One of the chilling impacts of the Stop Work orders from USAID, and the ‘programme reviews’ that are underway is the reaction of organisations that have previously championed DEI, gender, LGBTQIA rights, feminism and anti-racist practice. We have seen some actors remove these words from their websites, and recast programmes as ‘politically neutral’, rolling back from the language of rights, and of the work they are doing with the LGBTQIA+ community. At the same time, we have heard in our interactions, particularly with progressive funders, of the scale of need of organisations and movements working on human rights of the most excluded and marginalised.
A commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion is one of INTRAC’s core values. Our strategic framework is underpinned by an intention to evolve our own organisational model with a focus on becoming truly diverse, anti-racist and feminist. We believe this is fundamental to our vision of transformative change to civil society eco-systems: so that local and global organisations are supported to develop, engage with others, and do what they want to, better, to deliver just, equitable and sustainable societies.
Our voice in the sector is relatively small, but we also occupy a position of privilege and power; because of our diversity of relationships, and because we are active behind the scenes, supporting others in their work, rather than designing or delivering programmes ourselves. We know that the work others are doing as human rights defenders, and in their commitments to working with the most excluded groups are of vital importance and central to building a better world, a more just, fair world where every person is able to enact their human rights, thrive and live a life of dignity. This is a world which we want to be part of. We therefore want to reassert our commitment to diversity equity and inclusion, feminism and anti-racism and our commitment to continue to act as an ally to, and remain in solidarity with, all those working to keep focused on these issues, in the face of this moment where decades of progress is being threatened.