Together We Thrive: Initiatives Promoting Inclusion

In a land where language, cuisine, clothing, and traditions change every few hundred kilometers, a trip through India can often feel like a visit to many countries. Many of us in India are multilingual - not just bilingual - with fluency in our regional or mother tongues in addition to Hindi and English. For those who live and work in India's bustling metros, it isn't unusual to have a social circle that spans India's language, culture, religion and community spectrums.

When we actively think about diversity and inclusion, our diversity and socio-cultural differences can sometimes lead to unconscious bias – that act as blind spots to the ways in which we aren't being inclusive. Women, particularly those who don't come from privilege, still need to fight patriarchal power structures that favor men. Acceptance towards those on the gender and sexual orientation spectrums is grudgingly given, even in otherwise cosmopolitan spaces.

Fortunately, there is a concerted push towards creating meaningful change, with participation from policymakers, government initiatives, NGOs, and the corporate sector. For the LGBTQIA+ community, in particular, the decriminalisation of Article 377 was a strong start. The Directorate General of Health Services has since issued letters to State Health Departments to reduce discrimination and ensure accessible healthcare for the community, and guidelines have been framed for medical intervention in infants/children with intersex conditions to ensure a medically healthy life. The government has also launched the "SMILE" scheme, which includes scholarships, skill development, and healthcare support for transgender individuals. Several NGOs are doing stellar work for queer rights including healthcare, sexual and mental wellbeing, safety, employment, and legal aid.

True inclusion however, results from a change of mindsets. This necessitates a nuanced understanding, a deep appreciation for others' experiences, and empathy. It also requires conversations on a larger scale, and for that to happen, more and more of us need exposure to truths we may find uncomfortable given our limited understanding of facts.

One such effort comes from the British Council, which is leading conversations around inclusion through initiatives like ‘Together We Thrive: Celebrating Diversity’. This landmark exhibition brings together an array of initiatives designed to foster inclusion and create tangible opportunities for marginalised communities.

For instance, one initiative, Language is a Queer Thing, launched in collaboration with The Queer Muslim Project and Verve Poetry Festival, has nurtured LGBTQIA+ poets and storytellers in India and the UK, providing them with platforms to share their narratives. Women in Focus: Gender Dynamics in India's Arts and Culture Sector is a gender analysis report that investigates the cultural biases, social norms, and structural barriers that continue to impact women in creative professions.

In the realm of media and sports, Her Game, Her Story is transforming how female athletes are covered in the press, offering media professionals the training necessary to highlight women’s achievements in sports. Meanwhile, Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions (GATI) is shaping a gender equality framework for research and higher education, a collaborative effort between the British Council, India’s Department of Science and Technology, and the UK’s Advance HE. This partnership shows how institutional change can be driven through sustained international collaboration, a hallmark of the British Council's approach across sectors.

Efforts in education and technology are a key focus. Implementing coding programmes in rural areas can be challenging due to limited internet access and teacher training. The Developing Coding Skills in Schools initiative, in partnership with the Micro:bit Education Foundation, is introducing coding to students in India, fostering early STEM engagement, particularly among girls. Similarly, Connecting with Communities Through Reading is helping empower young learners in rural India by offering access to digital resources and children’s literature. The British Council’s continued investment in such educational programmes ensures long-term impact by addressing systemic barriers from a young age.

The ongoing exhibition also features Five Films For Freedom, a global short film programme celebrating LGBTQIA+ stories and providing a platform for underrepresented voices in cinema. Since changing societal attitudes towards LGBTQIA+ individuals requires sustained effort and community engagement, exhibitions focused on these stories aim to increase understanding and empathy, playing their part in ushering in a more inclusive society.

For those unfamiliar with the nuances of inclusion, Together We Thrive offers an opportunity to engage with the realities of marginalised communities and explore tangible solutions. By bringing these initiatives under one roof, the exhibition fosters a deeper understanding of how inclusion can be embedded within policy, education, culture, and daily life. More importantly, it helps organisations and individuals crystallise their ideas and examine their own unconscious biases, hopefully, paving the way to meaningful change.

As India moves toward a more inclusive future, exhibitions like Together We Thrive can play a critical role in bridging the gap between a lack of awareness to awareness, and then awareness to action. The exhibition ‘Together We Thrive: Celebrating Diversity’ runs till April 28, 2025 at the British Council in New Delhi.

This article has been produced on behalf of the brand by HT Brand Studio and does not have journalistic/editorial involvement of Hindustan Times.