Honouring our communities through action: why blood and organ donation matters

Black History Month is an opportunity to celebrate, reflect and learn, but it’s also an opportunity to take action.

Our Race and Culture Network at Sopra Steria has organised a programme of events to bring this year's UK Black History Month theme, ‘Honouring Our Communities’, to life. Annecia Baronette, the network’s Co-Chair shares why one event in particular feels so important to discuss.

Annecia Baronette - Race and Culture Network Co-Chair.

For me, this year's theme of ‘Honouring Our Communities’ is about more than recognising and celebrating the achievements of Black communities. It's about bringing conversations that are often left unspoken into the open, creating understanding and giving people the confidence to take action where they can make a difference.

Alongside sessions exploring menopause across cultures, bias in AI, employee career stories and leadership insights, one topic we’re proud to be spotlighting this month is the importance of blood and organ donation.

Why this conversation matters

For many people, donation is something they know about but have never seriously considered. Yet for individuals living with conditions such as sickle cell disorder, finding closely matched blood donors can be critical.

Sickle cell disorder disproportionately affects people of Black heritage, and patients usually require regular blood transfusions throughout their lives. The best matches are often found from donors who share similar ethnic backgrounds. Despite this, there remains a need for greater diversity among blood donors to help improve outcomes for patients.

To help raise awareness, we’ve partnered with NHS Blood and Transplant for a session that explores the challenges faced by Black patients. The session will explain why representation among donors matters and will provide practical information on who can donate, how the process works and what to expect.

Importantly, the conversation will also recognise that decisions around donation can be influenced by many factors, including culture, faith, disability, health, sexuality, gender identity, age and family circumstances. By creating space for open discussion, we hope to build greater understanding and help people make informed choices.

Turning awareness into action

At Sopra Steria, we’re truly encouraged to move beyond conversation into taking positive action to support communities. Everyone who works here is entitled to up to three paid volunteering days each year, so we can support causes and community initiatives that matter to us.

This Black History Month, we're encouraging colleagues to consider using some of this volunteering time to donate blood. While donating may only take a few hours out of a person’s day, the impact could last a lifetime for someone who depends on life-saving blood transfusions.

As part of our campaign, NHS Blood and Transplant will provide a dedicated registration link so we can understand how many people choose to sign up during October. More importantly, it gives us an opportunity to translate learning into action and demonstrate the difference we can make collectively.

I’m really proud of our network’s Black History Month programme this year. It’s been designed to spark conversations, celebrate experiences and encourage action. Honouring our communities is about more than recognising them, it's about showing up for them, supporting them and driving positive change.