Insights and Reflective Practice: Exploring Five Equity and Inclusion Themes
MARCH 2022
The International Development Innovation Alliance’s (IDIA) Taskforce on Equity and Inclusion was launched in 2021 after the global reckoning of structural racism across all industries, including global development, sparked by the murder of George Floyd in the United States and the Black Lives Matter protests with the COVID-19 pandemic as its backdrop. Taskforce organisations aimed to address what makes this moment different from other opportunities in history to address specific forms of inequity? How can we actively learn from our current call to action around racial inequity to address the broader intersection of inequities in a more systemic way? How are we creating equitable and inclusive institutional environments to allow equitable programmes and policies to be created and maintained? How is innovation in development uniquely positioned to improve equitable outcomes through the design of innovations?
This report captures the exploration of institutional policies and strategies, and innovation design and development across five themes: motivation, ownership, environment, action and assessment. The report introduces the concept of reflective practice across the five themes, rather than ‘good practice’ to counter the one-size fits all tendency of the development industry. Reflective practice is a process of continuous learning that involves awareness-raising and making meaning from experience and critical analysis. The aim is to transform the insights gained into practical strategies for everyday personal growth, decision-making, organisational impact and innovation design. The report concludes with a framework for agencies and organisations to self-evaluate their equity strategies and an interactive self-assessment tool to apply to the design and development of innovations.
The report was launched in partnership with Taskforce participants from The Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).
