Charity goes batty for inclusion training

A BRITISH bat charity has rolled out “anti-oppression” training for staff to boost inclusion.

The Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), whose president is Chris Packham, the BBC presenter, introduced the training as part of a raft of measures to improve diversity and inclusion.

Anti-oppression is a concept from the field of social work which seeks to identify and break down “power structures” and “systems of oppression” which might exclude people.

BCT said it aims to ensure “everyone has the opportunity to perceive nature and bat conservation in particular”.

“Understanding the barriers that some people experience because of their characteristics enables our staff to embed inclusive and equitable practice into the way we work.”

Details of the BCT’S inclusion drive have emerged amid a wider effort in the environmental sector to increase diversity, and following a report by Wildlife and Countryside Link which warned MPS that ethnic minorities may fear that the rural areas are “dominated by white people”. The BCT was among the charities who supported the report which claimed that the British countryside was a “racist colonial” white space.

Naomi Webster, the BCT’S training and conferences manager, said it would be offering “anti-oppression training for all BCT staff ” and that the charity had “rolled out unconscious bias training for line managers”.

The trust, known for nationwide bat surveys, said that “oppression” may create barriers when it comes to participating in wildlife conservation. It took part in a project called the Race Report. The report revealed the organisation to be overwhelmingly white, along with much of the environmental sector.