Diversity and Inclusion

“We live in a diverse world and a diverse society, and our organisations needs to reflect that diversity to make us more representative and pluralistic”. That is one of the most compelling yet simple arguments I have heard in response to the question on ‘Why diversity’ ?

As a not-for-profits sector, there is another even more compelling imperative. We are united in our purpose to create a society that is more equal, more fair, more just and more safe. We do it differently of course and have different pathways, but that is essentially the core essence. In delivering our mission, we seek to understand the challenges of those who are vulnerable, living in different parts of the country or the world, so that our work responds to their struggles and their challenges. Diversity helps bring some of that understanding and empathy if our teams have people who have the lived experience of those challenges or can relate to them better than others, given their social or economic status.

And as we embed diversity in our organisations that reflect diversity in society, it is equally important to work towards an environment which is truly inclusive, that respects people from diverse backgrounds, that enables people to share their diverse perspectives, that is free of any form of discriminatory or exclusionary behaviour, that creates and promotes safe spaces and enables people to perform to the best of their abilities and effectively.

All of this is part of a ‘culture conversation’ that is very important for every organisation to have. While our success will be measured by what we do, our success will be amplified if we also consider how we do it. Any culture conversation needs to consider what kind of an organisation we aspire to be, and needs to have diversity and inclusion at the heart of it. There is now plenty of evidence on how diversity and inclusion drive higher degree of engagement and therefore more effective performance. Diversity is also now considered to be a driver for innovation and lateral thinking.

At ActionAid, we have embarked on a culture journey which we started about three years ago. It started with a reflection on the culture we currently have and conversations on the culture we seek to create. It was also the time when we were developing a new strategy, which revolved around the rights of women and girls living in poverty. We understood issues of gender inequality being driven by patriarchal values, norms and culture. And we recognised the power of feminist values to redress this ‘power imbalance’ as part of our strategy and programmes. But it was not good enough for feminist analysis to be ‘out there’ in our programmes. It was also important for us to talk about feminist principles ‘in here’. Thus started the journey of embedding feminist values as the basis of our organisational culture, and therefore a very comfortable nesting of diversity and inclusion within that, which essentially emphasises respect, self awareness, self care and zero tolerance to discrimination as some of its core principles.

A process that started off within our staff teams was soon widened to include our board of trustees, recognising the key role of governance in influencing organisational culture. We were very fortunate that the board fully embraced this concept and devoted time and effort to participate, engage, influence and shape the feminist agenda, within our strategy, culture and behaviours.

This has not been an easy journey because it makes us ask some hard questions about ourselves and raises some difficult, uncomfortable conversations. And there are no right answers or right solutions either. It is all about the principles and the values we hold dear. Even if there is a theoretical or ideological acceptance on issues of culture, feminist principles and diversity & inclusion, it eventually boils down to behaviours of each individual, for it is ultimately through our behaviours that our commitments are brought to life. It puts incredible pressure on the leadership to hold themselves accountable, to demonstrate the right behaviours, to acknowledge and accept where we get it wrong, to call out behaviours that are not aligned to our principles. Hence, it is all the more importance to embrace it and commit ourselves to get better.

We are getting clearer on some of these aspects. We are on the verge of finalising our diversity and inclusion framework that looks at what we are currently doing and what we need to do. We are consulting with various staff groups looking at various aspects of diversity, including gender, LGBTQ+, mental health. We are looking at our measures and how we report on these. We are digging deeper on specific areas of inclusivity, be it around flexible working or safe spaces. We are connecting it to feminist principles and coming up with a framework called ‘My Feminist Behaviours’. We are embedding it in everything that we want to do around our people, be it on recruitment, retention or advancement, across staff and trustees.

Reflecting on our work over the past three years, it does give me a deep sense of satisfaction that the journey has truly begun. It even makes me feel proud. Equally, I am very conscious that a lot more needs to be done in fulfilling our aspiration of an organisation that has diversity and inclusion at the heart of our culture that is embedded in feminist principles. What I do know is that we have the support of engagement of staff across the organisation and our board – and of course, we are still seeking answers !

(Originally published by the Institute of Fundraising, April 2019)