At LCL we strive for success at our top priority goals, one of which is the acceleration of the inclusion and diversity in Europe.

But let’s stop for a second and ask ourselves the question – what does actually inclusion mean?
And what about diversity?

Lots of people talk about it, it is modern and trendy, but less and less people are really aware of the definition and the different aspects of those popular terms.

According to the European Commission, active inclusion means enabling every citizen, notably the most disadvantaged, to fully participate in the society.

In practical terms, that would translate into:

• adequate support to get a job. This could be by linking out-of-work and in-work benefits, and by helping people to access the benefits they are entitled to;
•  easier access for people to join the work force, tackling in-work poverty, avoiding poverty traps and  to work
• access to quality services helping people participate actively in society, including getting back to work.

Fine, how about diversity? Let’s see what Cambridge Dictionary holds for that: “the fact of many different types of things or people being included in something”. Ok, now it starts to make sense. In other words, diversity could be defined as the mixture of races and religions that make up a group of people.

Now that we know the meaning of those two terms, it is time to see what are the main issues with the inclusion and diversity in the EU and why we, at LCL, are putting efforts to improve the situation.

In Europe, many people with disabilities and people, part of minority groups are at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The risk of long-term unemployment is quite high also due to gender inequality.

Did you know that more than half of the population in EU (59%) believe that discrimination due to one’s ethnic origin is widespread and that one in three people of African descent say they have experienced racist harassment in the last five years.

At LCL, we are committed to work towards decreasing the gender gap and helping the social inclusion on a national and an international level. Some of our initiatives and projects aim at delivering high quality educational materials to different target groups. Groups that are endangered by the risk of poverty and social exclusion due to gender inequality, racism, etc. We are also working towards empowering people from disadvantaged groups to have more opportunities and become equal part of the workforce.

Are you interested to learn more about our initiatives – check our social media pages and our website!

And remember – everyone can help, we only need to commit.