We believe that everyone should be able to achieve their full potential, regardless of their age, protected characteristics, ethnicity, or socio-economic standing. Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Approach looks at the root causes of inequality and outlines practical ways that we are addressing them.

We have identified the following systems and structures that can hold people back.

• Lack of pathways into employment
• Lack of training and development opportunities
• Financial difficulties
• Lack of access to power and diversity of thought

Here is a snapshot of how we are tackling these issues:

Expand pathways to employment:

• We approved paid volunteering leave for staff to enable them to develop their networks and skills.
• We invite accomplished individuals who have lived experience as a refugee or migrant to share their experience with our staff and volunteers.
• We actively encourage people with lived experience to apply for positions at the Welsh Refugee Council and provide extra support via our Education and Employment project.
• We provide interview questions in advance to support those where English may not be their first language.
• We ensure that each interview panel includes a person with protected characteristics.

Identify training needs of our staff and volunteers:

• We provide English language classes and tuition to help our volunteers and staff progress their English language skills.
• We encourage our staff to take up development courses that are run by institutions like Institute for Leadership Management.
• We provide staff with up to 5 days of paid study time per year.
• We secured funding to deliver a project with Ella Forums to increase training opportunities for lived experience staff in officer and administrative roles.

Facilitate Financial Inclusion:

• We became a Real Living Wage Employer in 2020, and our base-level pay of £10.54 per hour for administrative roles is higher than the real living wage and sector average.
• We run our payroll on the 15^th day of the month because waiting until the end of the month for pay can increase financial anxieties and reduce wellbeing for new staff. And we provide salaries in advance where requested.
• In partnership with Race Council Cymru and Bawso, we delivered a grant programme, distributing 31 grants to Black, Asian, Minority and Ethnic community groups across Wales.

Diversify thought and access to power:

• We rotate chair positions at all levels of meetings to enable staff to practice and showcase their leadership skills and to share power.
• Our CEO continues to meet each staff member for lunchtime chats.
• We encourage small group discussion and feedback in our monthly all-staff meeting.
• We encourage staff to use Ask SMT form which enables staff to raise a query anonymously.
• We hold focus groups to develop our strategy, and our Lived Experience Group helps to feedback on the way we work.

We are proud that a quarter of our staff have come up via our Volunteering Pathway, and over 50% of our staff have migrant heritage. Working in an environment of diversity and inclusion makes us feel more connected, and our lives richer.

We are an organisation that embraces change, and we are always trying to improve our way of working to be more inclusive and equal.