EDI

It is critical that we embed a commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion throughout our work, to ensure the services we provide to our staff, those of our network, our partners and local communities are appropriate, inclusive and respectful to everyone.

There are reports such as the ‘Home Truths’ [1] report and the ‘Sporting Equals Terminology Language Resource’[2] that encourage the sector to reframe the diversity debate and recognise that racism is a significant and unresolved issue in the charitable sector, as it is in the rest of society.

EFL in the Community embraces the perspectives of these and other research and looks to use them to help us move beyond “warm words on diversity” to meaningful action, using the recommendations of appropriate language to shape our approach. Importantly, we will consult with people from diverse backgrounds to ensure we are achieving this.

EFL in the Community seeks to ensure 30% male/female diversity in its Board of Trustees, as well as in its staff.

Whenever a trustee departs, a skills and diversity audit of the Board will be done. The skills, experience and diversity required for the new position will determine the approach to the open recruitment process. This will identify the most appropriate sources for advertisement, this will include appropriate social media forums. In particular preference will be given to advertisement in locations that will increase the likelihood of diversity of applicants.

The EFL in the Community Board of Directors is responsible for providing the organisation’s strategic direction and supporting the Senior Management Team.

Our EDI Vision:

EFL in the Community will provide an environment which is attractive and supportive for those from diverse backgrounds to join and thrive within. In turn, this will encourage our funded projects and those delivered by our Club Community Organisation network to similarly promote and celebrate diversity.

Defining EDI:

Equality is ensuring individuals or groups of individuals are not treated differently or less favourably, on the basis of their specific protected characteristic, including areas of race, gender, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation and age.

Diversity aims to recognise, respect and value people’s differences to contribute and realise their full potential by promoting an inclusive culture for all staff, partners and service users.

Inclusion is where people’s differences are valued and considered to enable everyone to thrive at work. An inclusive working environment is one in which everyone feels that they belong without having to conform and where’s people’s background, identify or circumstances enables them to make a strong contribution and to perform to their full potential.

Principles:

• Everyone has the right to be the person they are, to live without fear or prejudice regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, faith and belief, or a disability
• Everyone should be able to make a full contribution to society the way they want to make it and live in a world which demonstrates respect and values diversity
• All members of the EFL in the Community staff, volunteers and Trustees have a responsibility to promote equality, dignity and respect to celebrate diversity and to challenge unfairness and discrimination
• Equality, diversity and inclusion values and principles will ultimately be embedded in all ways of working with, commissioning and advising our CCO network

Values:

We recognise the value of EDI for our organisation as it will:

• Ensure that our staff and volunteers feel safe and supported in all that they do
• Lead to better decision-making, through a wider range of voices contributing to discussions in all parts of the business
• Enable the organisation to grow and thrive through the diversity and inclusivity of our workforce
• Ensure that staff are able to achieve their best, regardless of their personal characteristics and background
• Enable those with protected characteristics to have an equal opportunity to progress their careers.

We recognise the value of EDI for our network as it will:

• Ensure funding opportunities and programmes are appropriate to the varied needs of their local communities and ultimate service users
• Improve the breadth of experience for their service users, through increased diversification of participants
• Ensure that service users are able to achieve their best, regardless of their personal characteristics and background
• Increase the social value of their work by increasing support and opportunities for disadvantaged groups within their local communities.

Commitments:

In order to deliver the vision set out above, EFL in the Community aims to achieve the following, summarised from our action plan:

• We will set ourselves challenging goals and targets, and regularly review progress. We will be transparent with this information
• We will raise awareness and understanding of EDI amongst our staff, trustees and CCO network through communication and training
• We will increase the diversity of our own workforce by reviewing our recruitment, retention and development activities
• We will proactively seek out the views and opinions from those from diverse backgrounds or who consider themselves as a minority group, as part of our wider staff, stakeholder and user engagement activities
• We will ensure our policies and actions support our commitments
• We will collect and analyse data from our organisation and our network to identify issues and respond accordingly
• Our SMT and Trustees will champion our commitment to becoming a diverse and inclusive organisation, and will be held accountable for doing so.

The Action Plan:

The action plan has been created to outline a set of standards backed up with specific actions that the EFL in the Community team are accountable for overall and related to specific target areas as follows:

We will:

• Collect the demographics of the Board, staff and volunteers as part of ongoing audits, to understand whether our organisation is suitably representative and diverse. This will include level of seniority and pay if it is to provide detail to assess true representation and diversity within the organisation.
• Collect the demographics of staff and volunteers within the CCO network as part of ongoing audits. This should include information about level of seniority and pay if it is to provide the detail required to understand true representation and diversity across the network.
• Collect anonymised information about participants on EFL in the Community funded programmes (e.g., their needs and demographic profile) and use this information to assess performance against EDI objectives. This may be representation of participants v demographic profile of location; suitability and impact; accessibility v targeted; and help identify whether specific programmes need to be developed to increase engagement among under represented and / or specific groups in the community. A full review of existing programmes and a mapping exercise against local and national audiences is required.
• Gain an understanding of the wider activities delivered by our network (i.e. those NOT funded by EFL Trust), and whether these are similarly reaching EDI objectives.
• We will review all employment related policies to ensure compliance with all legal issues which relate to EDI and also review other good EDI practice.
• Review the EFL Equality Code of Practice to ensure we are in-line with all appropriate elements.

Increasing Knowledge and Understanding

We will:

• Establish partnerships with EDI, integration and cohesion experts and organisations to help inform and refine our practices.
• Provide training to Board, staff and volunteers on EDI within 1 month of joining the organisation and at least once every 2 years thereafter.
• Identify good practice amongst the CCO network on working practices and project activities.
• Consider EDI workshops and training opportunities for the CCO network as part of the Organisational Development Plan (ODP)

Measuring and Monitoring Progress

Once a baseline is established, annual audits and assessments will be carried out to measure and monitor progress against targets.

We will work with EFL to develop an Equality Action Plan including SMART diversity targets. Plan should be approved by both EFL and EFL Trust Boards and reviewed annually.

We will adopt a target of, and take all appropriate actions to encourage a minimum of 30% of each gender on the Board.

We will identify proportionate and appropriate actions to be taken to support and/or maintain diversity targets.

Governance and HR

We will:

• Ensure that the organisation has a comprehensive written policy in place which includes how to address areas of under representation and disadvantage in all aspects of operations, activities and services. This policy will be approved by the Board and reviewed every 3 years
• Review all policies and procedures to address EDI
• Review our current recruitment process to ensure we are providing the best opportunity to recruit a diverse workforce
• Involve user groups to help achieve a diverse workforce and make our internal services appropriate and supportive of all
• Keep written records of EDI training including dates, attendance and matters covered by the training
• Ensure that there is a process in place for reporting and managing incidents and allegations of discriminatory actions or behaviour.

Leading by Example

We will:

• Ensure that our ‘Code of Conduct’ for Board and staff includes specific approach to EDI
• Have a named lead / champion for EDI on Board and staff team

User Engagement

We will:

• Ensure staff have a mechanism to be consulted on and feedback on organisational approach to EDI
• Ensure the CCO network is kept informed and has the opportunity to discuss EFL in the Community and network issues around EDI
• Ensure that EFL in the Community consults and listens to external people (including our youth forum and expert organisations) beyond the EFL in the Community team and network

Business Activities

We will:

• Ensure that EDI policy, strategy and action plan should include objectives that are resourced and identified in the budget / business plan
• Ensure that when establishing an internal committee, panel or other working group steps will be taken and recorded to address membership and diversity.
• Ensure that when considering a new project or service and when planning its implementation, EDI issues should be fully considered. This should include considering barriers to participation for different groups and how these can be addressed; identifying and proactively seeking to engage hard to reach or socially excluded groups within the community; considering the accessibility of the organisation’s services in terms of time, duration, cost and location; using inclusive and accessible promotional and marketing materials designed specifically for hard to reach groups.

Celebrating Achievements

The Board shall ensure that the organisation prepares and publishes on its website information about its work to foster all aspects of diversity within its leadership, programme development and decision making, including an annual update on progress against the aims identified in the action plan.

The EDI action plan will be specifically identified within the Annual Report/accounts.

We will:

• Inform the CCO network of progress towards EDI targets and actions at conference and through the newsletter.
• Share good practice from CCOs including achievement of EFL Code of Practice.
• Ensure all communications documents, imagery and marketing material embed EDI and demonstrate the EFL Trust as a leader in diversity good practice
• Consider speaker and deliverer diversity in all EFL in the Community run/managed events including conference and update meetings
• Demonstrate a strong and public commitment to progressing towards achieving gender parity and greater diversity generally on its Board including, but not limited to, ethnic diversity and disability
• Have a marketing approach which supports other organisations and campaigns addressing EDI
• Ensure the organisation uses the correct terminology in all marketing material, publications, applications and meetings.

A progress report against our action plan will be published here in line with our annual reporting cycle.

[1] Home Truths: Undoing racism and delivering real diversity in the charity sector, published June 2020.

[2] Sporting Equals Terminology Language Resource’, published February 2021.