RESUMO
Diversity work is an area of growing interest for organisations in both the private and public sectors. In a nutshell, the term refers to the work conducted within an organisation that promotes inclusive and equitable engagement with people and communities across social differences such as gender, race, ethnicity, sexuality and religion. Related research has generated relatively more knowledge about the challenges and problems of diversity initiatives than about effective practices that genuinely foster social equity and inclusion. This article contributes to the latter with a partnership case study involving the United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society (S.U.C.C.E.S.S.), a large non-profit immigrant services organisation headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Specifically, the study presented here focuses on the organisational practices that are constitutive of frontline workers' engagement with diversity work and learning. It shows that (1) building a diverse and inclusive organisation, (2) supporting continuous learning opportunities at work, and (3) providing diversity training, both directive and generative, form the organisation's diversity "curriculum". This study also demonstrates that the strength of this workplace curriculum is that it has the potential to challenge the boundary between instrumentalism (harnessing diversity work to business success) and equity activism (prioritising diversity work in its own right), and that it creates space for collective reflection in the presence of others. Conceptually drawing on the practice turn in social sciences, particularly Steven Billet and Jennifer Newton's learning practice, and what David Boud terms "the reflective turn", this article positions diversity work as a reflective and iterative process of lifelong learning for both organisations and individual workers.
Encourager le travail de diversité en tant que processus d'apprentissage tout au long de la vie : étude de cas en partenariat avec une organisation de services aux immigrants Le travail de diversité (diversity work en anglais) est un domaine qui suscite un intérêt croissant tant dans le secteur privé que dans le secteur public. Pour faire court, cette expression renvoie au travail mené au sein d'une organisation qui promeut un engagement inclusif et équitable auprès de personnes et de communautés en dépassant les différences sociales comme le genre, la race, l'ethnicité, la sexualité et la religion. Les recherches liées à cela ont produit relativement plus de connaissances concernant les défis et problèmes des projets sur la diversité que sur les pratiques efficaces qui favorisent réellement l'équité sociale et l'inclusion. Cet article contribue à ces dernières en présentant une étude de cas en partenariat avec la United Chinese Community Enrichment Services Society (S.U.C.C.E.S.S.), grande organisation à but non lucratif de services aux immigrants, dont le siège se situe au Canada, à Vancouver. L'étude présentée ici est axée en particulier sur les pratiques organisationnelles constitutives de l'engagement des travailleurs sur le terrain en matière du travail de diversité et d'apprentissage. Elle montre que (1) créer une organisation diverse et inclusive, (2) soutenir des possibilités d'apprentissage continu au travail et (3) proposer une formation à la diversité, tant directive que générative, façonne le « curriculum ¼ de l'organisation en matière de diversité. Cette étude démontre également que la puissance de ce curriculum sur le lieu de travail réside dans ses possibilités de repousser les limites entre l'instrumentalisme (qui exploite le travail de diversité pour la réussite de l'entreprise) et l'activisme en matière d'équité (qui priorise le travail de diversité à part entière). S'appuyant sur le plan conceptuel sur le tournant pratique dans les sciences sociales (practice turn en anglais), notamment sur la pratique de l'apprentissage de Steven Billet et Jennifer Newton, et sur ce que David Boud appelle « le tournant réflexif ¼ (the reflexive turn), cet article positionne le travail de diversité en tant que processus réflexif et itératif d'apprentissage tout au long de la vie, tant pour les organisations que pour les travailleurs individuels.
RESUMO
In the last three decades, various concepts and strategies have been developed to address social determinants of health. This paper brings together the different focuses of health promotion, and demonstrates that effective health intervention programs need to be conducted at multiple levels and fronts. Specifically, based on the evaluation of KidsFirst, an early childhood intervention program in Saskatchewan, Canada, this paper presents the program practices effective in enhancing the social capital and social cohesion at the community and institutional levels. The findings fall into three interconnected areas: strengthening community fabric; building institutional social capital and bonding, linking and bridging. KidsFirst has brought the community together through conducting broad and targeted community consultations, and developing partnerships and collaborative relationships in an open and transparent manner. It has also developed institutional social capital through hiring locally and encouraging staff to deepen connections with the communities. Additionally, it has endeavoured to create conditions that enable vulnerable families to enhance connectedness among themselves, link them to services and integrate them to the larger community. The program's success, however, depends not only on the program's local practices, but also on the government's central policy framework and commitment. In particular, the program's focus on children's healthy development easily resonated with local communities. Its endorsement of local and intersectoral leadership has facilitated mobilizing community resources and knowledge. Further, its commitment to local ownership of the program and structural flexibility has also determined the extent to which the program could fit into the histories of local communities.