As an international organization working in over 100 different countries there are hugely complex equality and diversity issues to contend with. In many countries, there are different social norms, cultural expectations and legal obligations, but across all, we operate with a clear commitment to equality and diversity. Managing diversity is also central to the British Council's values.

What does this mean to us?
To gain an insight into how we define and understand equal opportunities and diversity please read the relevant document.

Our supporting tools

In order to make progress we have developed various policies and tools to help us reach our goals. For more information on them please visit the links below:

			The Integrated Equality Scheme is the tool we have developed to help us promote equality and eliminate discrimination in the areas of gender, race and disability. As a UK public body we are legally required to promote equality in these areas, but because we are an international organisation our Integrated Equality Scheme applies worldwide, not just in the UK. The easiest way to understand the Integrated Equality Scheme is to read the Executive Summary, along with the equality objectives outlined for disability, gender and race.  We will report each year on the progress we have made against our Integrated Equality Scheme. Integrated Equality Scheme - Full document Integrated Equality Scheme - Executive Summary Disability, Gender, and Race objectives - how we propose to deliver equality in these three areas Our first annual progress report is available to read, outlining the action that has been taken over the first year of our Integrated Equality Scheme. Year One Progress Report Year One Action Plan Annex 1 - Progress in Disability Annex 2 - Progress in Gender Annex 3 - Progress in Race Implementation of the IES 2006-2009: Progress in Year One
			Equal Opportunities Policy
			Diversity Strategy
			Diversity Assessment Framework - a measurement tool that is linked to our corporate performance scorecard
			Executive Summary for the UK Equality Data 2006/07 – our UK staff equality monitoring data that is analysed and reviewed annually
			Paper to support all staff having a Diversity job objective
			Annual Report for 2005/06

To provide focus we have agreed that we will concentrate on 7 areas of diversity. Each raises different issues across the diverse countries and cultures we work with. For more information on what we do in each area please click on the links below:

			Age
			Disability
			Gender
			Race
			Religion
			Sexual Identity
			Work-life balance