Exclusive: New COP puts global diversity and inclusion on the agenda

A newly-established community of practice is on the hunt for other global partners to enhance knowledge sharing on diversity and inclusion in business.

Diversity Council Australia (DCA) is joining forces with other diversity-focused not for profits around the world to form a new community of practice.

DCA is partnering with not for profits the Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion, Community Business, and Diversity Works New Zealand to form the Global Inclusion and Diversity Alliance (GIDA), which will share resources and knowledge to make workplaces around the world more equitable.

Speaking exclusively to Pro Bono News, DCA CEO Lisa Annese said the primary purpose of the alliance is “to bring together like-minded organisations”.

“The first purpose is creating a community practice where we both learn and share with each other and we are able to develop greater thought leadership that is useful and purposeful for the conversation,” she explained.

“But the second purpose is for us to be of use to our members. We’re a member based organisation, as are our alliance partners, and we all have members within our jurisdictions who… are global multinationals and they need a nuanced approach to diversity and inclusion that will make sense in all of the places where they do business. 

“And traditionally this has not been the way diversity and inclusion has been done. Many organisations who might engage with other global consulting firms might find that there’s a bit more of a blanket approach to creating change. And the purpose of the alliance really is to respect the fact that the local jurisdiction matters… and therefore diversity and inclusion is informed by the legal, social, political history of every country and the current matters that are operating in that country and the legal framework that’s operating in that country.”

GIDA will allow members of each organisation involved to connect with specialist knowledge in other parts of the world to help them better do business.

See more: Who are Australia’s inclusive employers?

Annese said businesses that operate both here and overseas are often challenged by different country’s views on issues around diversity and inclusion.

She cited examples of Australian organisations headquartered in the USA, that wanted to take an approach on cultural diversity and racism.

“The United States approach isn’t going to work here. We have a totally different relationship with race than what they do, for a whole lot of reasons. You need the local focus. You can’t just drag and drop,” Annese said.

“Our goal is to try and improve [our members’] capability in diversity and inclusion. And what that means is that I say to Australian members, you need a local partner if you’re trying to address a particular issue.”

Annese said often multinationals will engage a global consulting firm to help them on such issues, but that this approach misses local nuance and is not effective.

Plans to grow global diversity and inclusion

Annese said the founding partners hope to grow GIDA, and other global partners are needed.

“We’ve done a big search globally to try and find other entities on the African continent, South America and the Middle East. We are talking to people in Europe and the UK already, but we still want to grow the alliance so that it’s truly globally representative,” she explained.

GIDA members will meet regularly to collaborate on resource creation and sharing, and connecting local members with partners overseas. It’s expected resources could include things like creating an international conference or developing leadership tools.

Annese said the group is “long overdue”.

Another key objective is for all partners to be not for profits or NGOs.

“Profit is not our motive. Our motive is building diverse and inclusive economies and societies,” Annese said.

GIDA will be officially launched at the Whiria Ngā Kaha Workplace Inclusion Aotearoa 2023 international conference in Auckland.