International Alert
PeaceNexus supports International Alert in implementing its commitment to making diversity, inclusion and equity a priority.
The Partner
International Alert is one of the largest peacebuilding INGOs with projects in 21 countries and territories with activities in a further 26. It has a 35+ year history of supporting and working with local partners, engaging from the grassroots to policy level to solve the root causes of conflict. It is a leading voice on the Women Peace and Security agenda and gender-mainstreaming, as well as on conflict sensitivity in development and humanitarian work and in advocating conflict-sensitive management solutions for natural resources. The organization has also been a pioneer in engaging the private sector in peacebuilding.
Our Support
In its 2020 Resilience Plan, International Alert made it a priority to have the organization become greener, more diverse, equitable, accountable and inclusive. The next step was to fully operationalize this commitment within the internal practices of the organization as well as in its relationship with its local partners.
First Results
The process to date has driven change in three key areas:
- Establishing and embedding a steering committee on Gender, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that shapes and guides the organization in delivering change by mapping out key issues, formulating an agenda for action, working with teams across the organization including the executive leadership and make concrete recommendations for necessary changes in policy and practice to the Executive Team and Board of Trustees;
- Reviewing and revising organizational policy in human resources/people and culture in order to promote and ensure best practice in GDEI and move Alert towards being an actively anti-racist, inclusive and anti-discriminatory peacebuilding organization;
- Establishing, under the leadership of the GDEI committee and sponsorship of senior leadership, a Charter for Leadership and Accountability in Alert through a participative process, committing the organization to being diverse and equitable among staff and within partnerships, to having inclusive systems and processes, and framing how authority is exercised and resources allocated across the organization -clarifying issues around organization and organizationion of power and resources across teams and geographies.
These commitments are already translating into concrete changes:
- Alert’s Executive Team has been restructured to enable the representation of the Global Staff Forum, the country offices and the GDEI committee that play a full part in decision-making, consulting their members and colleagues in advance on all but the most confidential issues, and with agenda and minutes shared with all staff.
- The Board of Trustees is prioritizing recruitments from the Global South,
- The annual planning process, previously shaped by HQ, is now developed through an iterative process that delegates planning mostly to country teams.
- A Partnerships Review that takes the GDEI Charter as the basis for reflecting on and reshaping Alert’s relationships with local partners in its country contexts has been launched, steered by an inclusive group from across the organization.
Way Forward
In its next phase of support, Alert will continue to improve its internal capacities and processes so as to better embed the principles of the Charter. After a successful retreat of its Global Leadership team in November 2022, it will continue discussions to frame and adopt a new vision for Alert’s future that is fully aligned with its commitments to shifting power dynamics and fostering greater equity and inclusion. The new organizational strategy is being developed and framed around GDEI principles, led equally by HQ, regional and country teams representatives, and in close collaboration with the GDEI Steering Committee. These discussions will lay the foundation for a 2024-onward strategy which is to chart a path towards transformative structural and cultural change for the organization.