EQUALITY, DIVERSITY & INCLUSION CHAMPION
Association of Translation Companies – EDI in language services
The Association of Translation Companies (ATC) is the leading voice for companies providing translation and interpreting services to the UK’s public sector and businesses across the world.
In the UK’s linguistically diverse, multicultural society, translation and interpreting enable fair and equitable access to public services in over 300 community languages from Acholi to Zulu.
However, due to its size and continuous, organic evolution, the public sector’s translation and interpreting landscape is highly fragmented, which complicates our understanding of the EDI landscape.
The way the ATC tackles the industry’s collective needs is two-fold: through research and through engagement with public sector commissioning organisations.
The ATC’s original research and public sector engagement help identify pathways towards diverse, inclusive translation and interpreting professions, and support a sustainable ecosystem in the procurement and provision of language services. Through increased understanding and visibility of the EDI and community languages landscape, the ATC is paving the way for more equitable, diverse and inclusive public sector procurement of the future.
Association of University Directors of Estates – Imbedding Equality Diversity and Inclusion into Strategy
Understanding an associations place in being an ED&I champion can be difficult.
As an association with a niche membership the Association of University Directors of Estates serves UK and International universities and their professional services employees. We knew we needed to do better both as an organisation; in our practices and processes, and as an association; in supporting our members.
So we took the leap and jumped in with both feet.
We started by creating a 3 year business strategy and underpinned it with a thread of wellbeing, equality, diversity and inclusion. We trained our staff with professional qualifications. We set up a member led focus group of university directors. We collected protected characteristic data from our members and used it to lead change projects. In 2 short years we have increased the number of females in the most senior roles by 10%. We have launched an education programme for over 3500 staff and fundamentally changed how we operate our events and how our association is governed. This is a great journey to be on.
British Cycling – Limitless Disability and Para-cycling Programme
In February 2022 British Cycling launched Limitless, a new programme of inclusive opportunities to support disabled people to thrive in cycling.
Co-created with disabled people, Limitless has been designed to address the stubborn barriers they face to getting involved in sport and physical activity, including access to adaptive equipment, regularity of coaching sessions and the number of accessible competitive events.
By working with the organisation’s affiliated clubs and other providers such as disability charities and schools, the programme is already succeeding in its ambition to provide more opportunities to ride and race, and providing grant funding for clubs to spend on equipment, coaching and events. This provision has been extended further thanks to British Cycling’s Official Partner Shell UK, who are generously supporting the programme.
British Cycling has bold ambitions to create a truly nationwide network of Limitless clubs and enable 5,000 disabled people to ride by 2026. After just four months the organisation has already supported the development of 39 Limitless clubs, who have welcomed 800 unique riders to participate in more than 300 sessions. It is hoped that five riders competing at the 2028 LA Paralympic Games will have benefitted from the programme.
The Institute of the Motor Industry – The IMI’s Diversity Task Force
The IMI is the professional body for individuals working in the automotive sector. Established in 1920 and now representing 92,000+ members, the IMI is still very much focused on ensuring the highest standards of vehicle maintenance and repair for road user safety. Like so many parts of the UK economy, the automotive sector is facing considerable skills challenges and is struggling to attract and retain good people. This challenge is heightened by a 20-year vacancy high, over-inflated salary expectations, and the biggest technology change the automotive sector has seen since the creation of the combustion engine – think electric, autonomous and hydrogen.
In response, the IMI has set out to shift perceptions both within and outside the sector to help attract, nurture and retain talent.
At launch, the Task Force had a specific focus on the greater inclusion of under-represented groups in automotive with three key strands:
• Attracting the Black, Asian and minority ethnic, and under-represented groups to the sector
• Helping the automotive sector become a workplace that embraces and encourages those facing physical and neuro disabilities
• Addressing the lack of gender diversity
The Walking Football Association
The impact that the WFA has had over the sport continues to be ambitious, innovative and far reaching. This is remarkable considering we are volunteer led and unfunded.
Supporting the huge growth of the sport in all formats in a myriad of ways– mixed, women only, impairment and globally. The sport is the fast growing in the world and the WFA is made up of an entirely voluntary group of individuals who are making impressive progress to make the game more inclusive, more diverse, more accessible and more visible.
The WFA is indubitably placing diversity at the heart of their objectives and engagement.
