Adferiad Receive Two Awards for Cultural Competency Work

We are delighted to announce that we have received two awards for our rights-affirming work over the past year from the Diverse Cymru Cultural Competence Award Scheme! Our North Wales Head Office achieved the ‘Ruby Award’, with our Swansea office achieving the ‘Gold Award’, the highest award given via the scheme this year.

The Diverse Cymru, multi-award winning, Cultural Competence Certification Scheme, was conceived to celebrate and recognise the progress organisations are making toward breaking down barriers many Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups face in the workplace. The Diverse Cymru team works alongside each workplace to ensure that the changes being made go beyond just ‘ticking boxes’ and ensure significant, long-lasting changes to protocol and culture are taking place.  To attain an award from the scheme, organisations must evidence good practice by demonstrating:

• Inclusivity that provides a culturally welcoming and inviting environment
• Management commitment to embedding cultural competence within the workplace
• Mechanisms to communicate and consult with a diverse range of individuals
• Understanding of cultural competence and broader equality knowledge
• Sustainable and inclusive processes for monitoring the appropriateness of services
• Engagement to ensure the delivery of equitable person-centred services

The impact of the scheme for us has be profound. Since its start, we have trained a significant number of our staff in cultural competency and introduced cultural competent working groups throughout the organisation, which collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure best practice takes place. In addition to this, we have assessed how we work as a charity, from interpersonal interactions to decision-making and service planning. This has led to us starting a multi-year, rights-affirming programme in which we will:

• Establish organisation-wide values and behaviour standards
• Educate and support our staff and volunteers
• Collaborate with other organisations to ensure Adferiad is inclusive to all
• Advocate for and challenge discrimination or disadvantage in everything we do

This is a milestone achievement, and one which would not have been possible without the hard work that staff in our Head Office in Colwyn Bay and the staff at our Swansea Lakeside Office undertook.

At Adferiad, we realise he hard work does not stop there. We believe we have a moral responsibility to do more than just meet the minimum standards. As an organisation that advocates for important causes and serves a diverse community, we are committed to going above and beyond. Diverse Cymru have been an excellent support to us throughout the year, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with them and improving our cultural competence work going forward.