Equity and Inclusion Self-Assessment Tool
The IDIA Equity and Inclusion Taskforce was designed to address the interrelationship between equity and inclusion, the individual, the institution, and the innovation development space. A four-part reading list was curated to support the Taskforce participants in their ongoing learning on the individual-level. An insights report on reflective equity and inclusion practices and the correlating conducive institutional environment for these practices to take place was created to capture the institutional level-learning. Insights from the report informed the development of a tool to self-assess equity and inclusion in the design and development of an innovation across five themes: motivation, ownership, environment, action and assessment. The tool will support users in exploring questions related to the equity and inclusion considerations in an innovation:
What are the wider systemic inequities of the context relevant to the innovation (eg: by sector, by actor, by country)?
Who has decision-making power in the design, implementation and assessment of the innovation?
How has accountability for designing an inclusive and equitable innovation space been established?
Is there a commitment to a reflective E&I practice?
The tool does not assess the equitable and inclusive outcomes of the innovation but rather provokes an assessment of its design and development with the assumption that establishing a more inclusive and equitable design process will result in more equitable outcomes.
THREE STAGES OF THE TOOL
Stage 1: Identify the Innovation. This stage is to encourage the use of a broad innovation definition to include an innovation policy, a process innovation, an innovation programme, or an innovative partnership.
Stage 2: Self-assess the Innovation. This stage explores the objectives and guiding questions of the five identified themes. Key performance indicators are matched to each guiding question. Users complete a checklist associated with the key performance indicators to reveal a final score.
Stage 3: Map the Innovation to the Rubric. The self-assessment score can be mapped across an equity continuum that ranges from Equity Neutral & Perpetuating Inequality to Equity Conscious, Equity Responsive, and Equity Transformative.
RECOMMENDATIONS BEFORE USING THE TOOL
Re-assess at regular intervals. Despite the tool’s focus on design, innovations can be assessed at any stage of development and users are encouraged to commit to assessing the tool at regular intervals to continue a reflective practice of improving the innovation’s consciousness and commitment to equity and inclusion.
Start with an equity & inclusion strategy at the institution level. The entity that houses the innovation is recommended to create or evaluate its equity and inclusion strategy and action plan before engaging with the tool to assess a specific innovation. Whether the entity is a large organisation, a small team, a university, a social entrepreneur or a corporation, a specific strategy will set the wider equity context that the innovation will be impacted by.
It’s not about the score. The goal should not be to get the highest score but rather users are encouraged to take their reflections from the tool to inform ways to develop a more equitable innovation.