Resource

Dignity self-assessment tool

Tom Wein 6 July 2023

Assess how well your organisation is performing in relation to dignity best practices.

Photo: Jilson Tiu/IDinsight

The Self-Assessment tool

This tool allows you to assess how well your organisation is performing in relation to dignity best practices. It is based on the research of the IDinsight Dignity Initiative.

When using this tool, you will score your organisation 1-3 in each of four areas:

Why your program meets a priority for the served population,
How your organisation manages its external interactions,
How your organisation manages its internal culture and people, and
Your organisation’s commitment to listening and learning.

Advice on using the tool

How to fill this out

For each category, consider the rubric carefully. Try to take the perspective of a critical external observer. Write down specific examples of actions, processes or incidents you have observed within your organisation. On the basis of these examples, note down a suggested score of 1, 2 or 3.

Interpreting your results

If your organisation scored mostly 1s, that suggests that there is a considerable gap between your practices and dignity best practices. You should consider taking rapid action.

If your organisation scored mostly 2s, that suggests you are performing moderately well when it comes to dignity best practices. You should consider strengthening one or two areas to continue this journey.

If your organisation scored mostly 3s, that suggests you are performing strongly when it comes to dignity best practices. We encourage you to share your experiences with others, and sustain that work into the future.

You should pay special attention to the ‘external interactions’ category, which is the most important, since this concerns your organisation’s encounters with those with the least power in the development ecosystem.

The three pathways

Though definitions of respect for dignity vary across contexts, we see three pathways to being more respectful that seem to recur in many situations and which are often the right places to start building respect for dignity: recognition, agency and equality. We reference these in the tool. Take the free self-assessment today!