04/14/2021
Insper brought together its Diversity and Accessibility committees to create a new forum dedicated to the themes of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
In April 2021, Insper’s Diversity and Accessibility Committees will be merged into a single new structure through creating the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.
The coupling of the two commissions reinforces the Insper Community’s goal of becoming a transformation agent for building the society we want for future generations. With this move, the school intends to unite complementary agendas without hierarchizing and disqualifying differences.
For Bruna Arruda, Insper professor and the coordinator of the new Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, diversity, besides being an ethical imperative for Insper, is a feature that needs to be recognized in its specificities. “In this sense, equity gains unparalleled importance in our actions, working as a social justice device, providing opportunities for all people and also creating strategies to tackle inequalities.”
For Vinícius Barqueiro, who works on the relationship front of the Insper Center for Public Policy and Administration (CGPP, for its acronym in Portuguese) and coordinated Insper’s Accessibility Committee between 2019 and 2020, “from a strategic viewpoint, the merger — besides being a natural path, given the engagement and interests of the people involved in the two commissions in favor of inclusion and equity — seeks to leverage the results in its themes via more alignment in activities that used to ran in parallel, and an even more accurate look at intersectional challenges.”
The unification process
The Accessibility Committee was created in 2016. Although other diversity aspects have been on the radar ever since, the Diversity Committee emerged just two years later, in 2018. The dialogue between the commissions had grown and involved approximations. One example lies in Insper winning the City of São Paulo’s Seal of Human Rights and Diversity.
Vinícius Barqueiro explains that the decision to unify the committees was made at the end of 2020, in light of the school’s Strategic Planning review cycle. “That process culminated in the decision to integrate the commissions fully. They had already been conducting joint institutional projects, with people and resources dedicated exclusively to this vision.”
The Insper of the Future
All actions proposed have as their core goal the deconstruction of prejudices and social stigma that hinder the growth of equal opportunities for all. With them, Insper hopes to train leaders who are able to look at this issue in a sophisticated way and contribute not only to the school’s environment but also to the country’s social and economic development.
For Vinícius Barqueiro, diversity is a strategic priority for the school, and Insper spares no effort and resources in activities on the topic. “The biggest gain for the coming years, for sure, will be having not only a small group of people literate and engaged in diversity and inclusion issues but also our entire Community even more diverse and involved in this process within Insper and our society.”
“We, as Insper, need to have a very well-constructed and structured inclusion environment. Thus, we provide opportunities for all people and build a more equitable coexistence. In view of this, the Committee will be a facilitator and will act as a support system for the entire Insper Community’s engagement and literacy,” concludes Prof. Bruna Arruda.