Our Academy: Diversity Circles of Expertise growing stronger
Author Jason Frazer
Former Ghanian Diplomat and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan famously once said "Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family."
This encapsulates the very foundation of one of our programmes, "Diversity Circles of Expertise", which is powered by the European Liberal Forum.
This pioneering project in politics is a cross-institutional initiative aiming to increase the diversity in liberal political organisations to change the culture of liberal parties by creating a network of experts to build more diverse and inclusive environments in liberal organisations. The project combines a long-term learning course at MyAcademy and three in-person workshops for the operational leadership of liberal organisations to shape their internal culture into one that empowers diversity.
In May 2022, we launched the first Rainbow Platform Academy, in Stockholm, with a focus on the need for more LGBTQ+ representation in politics! Participants (or changemakers as we like to refer to them) discussed diversity and representation in politics with an exceptionally strong group from 13 political organisations.
The second instalment of our Academy continued in August last year as our liberal changemakers gathered in Krakow to discuss the importance of engagement and resilience. The participants and trainers from the Liberal Democrats UK turned the sessions into one that was both inspiring and formative.
The culmination of the Diversity Academy for 2022 ended in November in Budapest where the discussion of inclusivity, representation and diversity communications in politics saw our exceptionally strong group of changemakers sharing ideas, practices, and learning from each other.
In April this year, building on the incredible success of last year's group, saw a fresh new batch of changemakers as we kicked off Season 2 of the Academy in Lisbon. "Diversity is a liberal value!" as moderators from Iniciativa Liberal discussed diversity and representation in politics.
Coupled with activities from Antwerp Pride, in August we ignited some powerful conversations this time hosted by OpenVLD. We dove deep into the world of recruitment and talent discovery.
And in the same beautiful city of Budapest, we closed off our final episode just last month (October). Not only did change makers and trainers focus on diversity within internal communications, but they also explored the illiberal past of Hungary so that it might be challenged in the present.
Our changemakers journeyed through the streets of Budapest to uncover the historic layers and locations of Orbán's illiberal regime. This deep dive into the country's history sharpened our changemakers understanding, with the aim of reminding them that communication, awareness and education are key to challenging illiberal systems.
With another year completed for the Academy, we are building up our alumni and the Rainbow Platform is grateful to all our partners who helped make this year's training possible. We are excited to announce the continuation of this programme in 2024 and look forward to welcoming our new changemakers.
