Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)
“In This Together” is a 2-month-long online certification course that presents participants with the knowledge of the laws applicable and aspects that enhance / diminish wellbeing of marginalized communities at work, to strengthen implementation of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)) at work.
This course will be facilitated by lawyers, psychologists, psychotherapists and members of the community with lived experiences.
For a description of the program, click here.
About the Mascot:
Adopting the lens of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) when revisiting relationships, organizational frameworks and policies, means that firstly, we need to recognize that amongst us are those who are ‘othered’, the ‘black sheep’ who are not given a space at the table, nor the systems, access nor means to hold on to that space, let alone thrive in it. This recognition must allow us to understand that some of these perspectives may be unconscious and addressed nonetheless, casting up divides where there need be none, as we are all in this together.
Our Mascot spotlights the overt and subtle differences that lie present between all of us. We see that the black sheep needn’t be cast out of the spotlight, but must be given the space and resources to thrive.
What you need to know!
About the Course
This course serves to meet the ever- evolving and consistently growing demand for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) professionals with an affirmative perspective from all walks of life and across various industries, providing the opportunity to explore and delve deeper into the world of DEIB, alongside a cohort of like-minded peers.
Through engaging sessions that explore the legal and psychosocial framework and practicalities/realities within which DEIB initiatives exist as well as accessing industry mentors from across the legal and psychosocial space with lived experiences of marginalization, the participant has the opportunity to develop tools and skills to enhance understanding and practice both within the workplace and in everyday life.
22 hours of training
Spanning 9 days
Ongoing mentorship
Intriguing case scenarios, assignments and quizzes!
Access to peer support and learning
Access to giveaways as well as certification*!
Objectives:
The course delves into both the legal and psychosocial understandings of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) to support participants to:
- Understand and successfully apply the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) concepts to practice
- Identify the protected groups in their context and apply knowledge of Law and socio-cultural underpinnings to support them
- Weave Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) strategies into the organizational culture
- Demonstrate competency regards compliance measures required to foster inclusive workplace environments, and the psychosocial aspects required to ensure smooth and holistic implementation.
- Dismantle structural and social barriers as they may persist across the employee lifecycle
- Reflect within and invite paradigm shifts to support inclusion
- Adopt skills and tools that promote belonging as part of our everyday interactions
- Access a network of professional support
Unique Features
What to look forward for...
Peer Based Learning
Taking a cue from the spirit of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) the “In This Together” program is partly reliant on a peer-based learning model. This structure shifts focus from the hierarchical expert-learning model. This allows the participants to add to their course material from their lived experiences of being members of the community, allies, sponsors, social activists, mental health professionals, educators, students aspiring to work in this field, HR professionals and Diversity Managers.
Creation of a community
Multiple Mediums
Multi-Tiered Structure
Assignment
The program will conclude with an assignment that will help participants apply their learnings and build a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) roadmap for their own unique personal or organizational venture. To make the evaluation process inclusive and accessible, the form of the assignment can vary from an essay to a poem or a comic strip or a video script.
The participants will be able to choose the format for their assignments.
Structure and Format
This certification course comprises of multiple levels. These levels can be attended as individual workshops or as the multi-level certification program. For certification, a participant must complete all 3 levels as well as an assignment-based component of evaluation.
The “In This Together” program is spread across 9 live online sessions that explore different intersections that make up the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) journey.
Start your Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) journey with us with the Introduction to DEIB concepts workshop!
Go further in your understanding of the marginalizations of gender and sexuality and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives at work. To access the detailed course content, reach out to us by completing the contact form.
Go further in your understanding of the marginalizations of disability and caste and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) initiatives at work. To access the detailed course content, reach out to us by completing the contact form.
Level 1: Spotlighting Gender and Sexuality
- Module 1: Deconstructing Gender and Sexuality
- Module 2. Exploring forms of Violence (Gender and Sexuality)
- Module 3. Laws relating to Gender and Sexuality
- Module 4. Reshaping Organizational Culture (Gender & Sexuality)
Level 2: Spotlighting Disability and Caste
- Module 5: Deconstructing Disability (including Neurodiversity) and Caste
- Module 6: Exploring forms of Violence (Disability and Caste)
- Module 7: Laws Relating to Disability and Caste
- Module 8: Reshaping Organizational Culture (Disability and Caste)
These levels can be attended as individual workshops or as the multiple level certification program.
Reach out to the team to discuss your development path!
Medium of communication:
English
Mode of Learning:
Online
Facilitators
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) programs retrain the gaze of lived experience, they advocate passing the mic.
The facilitators of the “In This Together” program come with rich lived experience. Their psychosocial and legal expertise is based on decades of experience and tempered with their own identity of being part of a marginalized community, and the varying intersections within their identities.
Who can benefit from this course?
Do these questions sound familiar? This may just be the space for you!
The precepts of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging are the need of the day not only in professional spaces whether a big, reputed organization, or a grass-roots endeavour, but also in personal interactions.
Regardless of whether one is an established professional, freelancer, starting out their professional career or even trying to navigate personal relationships from the perspective of marginalization, a participant stands to benefit from this program that creates an immersive environment to delve into Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging concepts and practice.
Professionals who may especially benefit from the program include:
- Senior leadership seeking to pioneer inclusive, equitable and psychologically safe spaces and teams at work
- HR professionals wanting to immerse in consistent, thorough understanding of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) from the compliance and support perspectives
- Change makers at work, looking for ways to support their teams and colleagues
- Employees/ teachers / social workers / other professionals looking to upskill and build on content knowledge, leadership attributes and soft skill expertise
- Allies of protected groups at work, s eeking to understand how best to implement support structures at work
- Members of protected groups, with multiple vulnerable identities to understand their rights under the law, and navigate the workspace
- People actively engaging in advocacy for protected groups
- Lawyers who are curious the explore the psychosocial aspects of the Law
- HR persons excited about ways to re-envision, revamp and implement policy to include diverse folx at work
We recognize that we are not unidimensional individuals existing in silo.
Figure: Three intersecting circles highlighting the professional, personal and community-based spheres of one’s existence
We have intersecting and evolving identities and hence we highlight the support that can be accessed in other aspects of life by us through this program:
- Friends who want to understand and support those in their circles who may be struggling with systemic challenges owing to their belonging to queer / neurodivergent / other protected identities
- Parents looking to support their children navigate vulnerability or looking to provide their children with a democratic and conscious upbringing
- Mentors looking to develop skills to support their inclusive and equitable mentorship processes
- Community leaders and/or sponsors who want to locate systemic gaps in their communities and better address them
- Individuals who seek to understand themselves and their identities better vis-à-vis systemic and social structures.
This program is essential for anyone seeking to identify and unlearn their unconscious bias, and access a framework to foster Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging through their craft, and ways of being.
Why do we need to talk about Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB)?
Why shift gears in the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) space from “Good to have” to “Must Have”?
Well, here are some statistics:
As of 2024, total population of India is recorded at 1441.7 million people (UNFPA), of which 68.7% are in the age group of 15 – 64. People from this age group are employed across various organized and unorganized sectors in our country. According to MOSPI, Worker Population Ratio[1] in CWS in urban areas for January – March 2024 was recorded as 69.8% for males aged 15 years and over, and 23.4% for females aged 15 years and over.
We must ask ourselves:
What are those barriers that keep women out of the workforce?
What do these statistics really look like for people from the margins?
What about at the senior levels of any organization?
What other challenges are making it harder for vulnerable people at the workplace?
Furthermore, we must also recognize that these numbers are binary and do not capture the LGBTQIA+ experience, their presence or challenges at workplace.
While there is not enough collated data on the protected groups like the LGBTQIA+ community, disabled and/or neurodivergent persons, caste oppressed persons and ethnic minorities, we do know that:
- 55% of employees still experience bias in the workplace, including bias over gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation while 61% have witnessed discrimination at some point in their career (“The State of Workplace Discrimination 2021” AllVoices)
- 79% of LGBTQ+ employees in India feel their career growth has been hindered due to their gender identity, expression, or sexual orientation(Furthermore, a report by Accenture).
- A recent study by Careernet Prism further indicates that while 50% of the participants were open about their community identity at work and reported feeling supported by their organisations, they still shared that they face discrimination from co-workers and superiors.
With a population like India’s, even minority populations like the afore-mentioned groups run in the millions. Millions of individuals are falling through structural gaps because there is not enough information to illuminate their lived realities to begin with and perhaps not enough assurance that it’s safe for them to be openly themselves at work.
Oftentimes, individual employees come from multiple intersections of marginalizations. For instance, a queer disabled employee or a trans stakeholder from a caste-oppressed location will have very unique lived experiences based on the differing areas of marginalization within their identities.
So, how can we in our own workspaces ensure that diverse people are not just invited to the table, but are also able to maintain their space there? How can we create space to nurture and retain talent from protected groups if we do not consider consciously the challenges and intersections of their lived experiences?
This is exactly where the tenets of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging come in to reform any blind spots in organizational cultures. A robust DEIB program seeks to identify such structural gaps; inform organizations of how the structural barriers affect the experiences of a marginalized employee/stakeholder; and seeks to bring in avenues of redressal within the organizational infrastructure so that these gaps can be closed. That’s where a program like this can come in to support you!
Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population
Course Fees
Are you an early bird? Don't miss out on our early bird discounts!
We are offering discounts as below:
earlybird15% – Available until 7th July 2024
earlybird10% – Available from 8th July till 15th July 2024
Connect with our Team!
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the structure of the course?
The course has multiple levels.
Foundational Workshop: Introduction to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) Concepts 27th June 2024
Level 1: August 2024
Level 2: September 2024
What is the duration of the course?
Foundational Workshop: 2 hours
Level 1: 10 hours
Level 2: 10 hours
For further details please submit your details on the Query form.
What is the focus of each Level?
The modules of all the Levels are created to address the rights of different protected groups. For further details please submit your details on the Query form.
Is the course chargeable?
Yes, the course is a paid one. For further details please sign up here.
Does the Course offer financial support?
Yes, it does. For further information please submit your details on the Query form.
How can I apply for the course?
Learners can apply for the course by signing up here.
Who can take this course?
This program is designed to support your growth and skill when engaging in the professional space, as well as within personal and community interactions!
Given its affirmative understanding, the course is also suitable for psychologists, mental health professionals, and people from the community. Artists, social activists, parents, friends, allies who want to learn about ways to support diverse protected groups can also apply for the course. To know more get in touch with our team!
Who are the Facilitators?
The course facilitators are mostly lawyers, mental health professionals, and people from the neurodivergent, queer and trans communities. For further details please submit your details on the query form.
Testimonials
For me it's a very insightful session.....Normally we keep thinking that gender is the only thing [area of focus] when we hear about Diversity; but the way this session ... unfolded [I found] there's so much to learn. And now I literally feel that it's a journey... It's not only about this session and it's not only about two hours - so I personally am looking forward to that certificate course that you're talking about because this is such a subject [where] there is no end to the learning. And when we actually implement this learning at the workplace, this can play wonder. So I'm very excited and I look forward to learning more on the subject so that I can make a difference at the workplace.
DEIB, as a concept, is something that has not yet become mainstream in higher education. Attending the workshop helped me gather some knowledge about the fundamentals of DEIB, and the essential need for it in today's workplaces. I liked the visual aids and activities in the workshop, which served as a great icebreaker. Hopefully, I can use the learnings from this workshop for advocating for DEIB in my workplace in future.
I have worked with the Equilibrio Advisory team for several years now, availing their services for building safe and inclusive workspaces. Our association has not only been in terms of onboarding for POSH compliance and services, but also having conversations around DEIB, mental health support for employees, and improving Workplace Wellbeing. These services have spanned interventions like offering therapeutic support, skill building workshops awareness and sensitization sessions– bringing focus onto marginalized groups including women at work. The training and awareness sessions have been particularly supportive, engaging and informative, with facilitators being well informed, on pulse with current issues and high levels of interaction even on virtual platforms that has brought in positive feedback from participants regularly.
Samriti recently facilitated a session on casual sexism at our institution – this was very empowering and went a long way towards setting expectations at work, challenging the often-dominant social ideas that oppress groups and increase vulnerability. She also created a space to deconstruct internal bias and social influences that prevent creation of inclusive and safe professional environment for all. Samriti handled this conversation with nuance and sensitivity, bringing examples from her vast expertise, keeping the session interactive and supportive – even through a virtual platform. We look forward to working with Samriti again.
Snapshots from our past events...
