We chat with Afam and Justine from Commission Advocating Rights for Minorities (CARM).

 

CARM worked with the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee to test what a truly participatory approach to human rights budgeting could look like. Their lived experience shaped the scrutiny process, influenced MSPs directly, and helped reframe how the Committee thinks about voice and accountability.

 

Members of CARM worked with the Committee exploring participation and accountability in Scotland’s budget. They composed questions for Ministers, co-designed scrutiny themes, and helped MSPs hear lived experience in people’s own words.

 

In this episode, Afam and Justine explain what that work involved, why the experience mattered, and how the framework they helped shape is now influencing organisations beyond Holyrood.