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Our Commitment to DEI

At Women for Women International, we know that our people and organizational culture provide the foundation to achieve our mission. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are central to everything we do.

In keeping with our values, our philosophy on diversity is based on respect for one another and recognition that each person brings unique attributes to the organization culture regardless of their age, gender, race, ethnicity, language, religion, disability, sexual orientation, family status or veteran status. WfWI will be most successful in meeting its mission when we fully value the life experience, skills, and potential of all our staff members across the world.

It is the responsibility of WfWI’s leadership and management to model our engagement for diversity, equity and inclusion and support staff to bring their whole self at work. It is incumbent upon each staff member to share the responsibility of creating and maintaining an environment of mutual respect.

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Our Global DEI Focus

The need for diversity, equity and inclusion work has been most frequently associated with the American political and social experiences—racial injustice, gender disparity, and harassment. However, the importance of DEI applies just as readily to the international community. Colonization and European ethnocentrism have adversely impacted the global community through resource and power imbalances. There also exist country-specific ethnic and religious dynamics that make DEI an important matter to address on a global scale.

Our Vision

Women for Women International believes that diversity, equity, and inclusion represent the essence of who we are. Our commitment to these values is steadfast and foundational across all of our work around the globe. They are central to our mission and to our impact. We know that having diverse perspectives and providing an inclusive and equitable environment for everyone helps generate better ideas and better results in meeting the challenges in providing critical support to the women we serve.

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Our Guiding Principles

The following are the four (4) guiding principles to which we commit as we work to achieve our DEI goals.

Engagement

The work of DEI must be an organization-wide commitment in which staff are encouraged to be their authentic selves and are inspired to do their best work.

Cultural Agility

To interact comfortably and effectively with people from another culture. We must have global or cultural fluency, ability to integrate oneself into a foreign environment, build awareness of the other cultural practices, and be able to work across countries and cultures.

Transparency, Accountability, and Sustainability

Consistent and clear communication of DEI values and aspirations by leadership; internally developing a workplace where transparency is the standard practice.
Integration of accountability for DEI through measurement: recruitment, pay, performance management and professional development.
Recognition that DEI is a cultural shift—being intentional about learning, measuring change and interrogating organization assumptions.

Enhancing Diversity

Develop, implement, and enhance policies, programs, practices, and systems to improve and increase diversity across all office locations, job levels and work units.
Develop and implement a broad, intentional outreach strategy to attract talent from diverse sources.

You Can Create a Ripple Effect

”Just as ripples spread out when a single pebble is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.” —Dalai Lama

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