All charities, regardless of size, need to have an equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategy, experts told leaders last week.

Gamiel Yafai, CEO of Diversity Marketplace, and Nathan Nalla, the director of Be the Riot, spoke recently at ESG Imperative, an event organised by Civil Society Media. In their talk, the pair highlighted the importance of having an EDI Strategy regardless of the size of your organisation.

“It doesn’t matter what size your business is – it’s vital you have an EDI strategy.”, Yafai said.

Yafai continued that some charities and voluntary sector organisations feel “they are not big enough to have an EDI strategy” - an assumption Yafai feels needs to be challenged.

He continued that charities need to become "more diverse as a whole, not just in one department."

Be the Riot provides workshops that help organisations create a more inclusive work environment. Nalla said it is important charities check for “gaps that might exist” in terms of equality, diversity and inclusion so they are able to address them.

“The first piece of advice I’d give to any of you is to find out where you are at in terms of good diversity and inclusion practice. Most organisations run off and do different initiatives, some might do reverse mentoring or unconscious bias training, but you really need to know where you are as an organisation.”

As someone who has worked on the topic for 21 years, Yafai stated he felt EDI has “moved more in the last three years than I’ve seen in the previous 18.”

As part of the sector's commitment to EDI, Nine Dots Development are offering a training course entitled Uncovering and Overcoming Unconcious Bias With Staff:

We have all heard of ‘bias’ which often leads to people making decisions based not on logic, but on the way they perceive or think about things. This is not unusual; in this webinar, you will learn that humans subconsciously develop biases and are not always aware of them. “Is that a problem?” I hear you ask – the answer is, it could be – think of the impact it could have on recruitment or promotions. This free webinar will helps you understand how to help others uncover and overcome their unconscious biases and consider how this might be useful for the organisation.

You can book your place on this course here.