IDIA Equity and Inclusion Taskforce Reading List: The Power of Language
IDIA created Operational Taskforces under their 2020-2022 strategy in response to agencies increasingly focusing their efforts on internal, operational innovation and creating the right kind of agile, institutional environment that will enable them to be effective and efficient partners to others in the innovation ecosystem. The first Operational Taskforce launched focused on Equity and Inclusion where agencies examined and addressed diversity and equity within organisational objectives and workplace policies. Increasingly, these calls have expanded to include becoming actively anti-racist and inclusionary. For those committed to the work of development, these calls amplify the imperative felt while navigating the legacy and day-to-day work of addressing power imbalances and market systems that fail the most marginalised.
The Equity and Inclusion Taskforce was co-chaired by Kedest Tesfagiorgis (The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) and Kippy Joseph (The Global Innovation Fund) and the five exploratory sessions were co-facilitated by consultants Dr. Althea-Maria Rivas (SOAS, University of London) and Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou (Overseas Development Institute). Throughout the sessions the Taskforce consultants identified opportunities for asynchonous learning in the form of Weekly Reading Lists that focused on topics needing to be unpacked further within the group.
This blog series shares the four themed Reading Lists which address 1. The Power of Langugage, 2. Decolonising Development, 3. Intersectionality, and 4. A Watershed Moment. Each themed reading list includes three resources for those who have just a few moments to engae, those with a few minutes and those who have more.
If you have moments...
ARTICLE: If we can’t call racism by its name, diversity will remain a meaningless buzzword by Priyamvada Gopal (2019) | Find it here
This article shows how challenging inflammatory language can be hazardous yet provides a call to arms to actively acknowledge racism’s existence and try to rein in its power.
If you have minutes...
PODCAST: Intersectionality Matters! by Kimberlé Crenshaw (2021) | Find it here
Intersectionality Matters! is a podcast hosted by Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory. Her podcasts are aimed at shifting narrative and ideology by bringing together talented, smart people to have invaluable conversations.
If you have more…
BOOK: White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (2018) | Find it here
In this book, antiracist educator Robin DiAngelo deftly illuminates the phenomenon of white fragility and allows us to understand racism as a practice not restricted to ‘bad people’.
