Home – Equality and Rights Network

Our Focus is Your Voice

The Equality and Rights Network (EaRN) is a network of third sector organisations and individuals in Edinburgh. We act as the link between the public sector and our network members to enable them to participate, engage with, and influence public services in Edinburgh from an equality, human rights and poverty perspective. We organise, workshops, meetings and events to make sure your voice is heard. We also feed in to The Edinburgh Partnership via the Edinburgh TSI representative.

EaRN is funded by The City of Edinburgh Council to help fulfil the Councils responsibility under the Public Sector Equality Duty, and is managed by Volunteer Edinburgh.

We're always busy doing something...

Our work covers a huge variety of projects, events and activities, all with the same focus of making your voice heard when it comes to Equality and Human Rights in Edinburgh. We organise regular events and workshops for network members to inform, engage with the public sector and share experiences and best practice. You can find out about what events and activities we have coming up on our events page at the link below.

Photo of Ian McInnes after whom the award is named

About award

We are proud sponsors of the Ian McInnes Award for Inclusion and Diversity awarded annually at the Inspiring Volunteer Awards.

This annual award in memory of Ian McInnes (pictured) celebrates an organisation or individual who has demonstrated exceptional commitment to promoting equality, diversity, inclusion, accessibility and representation in volunteering. It is presented by the Rt. Hon. Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh as part of the Inspiring Volunteer Awards delivered by Volunteer Edinburgh.

Graphic with text campaign for a good food nation with symbols of food, plates and cutlery.

Good Food Nation Edinburgh Plan

17 September, 2026

We would like to invite you to an online session to discuss the new Good Food Nation work that has started in Edinburgh. We are keen to hear what issues are important to you, your organisation, and the communities you serve to help us to start building our city-wide plan.

Join us for this early conversation to shape the Good Food Nation plan in Edinburgh. These online scoping sessions are an opportunity to learn more about the Good Food Nation and begin to shape our city-wide plan.

Please join one of two online sessions:

Thursday 17^th 10-11:30am
Monday 21^st 10-11:30am

What is the Good Food Nation?

The Scottish Government have set out a vision for Scotland to be “a Good Food Nation, where people from every walk of life take pride and pleasure in, and benefit from, the food they produce, buy, cook, serve, and eat each day.” As part of this, local authorities and health boards need to develop and deliver a Good Food Nation Plan. Find out more

What will be covered?

The City of Edinburgh Council are keen to hear what issues are important to you, your organisation and the communities you serve in relation to food. This will be a chance to:

Learn about the Good Food Nation
Share key priorities and opportunities for the Good Food Nation plan in Edinburgh
Connect with others and hear what is happening across the city in relation to food

Who should join?

The Good Food Nation touches on many aspects of the food system, and these sessions will be relevant to a range of organisations and sectors, including organisations who deliver support and services within communities. No prior knowledge is necessary.

EaRN Member Forum

8 October, 2026

Norton Park Business and Conference Centre, Albion Road, Edinburgh, UK

Come to the first EaRN forum to connect with others, learn what is happening in the city and influence those in power

The Equality and Rights Network are excited to be launching a new series of member forums. These sessions are an opportunity for members to connect with each other and public sector partners, learn about new developments in the city, and influence those with the power to make changes.

These forums are exclusively for EaRN members, so if you haven’t signed up there is no better time to do so!

The first forum will feature an introduction to Equal Edinburgh, The City of Edinburgh Councils new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Framework, from Dr Deborah Smart, Corporate Director for of Customer and Corporate Services.

It will also incorporate a workshop on the councils new £2.5million Third Sector Grants Programme. This new fund is aimed at preventing and mitigating poverty in the city.

Further details will be added closer to the event, but in the meantime please book your space using the book button above.

Want to get involved?

If you would like to find out more about what we do, what support we offer or how you can get involved, please contact us using the form below and we will get back to you as soon as we can. You can also sign up to our newsletter on our news page.