Our Vision and Mission

Diverse Cymru’s vision is to help create a nation without prejudice or discrimination, where every person is equal and diversity is celebrated.

Our mission is to eliminate discrimination and inequality through:

Provision – Delivering services that reduce inequality and increase independence

Promotion – Raising awareness of equality issues

Participation – Enabling people affected by inequality to engage with decision-makers and speak for themselves

Inspiring action – Motivating people to take action against inequality

Our History

Diverse Cymru was created in 2011 through a merger between Cardiff and Vale Coalition of Disabled People and Awetu.

It was founded in recognition of the difficulties and discrimination faced by people experiencing inequality in Wales.

Cardiff & Vale Coalition of Disabled People (CVCDP) was created in 1991. It was established from the outset as an organisation of disabled people who could challenge barriers, bring disabled people together to campaign on relevant issues such as education, employment, housing and transport as well as strengthen the voices of disabled people in the community and in decision-making.

For over 20 years CVCDP continued to campaign for the rights of disabled people in Wales and developed in other areas including service delivery, consultancy services, training and lobbying. In the last five of those years CVCDP began to use its knowledge and expertise to expand its activities into other equality areas.

When CVCDP officially began the process of becoming Diverse Cymru in 2010 it had 500 members, 3000 supporters and answered over 4000 information enquiries a year.

Awetu (‘Our Unity’ in Swahili) was established in 1988 as a result of a growing concern among a number of professional workers at the over-representation of black clients within the mental health services and the need to improve the sensitivity of these services to better serve black people‘s needs.

As the organisation developed Awetu strived to support all black and minority ethnic (BME) people confronted by mental health problems in Wales through the delivery of its own services, by influencing the services provided by others to be more effective and sensitive to the needs of their users and by tackling race inequality. Throughout the 23 years of its existence, Awetu remained the only black and minority ethnic mental health group in Wales and was recognised as a leader in its field.

The organisation and was awarded the GlaxoSmithKline Health Impact Award in 2001, the Wales diversity Award for three consecutive years 2001-2003 and Guardian Charity of the year in 2006.