From Rhetoric to Action: Delivering Equality & Inclusion

Inequality and exclusion are not destiny. Change is possible.

Following three years of research, country visits, expert meetings, and debate, the Pathfinders’ Grand Challenge on Inequality and Exclusion has identified policy priorities for immediate and longer-term actions to tackle inequality and exclusion.

The report draws on the lived experiences and desires of people across countries around the world. To understand citizens’ concerns about inequalities, their policy priorities, and their desire for change, we commissioned a public opinion survey in eight countries: Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Sierra Leone, South Korea, Sweden, Tunisia, and Uruguay. These opinion surveys show an immense preoccupation with societal divisions and a consensus that more needs to be done to address them.

What is working to make progress on equality and inclusion?

Countries and local communities that have made sustained progress towards more inclusive and equal societies have generally taken a three-pronged approach:

1. They have delivered visible results that make a material difference in people’s daily lives, in areas such as social protection, housing and wages;
2. they have built solidarity, through for example truth-telling exercises, police and justice reform and community empowerment;
3. and they have secured credibility and sought to avert reversals by fighting corruption, broadening political power, and increasing the public financing needed for policy development.

Report Launch

The report was launched in September 2021 by seven Heads of State, including Spain, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Costa Rica, Ireland, New Zealand, and Senegal, as well as Nobel Prize laureate, Joseph Stiglitz and Oscar winner and SDG Advocate, Forest Whitaker, among others.