Maritime UK, the umbrella body for the maritime sector, has welcomed The Seafarers’ Charity as the latest organisation to join the Diversity in Maritime Charter.
The Diversity in Maritime Charter is a pivotal initiative in the Diversity in Maritime programme. Signing the Diversity in Maritime Charter commits organisations from across the maritime sector to take a proactive responsibility for closing the diversity and inclusion gaps within their workforce.
Fourteen organisations are now on the Charter journey including Bruntons Propellers, Shoreham Port, Fleetwood Nautical Campus, MFB Solicitors, Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Hutchison Ports – Port of Felixstowe, IHS Markit, PNTL, Forth Ports and ABP’s Southampton and East Anglia regions, GAC UK, BAE Systems and now The Seafarers’ Charity.
To become a Charter organisation, businesses must share baseline data regarding the proportion of women in their workforce and across their middle and senior management and set target data for either five or ten years into the future.
It also challenges the organisation to share where they are currently with their equality, diversity and inclusion journey and put targets in place for growth. The targets form a large part of individual company action plans, which also include a commitment to implement specific projects and initiatives.
Through the life of the programme, Maritime UK regularly engages with Charter organisations to assess progress and identify areas for new programmes and activity whilst providing a platform to share best practice and challenges with others.
The announcement follows the revision of The Seafarers’ Charity Equity, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EEDI) action plan for 2020-25. The action plan reaffirms The Seafarers’ Charity’s commitment to increasing awareness of EEDI throughout the sector.
Using their position in the maritime welfare sector to identify needs and opportunities to support all groups, including marginalised communities, to benefit from the diversity of the sector and also in looking at the diversity of governance for maritime welfare charities, diversity on Trustee boards is vital to move an organisation, including charitable organisations, forward.
Since 2019, The Seafarers’ Charity have offered grants of £5,000 to support beneficiaries to fund external governance and diversity reviews.
