All our people play a role in unleashing the power of youth to deliver a just and sustainable world.
Our people will make our strategy a success and we believe our people deserve to be part of an Agency where they know they can succeed and grow as individuals and as a collective. Our ambition is to build a community of staff, volunteers and associates who thrive and drive the success of our strategy and agency, inspired and guided by our culture and values.
Why we love restless – hear what our staff say
The following videos come from staff across our Agency outlining why they love Restless.
You can also read about what our staff and volunteers have to say about Restless Development and their experiences with us on our WeAreRestless Blogs
- Read about the importance of supporting young leaders through volunteering.
- Hear what feminist leadership means to our co-CEOs Kate Muhwezi and Alex Kent.
- Caleb, Voice and Democracy.
We regularly seek feedback from our staff through anonymous surveys. This is what they told us in 2023:
Employee satisfaction:
- “All the staff are friendly and helpful and I get to meet people from all over the world due to Restless being an International organisation. There is a huge focus on well being and mental health and we have a lot of flexibility – this makes it a lot easier to have a good work life balance.”
- “The Culture and values of the organisation are amazing. The policies around the organisation are inclusive and protective of the staff. There are opportunities for growth and the organisation is supportive of staff’s ambitions and personal self development.”
- “A diverse, energetic environment to work, and wonderful minds from across the globe coming together to work on larger challenges people and the planet face today, so yes, I absolutely love working here!”
- “Restless Development provides a very supportive environment where you grow your skills and enhance your work experience. We are provided with support, tools and resources required for enhanced performance on the job. I am provided with opportunities to grow my career. Restless provides me with a conducive learning environment that challenges me to growth.”
In our 2021 Agency Survey staff told us:
- 99% of staff said they were proud to work for Restless Development.
- 98% staff felt that they were able to express their views openly and are listened to
- 95% of staff feel valued and that their contribution is recognised.
- 96% felt empowered and supported to succeed in their role.
Powershifting
We are feminist, inclusive, gender transformative and anti-racist in our approach. We are
grounded in communities and work in partnership to ensure young people lead in everything we do. We recognise historic power inequalities and aim to decolonise development.
We recognise the barriers that women, girls, non-binary people, people living with disabilities, and young people with different ethnicities, religion and sexual preferences face in the communities in which we work. We want to proactively shift power and ensure every young person is able to lead and create a just and sustainable world and access their rights. To do so we believe we need to address systematic inequalities in everything we do.
So much of our work relies on the connections, bonds, shared values and wellbeing of our people, from volunteers to trustees. Our work can be tough and is not without its challenges. Supporting our people to be happy and healthy, striving for diversity, ensuring all voices are heard and included and aligning our day to day work and decision making to our values is essential to life at Restless Development.
In 2023, we made intentional steps forward across our Agency to shift power and our new Agency plan (2023-30) has some important ambitions and targets.
Our values
At Restless Development how we do things is as important as what we do. Our culture is critical to our success. And no surprises to anyone who knows us that Restless Development is an incredibly special place to work.
Our values were first developed in 2011 as a way to describe what makes Restless Development so special.
Our values demand us to lead with compassion, to celebrate quality, to work beyond ourselves and our collective ego. They require us to create space to celebrate and innovate, to learn and grow as experts, to multiply young leaders around the world.
Our values are not a tickbox, they guide how we behave, how we work together they underpin our success. They form our DNA, the golden thread throughout the global agency. They inspire and challenge us. Our values are the reason people love working with Restless Development.
We are experts in our lived realities. We innovate and try new things without fear of failure.
Youth Power is at the heart of everything we do. We prioritise the wellbeing of all our people, supporting young leaders to thrive.
We collaborate and shift power with young people and communities. We connect, nurture, celebrate and fund young leaders.
We are honest and transparent. We use our voice for what is right.
Supporting diversity, inclusion and ongoing learning
Our staff have organically developed their own global communities, or ‘Employee Resource Groups’, across the Agency to support each other and our inclusive diversity work. For example, Restless Youth is an informal network of young people aged 35 who meet once a month to forge connections across the Agency, share the challenges they face as young people in their respective communities, and to share skills and learning.
In addition we have set up a number of Communities of practice for people in similar roles to come together and share challenges, solve complex problems and issues and learn from each other: For example our People COP brings together like-minded individuals who hold responsibility for people, human resources and performance in their respective hubs and teams across our global agency. They come together in order to build best practice, share learning and develop skills and expertise, so that they can respond consistently and in the best possible way to meet the needs of people across our agency.
