Fauna & Flora International

Structural & Governance:

• Appointed a dedicated Wellbeing & EDI Officer in June 2023.
• Established a Global EDI Working Group with representation from across organisational levels, including People Team and Senior Leadership Team and regions, piloting a 6-month pilot structure featuring three threads: building community, learning, and action and advocacy.
• We have a dedicated and committed Governance, Equity and Rights (GER) team that integrates social justice into conservation projects design and delivery across our regions.

Recruitment & Access:

• Expanded job advertising to broader, diversity-focused platforms to address entry barriers.
• Using inclusive terminology in recruitment communications.

Community & Cultural Responsiveness:

• Conducting one-on-one and team meetings with regional offices to understand and adapt EDI & wellbeing offerings responsive to cultural contexts.
• Developing a Cross-Cultural Champions initiative recognising that EDI cannot be implemented uniformly across 40+ countries of operation.

Monitoring & Accountability:

• Conducted Diversity Surveys with comparative analysis from 2023-2025 published in 2025.
• Conducted research on internship programme diversity impact with actionable recommendations.

• Mentoring: Fauna & Flora staff across leadership and expertise mentor the Master’s in Conservation Leadership cohort at Cambridge University, which is predominantly Global Majority students. The mentoring provides critical support and guidance to emerging conservation leaders from underrepresented backgrounds.
• Research Projects: Partnered with the Master’s in Conservation Leadership programme through Eko Chalim’s research on Fauna & Flora’s UK Internship Programme diversity impact. This research revealed barriers including financial constraints (Cambridge living costs), geographic limitations, and recruitment processes that inadvertently favour highly qualified candidates. The findings and actionable recommendations are being integrated into the EDI Strategy to 2030 and contribute valuable evidence to the conservation sector on improving access to the profession.
• Support & Expertise: A handful of Fauna & Flora experts provide lectures to the Master’s in Conservation Leadership cohort, offering diverse conservation expertise and real-world insights to students from around the globe.
• Funding: Fauna & Flora funds the lead lecturer’s role for the Master’s in Conservation Leadership programme.

• Evidence-Based Programme Development: Completed comprehensive research on internship programme diversity impact, revealing that although paid internships represent progress, persistent barriers remain. The research provided actionable recommendations across recruitment, programme design, monitoring, and culture-building that will inform the EDI Strategy to 2030.
• Strategic Integration of EDI into Conservation Practice: Successfully embedded equity considerations into core conservation methodology through the GER team, ensuring community partnership, cultural appropriateness, and equitable benefit distribution are fundamental to all work.

Based on the priorities for 2026-2030 shaped by survey results and benchmarking against leading conservation organizations, Fauna & Flora has set the following objectives:

By End of 2026

1. Expand recruitment pathways and increase candidate diversity – Establish partnerships with at least 5 diversity-focused platforms and networks; measure success through tracking diversity of candidate pools compared to 2025 baseline and monitoring application rates from underrepresented groups.
2. Deliver comprehensive EDI training – Regional appropriate tailored to the countries we work with.
3. Strengthen accessibility support – Implement at least 10 new accessibility accommodations by end of 2026; track number of accommodation requests fulfilled and staff satisfaction scores regarding accessibility support.
4. Complete Global EDI Working Group pilot and establish ongoing structure – Re-evaluate 6-month pilot in Q2 (April) 2026; establish permanent regional and global thread structures with clear objectives and participation from all regions; track engagement metrics and outputs from each thread.
5. Build EDI objectives into all staff performance reviews – Ensure 100% of staff have an EDI-related objective in their performance development reviews by 2027; monitor quality and relevance of objectives.

External Accountability:

• Annual participation in The RACE Report UK.
• Membership in Diverse Sustainability Initiative (DSI).
• Partnerships with Union of Justice and Wildlife and Countryside Link.

Internal Tracking & Governance:

• Annual reporting to Board of Trustees – EDI progress updates as part of organisational governance.
• Senior Leadership Team oversight – global EDI Working Group includes Senior Leadership Team members who receive regular updates and maintain accountability.
• EDI Working Group monitoring – group composed of employees from all organizational levels tracking progress on EDI topics including inclusive recruitment, affinity groups, and EDI policies.

Progress Measurement:

• Training completion rates – tracking participation in Anti-Racist training, Unconscious Bias & Privilege training.
• Recruitment metrics – monitoring diversity of candidate pools, application rates from underrepresented groups, and impact of anonymized recruitment processes.
• Network participation – measuring engagement in POC Network, LGBTQIA+ networks, and other affinity groups.
• Accessibility accommodations – tracking number and types of accommodations provided.
• Staff satisfaction surveys – measuring employee experience and sense of belonging.