Global Health Corps’ Vision for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Global Health Corps commits to working toward a more inclusive, equitable world where all people can live healthy, dignified lives.

We are deeply grateful to the many bold activists and leaders, especially those with historically marginalized identities, who have relentlessly advocated for greater diversity, equity, and inclusion in the global health sector and our world. We honor their expertise and follow their lead.

Key Definitions

Diversity is the richness of difference on a collective scale. It is the presence of a breadth of lived experiences, perspectives, and identities.

Equity is allocating resources in a way that allows everyone to thrive. It goes beyond equal treatment to meeting the varying levels and types of needs that exist within diverse groups impacted by systemic power imbalances.

Inclusion is an active and intentional practice. It is fostering an environment where all people are valued, safe from discrimination, and equipped to contribute as their full selves. It is letting people lead the way in defining, vocalizing, and shaping decisions about meeting their needs in a dignified way.

Health equity is all people everywhere having the opportunity to attain their full health potential and live a dignified life. It requires both the removal of systemic obstacles and the provision of quality, accessible healthcare to all people. It is the founding principle and uniting belief of the Global Health Corps community.

Acknowledgments

“Colonial aspirations were often the crucible of efforts to improve health in order to reach other, usually extractive, goals.” —Paul Farmer, Peter Drobac, and Zoe Agoos

We acknowledge the following contextual realities within the global sector and our own organization:

• The global health sector emerged during the colonial period and continues to reproduce historical patterns of unequal power relations today.
• Health inequities fundamentally persist because diversity, equity, and inclusion have not been realized and translated into lived realities in many spaces around the world.
• The same individuals who are disproportionately impacted by health inequities — including but not limited to those who are Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), women, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and others (LGBTQ+), differently-abled, and/or poor — are also under-represented in leadership within global health organizations and institutions.
• Activists who have been historically oppressed have advanced diversity, equity, and inclusion in global health even at great risk to their own careers and lives.
• Individuals and institutions that are privileged by systems of oppression — including but not limited to those who are white, wealthy, able-bodied, cisgender, heterosexual, and/or educated — in global health have a responsibility to yield power and to hold their counterparts across the sector accountable to do the same.
• The ongoing effects of white supremacy culture and its attendant oppressions reside within our own organization.

Our Commitments

To cultivate diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) within GHC as an institution, we commit to:

• Listen, reflect, learn, grow, repeat.
• Dedicate human and capital resources to cultivate an inclusive team culture with structured feedback mechanisms to allow for ongoing evolution.
• Provide structured opportunities for staff to engage in an ongoing DEI learning journey.
• Identify and acknowledge instances of harm in GHC’s history as a first step to promote healing.
• Acknowledge and dismantle any inequities within our policies, practices, systems, and programs; report and monitor progress.
• Intentionally cultivate board, staff, partners, and vendors who are collectively diverse.

To catalyze systemic change towards greater diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the global health sector, we commit to:

• Continue to foster a more diverse leadership pipeline in global health through intentional recruitment and selection practices for our fellowship program.
• Strengthen inclusivity among our growing community of 1000+ leaders to optimize collaboration and, ultimately, impact on health systems.
• Document, measure, curate, and share learnings, resources, and progress made towards increasing DEI in global health to inspire and inform others — including other NGOs, governments, individual funders, and foundations — on the journey.
• Showcase and contribute to the evidence of how advancing DEI in global health leadership strengthens health systems.

Read about our journey to deepening our commitment to DEI in 2020 here.

Read about the steps we took to create our Vision here.

Later in February, we’ll be launching a partnership with a DEI consultancy firm to support our work in Phase 3 of the task force and beyond. Stay tuned for updates.

Global Health Corps (GHC) is a leadership development organization building the next generation of health equity leaders around the world. All GHC fellows, partners, and supporters are united in a common belief: health is a human right. There is a role for everyone in the movement for health equity. To learn more, visit our website and connect with us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook.