Anti-Racism Statement

Adferiad is an organisation that must ensure the rights of individuals are foremost in our minds in all that we do. But this is not enough: as a campaigning organisation, a conduit for the views of our beneficiaries, and as a large employer we have a moral duty to lead. As a charity we have a public benefit duty to do far more than comply with the minimum.
Conscious and unconscious bias continually impact on communities of colour and at their least reduce the opportunities for beneficiaries from these communities and at worst lead to loss of life, hardship, degrading and inhuman treatment, detention, and social disconnect.

We are anti-racist.

We are committed to improving our own understanding, and the understanding of all our stakeholders, of the appalling harm that racism in any form has on individuals, communities, and society in general. As a beneficiary led charity striving to be a Rights Affirming Organisation, we acknowledge that racism exists in our society and accept fully our responsibility both as a collective and as individuals to challenge and address all forms of racism wherever and whenever it is found. It should not take such tragic events as the murder of George Floyd for racism to be confronted and rejected.
We have seen worldwide revulsion at the treatment of people predicated on skin colour or appearance and we must find a way to both provide support for beneficiaries from communities of colour, and to join our voice to those groups who continue their battle to challenge racism and abuse. For those who have been subject to such behaviours we are sorry, and we declare that Adferiad Recovery will not condone or accept any such behaviour and will use our influence to both advocate for and to lead change.
Our Trustees have pledged to develop a Rights Affirming Approach to all areas of our work and to this end have tasked the Chief Executive and senior team with the following objectives:

• Embed the learning from the Diverse Cymru Cultural Competency Toolkit in our service provision to ensure we provide culturally sensitive services
• Develop a working group of stakeholders to identify issues within our existing practices and to identify what we need to do to deliver our ambitions in future
• Engage with experts in addressing racism and other discriminatory practices – both conscious and unconscious – and develop an organisation wide shared understanding of language, inclusivity, and bias for staff, volunteers, beneficiaries, and stakeholders
• Provide a Rights Affirming Organisational Policy and Plan to drive change throughout the organisation from the identification of beneficiary need, service accessibility, advocacy, engagement, service delivery, and organisational priorities
• Develop mandatory training for all staff and volunteers to ensure our ethos is integral to our behaviours
• Actively improve the representation across our organisation of people from racialised communities so that we and our clients may benefit from their understanding and experience while addressing some of the societal inequalities which can restrict opportunities for some of the most able individuals
• Review our progress annually with beneficiaries, stakeholders, and at Board level