events, community meals, and cultural exchanges. 
• Create space for civil dialogue, with shared values and identities as the basis of identifying common purpose. Acknowledge differences and intersectionality but do not let these prevent identification of what community members hold in common. Create ‘brave spaces’ which enable freedom of expression and space for disagreement, in a civil and respectful manner. Complete consensus is not the main goal.
• Strengthen community bonds by promoting shared respect and values captured by events like Eisteddfodau and St. David’s Day, national sporting occasions, and inter-cultural events. 
• Encourage people to look beyond differences to pursue common goals and purpose. This supports integration, resilience, and participation. Mark examples of shared sacrifice, such as Remembrance Day, and examples of dehumanisation, such as Holocaust Memorial Day, to foster empathy and mutual respect.
• Building common purpose requires identification of shared challenges and working together to address them. Address systemic issues like loneliness, inequality, and exclusion by promoting trust and meaningful participation. Cohesion initiatives should empower communities to be more resilient, inclusive, and better equipped to face challenges together.

2. Champion equitable treatment and opportunities for All

• Equity is a cornerstone of community cohesion. When individuals feel they are treated fairly and have equal access to opportunities, they are more likely to participate in community life and contribute to collective well-being. It is critical that everyone feels valued and have opportunities to be heard.
• Take proactive steps to identify and dismantle physical, economic, linguistic, cultural, institutional or psychological barriers to participation. Use accessible engagement methods to ‘meet people where they are’, such as providing translation services and out-of-hours consultation, as well as tailoring approaches to include marginalised groups, including disabled people, ethnic minorities, and the digitally excluded. 
• A mainstreamed equity-based approach ensures that all contributions should be respected and valued. This should promote mutual respect, dialogue and inclusion. This approach not only strengthens cohesion but also enhances trust in, and support for the legitimacy of, public services. 

3. Prevent harmful outcomes within communities

1. Make preventing harmful outcomes such as hate crime, extremism, and discrimination, integral to cohesion actions. Strengthen community resistance against divisive narratives, misinformation and extremism.
2. Take action to identify, monitor and mitigate community tensions and false narratives. Enable community members to express differences of opinions in a civil manner, minimising disagreements which lead to public disorder, victimisation or people feeling unsafe. 
3. Prevent information vacuums. This will help minimise the success of false or hateful messages. Support the availability of timely and accurate information from trusted sources to enable community members to separate fact from fiction and reject false and harmful narratives or claims.
4. Build strong partnerships across agencies and engage communities with clear communication to provide reassurance, reduce harm and challenge hateful and false narratives. Promote a culture of reporting and support for victims and bystanders to counter hate and prejudice.
5. Tackle root-cause drivers of tensions such as socio-economic disadvantage and exclusion. By tackling these issues, community cohesion work can contribute to safer, healthier, and more inclusive communities.

4. Collaborate for cohesive communities

• Adopt a Whole-of-Society approach to cohesion by prioritising collaboration across public, third and private sectors. Align efforts, share resources and best practice, and maximise positive impact through coordinated action. Successful collaborations rely upon all partners recognising that each as a different part to play in providing a complete solution. Public sector partners should ensure there is parity of esteem for third sector partners, and private sector partners where appropriate.
• Build strong local networks which focus upon the assets (physical spaces, associations and residents) which exist within communities. Effective collaboration requires shared goals, open communication, and mutual respect. Co-produce solutions with those living in communities, valuing their lived experience and expertise, as partners in decision-making.
• Recognise that community cohesion affects, and is affected by, the availability and condition of housing, education, health, employment and other important services. Support those responsible for these wider services to understand the impact of policy decisions on communities and seek the participation of people from diverse backgrounds in policy-making and decision-making. Policies and strategies must all consider the complex factors that influence cohesion. 

5. Make sustainable long-term interventions for positive outcomes

• Treat community cohesion as a continuous active process requiring sustained investment in relationships, services, and facilities. Long-term strategies strengthen social connections and resilience to polarisation. 
• Some of the root-causes of division and exclusion will require long-term initiatives to resolve them, such as poverty, discrimination, the social isolation of particular groups, and climate and environmental change impacts. Recognise that even long-term challenges need to identify short-term progress goals to ensure all communities can see the challenges they experience have been considered.  
• Integrate proposals by utilising existing associations, initiatives or community forums, where possible. This will support long-term sustainability. Build upon (or ‘piggyback’ on) the strengths already present and valued by the community.
• Measuring impact and continuous improvement is essential to long-term success. Use robust measurement and evaluation methods, such as the National Well-being of Wales Indicators, to track progress and inform future action. By committing to long-term solutions, public bodies and communities can create lasting change and build a Wales of cohesive communities.

6. Put directly affected communities at the heart of the process

• Ensure those directly affected by decisions are meaningfully involved from the outset. Use asset mapping, consultation, and engagement with local associations and representatives to ensure policies reflect lived realities and trust is built.
• Participation must be inclusive and accessible. Tailor engagement to include groups often excluded - such as young people, older people, and ethnic minorities. Create ‘safe spaces’ which can help to amplify marginalised voices and foster perceptions of safety and respect.
• Encourage community-led initiatives and co-produced strategies to build collective responsibility. When people help shape solutions, they are more likely to support and sustain them. Community involvement fosters ownership and pride, people are more likely to contribute and support others; strengthening trust and social bonds.
• Empower communities by providing the tools, resources, recognition of community expertise, and autonomy to shape their futures. Asset-based approaches focus on strengths, enabling communities to innovate and take ownership of local assets and decisions. Decisions should be made as close as possible to the people they affect. 
• Value varied contributions, including volunteering, activism, and informal support. Public bodies can promote involvement through mechanisms like deliberative democracy or participatory budgeting. These help communities identify priorities and work towards shared goals.
• Maintain continuous dialogue and provide clear feedback about how community input has shaped decisions. People need to know they have been heard and that action has followed. This is vital for building and maintaining trust in institutions. 

Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015

The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act) put in place 7 well-being goals, one of which is a ‘Wales of cohesive communities’. Each of the other 6 goals play a part in helping to build a nation of cohesion communities:

• a prosperous Wales
• a resilient Wales
• a healthier Wales
• a more equal Wales
• a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language
• a globally responsible Wales

The Welsh Government and the public bodies listed in the Act, including Welsh ministers, local authorities, national parks authorities, and local health boards, must work towards this goal of creating attractive, viable, safe and well-connected communities in the exercise of their existing functions.

Equality Act 2010

The Equality Act 2010 includes 9 protected characteristics, which need to be considered for cohesion work. These are:

• age
• disability
• gender reassignment
• marriage and civil partnership
• pregnancy and maternity
• race (including ethnic and national origins)
• religion or belief (including lack of belief)
• sex
• sexual orientation

Differential or disproportionate impacts on any of these groups and particular areas of interest or importance for different groups may result in unlawful indirect discrimination. For this reason, such impacts need to be considered in relation to community cohesion work. Organisations should also consider the potential intersectional disadvantage which community members may experience if a policy disadvantages them on the basis of two or more  protected characteristics.

Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010 (the Public Sector Equality Duty), requires the Welsh ministers, along with other specified public authorities, to have due regard to the need to:

1. eliminate discrimination, harassment, victimisation and any other conduct that is prohibited by or under the Equality Act
2. advance equality of opportunity between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it
3. foster good relations between persons who share a relevant protected characteristic and persons who do not share it

The requirement to foster good relations in particular embodies a very clear obligation to consider community cohesion as part of the development of policy and any decision-making process.

In order for public bodies to better perform and demonstrate their compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Welsh Government legislated to bring in specific equality duties as set out in the Equality Act 2010 (Statutory Duties) (Wales) Regulations 2011 (the Welsh Specific Equality Duties).

The Welsh Specific Equality Duties place duties on the Welsh Ministers and other Devolved Welsh Authorities (DWAs) relating to engagement with stakeholders, equality impact assessments, procurement, equality and employment information and review and reporting arrangements. The Welsh Specific Equality Duties help public bodies to streamline equality throughout public sector and should be used as an important lever to build community cohesion in Wales.

The Socio-economic Duty came into force in Wales on 31 March 2021. It requires tackling inequality to be considered as part of decision-making, and requires certain DWAs to consider how their strategic decisions, such as deciding priorities and setting objectives, might help to reduce the inequalities associated with socio-economic disadvantage. Those disadvantages can be disproportionate in both communities of interest and communities of place.

Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021

Principal councils (the county councils and county borough councils in Wales) have a duty under Chapter 2 of Part 3 of the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act 2021 to encourage local people to participate in council decision making. Such councils are required to publish a public participation strategy setting out how they will meet that duty.  The strategy must include, among other matters, how the council promotes and supports ways for local people to make representations about council decisions, before and after they are made. Participation strategies aim to make it easier for members of the public to understand how local government works, how it makes decisions, and how local people can be involved, input their views, and most importantly, have them considered.

Human Rights Act 1998

The Human Rights Act 1998 affects the Welsh Ministers and the Senedd in 2 key ways. First, they are public authorities which means that they must act compatibly with the rights listed in the European Convention on Human Rights. Secondly, the Welsh Ministers are under a statutory duty by virtue of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (Sections 81 and 158) not to act or legislate incompatibly with the European Convention on Human Rights.

Freedom of speech in the UK is protected under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998. It protects everybody’s right to hold personal opinions and to express them freely without government interference. This is a fundamental human right which facilitates an open and fair democratic society. It should enable people to agree or disagree with those with power and influence, and to do so without fear of reprisal. Freedom of speech also allows individuals to express unpopular or offensive views. It is important to say that critical or upsetting statements about the work of your organisation may well be protected by Article 10 and so be lawful, no matter how unpleasant or upsetting it may be. 

However, freedom of speech does not protect unlawful behaviour such as threats of violence, hate speech and harassment, whether online or otherwise. 

In England and Wales there are a range of Acts of Parliament containing offences which may be relevant. Hate crime protections can apply online or otherwise and are included in the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and the Sentencing Act 2020.

Incitement to hatred offences (on the basis of race, religion or sexual orientation) are set out in the Public Order Act 1986. Malicious communication offences are outlined in the Malicious Communications Act 1988, the Communications Act 2003 and the Online Safety Act 2023. 

Offences relating to harassment and stalking are included in the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. Incitement to terrorism offences are captured in the Terrorism Act 2006. Spreading disinformation which may cause non-trivial harm is prohibited by the Online Safety Act 2023.