To this end, we are involved in work on mainstreaming equality in the transition to Net Zero; we are signatories of the Community Jobs Compact; participants of the Charity Works programme and our recruitment process ensures no unconscious bias at application and interview stage.
However, our actions to date have not resulted in a staff team or board that reflects these values. The environment, climate, sustainability and conservation sector is one of the least diverse in the UK and we must do more to change this.
So, what are we doing about it?
Firstly, we are renewing our commitment to being an anti-racist organisation and embedding actions to support this within our organisational plan and risk analysis.
The first of these actions is to be transparent about where we are now through contributing to The RACE Report.
The RACE Report aims to speed up diversity and inclusion within the environmental sector through transparency and the sharing of good practice. In this first year, relevant organisations will submit comparable data for a report to be published in December 2022. From 2023, online transparency cards will be published for individual organisations.
As a small organisation of 12 part-time staff, the opportunity to contribute to The RACE Report has refocused our commitment to ensuring we are doing our very best to demonstrate our values and be an anti-racist organisation. The questions about strategy and actions are also a useful starting point for good practice that we will be actioning over the rest of this year.
These actions include:
- Participating in a three-month Agile Nation 2 Business Programme with Chwarae Teg, with a specific focus on improving our practice in the recruitment, progression and retention of an agile and diverse workforce.
- Signing the Race at Work Charter and ensuring actions are implemented
- EDI training for staff and the Board
- Stating on our recruitment pages for staff and trustees that we are under-represented in racial diversity
- Targeted recruitment to improve the racial diversity of our Board in 2022/2023
- Bi-annual progress update to be published on our website.