Our vision for equality, diversity, and inclusion

The BDA Strategic Plan 2024-2034 presents the long-term (10-year) strategic direction for the BDA and provides a detailed picture of how we are going to get there starting with the next three years (2024–2027).

The BDA Strategic Plan is presented as five strategic objectives with four golden threads.

Our first Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) vision and action plan has been designed to support the implementation of the golden thread of ‘a diverse and inclusive profession’ for the next three years (2024-2027).

This vision and action plan reflects our vision, values, core purpose and commitment.

Our vision

The realisation of the overarching aim of being a diverse and inclusive profession.

The BDA’s vision is to be recognised as an organisation that is anti-discriminatory, that ensures fair and equal treatment of all members, including equal access to support, opportunity and participation.

We protect the rights of all members, volunteers, staff, directors and contractors to be treated with dignity and respect regardless of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation.

We promote equality of opportunity for the dietetic community and work to remove barriers to career progression, promoting best practice in equality, diversity and inclusion.

We want to ensure our members are aware of their EDI responsibilities and are equipped with the necessary knowledge skills and experience to be working to the highest standards for everyone that they work with regardless of their backgrounds. We want to ensure that our members are actively anti-racist and anti-discriminatory and are confident and aware of their responsibility to tackle bias both conscious and unconscious, when they encounter it within the workplace.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to ensuring fair and equitable treatment for all (E) achieving a high level of diversity (D) and creating a sense of inclusion and belonging for all (I).

Equality is about creating a fairer society, where everyone is treated with dignity, respect and without discrimination. It is about challenging the environments and processes that limit an individual’s opportunities to succeed. Promoting equity provides the stepping stones to achieving equality. 

Diversity is the mix of individuals within the organisation and members that we represent. It is about recognising, understanding and valuing difference that individuals bring. By embracing these different experiences, skills, ideas, knowledge and abilities we can create an incredible dietetic workforce.

Inclusion is about taking deliberate action to create an environment and culture where everyone feels they belong, can participate and is valued for their contribution, experience and perspective. Everyone has a part to play in creating and promoting inclusivity and ensuring it is at the heart of everything we do. Without inclusion we cannot maintain diversity.  

Key priorities for achieving our vision

Inclusive leadership

We will be led by inclusive and effective leaders who embrace the challenge of creating a diverse and inclusive culture and the contribution it makes to the dietetic community.

Developing awareness and knowledge

We will provide training and resources to all BDA staff, board members, committee members and volunteers to develop knowledge and awareness of best practice in EDI.

Attracting talent and improving access

We will review our recruitment practices to ensure we are attracting talent from diverse backgrounds and removing bias from the process (both conscious and unconscious).

We will ensure our touchpoints with the BDA are accessible and that we are able to respond to our diverse community

Reflecting the dietetic community

We will reflect the diversity of the dietetic workforce in all areas of BDA work, including at BDA events, in BDA communications, on BDA webpages and socials and in BDA publications and resources.

Measuring and monitoring our progress

We will establish a baseline and use data and feedback to regularly measure our progress.

As an organisation we will:

1. Proactively seek opportunities to identify and eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation and ensure equity of opportunity for BDA staff, members (including student members) and volunteers
2. Influence inclusive cultures and diversity amongst BDA staff, members and volunteers and within the institutions that employ them, and those that educate and train our future dietetic workforce
3. Ensure that BDA staff, members and volunteers feel equipped and confident to, and do, speak out when they see bias or discrimination, and are supported to ask questions and challenge in a way that encourages constructive conversation and supports positive change.
4. Significantly improve the quality of our data and insights to inform our understanding and knowledge of the diversity and experiences of BDA staff, members and volunteers so that we can identify and address how they are impacted by our work, policies, processes and decisions
5. Ensure our decision-making is free from bias and discrimination and that everyone who has contact with us feels valued and respected
6. Develop and embed an inclusive culture, that encourages and values diversity and the uniqueness and experiences of BDA staff, members and volunteers, enabling them to be themselves and bring their whole self to work and study
7. Ensure robust practice, policies and procedures relating to EDI are transparent, established and embedded throughout the organisation and its work, with existing policies to be reviewed to include EDI as appropriate
8. Take positive action in recruitment and in staff development

What success will look like

Success will deliver the following outcomes:

• All BDA members can access all of our services equally (appropriate to their classification of membership) and feel included 
• BDA staff, members and volunteers are assured that as an organisation we are eliminating discrimination, harassment and victimisation and advancing equity of opportunity
• We can evidence that our data informs our practice, processes and decisions
• BDA staff, members and volunteers feel confident in speaking out when they see discrimination or bias whilst undertaking the work of the BDA
• We publish information about the EDI membership data that we hold within the annual report and the action we are taking across all our functions
• Our decision making is fair and free from bias
• We actively listen, learn and are transparent about our EDI challenges, hold ourselves accountable for progress, and set an example to all of our stakeholders
• A diverse workforce across BDA staff (including self-employed subject matter experts, and contractors) members and volunteers, reflecting the populations that we serve

Three-year plan

We will measure our progress against the vision through key performance indicators (KPIs), which we’ll set on an annual basis. These KPIs will reflect the priorities set out in this document.