Our Commitment to Equity
The Global Strategy Lab‘s (GSL) mission is to advise governments and public health organizations on how to design laws, policies and institutions that make the world a healthier place for everyone. Our commitment to equity is integral to our mission, and it drives how we approach our research and policy work as well as how we operate within GSL. Our Lab-wide Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Committee spearheads and champions EDI strategy, planning and communication at GSL.
Inequities in health research and policy based income, race or ethnicity, sexual orientation migrant status, gender, age, socioeconomic status, disability and other bases of discrimination have historically contributed to significant and ongoing inequities in health and society at large. Here is how we contribute to research that recognizes and confronts inequities in health research, policy, and governance:
We are developing intentional approaches to integrate equity into all our research work. This includes the creation of training and guidelines for incorporating EDI considerations in research questions, study designs, methodologies and data collection, analyses and interpretation, and dissemination. We also incorporate equity considerations and dimensions into our advisory services projects.
Partnerships with organizations and individuals in low-and-middle-income countries (LMICs), and from equity-seeking groups, form a core part of our research and policy engagements. For instance, the AMR Policy Accelerator provides services, free-of-charge, to organizations and institutions in LMICs to ensure that cost is not a barrier when seeking technical support. GSL also proactively plans workshops, webinars, events, and conferences to ensure diverse participation across LMICs, genders, and career stages.
We recognize that different experiences and viewpoints are a critical driving force behind innovative, creative, equity-minded research. Here is how we contribute to an equitable work environment at GSL:
We strive to foster an environment of equity and diversity across our team, starting with our commitment to an equitable hiring process. Our hiring committee members have access to EDI-focused training, tools, and resources, and always ensure that accessibility mechanisms are in place and communicated to applicants throughout the hiring process. Our job postings use non-gendered, inclusive, unbiased language, and are widely circulated to facilitate gender-diverse and intersectional hiring.
We are committed to ensuring all our employees are aware of their rights and have equitable access to accommodations. We demonstrate this through the implementation of organization-wide guidelines for the broad accessibility of internal and external events, incorporating EDI considerations in the language we use and our communications, as well as policies focused on employee rights, safety, and accommodations.
We want to ensure that each member of our team is heard. To facilitate ongoing input from the team our EDI committee actively updates and communicates on EDI-focused activities and policies at the Lab. The EDI committee also distributes a yearly team survey on equity, diversity and inclusion knowledge, views and experiences at the Lab, with the aim of leveraging these insights for priority-setting around EDI initiatives at the Lab going forward.