Being anti-racist
We've established an Anti-Racism Group for our members and NAVCA staff.
The group aims to hold us to account so we're confident that our actions and operations are demonstrably anti-racist; and work closely with our members to encourage them to be actively anti-racist.
NAVCA's Anti-Racism Group
Equity, diversity and inclusion lie at the heart of NAVCA’s mission and the statement of values embedded in our constitution states quite clearly: NAVCA is committed to challenging oppression and prejudice and aims to promote both diversity and full access to opportunity in all areas of its work and structures. 2020 underlined the historic and continued structural inequalities and racism in our society and within our organisations and institutions.
NAVCA positions itself as having a unique voice and role within the sector through our representation of our members and their own unique role within the local voluntary sector. We have a two-fold aim: to address these issues within our own organisation, to be confident our own actions and operations are demonstrably anti racist; and work closely with our members to be actively anti racist. However, as an organisation we have not been as active as we could and should have been in addressing systemic issues of inequality in our own structures and work, and as part of the movement of local social action we have little to no data or understanding of how effectively our members promote diversity or support inclusion locally.
So, we set out to establish an Anti-Racism Group who's purpose is to create a space to raise, discuss and challenge racism where we see it – be that across central and local government, the public sector, the media and the voluntary sector – including our own organisations, other local infrastructure organisations and those they support.
We published our Statement of Intent in September 2021, which you can read here. Please note that this is a live document and will be regularly reviewed and updated as we learn.
In March 2022, we published our Anti-Racism Statement and Call to Action, which we encourage all our members to commit to. If you would like to sign up, please email emily.lewis@navca.org.uk to add your organisation's name to the statement. You can read the full statement below.
In June 2022, we published our Trustee recruitment strategy, aiming to bring a wider a range of perspectives to the NAVCA Board.
If you would like to contact us about this work, please email maddy.desforges@navca.org.uk.
