Still Cooking – Media Education’s Anti Racist Policy
January 2025 –
We are titling our Anti Racist policy - Still Cooking, this comes in part from the food shared with people as we have developed the policy. Many people we work with have given us advice and shared their experiences with us. For this we are extremely grateful. We have based our policy on this learning and the anti racist training we have attended delivered by Zaki El Salahi, Victoria Nyanga-Ndiaye and Helene Rodger. It also seemed a good title as we do not expect ever to finish the work being an anti racist organisation entails. This policy aligns with our Equality and Diversity Policy and our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan 2024-2028 changes have been made to these in light of our learning.
We regularly see and hear of examples of racism as part of our work. We aim to support people we work with who tell us of regular experiences of micro aggressions through experiencing extreme racist abuse. We do this by providing equipment and training to create films that raise awareness of the issues faced. Through the open opportunity to attend our Thrive Advisory Group we also aim to provide a space for solidarity and support. We also witness instances of institutional racism in our work. We aim to call this out where we witness it. We are acutely aware as an organisation of the privilege being white brings and believe we need to constantly interrogate this power.
In December 2024 we conducted an organisational audit to assess the current state of our organisation in relation to anti racism efforts, this covered key areas and included - leadership, recruitment, culture and external relations. From this audit we have developed new objectives for improvement which we will build into our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Plan and monitor through our High Level Business Plan.
Section 1 – Leadership and Governance
Media Education will continue to publicly commit to anti racist efforts. Currently we are using our film work with people from Global Majority backgrounds and people with migration experience to do this. In 2025 we will increase our use of social media to make public statements in support of anti racist efforts.
As detailed in our EDI Plan 2024 -2028, we will aim to increase diversity within our associate base.
Throughout 2025, we will continue to work with our Thrive Advisory Group - representing 23 people from 13 countries to raise awareness of issues experienced by this group and the associated communities.
Through our work on the Global Cafe project throughout 2025 and in collaboration with those on our Hip Hop Hurriya project from the Sudanese community, we will actively seek to celebrate diversity and promote an anti racist stance at events and through social media posts accompanying this work.
We will continue to advocate for racial justice issues through targeted letters and campaigns and actively support those we work with to access justice.
Section 2 – Recruitment and Hiring Practices
We will ensure inclusive job descriptions as per our Equalities and Diversity Policy and Plan.
We will continue to use diverse recruitment channels including community and faith groups, and associations, and through our partnerships with diverse organisations.
To improve practice, we will implement diverse interview panels at any future recruitment interviews to ensure unbiased selection.
Section 3 – Employee Retention and Development
From 2025, we will include anti racism training and cultural competency training in our induction process.
As per our Training Policy and EDI Plan 2024-2028 we will continue to provide opportunities for the whole team to attend training in all areas of anti oppressive practice, active bystander training and other relevant opportunities for continuous learning in anti racism and inclusion.
Section 4 – Organisational Culture
Media Education actively endeavors to create an inclusive culture welcoming to everyone we work with and all members of the team from all racial and cultural backgrounds. This includes designing the entrance to our work place with welcome in many languages, flags of the world and posters; for example posters supporting the ‘Refugees are Welcome Here’ campaign. We have a clear process for handling any microaggressions and discrimination when they occur. These are detailed in our Equality and Diversity Policy and are part of our induction process.
Section 5 – External Relations and Community Engagement
We track our anti racism goals through our High Level Organisational Plan which is reported on at 6 weekly directors meetings. Responsibility for delivery of this plan is shared by all of the team who are all Directors of the company. This plan includes all our goals relating to our Equality and Diversity Plan 2024 - 2028.
Section 6 – Accountability and Monitoring
We prioritise working with partners from a wide geographical, racial and cultural background. Much of our work involves actively supporting racial justice issues and initiatives in the community. Using the films we create as part of our partnership work, we regularly take a public stance on racial justice issues and will continue to do so.
We will also continue to identify opportunities to collaborate with other organisations in anti racist efforts.
Created January 2025 - Goals relating to this plan are detailed in our High Level Plan to monitor implementation.