Anti-Racism and Social Inclusion

How we work matters for human dignity and our relationships. CDA is committed to practicing what we value most – listening, learning, and taking action to more explicitly incorporate anti-racist values and practices into our work.

CDA’s Anti-Racism and Social Inclusion Goals Include:

Educate ourselves; do the internal anti-racism and social inclusion work
Make our organization more explicitly anti-racist and inclusive; actualize inclusivity in practice; ensure we are living up to our values and mission
Ensure we are accountable to longer-term anti-racism and social inclusion work

Background

In June 2020 CDA’s platform members issued a statement in solidarity (see below) of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, which recognized that “we have work to do to understand how we can help dismantle the systems of institutional racism that contribute to violence against Black people in the United States.” As an organization, we were deeply touched by the tragic events and the outpouring of protests against racism and police brutality in the summer of 2020 and, since then, have sought ways to renew and reshape our ongoing journey toward equity and social justice. Part of this is also recognizing the related global structures that contribute to racism in the development sector and everywhere.

Black Lives Matter: A Statement from CDA Team Members

At CDA Collaborative Learning (CDA), we uphold, unequivocally, that Black Lives Matter.

American society is structured on a legacy of racist violence against Black people. This legacy persists today. Swift and urgent action is needed to come to terms with and eradicate this pervasive structural and physical violence.

This is a moment to speak and state clearly that we condemn police violence against Black people in the United States.

This is also a moment to listen. CDA’s mission compels us to listen to Black people in the United States, their experiences, and their demands for change.

CDA was founded on the recognition that conflict is everywhere and that it is everyone’s responsibility to listen to people most affected by conflict and other crises. Although we are an organization based in the United States, our work and attention has an international focus. We recognize we have work to do to understand how we can help dismantle the systems of institutional racism that contribute to violence against Black people in the United States. We at CDA commit to practice what we value most, by listening, learning, and taking action to more explicitly incorporate anti-racist values and practices into our work.

Signed: Nanako Tamaru, Sabina Robillard, Lillie Ris, Kathryn Nwajiaku, Brett Northfield, Ben Miller, Maureen Moriarty-Lempke, Sarah Cechvala, Grace Boone, Dost Bardouille, Ruth Rhoads Allen, Siad Darwish, Gabe Collins, Seth Owusu-Mante, Ajay Saini, Hasi Edema, Becca Fogel

Since June 2020, CDA has engaged in intentional conversation about how to act on “our commitment to practice what we value most, by listening, learning, and taking action to more explicitly incorporate anti-racist values and practices into our work.” We also recognize that structural inequity and discrimination extend beyond race and have broadened our scope to include social inclusion as well.

CDA has developed an Action Plan that maps how we will live into our anti-racism and social inclusion goals across all areas of the organization.

Action Plan

This Action Plan serves as a ‘living document’ for CDA’s 2021-22 fiscal year. It is a starting place that gives general direction for what CDA will do to create a more anti-racist and inclusive organization, together. It includes how the Action Plan was developed, guiding principles as well as specific action items that CDA will take over the next year to become a more anti-racist and inclusive organization.

Click here to download CDA’s Anti Racism and Social Inclusion Action Plan

About the Task Force

CDA’s anti-racism and social inclusion work is led by the Anti-Racism and Social Inclusion Task Force, a staff-led initiative, as well as the Task Force’s Advisory Group, made up of CDA Leadership, Board Members, Associates, and others from our platform. If you would like to learn more, or get connected, please reach out to Grace Boone at [email protected].