Presenting the Fall Recipient of AfP’s Champions of Change Award: InterAction!

The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) is excited to announce that InterAction has been selected to receive AfP’s Champions of Change Award for Fall 2022! The Champions of Change Award highlights AfP member organizations serving as catalysts for change to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the field.

InterAction is a proven leader working to create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive community through its integration of DEI efforts in its own programming and its game-changing DEI Compact, launched in May 2022.

“As NGOs, it is our responsibility to do more to address systematic and systemic issues of racism, sexism, tribalism, inequality, inequity. While the launch of the DEI Compact was an important milestone for the InterAction community, it is really just the first step in our community’s journey to more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organizations.”

- Noam Unger, Vice President, Development Policy, Advocacy, and Learning

The DEI Compact seeks to promote greater DEI throughout non-governmental organizations by bringing organizations together around a clear set of Commitments Toward Greater Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to recognize and advance DEI in the sector. These commitments represent a set of concrete actions to address systemic and systematic issues of racism, sexism, tribalism, inequality, and inequity. The Compact seeks to enhance integration of DEI principles in organizations’ operations, programs, engagement and advocacy, learning, and communications. The DEI Compact currently has over 75 signatories consisting of leading organizations across a variety of sectors, including six AfP members.

“Our DEI Compact serves as a collective promise to do better in concrete ways and embody the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our programming, operations, learning, and advocacy. We greatly appreciate the contributions made by our member organizations and partners that led to the creation of this compact.”

- Michelle Neal, Interim Senior Manager, DEI

InterAction also highlighted the need for greater DEI during InterAction’s 2022 Forum: Toward Greater Diversity, Equity and Inclusion where panelists discussed concerns about the way in which DEI has been operationalized and improvements and milestones they hope to see in the future. InterAction is pursuing enhanced DEI through its DEI Advocacy Subcommittee to ensure its members incorporate an equity lens in its policy work with governments and institutions.

In addition to the commitments of the DEI Compact, InterAction also compiled a compendium of resources for practical implementation. These resources address a wide range of topics applicable to the international development and humanitarian community. Specific topics include Anti-Blackness and Racism, Disability and Inclusion, Ensuring Inclusion, Safety, and Belonging for LGBTQIA+ Staff and Communities, Mental Health and Well-Being of INGO Staff, Locally-Led Development and Localization in Humanitarian Response, Decolonizing Aid, Interpreting and Operationalizing DEI: U.S. vs. Other Global Contexts, Diversifying the Sector, and Communications.

AfP is encouraged by InterAction’s commitment to advancing DEI. We are proud to have InterAction as a member and to honor them as our latest Champion of Change!

Follow InterAction on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn and click here to learn more about how to become an InterAction member.