Discrimination and racism, as well as inequality, injustice, lack of diversity and structural barriers, partly define the society around us. At Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), we too have heard voices within the organisation calling for greater determination to advance on these issues. Racism and discrimination have no place at MSF. By their very nature, they go against the founding values of our organisation, but we recognise that we are not yet where we would like to be. We know that this problem manifests itself in different ways, from individual behaviours to more systemic aspects, and deeply affects many people. We are determined to ensure it disappears from our organisation, and we will do everything it takes to eradicate it. At MSF, we have zero tolerance for discrimination or any other type of abuse. 

The internal debate about the existence of barriers and harmful practices that still prevent us from being a truly inclusive and diverse organisation is ongoing and necessary to accelerate this change. There is an overwhelming alignment at all levels: we have to make this a priority and bring about rapid change. We unequivocally believe that by being a diverse organisation in terms of gender, race, origin, religion, nationality and sexual orientation, we will be stronger, fairer and better equipped to meet the challenges of the future. We have been constantly working on this and are firmly committed to removing any barriers and other forms of abuse that we identify. We have made it very explicit in our "Strategic Orientations 2020-23", as reflected in this extract: 

"Everyone in the organisation will feel welcome, valued, and have equal chances to grow and develop professionally and personally through equitable access to services, information and opportunities We are committed to implement the necessary mechanisms to overcome these obstacles that still hamper equity (i.e. Rewards Review, internal mobility, gender-based policies)." 

A constant challenge 

However, these actions do not start now. We have been making our way towards global diversity in our organisation for several decades. For example, in recent years, we have increased the number of staff in our offices outside Europe. Mainly in West and East Africa and Latin America, although also in West Asia and North Africa. In addition, we have opened more and more key positions in these offices, with the aim of giving non-European personnel greater access to high-level posts, while also bringing them closer to our field operations, the raison d'être of our organisation. In this regard, three of our five operational cells have been relocated to regional offices in what we call the 'Global South', in Nairobi (Kenya), Amman (Jordan) and Dakar (Senegal). 

The key is also in training. In this regard, we have designed a series of training programmes for MSF workers from the Global South, with a focus on women from African countries. These programmes are designed to guarantee equal opportunities for MSF staff from non-Western countries, so that they can grow within the organisation and reach positions of responsibility. In addition, we have increased the training offer and access to online training for our locally hired staff (more than 90% of our teams). 

From an international point of view, all these measures have resulted in the percentage of coordinators from the Global South increasing from 24% to 46% in the last 10 years. If we look only at MSF Spain/OCBA projects, this percentage is 50%. In any case, we are far from where we would like to be, but we are taking decisive steps to achieve more diversity in our workforce and make MSF a truly diverse organisation, where racism has no place. 

In this sense, we organise training sessions and awareness workshops at all levels of the organisation in terms of diversity, equity and inclusion. In all these sessions, we talk about discrimination in all its forms: due to gender, sexual orientation, religion, and also, of course, racism as a form of discrimination. 

On the other hand, MSF recruiters receive specific training on impartial and unprejudiced recruitment. We have also specifically focused on diversity among our recruitment teams, especially in the regional offices we have in different countries. 

Finally, our internal policy clearly states that the organisation is committed to preventing, identifying and addressing all complaints related to discrimination. 

Our commitment remains firm 

To ensure that the measures taken and commitments made to our workers remain firmly in place, we have created a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Unit linked to General Management, and we have reinforced the Behaviour Area. We have developed a comprehensive diagnostic tool to detect all the barriers and harmful practices that still exist within the organisation, and very soon we will launch a participatory process to ensure that we identify them as completely as possible. We have come a long way since our beginnings and there has been a lot of progress Our field coordination teams have changed dramatically in the last decade, becoming much more representative of the diversity of our global workforce. 
 
However, we continue to lack that diversity in the headquarters office and in the leadership positions of the Executive and the Association. Some barriers have already been identified and dealt with, while others are still being addressed, but many more still have to be looked at. Once we identify them, we will stand firm in removing them, and we will make plans to address issues that cannot be overcome by changing a policy alone. 

We are taking decisive steps to improve things, and at a much faster pace during the next period. We also commit to measuring progress and being accountable for results every year. 

We encourage everyone to freely contribute to the discussion to make us stronger. Discussions about racism and any other form of discrimination are often emotional, arousing strong feelings and opinions. However, we must not let that discourage us from participating in this healthy process. 

We unequivocally need change to happen faster. With the collective conviction, commitment and political will to fight against racism and other discriminatory practices in our organisation, we can and will make a real difference.