Looking past language bias
The Innovation Services’s Diversity and Inclusion project “Reflections” advances efforts to drive cultural change within UNHCR and the wider humanitarian eco-system to increase diversity, inclusivity, and gender equity.
The project seeks to dig beneath the surface of our conversations around inclusion to understand how we innovate in the space of inclusion. We have reached out to people inside and outside of UNHCR, where vibrant discussions are ongoing, to find the stories and experiences that support the drive for structural and behavioural change.
Facilitating effective communication amongst people with diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds is a skill that is practiced on a daily basis in UNHCR, but there is always room for improvement. Language biases dissect a multitude of debates on organisational culture, management styles, and diversity, and intersect with how some view certain genders, ethnicities, and sexual orientations.
As UNHCR works to further embed diversity, inclusion, and equality into its structure and strategy, let’s not forget the vital role of language and communication as the precious interface of our relationships. Emilia helps us to delve deeper into this question.
