Respect for the individual is a key organisational value of TackleAfrica and that means that in all our activities and through the behaviours and words of everyone involved we are seen and experienced to be a just organisation where:-
- people of all ethnicities feel welcomed to work, volunteer or access our programmes;
- barriers to opportunities are removed; and
- everyone is treated with dignity
To put it simply, we reject all forms of racism and we are absolutely clear that there is no tolerance, nor acceptance of it at TackleAfrica. More than this, however, we pledge to deal immediately when incidents of racism occur.
We are part of the international development sector where institutional racism still exists and we affirm our commitment to tackle it. Much of this is embedded in mindsets, cultural assumptions, operational practices and organisational structures. It is not difficult to see the historical antecedents of this, in colonialism, in antiquated views of white exceptionalism, all of which have marginalised people in the past. TackleAfrica is part of this sector and we take responsibility for the work we need to do to be actively anti-racist.
As part of this responsibility:
- we actively recruit people from diverse backgrounds, using anonymised recruitment tools, and seek to create a team that is representative of the communities in which we work
- we will actively shift power by ensuring that people from underrepresented groups are in decision-making positions
- we have established a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Working Group to drive this work forward within TackleAfrica
- we will actively intervene as individuals and as a group to ensure that all our policies, processes, governance and decisions reflect diverse perspectives and protect people from harm
- we will actively amplify previously marginalised voices and be part of the work towards a more just society