An Introduction to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion - Personal Development Programme

Sat May 21, 09:00 - Sat May 21, 13:00

Event is online

ABOUT

Do you wish you had a deeper understanding of DEI and how it impacts on your personal and professional development? 


Do you wish you had the courage and skills to engage in more productive DEI conversations with your family, friends and colleagues?


Do you wish you had a safe space to learn about and grapple with DEI issues in community with others?


Do you wish you had the opportunity to explore DEI issues away from your workplace?


Do you wish you had a better grasp of DEI-related terminology/language?


If you answered yes to any of these questions (or maybe all of them), we invite you to join us for a 4-hour online personal development workshop, where you will:


  • deepen your understanding of the importance of engaging with DEI
  • explore the complex range of thoughts and feelings related to DEI (both your own and others')
  • reflect on where you are currently in your DEI journey
  • strengthen the muscle to engage constructively with DEI


While this workshop focuses primarily on the South African context, the concepts are universal and can be applied to all other contexts. Therefore, we welcome participants from around the world.


This workshop serves as a valuable stand-alone introduction to DEI. For those wanting a more in-depth experience, it also serves as the springboard into our broader, more comprehensive DEI personal development programme:


Module 1: An Introduction to DEI

Module 2: Contributing to Constructive and Safe Spaces for Engaging with DEI 

Module 3: Understanding Diversity

Module 4: Understanding Equity

Module 5: Understanding Inclusion and Exclusion

Module 6: Understanding Unconscious Bias

Module 7: Understanding Microaggressions 

Module 8: Understanding Rank, Power and Privilege

Module 9: Developing Essential Skills for Courageous Conversations

Module 10: Engaging in Courageous Conversations


Module 1 is the prerequisite for accessing the other modules in the programme (each of which is delivered as a separate, stand-alone 4-hour online workshop). 


Once you have attended Module 1, you will receive updates on when the other modules are offered and you are welcome to sign up for them as and when you choose! (There are no particular requirements in terms of the number of modules you complete, when you complete them or the order in which you complete them.)


The costs for Module 1 are: R700 for participants located in Africa; and R1110 (approx. $70 / €62) for participants located outside Africa.


If you have any questions or you would like further information, please email us at [email protected] or [email protected].


See below for information about the facilitators (Zed and Sam). In addition to the experience outlined below, for the past 2 years, we have been facilitating an online DEI training of trainers (ToT) programme, which targets facilitators, trainers, coaches, teachers, community-based workers and managers who work with DEI. Some of their comments about the ToT programme include:


"I was really inspired by this train the trainers workshop - I was really inspired by the other participants and the shared commitment to learn and grow as we strive to create a more just and equitable South Africa and world. I’m looking forward to future modules of this workshop series!" (Participant based in South Africa)


"This is a fantastic experience. Zed and Sam provide one of the best models I've seen for anyone interested in hosting dialogues around DEI topics. I can't recommend it highly enough." (Participant based in the USA)


"It was very insightful and great to gain knowledge about D&I through the South African lens in addition to a European perspective. Yet, I very much liked the aspect that your program is suitable for participants from everywhere. Thank you Samantha Stern and Zed Xaba!" (Participant based in the UK)


About the Facilitators



NtombiZandile (Zed) Xaba is an independent consultant, and a highly experienced trainer and facilitator with 32 years of facilitation experience. She consults to national and multi-national business organizations, as well as to government and the non-government sectors. Her work includes diversity, leadership, team effectiveness, conflict-coaching, mediation, personal mastery, education and youth development. 


Zed holds a Masters in Conflict Facilitation and Organizational Change from the Process Work Institute, Portland, USA and has facilitated numerous small and large group processes around the issues of race and diversity in South Africa. She has been involved in facilitating the World Work seminars at the international Process Work conference in Switzerland, Poland, America and Greece. 


She facilitated a programme called Reconciliation thru Remembrance, for a racially diverse group of South Africans in Johannesburg on a journey of dialogue and reconciliation. This process was made into a documentary that Zed has shown at various international conferences, WorldWork, Mediation Beyond Borders and the Summit of Courageous Conversations about Race.


Zed is a TEDx speaker. Her TED talk on Internalised Oppression - Internalised Oppression; naming and peeling away the layers of shame - is available online. 



Samantha (Sam) Stern is a facilitator, trainer and coach with twenty-five years of experience working in the areas of organisational development, team effectiveness, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), leadership development, personal empowerment and psychosocial wellness.


Sam grew up in the UK and then lived, studied and worked in the USA before moving to South Africa in 1998.  


Sam holds a Bachelor’s degree in Social Science with a concentration in Psychology and a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the George Washington University in Washington, DC. She is a certified Facilitator and Assessor (with the ETDP SETA) and she has trained in a range of approaches for managing social change and working with complex systems. This includes Theory-U, Deep Democracy, Systems Thinking, Organisation and Relationship Systems Coaching (ORSC) and Process Work.


Sam is the founder and lead facilitator of Journeys to Remember, which designs and facilitates transformative learning experiences for individuals, affinity groups, teams and organisations. She also serves as an Associate for several consultancies including Mandate Molefi, Nurturing Growth Trading, Tara Transform and the Centre for Mental Wellness and Leadership. In these roles, Sam has facilitated hundreds of DEI workshops with corporate companies, government departments, NGOs, universities, schools and affinity groups. Sam is also engaged in several communities of practice in order to support her own ongoing growth in these areas.