Birmingham and Lewisham African and Caribbean Health Inequalities Review (BLACHIR)

Cultural competency frameworks

One of the seven key areas for action highlighted in the BLACHIR Review, under the theme ‘Trust and Transparency’, called for action to strengthen cultural competence in organisations and communities.

Birmingham City Council’s Public Health division have launched and are from 2024 to 2025 piloting two innovative and complementary frameworks to improve cultural competence in Birmingham.

Birmingham Cultural Humility and Safety Framework (BCHSF)

The Cultural Humility and Safety (CHS) training framework aims to enable organisations to provide training that will equip staff with the confidence and skills to maintain relationships based on trust. It instils in staff a commitment to self-reflection to better understand personal and systemic biases and to address power imbalances.

Learn more about the BCHSF by watching the introdcutory video:

Birmingham Cultural Intelligence Framework (BCIF)

The BCIF aims to develop an individual’s ability to understand, adapt to, and effectively interact with people from different cultural backgrounds.

It includes a set of capabilities, knowledge and understanding of how people from different cultures live and behave.

This will equip leaders and managers with the tools they need to make decisions and develop policies and practice that consider the differences between communities.

Learn more about the BCIF by watching the introductory video:

BCIF and BCHSF pilot

The two frameworks are currently being piloted among several organisations across Birmingham and Solihull. This is to assess the effectiveness and impact of both frameworks.

Both pilots are being supported by external academic evaluations from Equalital and Social Machines. The findings from the evaluations, and plans for wider rollout of the frameworks, will be available from a early 2026.

BCIF pilot

The organisations taking part in the pilot are:

Expressions of interest for the BCIF pilot closed in March 2024 and we are not accepting any additional organisations on to the pilot year.

To learn more about the BCIF pilot phase, watch our video.

BCHSF pilot

The organisations taking part in the pilot are:

Expressions of interest for the BCHSF pilot closed in March 2024 and we are not accepting any additional organisations on to the pilot year.

To learn more about the BCHSF pilot phase, watch our video.

Page last updated: 2 April 2025

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