Being an international Global South organizations sounds like an easy description. Yet, the words are loaded: what does that mean—to be an international Global South organization? How does that definition shape how we act, how we think about personnel policies, how we engage in international issues, how we maintain our focus on the Global South, or how we build and accommodate a workforce that comes with such different perspectives?

One guard rail that we use is to think about diversity, equity and inclusion and how we make these meaningful, actionable buzz words. This short framing document sets out these guard rails in the shape of three pillars (belief, practice, emotion) and three ways of making these become real (building, doing and learning). We see this as the starting point for an internal and external conversation that allows us to continue to refine our thinking, transparently share our learning and record our practices.