In July 2020, the international leadership of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) made a public commitment to tackle discrimination and racism within our organisation. The Core Executive Committee (Core ExCom) pledged to “lead the way for the radical action sought after and demanded by our associations.” This commitment came amid powerful global movements for racial equity and health equity, spurred in part by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also followed years of advocacy by MSF staff calling for change.
In 2020, the Core ExCom (see glossary below) defined an action plan, identifying seven priority or key areas as requiring urgent and concrete action:
1: Management of abuse and inappropriate behaviour
2: Staff reward, including remuneration and benefits
3: Exposure to risk – safety and security
4: People recruitment and development
5: Communications and fundraising
6: Standards of care for the patients and communities with whom we work
7: Executive governance and representation
In early 2022, we provided an update on progress for the previous 18 months, up until December 2021. Nearly four years on from the Core ExCom’s initial commitment, and two years since the last update, we are outlining our progress on these seven areas over 2022 and 2023.
We are publicly publishing our progress, as we want staff, patients, communities, donors, stakeholders, and the public at large to see where we stand on each of these areas, including areas where we are struggling to move forward. Doing so is the best way to be transparent and demonstrate accountability for our actions. We took stock of what we managed to achieve in the last two years – and where we still have work to do – at the end of 2023.
While we worked on all of the above seven areas, the Core ExCom prioritised tackling issues of abuse and inappropriate behaviour, and addressing inequities in our staff rewards and remuneration system.
“Our staff, association members, partners, donors and the communities we serve are expecting results on the areas that we have committed to improve. While we have made significant progress in some areas since the launch of the Action Plan, in others, we recognise that we still have more to do. This is why we commit to creating an updated Action Plan with clear milestones to take us to the finish of our current strategic period at the end of 2025. Today, we hope that this update provides some idea of the progress that we’ve made, and that our stakeholders continue to hold us accountable on achieving this important work.” Dr Christos Christou, MSF International President
This is not an exhaustive list of all initiatives to tackle discrimination and racism in MSF, but a summary of some of the main movement-wide progress made since the launch of the Action Plan, based on priorities agreed by MSF’s Executive Committee (ExCom). There are countless initiatives being carried out in our projects and Operational Directorate (OD) headquarters that are not covered in this update. For transparency purposes, we have retained the update we provided in February 2022, for the progress made during 2020 and 2021, which can be found at the bottom of this page/here
To provide clarity and aid understanding of MSF’s decision-making and leadership platforms, we have included a short glossary of terms within MSF referred to in this document.
Our staff, association members, partners, donors and the communities we serve are expecting results on the areas that we have committed to improve. While we have made significant progress in some areas since the launch of the Action Plan, in others, we recognise that we still have more to do.Dr Christos Christou, MSF International President
"This is why we commit to creating an updated Action Plan with clear milestones to take us to the finish of our current strategic period at the end of 2025. Today, we hope that this update provides some idea of the progress that we’ve made, and that our stakeholders continue to hold us accountable on achieving this important work" Dr Christos Christou, MSF International President
This is not an exhaustive list of all initiatives to tackle discrimination and racism in MSF, but a summary of some of the main movement-wide progress made since the launch of the Action Plan, based on priorities agreed by MSF’s Executive Committee (ExCom). There are countless initiatives being carried out in our projects and Operational Directorate (OD) headquarters that are not covered in this update. For transparency purposes, we have retained the update we provided in February 2022, for the progress made during 2020 and 2021, which can be found at the bottom of this page/here.
To provide clarity and aid understanding of MSF’s decision-making and leadership platforms, we have included a short glossary of terms within MSF referred to in this document.
2022 and 2023 update
Conclusion: Progress is being made – but there’s still a lot more to do
“We acknowledge that progress on our commitments since we launched the Action Plan has been uneven. Some areas have moved forward in leaps and bounds; others have advanced very little. However, in all areas, we know that we need keep making improvements. What has been outlined here is not an exhaustive list of what we’re doing, but we are continuing to work hard and bring more developments.” Dr Christos Christou, MSF International President
We have started processes that are ultimately about changing our culture, governance, and the way we work. While full implementation will take time, we are committed to carrying out these transformative processes. We believe that these organisational reforms will make a difference to our staff, patients and communities.
We have made significant progress in some areas during the last two years, but we acknowledge that progress in other areas has not been as advanced as we had anticipated. We know that we cannot stop now; we are committed to keep moving forward.