Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion to Fight Poverty

10 Trends That Should Be on Your Board’s Radar

I have vivid memories, from the years I spent working on social impact in-house for big business, of scrambling for Board or Exec report around this time. ‘Please summarise the key social impact trends and the effects on business’, was the exam question. This year, I thought I would do the same for you. Feel free to borrow, comment and add your own.
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A Year at the Intersection Between Business and Social Impact 

A little over a year ago, I had just met Zahid Torres-Rahman for the first time in London. Having searched high and low for a meaningful next step up the career ladder, within five minutes of meeting Zahid I knew that I wanted to be a part of his organisation, Business Fights Poverty.
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Daring to Dream? The Realities and Risks for Adolescent Girls Living in Fragile and Conflict Affected Areas

Across the globe girls and young women living in humanitarian crises are dreaming of a better life for themselves and their families. Girls tell us that they want to be pilots, doctors and teachers. For many of them, these aspirations will never become a reality. Instead, they are faced with impossible choices to secure their mere survival. 
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Seizing the Moment: Company Strategies to Address Sexual Harassment

Sexual harassment and gender based discrimination have long been rife in the production of consumer goods. Barrientos’ new book, using the Kenyan flower industry as an example, highlights how campaigns can lead to positive change in business practice; subsequently benefitting both women workers and business performance.
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Five Questions on Partnership with the Pollinate Group

SDG 17 calls for a revitalisation of global partnerships. In India and Nepal, a social enterprise, Pollinate Group, is working in partnership to empower women to distribute solar energy products in informal settlements. Pollinate Group is partnering with Greenlight Planet and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) through the Business Partnerships Platform.
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How Can Business Address Gender Equality Challenges Through Business Aware Practices?

The Business Fights Poverty lunch in NYC provided an opportunity to explore how companies can address gender equality challenges through their business aware practices. The discussion was focussed on the question ‘Why is SDG 5* for gender equality reportedly off-track and what can companies do differently to accelerate progress’?
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Advancing Gender Equality Across the Value Chain: Engaging Men as Allies

Gender equality in the workplace is an important step in the creation of thriving societies and economies. However, the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2018 suggests that at the current rate of change, it will take 202 years to achieve economic gender parity globally.
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Time to Unstereotype? How Brands Are Reimagining Gender Norms Beyond the Screen

We’ve seen for so long a familiar dialogue running through advertising where gender stereotypes are reinforced time and time again. But with the likes of Skol’s REPOSTER, Nike’s Dream Crazier and Sport England’s ThisGirlCan challenging female stereotypes, there is a clear development towards a new narrative.
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Empowering Women in Toy Factories: Insights from Pilots in India

If you are buying a toy for your child, niece, or nephew, it was most likely made by a woman in China or India. Indeed, women make up over 60 percent of the global toy manufacturing workforce and are critical to its success. However, low-income women working at toy factories can face gender discrimination, harassment, and poor health conditions.
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Rising to the Challenge: Donors Must Change their Funding Systems to Ensure that Businesses Achieve Social Impact

It’s time to re-evaluate how we invest. I have seen funders stringing along companies in emerging markets for years while they jump through the hoops of their longwinded selection processes. To donors and funders I say: If you want to help businesses achieve social impact, maybe it’s your funding system that needs to change. ​
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How Companies Can Tackle Gender Based Violence

Gender Based Violence (GBV) affects 1 in 3 women globally and has been referred to by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres as a political ‘global pandemic’ and ‘a mark of shame on all our societies’. A new Business Fights Poverty toolkit has been published to help companies tackle violence and harassment and domestic violence. These two forms of violence can affect employees full and equal participation in the workforce.
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A Man’s Place: How Men Can Tackle Everyday Workplace Sexism

There’s a strong call for men to step up to help deliver gender equality of opportunity. Research shows there is a gap between being supportive of action and knowing what action to take. This blog suggests practical actions that individual employees and middle managers can take and leaders of organisations can facilitate.
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Banking The Unbanked

Be inspired by Business Fights Poverty NYC keynote speaker, Naureen Hyat, as she tells us about Tez Financial Services, a Visa Everywhere Initiative award-winning technological innovation, which is positioned to bridge the gap towards the financial inclusion of women in Pakistan.
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The Role Banks Can Play in Advancing Gender Equality

What happens when a bank makes a move towards achieving greater gender parity internally, combined with a razor sharp focus on the ambitions set out in SDG 5? Learn more in a conversation with Laura Hemrika, Global Head, Corporate Citizenship & Foundations and Patsy Doerr, Global Head of Diversity and Inclusion, Credit Suisse.
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Inviting Men to Make a Difference: the #HeForShe movement

Engaging men as allies can be a powerful accelerator to help companies, governments and institutions achieve gender equality. Elizabeth Nyamayaro takes us behind the scenes of how UN Women built a worldwide network of men who are championing SDG 5 – the gender equality goal.​
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The New ILO Violence and Harassment Convention: Signalling a Shift in Norms and Expectations

On 21 June 2019, the International Labour Conference agreed with a near-unanimous vote to adopt a new ILO Convention to eliminate violence and harassment in the world of work. As the focus now shifts to ratification and implementation of this new international treaty, leading businesses are taking a hard look at their own policies and practices and assessing whether they, too, are meeting the new global benchmark for protection and prevention.
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How Should Business Encourage Family-Friendly Workplaces?

Family friendly workplace policies, such as paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and support for affordable childcare, play a fundamental role in ensuring children get the best start possible in life. But are businesses doing all they can to support parents manage a changing work-family balance?​
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How Male Mentors Can Develop Women at Work

The workforce includes more women — especially in traditionally male professions — and business leaders are changing workplace environments to be more flexible, collaborative and caring in a calculated effort to attract and retain the best talent, both male and female.​
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How Can Business Advance Gender Equality Across the Value Chain by Engaging Men as Allies?

Join us and a panel of experts for a live written discussion to explore how business can advance gender equality across the value chain by engaging men as allies, taking place on Wednesday 11 September 2019, 16:30-17:30 BST/ / 11.30-12.30 EDT
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How Businesses Can Help Achieve the SDGs for Refugees

Following on from Business Fights Poverty Oxford 2019, Daphne Jayasinghe of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), reflects on how businesses can best support refugees to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She discusses the role of job creation in driving forward SDG progress for refugees and the value of cross-sectoral collaboration. She also offers an opportunity for businesses to support refugee inclusion in the SDG Agenda ahead of the SDG Summit taking place in September this year.
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What do we mean by "Diversity, Equity and Inclusion"?

Learn about strategies that promote diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering an environment where all individuals can thrive regardless of gender or economic status.

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