For sustainable growth, it is essential to ensure that future economies are both dynamic and inclusive; that opportunities are provided for all. Women/girls, gender minorities, persons with disabilities and other communities who are marginalised need to be integrated as both beneficiaries and shape social outcomes.
Despite recent progress, public engagement remains low for many who have been traditionally marginalised by prevailing social structures, perceptions and other barriers. This underpins the lack of an enabling environment to deliver transformative change.
Arts and culture promote creative expression and offer a safe space where a diversity of voices can flourish. Developing and sharing narratives about identity and cultural memory shape public debate, enrich creative expression and enterprise, and positively influence civil agency and social cohesion.
As a cultural relations organisation, the British Council has a role to play in ensuring there is equal opportunity for growth and advancement for all. We, therefore, place equality, diversity and inclusion at the heart of our ambitions. Besides embedding our EDI values across all programmes, we also run programmes like Women of the World, Creating Heroines, Disability and Arts to deliver:
- Increased awareness and agency
- Enhanced access to resources and opportunities
- Changes in attitude, beliefs, practices and discriminatory social norms
- Fostering dialogue, collaboration and collective action
