Dear Colleagues,
This past June, in the wake of thousands of people demanding an end to racism and inequality, ED Fore made a commitment to ensure that UNICEF adopted a number of measures that would strengthen our efforts to address the scourge of racism and discrimination both in the communities in which we work, and in our workplace. One of these measures was the establishment of a Task Team that will identify and put in place evidence-based actions to address discrimination in UNICEF.
This Task Team has begun its work. Its members are listed below. Our goal is to help create an environment of honest introspection, reflection and change. We wish to foster an environment where each of us can freely speak up against racism and discrimination of any type without fear, where we can all embrace “solidarity over silence” and where we feel confident that our organisation will make changes to in response to our calls for action.
We know that we can do better in living up to our own standards of equity. From the stories of those who have bravely raised their voices, we know that many Black colleagues and colleagues with various marginalised ethnicities face daily racist incidences and racist policies. We also recognize that indigenous or people of colour also face racism and that other forms of discrimination exist within the organisation as well. We plan to ultimately expand this conversation to include all forms of racism and discrimination once we have been able to begin to address this critical anti-Black racism issue. No one should be made to feel in any way inferior or left out because of their race, nationality, gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or disability.
Who is on the Task Team?
Co-Chairs: Geeta Narayan; Juan Santander; and June Onguru.
Members: Abhijit Das; Andrea Matteya; Antara Ganguli; Azlina Kamal; Boubacar Ndaw; Brandi Hudson; Carla Cangela de Mendonca; Corina Popa; Dominique Tuyirate; Fabiana Bento; Jorge Bica; Julie Diane Hackett; Katrina Campbell; Kavervir Sidhu; Kristen Elsby; Paulina Riveros; Ranya Kargbo; Rowena Pinto; Salman Zebary; Sameen Wajid; Sára Sylvester; Sarah Custer Lalanne; Syed Saeed Qadir; Tania Dhakhwa; Touty Adelaide Diagne Diop and Zoë Gan.
The members were nominated from different groups of staff, such as Staff Association, Young UNICEF, UN Globe, the Global Network of Employees with Disabilities, as well as National Committees.
What have we been doing?
The Task Team was established on the 1st July 2020 and have met virtually each week to share our stories, learn from experts, and plan our course of action. In this time, we have developed the following:
· Membership of the Task Team, Terms of Reference and Task Team’s Workplan;
· Immediate actions related to anti-Black racism for a UNICEF Action Plan on Anti Racism and Discrimination;
· Budget Needs;
· Anti Racism and Discrimination SharePoint page of resources, information, updates, good practices
· Online form to share stories and recommendations anonymously;
· Establishment and engaging with the Yammer group on Anti Racism and Discrimination Engagement Group (now over 200 colleagues)
· Analysis of inputs and comments from staff (on Mentimeter) during the DED-M Conversation on discrimination and racism, in June 2020.
What are our next actions?
In the coming weeks, you can expect the following activities from the Task Team:
· Focus group discussions with key Black constituencies and also regional discussions organized with the support of Regional Staff Associations;
· Targeted engagement with the Yammer Engagement Group on Anti Racism and Discrimination;
· Collation of findings and recommendations raised during focus groups and regional conversations;
· Development of a draft UNICEF Action Plan on Anti Racism and Discrimination
· Identification of options for Mentoring Programmes for discriminated-against groups, starting with Black Employees;
· Initiation of data generation on race and ethnicity data of all staff on a voluntary basis.
We will update you regularly in the coming weeks and months. We can and must do better and this is a critical time for each one of us to pause and reflect on our conscious and unconscious biases. This is the time to listen and understand how others are being discriminated against, and to collectively identify and take actions to change for the better. We thank everyone who is standing up and speaking out, and listening, and we encourage others to do the same. We all have a role in ending all forms of discrimination within UNICEF. This is a time for change!
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Your Task Team on Anti Racism and Discrimination
nodiscrimination@unicef.org