Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Statement and Commitments

Last Updated: August 2020

At Skills and Volunteering Cymru (SVC), we know that the power of our communities comes from diversity and difference. As a charity that supports vulnerable people we also know that these differences are not always appreciated in the way they should be, and that extra care and attention needs to be paid to making sure everyone is treated as they deserve. We want to ensure that we are continually reflecting on whether we are doing enough to support individuals within SVC and our wider community, because we believe that equality, diversity and inclusion should not just be a thing we do, it should be core to the way we act and behave throughout our work. 

To truly reflect our wonderful community, we need to work harder to recruit and support a diverse group of volunteers, staff and trustees. We also need to make sure that anti-racism and intersectionality of all the protected characteristics on this page are consistently high on our agenda. We hope that increasing transparency by publishing our commitments is one way that we can show you that we are doing this. 

At SVC, we are committed to promoting and developing equality, diversity and inclusion in our actions, projects, and practices.

1. We commit to setting up an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) role on our Board of Trustees, which will help us continue to have honest and candid conversations that lead to action and change within our staff and Trustee teams;
2. We will ensure our developments within EDI are discussed at every SVC Board meeting and staff meeting;
3. We will reach out to more marginalised groups, with the aim to involve more demographically diverse groups into the work that SVC delivers;
4. We will promote initiatives and campaigns, policy changes (at local, national and international level) to aid our EDI development within SVC;
5. Our Trustees and staff commit to educating ourselves on EDI and how it affects our actions and our work;
6. We will share current EDI resources, and places to donate (if you are able to do so);
7. We will produce resources to support our beneficiaries, volunteers, partners and staff to develop their knowledge of EDI and the nine protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010;
8. We will continue to provide volunteers and beneficiaries with the opportunity to self-describe characteristics, request any reasonable adjustments, and outline other important information on SVC application and referral forms;
9. We will continue to encourage anyone to apply for Lead Volunteer roles on SVC projects regardless of their protected characteristics;
10. We will continue to offer a variety of projects in order to appeal to diverse groups of volunteers and beneficiaries. Project commitment is flexible as we are mindful that SVC participants have a range of responsibilities, e.g. employment, childcare responsibilities, study, medical conditions, access to transport.

We would like to strongly encourage any of the SVC or local community to contact the SVC Board of Trustees if they have suggestions or concerns, and pledge to treat these with the attention and respect they deserve.