Upholding Dignity

IDinsight’s Dignity initiative

IDinsight has joined forces with The Dignity Project to uphold people’s dignity in global development. We provide tools, advice, and new research to support leaders to build programs, services, and funding streams that affirm the dignity of those they seek to serve.

Research has shown that respect for dignity is something citizens value and are frequently denied.

Innovation, learning, and improvement are needed for the social sector to keep its promise to fully respect their dignity. We regard these ideas as integral to the right kind of development and social impact practice. 

Evidence suggests that respectful interactions produce greater well-being and self-efficacy, improved health, better functioning democratic spheres, greater cooperation, and increased service uptake and satisfaction.

Our work and services

IDinsight’s Dignity initiative has three main components. The first is helping the most influential actors in global development put systems in place to keep their promises to respect those they serve. The second is expanding the research agenda to keep demonstrating what works to uphold dignity and why it matters. The third component is to ensure IDinsight is an exemplary and accountable home for progressing the dignity agenda by connecting with allies and building internal processes.

Dignity workshop: Help partners reflect on dignity in their own work and the existing evidence through a half-day workshop for your staff, facilitated by IDinsight’s staff.

Dignity Audit: Uncover blockages to being respectful, through a qualitative evaluation of your processes and how they can more closely match dignity best practices.

Co-creating respect: Your staff and participants join together to imagine a better way of working, through interviews and a co-design session centered on dignity.

Evaluating respect: Using our rigorous measures of Felt Respect for Dignity, we evaluate the impact of your efforts to be respectful, and their consequences for the rest of your program.

Download the two-pager.