Select committee: International Development Committee
Recommendation 32
First Report - Racism in the aid sector
Published 23 Jun 2022
Paragraph 83
Addressed to Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
International Development Committee The philosophy and culture of aid All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
It is the responsibility of those in the sector who hold the most power to increase diversity, inclusion and transparency, and be accountable for the steps their organisations are taking to dismantle structural racism. Responsibility for engendering culture change and increasing diversity within aid organisations should sit with the senior leadership of the organisation. Whoever is leading this work needs sufficient seniority to be able to drive it forward without fear of reprisals. Likewise, responsibility should not sit solely in human resources departments; the vision must be adopted by the senior leadership, and it should be embedded throughout the workforce. Leaders must ensure that everyone understands their own personal responsibility to promote a zero-tolerance culture towards discrimination, abuse and harassment.
From: International Development Committee, First Report - Racism in the aid sector (HC 150), paragraph 83, 23 June 2022
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 23 January 2023 (deadline 23 August 2022).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government says it takes racism in the aid sector seriously and is already working to address it, but it declines some recommendations, including a review of reserved department status and requiring funded organisations to publish diversity data.
- On local partners, it states that the FCDO "does not value international expertise over local expertise" and points to existing measures, including a 10% Social Value weighting in tender evaluations and a Due Diligence Hub.
- On reserved department status, it says "There is currently no plan to review" it, citing the threat to FCDO staff from state actors.
- On diversity data, it says requiring funded organisations to publish it "may not always be either appropriate or possible". It does not currently publish ethnicity pay gap data, and the Cabinet Office "is expected to issue guidance" in 2023.
- On terminology, it says it is "exploring taking part" in the sector debate led by Bond. On convening, it will "continue to look for opportunities" to support the sector on inclusion.