Our mission is to work closely with partners to ensure data-driven evidence and analysis are used effectively in policy and practice to end poverty, reduce inequality and increase resilience.
As an international organisation working to eliminate multidimensional poverty and reduce inequality, it is critical that we understand our own role in tackling the drivers of inequality and exclusion through our internal practices. We believe that empowering and enabling participation and contributions from all of our people and our partners in a safe and rewarding environment that recognises multidimensional needs is important. Ensuring the overall wellbeing of our people is not only being true to our values and our principles, but also improves the quality and integrity of our work.
Our vision for EDI is to create a globally diverse and inclusive workforce, supported by our foundational principles and core values where EDI is woven into the fabric of our culture and where every person has a seat and voice at the table.
Our foundational principles guide who we are and how we work, informing organisational culture and shaping the services we provide.
Our core values embody how we work with each other and our partners.
Equality involves fairness – our view is that individuals should have fair and equal enjoyment of status, right, opportunity, choice and resource. Equality allows individuals to use their talents and skills to improve their quality of life, increasing performance and realising their full potential.
Diversity is the presence of ‘difference’ – our view is that individuals are unique and different in many ways, be that through values or beliefs, status, gender identity, health or personal characteristics. We feel that by valuing diversity and bringing different opinions, perspectives and thinking together, drives innovation.
Inclusion is about embracing diversity – our view is that individuals must be respected and valued for their differences. Embracing inclusion and the uniqueness of each individual ensures that everyone experiences a sense of belonging which in turns helps promotes shared learning opportunities and increases creativity.
EDI must be championed and progressed together to be fully effective. We know that discrimination in any form has devastating effects on individuals and on organisations and unacceptable behaviour including bullying, harassment, victimisation or discrimination is simply not tolerated. We are committed to dismantling any barriers that may exist, respecting our differences and eliminating discrimination to allow all our people to flourish.
We want to attract and retain people from diverse sections of society and create a sense of belonging where everyone feels welcome, valued and respected and our people are able to perform to their full potential so that as an organisation, we will learn, thrive, drive innovation and agility and allow us to be more impactful in our work.
As such, we seek to demonstrate best practice in the relationship we have with our people and partners that:
We will therefore:
In practice, having a diverse and inclusive culture is about being open minded. When views are expressed, they should be done so in a way that is not negative and respects others. Individuals must be mindful of what they are saying, how they are saying it and the forum they are saying it in. When views are heard, individuals must accept that they won’t always agree but providing that the intention was not negative nor disrespectful, they should be open-minded about what they are hearing.
Between 2022 and 2025, we will focus on three key areas:
We will undertake a review of this statement in July 2025.