
Resources for Practical Implementation
Reports & Surveys
The following reports and surveys are from organizations highlighting many DEI focus areas that are covered in our Compact and are present in the international development/humanitarian community.
- Bond Report Bond U.K. released a report that explores the experiences of people of color working for U.K. international development organizations that are based both in the U.K. and overseas. Structural racism has played a big part in the limitations that people of color have experienced in the workplace and has also had influence over the uncomfortable experiences employees face from racist workplace culture. This report gave people of color the platform to voice their personal experiences of incidents in the workplace. Bond U.K. uses these findings to analyze and highlight the specific factors that have prevented people of color from getting jobs in the sector. Bond U.K. lays out recommendations ranging from the organizational level to the individual level in order for organizations to reevaluate and improve their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.
- Time to Decolonise Aid Time to Decolonise Aid is a report published by Peace Direct in collaboration with Adeso, the Alliance for Peacebuilding, and Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security. The findings and recommendations from this report come from a three-day online consultation where over 150 contributors discussed the issue of structural racism, exchanged experiences on the current power dynamics and imbalances within the humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding sector, and envisioned the benefits of a decolonized system. The current system is derived from a Westernized mindset that mirrors the relationships and structure of past colonial-era practices—which usually benefit the Global North and silence the knowledge and values of the Global South. This report clearly outlines how structural racism shows up in the sector and the recommendations that INGOs, donors, policymakers, and individuals within the sector can use to decolonize aid.
- GISF Diversity Profiles The Global Interagency Security Forum released a research paper aimed at better understanding the interplay between the different facets of an aid worker’s identity and how an organization can understand the security risks faced by staff. Directly targeting NGO staff who have roles focused on the security and wellbeing of other staff members (i.e., human resource specialists, senior managers, security focal points, and more), this research paper outlines examples of good practices and recommendations that organizations can use to improve the role of security staff while respecting staff member’s rights to privacy, equality, and non-discrimination. This paper emphasizes that aid organizations have a duty of care to take all reasonable measures to protect staff from foreseeable risks, including those that emerge due to an aid worker’s personal characteristics—for example, biological sex, gender, ethnicity, cognitive and physical ability, and sexual orientation.
- BRIDGE Report In March 2021, BRIDGE (Benchmarking Race, Inclusion, and Diversity in Global Engagement) released a survey—the first of its kind—to baseline diversity, equity, and inclusion at the organizational level across U.S.-based organizations in the international development and humanitarian sector. With the results from this survey, organizations are able to compare their own data to the industry benchmark and identify areas where efforts need to be focused.
- The New Humanitarian Report on DEI This report highlights the results from two questionnaires circulated by the New Humanitarian, which included questions regarding DEI within aid agencies and about the broader localization agenda. The response from management teams versus individual aid workers showed a vast difference in the policies and changes organizations claim to have made compared to the lack of action that individual workers report themselves. Using the results from the questionnaire, the article highlights how, despite the DEI policies put in place, racism has actively prevented employees of color from advancing or entering the sector. The article serves as a necessary call for organizations to reexamine the effectiveness of existing DEI efforts and make the necessary changes to improve relationships with staff and partners. Read the full results here.
- Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture Equity in the Center highlights the need for racial equity and explores the social and institutional implications that structural racism has on the sector. The report stresses the importance of building a “Race Equity Culture” that proactively counteracts race inequity inside and outside the organization. Overall, the aim of this report is to help organizations build a foundation and culture within organizations that promote anti-racist mindsets and behaviors.
- Inequality Kills Oxfam International’s report outlines the impacts of economic inequality and extreme wealth on vulnerable populations. The gap that already exists between the rich and poor is only growing wider. This report highlights important statistics that prove that the top 1% are continuing to amass wealth as the rest of humanity—especially the most vulnerable—are pushed into deeper poverty. Lower- and middle-income countries continue to suffer from a lack of access to adequate healthcare, vaccines, food, and more. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has only made these inequalities all the more apparent.
- RINGO: Fostering Equitable North-South Civil Society Partnerships The Re-imagining INGO (RINGO) initiative, created by Rights CoLab, is designed to reexamine the purpose, roles, and delivery mechanisms of INGOs and the impact on the global civil society ecosystem. This report was based on a survey conducted to capture views from NGOs in the Global South to identify, understand, and inform what is needed to better respond to the challenges of engaging with INGOs. The key findings of the survey show that the majority of surveyed civil society organizations (CSOs) do not find their relationships with INGOs beneficial to their operations. Using the voices of CSOs from the Global South, these results provide ideas and recommendations on how Global North-Global South NGO relationships and power dynamics should evolve.
- IRC-Gender Based Violence Report This report shows how survivors respond to gender-based violence case management services—specifically whether their feelings of stigma changed as a result of the intervention. The data comes from survivors who are affected by a humanitarian crisis, experience gender-based violence, and subsequently seek help despite the risks involved. Through the International Rescue Committee (IRC), this effort was funded and supported by Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF), a grant-making facility that improves outcomes for people affected by humanitarian crises by identifying, nurturing, and sharing more effective and scalable solutions.
- IRC DEI Strategy The newest DEI strategy created by the IRC’s DEI Team (with the help of IRC staff, leaders, and other individuals) focuses on actively shifting power to staff, clients, and partner organizations within the communities they serve. The strategy seeks to address the power concentrated within the IRC, the domination of Western culture, the unequal distribution of power, the lack of inclusive culture, and unequal access to information. The overall goal is to align this DEI strategy with IRC’s Gender Equity Unit’s efforts to break the cycle of systemic discrimination and implement a plan that strengthens the organization’s feminist commitments.
Compact Specific Topics
Advocacy
Anti-Blackness & Racism
- #PowerShifts resources: Anti-racism in development and aid (Oxfam)
- About (National SEED Project)
- Aid agency actions on racial justice ‘inadequate’, aid workers say (Aid-reimagined)
- Anti-Racism Initiative (20 Interfaith Forum Association 2020)
- Anti-Racism Resources (B Lab U.S. & Canada)
- Anti-Racism and Social Inclusion Work at CDA Collaborative (CDA Collaborative)
- Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture (Tema Okun/White Supremacy Culture)
- Decolonise MSF: Educational resources (Decolonise MSF)
- Decolonising aid, again (The New Humanitarian)
- How to be anti-racist in aid (Aid Re-imagined)
- Making Anti-Racism the Core of the Humanitarian System: A Review of Literature on Race and Humanitarian Aid (Georgetown Journal of International Affairs)
- Racial Equity Action Plans: A How-to Manual (Government Alliance on Race and Equity)
- Racism in Aid Survey (Aid Works and Thomson Reuters Foundation)
- Time to dismantle racism in international development (Bond UK)
- UN Human Rights Report: Promotion and protection of the human rights and fundamental freedoms of Africans and of people of African descent (United Nations)
Communications
- A Progressive’s Style Guide (Hanna Thomas (SumOfUs.org) & Anna Hirsch (ActivistEditor.Com))
- DEI and Communications Workshop Notes (The SISGI Group)
- DEI Branding and Collateral (The Communications Network)
- DEI Outreach (The Communications Network)
- DEI Strategy and Management (The Communications Network)
- Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (The Communications Network)
- How to make your communications team a catalyst for diversity, equity, and inclusion (Big Duck)
- How to Make Your Online Content Accessible by Digital Culture Network
- How to Shape a Multicultural Marketing Strategy (Skyword)
- Language Matters: Glossary of Terms (The Communications Network)
- Race and Racism: Doing Good Better (The Communications Network)
Decolonizing Aid
- Adaptive development, and doing development differently (ODI)
- The aid sector must do more to tackle its white supremacy problem (The Guardian)
- An Examination of Race, Colonialism and Development: What’s the Connection? (Society for International Development Washington Chapter)
- Decolonise MSF: Educational Resources (Decolonise MSF)
- Decolonising aid, again (The New Humanitarian)
- Decolonising development – what, how, by whom and for whom? by the University of Manchester Global Development Institute
- Do What I Say, Not What I Do: Decolonizing Language in International Development (Journal of Public & International Affairs)
- Humanitarian Charter (Sphere Standards)
- Opinion: International development has a race problem (Devex)
- Publications by Aid Re-imagined
- Race, Power and Peacebuilding (Peace Direct)
- Rethinking and decolonizing the global aid system: Pledge for Change (Centre for Humanitarian Leadership)
- Time to Decolonise Aid (Peace Direct)
- YPN Event: Decolonizing International Development: Where do we go from here? (Society for International Development Washington Chapter)
Disability Access
- Article 2 Definitions (United Nations)
- Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations)
- Disability (World Health Organization)
- Disability: The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (World Health Organization)
- Guidelines: How To Write About People with Disabilities (Research & Training Center on Independent Living)
- Knowledge-sharing platform on disability and inclusion (Source/Humanity & Inclusion)
- Making it Work (Humanity & Inclusion)
- Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (Independent Living Institute)
- Resolution on the Highest Attainable Standard of Health for Persons with Disabilities (World Health Organization)
- Sustainable Development Goals (United Nations Development Programme)
- Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs)
- World Report on Disability (World Health Organization)
Diversifying the Sector
- Color blind or color brave? (Mellody Hobson)
- Diverse and Inclusive Humanitarian Leadership (Humanitarian Advisory Group)
- Inclusive America
- How diverse leadership shaped responses to COVID-19 within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Humanitarian Advisory Group)
Humanitarian Work
- Diverse and Inclusive Humanitarian Leadership (Humanitarian Advisory Group)
- How Diverse Leadership Shaped Responses to COVID-19 Within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Humanitarian Advisory Group)
International Development
- Changing Paths: International Development and the New Politics of inclusion (Peter P. Houtzager and Mick Moore)
- From Words to Action: How to Begin to Dismantle Racism in Global Health and Development (Vital Strategies)
- Global Development: Reassembling our World of Work (Humentum)
- Hearing People on the Receiving End of International Aid (CDA Collaborative)
- The Hustle – white saviors and hashtag activism (Devex)
- Meet Stephanie Kimou, the Founder of Popworks Africa: On Disrupting International Development & Centering Black Women’s Leadership (Black Women Radicals)
- Mind the gap in local and international aid workers’ salaries (The Conversation)
- Six Actionable Steps Towards Decolonizing International Development (Matthew Breman)
- Why We Lie about Aid: Development and the Messy Politics of Change (Pablo Yanguas)
LGBTQIA+
- Glossary of LGBTQIA+ terms by Human Rights Campaign
- The Only Way is Up: Monitoring and Encouraging Diverse SOGIESC Inclusion in the Humanitarian and DRR Sectors (Edge Effect)
- The Sustainable Development Goals: Sexual and Gender Minorities (UNDP)
- What Is Gender-Affirming Care? (WebMD)
- Workplace Discrimination Laws and Policies (Human Rights Campaign)
Locally-Led Development and Localization
- An open letter to International NGOs who are looking to ‘localise’ their operations (openDemocracy)
- Are we there yet? Localisation as the journey towards locally led practice: Models, approaches and challenges (ODI)
- Catalysing locally-led Development in the UK Aid System (Bond UK)
- Decolonising Aid (Peace Direct)
- Fostering Equitable North-South Civil Society Partnerships, Voices from the South (Rights Co Lab/WACSI)
- Guidance notes on localization (Inter-agency Standing Committee)
- The Listening Program (CDA Collaborative Learning)
- Local Engagement Assessment Framework (LEAF) and Power of Ownership Report (Save the Children/Oxfam)
- Local systems approach (USAID)
- Localisation Re-imagined: Localising the sector vs supporting local solutions (ALNAP)
- Locally Led Advocacy: Opportunities, Challenges and What We’ve Learned Along the Way (Global Health Advocacy Incubator)
- Localization Performance Measurement Framework (Network for Empowered Aid Response)
- Participatory community-led development assessment tool and guidance documents (Movement for Community-Led Development)
- Partnership Principles (Oxfam)
- Power Awareness Tool (Partos)
- Sector Innovations Map (Bond UK)
- Towards locally-led peacebuilding (Peace Direct)
- USAID Local Capacity Development Policy (USAID)
- What is locally-led development? (USAID)
Mental Health and Well-being
- #PowerShifts Resources: Wellbeing and Development (FP2P/Oxfam)
- Depression Fact Sheet by World Health Organization
- Ensuring a coordinated and effective mental health response in emergencies by World Health Organization
- Global prevalence and burden of depressive and anxiety disorders in 204 countries and territories in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic by the Lancet
- The Impact of Race on Mental Health and Well-being by the Center for Workplace Mental Health
- It’s a New Era for Mental Health at Work by Kelly Greenwood and Julia Anas
- Managing the Toll of DEI Work: The [Diversity] Struggle is Real (The Inclusion Solution)
- Mental Health and Development by U.N. DESA
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse by World Health Organization
- Rethinking Grief: The Hidden Impacts of Non-Traditional Grief on Employee Happiness (Nika White Consulting)
NGO Operations
- A Guide to Using Pronouns and Other Gender-Inclusive Language in the Office (The Muse)
- ‘Checkbox Diversity’ Must Be Left Behind for DEI Efforts to Succeed (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
- Diversity and inclusion: 8 Best Practices for Changing Your Culture (CIO)
- Equity in the Center
- Managing the Security of Aid Workers with Diverse Profiles (GISF)
- The Role of Senior Leaders in Building a Race Equity Culture (The Bridgespan Group)
- Talking About Pronouns in the Workplace (Human Rights Campaign)
- Using Employees’ Preferred Gender Pronouns (SHRM)
Operationalizing DEI in the U.S. v.s. Abroad
- 3 Ways to Be a Better Ally in the Workplace (Melinda Briana Epler)
- 15 Key Benefits Of DEI To Communicate With Team Members (Forbes)
- Awake to Woke to Work: Building a Race Equity Culture (Equity in the Center)
- ‘Checkbox Diversity’ Must Be Left Behind for DEI Efforts to Succeed (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
- The PwC diversity journey: Creating impact, achieving results (PwC)
- Using Diversity and Inclusion as a Source for Humanitarian Innovation (Stanford Social Innovation Review)
Sector-Specific Resources
Climate
- Climate and DEI: Diverse Green
Gender/Children & Youth
- Sex and Gender: Sex/Gender in the Narrative
Funding/Budgeting
- Disability and DEI: Global Call to Action for Disability Inclusion (IFES)
Sector-Wide Initiatives/Resources
- Diversity and Leadership in International Affairs Project (Center for Strategic & International Studies)
- Global Secretariat (Movement for Community-led Development)
- National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education
- Organizations in Solidarity
- Social Norms Atlas: Understanding global social norms and related concepts (The Social Norms Learning Collaborative)
- Statement by Principals of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, Addressing Racism and Racial Discrimination in the Humanitarian Sector, 2020 (Inter-Agency Standing Committee)
Glossaries of Terms
- Glossary (CREED)
- Glossary of Anti-Racist, Diverse, & Inclusive Terms in International Basic Education (Basic Education Coalition)
- Glossary of Terms (Human Rights Campaign)
- Glossary of Terms Used by The Racial Equity Index (The Racial Equity Index)
- Language Matters: Glossary of Terms (The Communications Network)
- Racial Equity Tools Glossary (Racial Equity Tools)
List of DEI Consultants, Trainers, Experts
Additional Resources
- A directory of nonprofit consultants of color
This document contains over 500 consultants of color that have their own unique skills and experience working with nonprofits in various sectors. Browse through the list here. - Recommended Consultants and Consulting Firms from Orgs in Solidarity
This list compiled by Orgs in Solidarity (OiS) includes consultants specializing in DEI and racism/discrimination recommended by OiS partners.