Critique from a service user was the catalyst for Young Lives vs Cancer (YLVC) to improve, according to Kei-Retta Farrell, diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging (DEIB) lead at the charity.
In 2020, the organisation was at the early stages of developing its approach to a DEIB strategy. The murder of George Floyd brought that commitment into “sharp focus” and YLVC posted a black square on Instagram with the hashtag #BlackoutTuesday, as a way to show support.
“A lot of organisations had posted that black square as well. And I think the sector as a whole was really beginning to reflect and hold a mirror up to themselves, reflect on their commitment to DEIB and how that translates into practice in terms of policies, in terms of projects, in terms of strategies, and how it translated in that really meaningful way.”
She says a service user shared their concerns that “the post was quite tokenistic” and “really called us out for the lack of diversity and the lack of representation across our content in general”.
Farrell says this was a “catalyst” for the charity to “pick up pace and accelerate change”.
“We really try to make sure that we hear those voices of the people that we’re here to serve,” says Farrell.
Being ‘brave, not perfect’
The charity’s “cultural mantra” is around being “brave, not perfect” which came from early conversations that the charity had around DEIB.
Farrell says that through conversations with staff, volunteers, young people and families “we learned that there was a real appetite for change, a real curiosity around DEIB”.
“But that was almost being hampered by this fear of getting things wrong and not wanting to make a mistake, and folks were getting into an echo chamber. So that mantra emerged as a way to really embody the spirit that progress is what we’re aiming for, not perfection,” she says.
“It really encourages our staff and volunteers who are promoting DEIB to test and learn things with the freedom to fail, to strive for flexibility and curiosity, rather than focusing on that perfection, and we hope that staff and volunteers will continue to learn as we continue on this road, and that we are supporting them to make really informed, inclusive and equitable decisions.”
People are at different places when it comes to their individual journey around EDI, so for Farrell “a key lesson for us was learning to meet people where they are”.
“We’re asking people to be brave, but also recognising that bravery is not easy. So we've spent a lot of time cultivating spaces, and creating the conditions for people to practise being brave and for that bravery to happen.”
Farrell says her DEIB team has also learned that “we can’t be everything for everyone, and we actually shouldn’t be everything for everyone, because it’s everyone’s responsibility and everyone’s duty”.
“Prioritising our own wellbeing and encouraging others to prioritise their own wellbeing because this work can be really heavy, it can be really challenging and difficult and uncomfortable at times. And so we encourage people to really prioritise their wellbeing and build their own personal resilience as well in this work,” she says.
Therefore, she says, a lot of work has also been focused on how to empower and mobilise people.
Implementing the 2021 strategy
Farrell says leading the DEIB strategy has been like “building a plane and flying it at the same time”.
“I say that because we had the decision as to whether we want to fix the problem before we forge ahead onto a new path, or whether we do both at the same time. And we went with the latter, doing both at the same time, really forging ahead with the vision, but getting our house in order at the same time,” she says.
“In terms of implementing it, our approach has really been around embedding it and integrating it as much as possible, trying to impact people, as well as make it as easy as we can for people to really engage and build their confidence around the DEIB.”
The charity has run a DEIB confident programme, which consists of a series of monthly workshops that are designed to build confidence with staff and volunteers around DEIB.
Farrell adds that data is the “bedrock” of DEIB, and as a learning organisation, lived experience is always at the heart of everything it does. “Nothing’s ever static – things are continuously evolving in this space,” she says.
“In order for our work to continue to be meaningful, we had to ensure that our strategic framework that we use really had to enable us to get that data and insight continuously. Because data is how we measure impact, it's how we know what’s working and what isn’t working, it’s how we know what needs to be scaled up and what needs to be scaled down. And so it really is that manifestation of our commitment to learning and commitment to continuous improvement.”
Farrell adds that embedding the understanding of intersectionality and promoting solidarity has also been a key.
Addressing EDI critique
There has been some discussion around EDI strategies in the charity sector, for example that some do not go far enough, or that they are a waste of money.
Asked about criticism of EDI work in the charity sector, Farrell says YLVC has tried to embed DEIB “in the systems and processes that exist within the organisation”.
“We chose to address DEIB really intentionally, our approach was really grounded in what people were telling us. That was why we chose that holistic approach.
“We as an organisation don’t shy away from what’s less comfortable or less palatable. Within our strategy, we have specific work plans that address anti-racism, LGBT inclusion, disability inclusion, and so on, in specific ways based on that data and what that data is telling us.
“What underpins all of those plans, and what underpins the strategy as a whole, is our understandings of power, privilege, equity and anti-oppression.”
She says having an overarching strategy came from the charity’s commitment to becoming a more inclusive and equitable organisation and the strategy has enabled the charity to hold itself accountable for what it said it was going to do.
“It also served as a roadmap under which we can unite people and bring people together towards our vision, which is to have that in your organisation that is really inclusive of everyone we serve. And I think also having that strategy really promotes collaboration, it promotes innovation, and builds solidarity, and community.”
Next steps
Farrell says: “Generally our approach with implementing the strategy over the past two years has been to do it in an agile manner, and I anticipate that it will continue in that manner.”
YLVC is still working out what the strategy will look like post-2023, but Farrell sees the charity building on the foundation that it has laid out over the past few years.
“We’ve grown the team, we’ve built the organisation’s collective confidence around DEIB, we have a programme of established activity that people are receptive to, and we’re seeing the impact of.
“I would say we are no longer in that infancy stage that we were in back in 2020. And we will continue to adjust DEIB, in a really intentional, authentic and meaningful way.”
The charity aims to increase its collective understanding and promoting the confidence of its staff to be anti-oppressive. One example of this is through the anti-oppressive recruitment project that it is currently implementing.
“Anti-oppression is all about the system and the way power is played out in the system. Everyone has identities which come together and provide areas of privilege and of disadvantage.
“And so anti-oppression is about being active in your projects, in your programmes, in your strategies, in the actions that you take, actively making sure that you’re not following out the status quo and you’re not acting in ways that just continue to give power to those who already have power,” Farrell says.
The future of DEIB in charities
Farrell says the charity is continuously reviewing and notes it does not operate in a vacuum, so “we always try to stay abreast of what's happening in that external environment”.
“We do quite a lot of work through our partnerships. We’re part of quite a few EDI charity sector circles, where we come together and share best practice, share good practice about what’s working in our organisations, what’s not,” says Farrell.
She says ultimately the charity wants the system to work better for children and young people, “and so collaboration is one way in which we are able to influence that systemic level”.
Farrell reflects this work is “not easy, and culture change never really is” – “if there was a silver bullet for DEIB, then everyone would have this on order by now”.
On the charity sector overall, she says: “There’s the commitment there, I think that we could be further along the journey, as a collective sector, towards promoting EDI more.”
A positive for Farrell is she has seen that more DEIB professionals have permanent roles within charities, “and that’s a new trend that I’ve seen, less fixed term contracts, more permanent roles as a signal I think to the commitment that charities have in this space”.
“But we absolutely could be doing more as a collective and we should be doing more as a collective,” she adds.
Farrell emphasises the importance of continued investment into the EDI space, “because this space has so much overlap”.
“It shouldn’t be a siloed space, it should be a space that spans the business of the organisation, and really should be integral to how we as a sector provide services, rather than just being something that we do, it should be part and parcel of how we do what we do. And so investing in it has so many benefits that span the whole entire organisation.”
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