1. Art and Diseño

newsletter
The professional body of equality and diversity practitioners
IEDP newsletter number 34
In this issue:
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Dates, deadlines and reminders page 1
New Year reflections by Denise
Rabor page 2
Reading your Roots project page 3
Diversity calendar by Yasmin DamreeRalph pages 4 - 5
New EHRC resources on human rights
for children and young people page 5
New IEDP board member page 6
Research study on disabled
entrepreneurs by Eva Kašperová page 7
TUC’s charter for Racial Justice in
Education by Leander Neckles page 8
Account of the most recent Board
meeting by Ruth Wilson page 9
IEDP accreditation dates
If you are quick you still have time to
apply for the next round of IEDP
accreditation. The date for expressions
of interest is 31 January. You would
need to confirm and pay by 13 February
and submit your portfolio by 27 March.
Further details on our website
January 2015
Still time to apply for
the role of IEDP
Chair
As mentioned in our last
newsletter the deadline for
applications for the role of
IEDP Chair has been extended until Friday
30 January 2015, as we found that our
advertisement did not reach as many
people as we had intended.
The key competencies for the role are
available on the events page of the IEDP
website at http://www.iedp.org.uk/
events/view/the-iedp-is-currently-seekingto-recruit-a-new-chair If you wish to apply
please send a CV to our office by 30
January 2015. Shortlisting and interviews
will take place in early February.
This is an unpaid voluntary position for
three years starting in March 2015. The
role involves chairing the IEDP Board and
leading it in its aspiration to develop a
more strategic approach to setting and
implementing the aims and objectives of
the IEDP.
Don’t forget to renew your IEDP membership - your annual subscription was due on 1 January
newsletter
New year reset - new
year refocus
By Denise Rabor
So here we are in a brand
new year - it's 2015 and we
are 15 years into the new
Millennium - imagine, 15
years! There were so many dreams,
aspirations and goals surrounding the
millennium, and of course many of those
revolve around equality, diversity and
inclusion.
For example according to the Gender and
Race Benchmark 2014 women and Black
Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) employees are
less likely to be identified as ‘high potential’
or be selected for leadership training overall see more here
Organisations have been very focused on
making sure that they have policies and
procedures that cover diversity and
inclusion but the challenge is making sure
that these policies are fit for purpose and
don't become mere ‘tick box exercises'.
Here are some goals for leaders to consider
for 2015:
It has been an impressive few years, with a
 Leaders need to understand the need to
growing clamour for accountability in
model the desired behaviours. It really is
organisations globally for improved diversity
pointless having policies that the
and inclusion policies in relation to all
leadership don't buy into.
groups, helped along by the game changing  'Unconscious bias' is a major stumbling
2010 Equality Act, which aimed to eliminate
block to successful and sustainable
virtually all forms of discrimination that had
diversity and inclusion policy
been lingering in dark corners. Yay!
implementation. Perhaps offer workshops
that highlight biases and challenge people
Diversity has become more visible thanks to
to consider how they affect their
the Act, as well as the work done by
behaviours and decisions.
organisations like the IEDP and The Equality
and Diversity Forum. We've also witnessed a  Leaders need to be transparent about the
value they place on these policies and
surge in award schemes aimed at individuals
then need to incorporate them into their
and organisations who excel in this area,
business strategy, with clearly defined,
pushing the barriers and taking the lead in
time limited goals. Ultimately if diversity
organisational culture change, most
and inclusion are part of the mission and
recently The National Diversity Awards. And
vision, they will eventually become part of
of course we can't forget social media which
the organisation’s DNA.
has also become an incredibly powerful ally.
 Having diverse teams all the way to
leadership level will impact positively on
So while there is much to feel pretty good
your organisation’s bottom line.
about on the diversity landscape, it is the
New Year and with that comes the need to
Don't judge those who try and fail, judge
not just reflect on our accomplishments but
those who fail to try
more importantly to look at where we need
Anonymous
to intensify our efforts and set goals for the
year ahead.
Denise Rabor is the IEDP’s newest board member (see page 6)
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newsletter
Reading your Roots
to share poems they loved, or in some
cases had written themselves. I was lucky
enough to attend one of these and found it
a very positive occasion,
thought-provoking and, at
times, very moving.
By Ruth Wilson
At the beginning of February
an interesting and innovative project is
getting off the ground in Birmingham run
by The Hearth Centre, an organisation
which aims to harness the transformative
power of the arts and use professional
theatre to trigger discussion about how
services can be changed or improved.
The Hearth Centre also
produced an anthology of
poetry from the Reading for
Well-Being project, called
‘Turning the Page.’
The Hearth Centre was set up in 2003 by
its Artistic Director Polly Wright, who is a
theatre director, performer, facilitator,
writer, lecturer and performer. The
Reading your Roots project builds on
earlier work done by Polly in association
with her colleague, poet and children’s
writer and editor Mandy Ross, using poetry
and short stories in mental health
settings. This earlier scheme, Reading for
Well-being, involved training current or
former mental health service users in
reading aloud poetry and short stories. The
trainees were then placed in mainstream
settings such as libraries and community
centres, to use the readings as catalysts
for discussions with people about mental
health issues. The idea was for people to
be encouraged to make links between the
poetry or stories and their own experience,
and through this process promote better
understanding of mental health, both for
the participants and in the community.
The Hearth Centre now has Awards for All
funding to run the Reading your Roots
Project, which uses the same model but is
specifically about reading stories and
poems translated from different
languages and exploring the experience of
diaspora.
The Hearth Centre will be providing a free
training course which will cover:
 Setting up a Reading your Roots group
 Choosing reading materials
 Reading aloud skills
 Facilitating group discussion
 Stories and poems translated from
different languages. Starting points
include Rumi, Faiz, Anita Desai,
Miroslay Holub, Imtiaz Dharkar and
Daljit Nagra.
The course lasts for five half days and
participants will need to attend all five. It
will run from 10 am to 1 pm on Monday 2
February, and Tuesdays 10 February, 3
Funded by the ‘Time to Change’ initiative, March, 10 March and 17 March. The
this project was very successful and
organisers are keen to attract participants
culminated in two events, one at the
who are bilingual, speak English well and
Birmingham Rep and the other at the
would be keen to set up a group within a
Midlands Arts Centre, called Poem in your community setting.
Pocket. These consisted of the mental
health service users involved in the project Email [email protected] if you
reading some of their favourite poems in are interested or can help by suggesting
the first half, with an ‘open mike’ in the
suitable places to advertise the course.
second half for members of the audience
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newsletter
Diversity calendar:
January and February
2015
27th January
Holocaust Memorial Day
Day of remembrance for
the victims of the
Holocaust and of other
genocides. The 2015
theme is ‘Keep the
memory alive’. www.hmd.org.uk
By Yasmin Damree-Ralph
This year the IEDP newsletter is
introducing a new feature - a diversity
calendar of the current and forthcoming
month. Let us know what you think...
February is:
January is:
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Cervical Health Awareness Month
Celebration of Life Month
National Glaucoma Awareness
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LGBT History Month
World Cancer Awareness Month
Youth Leadership Month
12 February
Darwin Day
11 January
The idea of International
Human Trafficking Awareness Day
Darwin Day is to inspire
Human Trafficking
people throughout the
Awareness Day
globe to reflect and act
began in the USA in
on the principles of
2007 and is
intellectual bravery,
dedicated to raising
perpetual curiosity, scientific thinking, and
awareness of sexual slavery and human
trafficking worldwide. Although originally hunger for truth as embodied in Charles
Darwin. http://darwinday.org
a U.S. initiative, the United
Nations has begun to highlight this topic
and to work towards global awareness.
14 February
Valentine’s Day
Each year on February 14, many people
exchange cards, gifts or flowers with their
special ‘valentine.’ The day of romance we
call Valentine’s Day is named after a
Christian martyr and dates back to the 5th
century, but has origins in the Roman
holiday Lupercalia.
18 January
World Religion Day
The third Sunday in January is
annually celebrated as World
Religion Day.
Followers of every religion are
encouraged to acknowledge
similarities between different faiths.
www.worldreligionday.org
15 February
Nirvanna Day
An annual festival celebrated on 15 Feb by
some Buddhists that remembers the
death of the Buddha when he reached
Nirvana at the age of 80. It is also known
as Parinirvana Day.
http://buddhism.about.com/od/
19 January
Martin Luther King Day
Celebrating the memory and
legacy of the American civil
rights campaigner.
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[continued on page 5]
newsletter
Diversity calendar
[continued from page 4]
17 February
Shrove Tuesday / Pancake Day
The day before the beginning of Lent,
which is celebrated in many countries by a
feast. Lent is observed by many
Christians, including Anglicans, Lutherans,
Methodists and Roman Catholics. Like
many European
traditions
Pancake Day was
originally a pagan
festival.
18 February
Ash Wednesday
A day of fasting, Ash Wednesday is the
first day of Lent in Western Christianity. It
occurs 46 days (40 weekdays plus 6
Sundays) before Easter.
19 February
Chinese New Year
The date of Chinese New Year is
calculated according to the Chinese lunar
calendar, hence the
date is different
each year on the
Gregorian
(internationally
used) calendar, but
always in the period
January 21 to
February 20.
Chinese New Year
2015 will be the year of the goat. For
people born in the year of the goat (1919,
1931, 1943, 1955, 1967, 1979, 1991
and 2003), 2015 is considered an
auspicious year.
They are honest, intimate, and can be
easily moved by the misfortune of others...
Read more on the personality, career, and
love suggestions for those born in the year
of the goat and other Chinese zodiac
animals here
20 February
World Day of Social Justice
Social justice is an underlying principle for
peaceful and prosperous coexistence
within and among nations. We uphold the
principles of social justice when we
promote gender equality or the rights of
indigenous peoples and migrants. We
advance social justice when we remove
barriers that people face because of age,
class, culture, disability, ethnicity, gender,
gender identity, race, religion or belief,
or sexuality.
Click here for
further
Information about
the World Day of
Social Justice.
New Online Resource for Children
and Young People
On International Human Rights Day
(10 December) the Equality and Human
Rights Commission launched a new online
resource for children and young people - to
learn about the United Nations Convention on
the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The aim of their Plain English factsheets and
video animation is to inspire young
people to learn about their human rights, and
how they can be involved when the UK
Government is next reviewed by the UN
Committee on the Rights of the Child. Click
here for more details.
‘Goats’ are said to like to be in groups.
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newsletter
Welcome to our
new Board
Member
Management Institute (MCMI) and the
Recruitment and Employment
Confederation (REC).
Having spent a lifetime in business,
the one thing that I'm certain of is
that there is a sad lack of diversity in
all sectors and particularly in
leadership. It's fascinating to me that
although the world is becoming a
smaller place thanks to international
trade, travel and social media etc.,
the people who keep businesses
going are not represented in the
leadership and governance of those
businesses.
The IEDP Board is
pleased to welcome
Denise Rabor, who
joined us in January.
Denise is an advocate,
facilitator and expert on
(female) leadership, entrepreneurship,
human resource development and women
in business, with a specific emphasis on
diversity. She has also lectured in
leadership and management.
I love the fact that I see clear linkage
between the aims and objectives of
the IEDP and my work and life
experience; this is especially true of
the goal to promote equality in
professional practice, with an
emphasis on increasing dignity,
respect and choice in business, the
workplace and society as a whole. I
believe that this is the only way to
create truly diverse leadership in
business.
As an entrepreneur she has over 25 years
business experience in the health and
social care, recruitment and beauty
sectors. She is joint Chief Executive Officer
of a private sector care home business
and more recently is the founder of
Leadership3sixty, a website dedicated to
diversity in business.
She is an Associate of the Chartered
Institute of Personnel and Development
(CIPD), a Member of the Chartered
Could you help the IEDP?
Do you have experience and expertise in marketing and branding? As part of the
IEDP’s business plan we would like to review and update our branding and marketing
and would welcome any help that you could give us on a voluntary basis. You would
not necessarily need to join the Board, but we would welcome any advice, support or
ideas that you could offer.
Please contact the IEDP office if you can help - or pass
on this request to anyone else you know who might be
able and prepared to support us in this way.
Thanks!
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newsletter
Research study on
Disability and
Entrepreneurship
participants will receive an executive
summary of the findings and I will credit
those who wish to be acknowledged.
How you may be able to help
Taking part in the study involves a face-toface interview lasting approximately one
All self-employed people
hour. You will be asked several questions
need access to resources and market
about your personal and business
opportunities in order to start and operate
background, motivations for becoming
a business successfully. This study looks
self-employed, any barriers you may have
specifically at how people with different
faced in setting up and running a
impairments and health conditions build
business and your experiences of
relationships with customers, employees
interacting with customers and others.
and finance providers, to gain this access.
With your permission, I will audio record
the interview so that I do not have to
Relevance of the study
make many notes. You have the right to
Disabled people are more likely to
withdraw from the study at any time
become self-employed than the working
without giving a reason.
population as a whole, yet they are
under-represented in business research
Ensuring confidentiality and anonymity
and policy. The study examines individual
Your responses to the interview questions
motivations for entering self-employment,
will be kept confidential. The audio
the barriers to accessing resources such
recording of your interview will be
as information, advice and finance, and
transcribed, all the data will be stored
the experiences of business support. In
securely on the Kingston University server,
this project I hope to:
and the recording will be erased on
 provide independent research into start
completion of the study. Some of your
-up and management experiences of
anonymised quotes may be used in
people with various impairments and
publications, but at no time will your
health conditions
actual identity be revealed.
 Give a voice to disabled people in
business research and policy-making
If you are interested in taking part please
 Generate new role models for aspiring
contact me on 020 8417 5463 or email
entrepreneurs.
[email protected]
By Eva Kašperová
Outcomes
One of the outcomes will be to draw out
practical implications that may be of value
to disabled people, policy-makers and
support organisations. On completion, the
findings will be available in accessible
formats and disseminated through
conferences and publications. All study
Thanks to the Jane Hunt from the
Association of Disabled Professionals for
drawing the IEDP’s attention to Eva’s
research. The ADP advises disabled people
thinking about setting up their own
businesses and growing their business, see
www.adp.org.uk www.startability.org.uk
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newsletter
The TUC’s Charter
for Racial Justice
in Education and
the Race Equality
Charter Mark for
Higher Education
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By Leander Neckles
The Charter for Racial Justice in Education
The TUC launched the Charter for Racial
Justice in Education in March 2014 in part
because ‘despite many years of equality
legislation, racism in education still limits
opportunities for many.’ The Charter is
designed to ‘bring together the longstanding concerns of parents, students, teachers,
academics and the wider community and
acts as a set of demands for educational
institutions.’ The Charter can be located on
the TUC’s website together with additional
information on how it can be used. The TUC
aims to develop this resource further to
support activities by trade unions, voluntary
and community organisations and others.
What does the Charter cover?
The Charter builds on previous legislative
obligations and good practice associated
with the old Race Equality Duty. It covers
four key areas in relation to the role of
educational institutions, their role as:
a) employers
b) communities of learning for diverse
groups of students
c) bodies responsible for safeguarding our
shared intellectual heritage
d) a resource for the whole community
universities with a copy of the Charter,
asking local trade unions, religious
organisations, community groups and
clubs to support the Charter
writing to local newspapers about local
support for the Charter and what it
means for local areas
holding local launches and organising
street stalls to publicise issues of racism
in education and local campaigns.
UNISON’s call and the work of the ECU
UNISON, the leading trade union
representing support staff working in higher
education in the UK, has built on the TUC’s
Charter and presented evidence to the
Equality Challenge Unit (ECU) calling for the
establishment of a race equality charter
mark for higher education in the UK.
UNISON argues that there is extensive
evidence that:
a) Black staff are under-represented at all
senior levels in higher education
b) there are significant adverse career
progression challenges facing BME staff
in the education sector
c) an ethnically-diverse higher education
workforce positively affects the ability of
institutions to deliver core services to
diverse student population.
The ECU is currently running a trial of this
new race equality charter mark for higher
education.
Leander Neckles is a freelance equalities
consultant and a member of the IEDP. A
longer version of this article was originally
published in April 2014 in the Race Equality
Foundation’s newsletter and the IEDP is
The TUC is encouraging the use the Charter grateful for permission from the REF and
as a local and national campaigning tool to Leander to reproduce a summary of it here.
The full briefing, along with several others
make education accountable. Key
written by Leander, can be found
suggested activities include:
in the members’ area of the IEDP website
 writing to local schools, colleges and
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newsletter
Account of the last
IEDP board meeting
Ruth Wilson
As usual, here is a brief
account of the most
recent IEDP board meeting.
This was held via Skype
and took place on Tuesday 6 January.
Finance
There was a discussion about IEDP
finances and membership. Management
accounts for the period up to the end of
December had been circulated before the
meeting, together with financial
statements for the year.
Drew Wilkins reported some interest that
had been expressed to him from a deputy
head about a school membership of the
IEDP. It was agreed that he would explore
what the school might want and suggest
they join as a team membership for £550.
Fellows of the IEDP
There was a discussion about whether
people being asked to be Fellows should
sign the IEDP’s Code of Practice, or if we
Contact us
The Institute of Equality and
Diversity Practitioners
2 Old College Court,
29 Priory Street,
Ware, Hertfordshire,
SG12 0DE
Tel: 0844 482 7263
fax: 0844 8225 215
email: [email protected]
web: www.iedp.org.uk
Follow us on Twitter
@IEDPorguk
would need to write a different version as
some may not be currently working as
equality and diversity practitioners. If they
are IEDP members they will have already
signed the code.
Recruitment of Chair
The advertising of the vacancy was
discussed and next steps agreed for
arranging the interviews.
Accreditation
Kate Hinton had circulated a paper prior to
the meeting about the process for renewal
of accreditation after three years, and
some amendments were made.
Business plan review
Progress on the business plan was
discussed and it was agreed to write an
article for the next newsletter about this,
when we have reached the end of the first
six month period.
Next meeting
The next meeting will be on 17 February
2015 and will be held by Skype.
And finally...
We hope you enjoyed reading this newsletter and
would welcome any feedback or suggestions about
how we could improve it for the benefit of our
members. If you have any ideas for future editions or
would be interested in writing an item for the next
issue please contact Ruth Wilson on
[email protected]
The deadline for contributions to the next issue is
28 February 2015 . Please circulate this
newsletter to anyone who may be interested in our
work or who may wish to join the Institute.
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