Equal Opportunities Policy

ACHFN's decolonial approach to equity, anti-discrimination, access, and accountability across governance, employment, partnerships, and programme design.

Policy statement

ACHFN states that equity, justice, and decolonial practice should be embedded across all parts of its work rather than treated as a separate compliance task.

The document positions racism, sexism, classism, ableism, and other forms of oppression as structural issues that require dismantling barriers and redistributing power, resources, and opportunity.

Governance and leadership
Employment, recruitment, and professional development
Membership and participation
Partnerships and commissioning
Service delivery and programme design
Research, evaluation, and knowledge production

Decolonial approach

The policy rejects the idea that equality means treating everyone the same and instead argues that neutral approaches often preserve existing inequalities.

Nothing About Us Without Us
Centring marginalised voices
Structural, not just individual, analysis
Reciprocity and repair
Cultural safety

Protected characteristics and beyond

ACHFN affirms the protected characteristics in the Equality Act 2010 while also naming additional barriers that affect equitable participation.

Age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation
Socio-economic disadvantage and class-based exclusion
Immigration status
Caring responsibilities
Neurodiversity
Experience of trauma, including racial and intergenerational trauma

Operational commitments

The document commits to Afrodescendant-majority representation in governance, paid participation for board and community contributors, accessible meeting formats, anonymised recruitment stages, and accommodations without burdensome processes.

It also commits to fee waivers or reductions, interpretation, outreach to excluded communities, solidarity partnerships, open-access knowledge production, and clear complaints processes.

Monitoring and accountability

ACHFN says it will monitor progress through diversity audits, disaggregated participation data, community feedback, and regular reviews led by those most affected by inequality.