Newsletter No 4

[Diversity Newsletter N°4] Diversity in Leadership Europe
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Diversity in Leadership Europe

Fourth international Newsletter

1. International Summer School “Diversity at Work”, Reggio Emilia

2. Webinar, “Towards an Inclusive Public Transport”

3. Dissemination Event in Dublin

Dear colleagues and friends,

The European Learning Partnership “Diversity in Leadership Europe” is officially coming to an end.
After the final international meeting in London, the European partners met for the last time at the International Summer School in Reggio Emilia to learn and exchange about how to foster diversity at work.
Finishing the official period of the European partnership on “Diversity in Leadership”, we also publish our newly designed online toolkit
www.diversityinleadership.citizensforeurope.org.There your can find the project results and the documentations of all the workshop contents in the different cities. Moreover, you can read more about the partners and their activities in local, national, and international networks. You might as well want to check out our previous newsletters.
Learn More!

We thank you for your cooperation and interest in our activities.

                


The partnership is funded by the LifeLongLearning programme ofGrundtvig. Its objective is self-empowerment through knowledge building and sharing at European level and with that, to boost local projects in participating cities based on DiverseCity.
DiverseCity onBoard initiative of the Maytree Foundation connects qualified candidates from visible minority and under-represented immigrant communities to the governance bodies of agencies, boards and commissions and voluntary organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. Our sincerest thanks to Maytree for their generous support in the concept development of this project.
 

1. International Summer School “Diversity at Work”, Reggio Emilia

On June 11-12, 2015 Reggio Emilia hosted the “DIVERSITY AT WORK. International Summer School on Diversity Advantage“, organized by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Intercultural Centre Mondinsieme, and the voluntary work centre DarVoce, with the support of the Council of Europe and European Commission’s programme, Intercultural Cities.

DIVERSITY AT WORK assembled a selection of Italian and international best practices on diversity advantage and provided a forum for exchange. It was open to everyone interested in the issue of cultural diversity advantage, such as local, regional and national public administration and decision-making bodies, trade associations, companies and firms, university and high school students, and non-profit organizations.

The International Summer School on Diversity Advantage was the final event of two European projects financed by the Lifelong Learning Programme of European Union within the Leonardo and Grundtvig framework, DICE – Developing Intercultural Competences for Enterprises and DiverseCity onBoard – A European Learning Experience.

Learn More!

2. Webinar: “Towards an Inclusive Public Transport”

Participants
• Immigrant Council of Ireland
• Transdev
• Dublin Bus
• Irish Rail
• Vielfalt entscheidet

The webinar introduced the campaign “There’s NO Room on Board for Racism and Discrimination”, which was initiated by the Immigrant Council of Ireland in cooperation with players of Dublin’s public transport system. It informed us about the companies’ endeavors towards generating awareness of racism and discrimination in public transport, as well as in their own staff. In the beginning, Teresa Buczkowska from the Immigrant Council of Ireland provided context information on the Irish society. Since Ireland is a rather new country of immigration, there is a lack of proper legislation to penalize racism. Subsequently, there is an issue of underreporting of racist incidents, as the population is not properly informed about the rights and possibilities they have. The activities included poster campaigns, research and monitoring of racist incidents, and the creation of new stamps featuring people from diverse backgrounds living in Ireland. The awarded and even replicated campaign accomplished the aims of reaching an increase in the reports of racist incidents, around 85% in 2013 and further 51% in 2014.

The topic of racism was placed on the public agenda generating a dynamic parliamentary and media debate and putting political pressure on the government to act against racism. Moreover, it encouraged the recording of racism in other areas, such as housing and to specify the forms of racism, e.g. anti-muslim racism. Also within the enterprises measures were introduced to foster mutual understanding and respect. Sammy Akorede spoke from the perspective of an employee at Transdev emphasizing that 25% of the employees had a migration background, which is why it is of utmost importance to conduct diversity awareness trainings with the staff and respect the needs of the employees. As an example for the company’s support of cultural difference he mentioned that the Muslim staff is allowed to take breaks for prayer times and they can go to the mosque nearby the premises. Due to the tremendous success of the cooperation between the Immigrant Council and the public transport system, the campaign was renewed for a national program starting in 2016.

For more info, please contact:   
Teresa Buczkowska Teresa@immigrantcouncil.ie

3. Dissemination Event in Dublin

Irish local dissemination event took place on the 6th of July 2015. We took the opportunity to present the objectives of the Diversity in Leadership Europe project during a launch of a report ‘Voices of Young Migrant Men’. The report was produced by the Immigrant Council of Ireland as a result of the ‘MiMen’ research project. The research looked at the integration experience of young male migrants who were born outside the European Union and came of age in Ireland. The report explores their integration journey in the community, at school, in employment and in engaging with public services; their stories of discrimination and acceptance. One of the common themes that the participants of the project were revealing was the lack of role models in their life. The lack of diversity in higher positions resulted in them feeling unrepresented, disconnected and marginalised by public and private institutions.

The finding of this research highlighted the need for greater ethnic diversity in leadership position in order to foster integration and sustain cohesive society. Our work to date with young migrants aimed at enabling them to become role models for their communities and to prepare them to take up leadership positions in the future. The project ‘Ambassadors for Change’ was designed with the intention to create a network of young skilled and empowered young leaders who could fill in the diversity gap in decision-making positions that later resonated in the MiMen project. During the event we’ve delivered a formal presentation about the objectives of the Diversity in Leadership Europe project.We also distributed leaflets with information about the project history, its goals and we provided links for the on-line information concerning to this project. The event was opened by the Minister of Equality, New Communities and Culture Mr Aodhán Ó Ríordáin TD. It was attended by about 50 people from variety of public and private institutions as well as representatives of NGO’s, police forces and local authorities. This event was highly publicised on social media and in mainstream media.
Vielfalt entscheidet on FB
Vielfalt entscheidet on FB
@Vielfalt_Ent
@Vielfalt_Ent
good old Website
good old Website
Email to Catherine
Email to Catherine

Newsletter No 1

Diversity in Leadership Europe

First international Newsletter

Table of Content:

1. International Workshop Berlin, June 2014

2. Ratna Omidvar’s Keynote Life “Why Diversity Matter”

3. Kick-off Meeting Reggio Emilia, January 2014

4. Partners & Projects from the European Learning Exchange

Berlin: Vielfalt entscheidet
Copenhagen: KVINFO
Dublin: Immigration Council Ireland
London: Diversity in Public Appointments
Reggio Emilia: Mondinsieme

5. Stories & Facts
Success Story: Diversity in Leadership in the board of Mondinsieme
Facts & Figures: Low cultural diversity in leadership positions in German Foundations

Dear colleagues and friends,

We hope you spend a beautiful summer time across Europe!

The European Learning Partnership “Diversity in Leadership Europe” is happy to provide you with the first insights on what is going on good practice diversity projects in the partner cities from:

BERLIN         COPENHAGEN   DUBLIN     LONDON  LUXEMBURG   REGGIO EMILIA

 

                

The partnership is funded by the LifeLongLearning programme of Grundtvig. I’s objective is self-empowerment through knowledge building and sharing at European level and, with that, to boost local projects in participating cities based on DiverseCity.

 

DiverseCity onBoard initiative of the Maytree Foundation connects qualified candidates from visible minority and under-represented immigrant communities to the governance bodies of agencies, boards and commissions and voluntary organizations in the Greater. Toronto Area. Our sincerest thanks to Maytree for their generous support in the concept development of this project. 

1. International workshop in Berlin, June 3-4 2014

Welcome to Berlin! We are all Berliners!

  

  

Thank you to all the participants! Berlin welcomed around 70 participants from more than 20 different cities around the world. The first Diversity in Leadership Europe international workshop was a common project with the Maytree Foundation and the aim was to learn from their DiverseCity onBoard project and how they connected visible minorities to leadership positions. We learned about collecting the Evidence and building sustainable Partnerships. We  success stories from London, Copenhagen and Amsterdam. Finally we practiced innovative and interactive methods which allowed us to bring our projects to a next stage.

To get a deeper insight in what we discussed during the workshops, you can easily access the documentation and our website.
For more picture, please have a look at our huge photo gallery!

2. Ratna Omidvar, Why Diversity Matters

 


Our cities are diverse, our leadership is not“.

 

To listen to the full keynote speech given by Ratna Omidvar,President of the Maytree Foundation,
see below:

Part 1
Part 2

And here the Graphic Documentation, done by Garbiele Schlipf

3. Kick-off Meeting in Reggio Emilia, January 16-18 2014

DiverseCity onBoard goes European! The official launch and Kick-Off Meeting of the learning partnership took place in Reggio Emila/IT in January 2014 and was hosted by Mondinsieme. The partners developed the working plan, introduced their local projects and set the stage for a common learning journey on promoting diversity in leadership.

Consult the full documentation of the meeting including insights from all partners, their projects and the learning partnership as such. See here for pictures.

Some topics the ELE likes to focus on during the next two years:

  • Collective consulting
  • Smart partership building
  • Evidence building and sharing
  • Funding
  • Marketing & Communication
  • Business Case for diversity
  • External speakers on measuring diversity & on the importance of diversity on governance
  • Social innovation

4. Partners & Projects

Berlin: Citizens For Europe & DeutschPlus


vielfaltentscheidet.de
Contact: Catherine Wurth, wurth@citizensforeurope.org

Vielfalt entscheidet is a joint project of DeutschPlus and Citizens For Europe and calls for more diversity in leadership positions in Berlin. Nevertheless
boards of universities, public companies and cultural institutions in Berlin are not representing the diversity of its population. Consequently, they do not identify nor serve the needs and interests of the whole city population. This leads to a situation in which services provided by the institutions do not match the actual demand of the diverse population and migrants are degraded to disadvantaged social groups.

  • Collecting the missing data and identifying best practice. To get a better idea, have a look at the recent study on diversity in leadership in German foundations.
  • Praising best practice institutions, such as during the workshop with Wooga. It helps designing processes for institutions that want to rethink their leadership conception.
  • At the moment we are applying for further funding to extend our activities, collect more data from other institutions and sectors in Berlin
  • Soon our website will be relaunched and will offer us to disseminate more information about data, good practices and stories of diversity in leadership in Berlin! We can’t wait and will keep you posted!

 

Copenhagen: KVINFO

https://www.kvinfo.dk/side/661/
Contact Person: Beatriz Hernandez de Fuhr,
beatriz.hernandez@kvinfo.dk

What’s KVINFO being doing since the start of the partnership:

  • Gathering information on the demographic composition of Copenhagen, and  gathering data on how such demographic composition is reflected in leadership positions of cultural institutions and non-profit organisations.
  • Finding out about what are the procedures in Denmark for board nomination and appointment in non-profit organizations.
  • Assessing who are the key organizations who will be able to help KVINFO to map the pool of eligible candidates to be placed on a future roster.
  • Finding out about who could be the core champions who will be committed to help us tell the story to our target groups.
  • Exploring which partner could host and manage the Diversity in Leadership Program
  • Following   the international workshop Berlin, commencing the planning of the second international Learning Exchange which will be hosted by KVINFO in cooperation with the United Federation of Danish Workers 3F in the Copenhagen in November 2014.

 

Dublin: Immigrant Council of Ireland

www.immigrantcouncil.ie
Contact: Brian Killoran, Brian@immigrantcouncil.ie

As a partner organisation in the DiverseCity onBoard project the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) has benefited immensely from the opportunity to further develop its ideas and campaigns in several areas.

  • The ICI furthered its work with public transport providers in Dublin, launching a toolkit for its anti-racism campaign which includes substantial work to further develop diversity strategies within the partner companies to reflect the diversity of their staff groups. (To access further information regarding the toolkit, click here.)
  • The ICI has also engaged in a process of developing a leadership programme for 2014/2015 which will build upon the success of previous ICI leadership and mentoring schemes and intends to include an element of facilitating young people from a migrant background who are interested in volunteering for boards of organisations or companies. To further develop this element of the programme, the ICI has engaged with an organisation in Ireland who matches candidates with interested boards. The ICI will be meeting with this organisation in the coming weeks, and hopes to invite them to participate in future planned learning exchanges within the project.

 

London: DiPA

www.dipa.org.uk

Contact: Shaama Saggar Malik, shaama@dipa.org.uk
DiPA – Diversity in Public Appointments, is an independent organisation. Its purpose is to promote diversity in public life by guiding and supporting individuals from previously unrepresented groups to successfully apply for Public Appointments. DiPA is currently focussing on:

  • Intensifying its work with the Cabine Office of the UK government to improve understanding the reasons for low representation of Black Minority Ethnics (BMEs) in public appointment, to explore actions needed to make real improvement and network with talented individuals from diverse backgrounds.
  • Disseminate information about public appointment vacancies in the UK on DiPA website.
  • Develop models to help promote and encourage self-assessment of “diversity in the board” performance.
  • Coaching people from underrepresented groups who have expressed interest in seeking public appointments.
  • Discussions are going on design/support/deliver some form of training programme to help develop the skills of individuals from under represented groups and who may be potentially suitable for board appointments.

 

Reggio Emilia: Mondinsieme

https://www.mondinsieme.org/

Contact Person: Nicoletta Manzini,
nicoletta.manzini@municipio.re.it

In Italy, a crucial question is how to promote diversity in leadership in a context in which the social fabric is facing a dynamic transformation, with a growing number of private companies owned by people with foreign origins, but high rates of unemployment among youngsters (43%), and low percentage of professionals with migration background represented in administrative board of firms.

Mondinsieme wants to make companies aware of the diversity advantage and facilitate them the access to qualified works of a diverse workforce. Mondinsieme’s approach focuses on youth and aims their empowerment. Concretely, Mondinsieme strenghtens the network between schools and companies with internships and international exchanges in order to make the diverse youth of today ready for the leadership of tomorrow.

5. Stories & Facts

Aia Radwan,
First elected member of the Board of Mondinsieme,
21 years old

Mondinsieme is a private organisation created by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia to deal with intercultural policies.

Diversity in Leadership:

A story from Reggio Emilia

Aia Radwan: a second generation young woman in the Board of Management of Mondinsieme
The election, held last June 2013, presented a short list of 8 candidates, both of Italian and foreign origins. 92 were the persons entitled to vote, as participants in the activities of Mondinsieme (both individuals and associations). The participation in the election was very high (67%) and showed an investment in the youth, especially  in second generation immigrants.

The winning candidate, Aia Radwan is, in fact, a second generation youngster of Egyptian origin. She is an ambitious 21 years girl, engaged in political and social activities at the local level, and an excellent student of Political Sciences at the University of Bologna.

For the first time the first generation of migrants have trusted with their vote in the second generations proving that an Italian city is ready to accept new challenges.

https://www.migazin.de/2014/06/02/studie-kaum-interkulturelle-vielfalt-in-stiftungen/

Diversity in leadership positions in German foundations:
This is the first big study done by Citizens For Europe and a first step to get concise data about cultural diversity in leadership positions in public and private institutions in Berlin. 

Low cultural diversity in leadership positions in German Foundations

In Germany, Foundations shape the public discourse and are forerunner in promoting cultural diversity, inclusion and anti-racism. Nevertheless the results of the study shows that within foundations these principles are missing. Only every 11th person in leadership positions has a migration background and in the major foundations even only every 30.

Citizens For Europe examined approximately 3,000 leadership positions (Advisory Board, Board of Trustees, Council, Executive Board and Management) of the 30 largest private and public foundations in Germany as well as 250 other foundations with legal headquarters in Berlin.

Best practice cases show that diversity benefits the foundations’ organisation and culture. For instance Bürgerstiftung Neukölln and Stiftung Digitale Chancen declare that cultural diversity brings “innovation” and “helps responding to the needs of a diverse society”.

To download the study (in german), https://vielfaltentscheidet.de/Studie-stiftungen/

Newsletter No 2

Citizens for Europe

Diversity in Leadership Europe

Second international Newsletter

1. International Workshop Copenhagen, November 27-29 2014

2. Release Video “Why Diversity Matters”

3. Partners & Projects from the European Learning Exchange

Berlin: Vielfalt entscheidet
Copenhagen: KVINFO
Dublin: Immigration Council Ireland
London: Diversity in Public Appointments
Luxembourg: OLAI
Reggio Emilia: Mondinsieme

4. Interview with Ratna Omidvar: Order of Merit, Canada and Germany

Dear colleagues and friends,

One year has passed since the European Learning Exchange started. So far, a fruitful learning journey through Reggio Emilia (January 2014), Berlin (June 2014) and Copenhagen (November 2014) has boosted our local project on Diversity in Leadership.

The European Learning Partnership “Diversity in Leadership Europe” is happy to provide you with the newest insights on what is going on good practice diversity projects.

We thank you for your cooperation and interest in our activities.

All the best for 2015!

 

 

grundtvigThe partnership is funded by the LifeLongLearning programme of Grundtvig. Its objective is self-empowerment through knowledge building and sharing at European level and with that, to boost local projects in participating cities based on DiverseCity.

 

DiverseCity onBoard initiative of the Maytree Foundation connects qualified candidates from visible minority and under-represented immigrant communities to the governance bodies of agencies, boards and commissions and voluntary organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. Our sincerest thanks to Maytree for their generous support in the concept development of this project.

Maytree_logo

diverseCity

1. Second international workshop in Copenhagen, November 27-29 2014

Learning in Copenhagen!

KVINFO and 3F would like to thank the 40 participants of the learning exchange in Copenhagen … and all 75  guests who attended the public session on Thursday, November 27th.
Our aim was to explore answers to one question: What do we need to know to fully use the skills of diverse leaders? And  we were happy  to share with you the knowledge and professional experience of organisations such as Phineo, Brap, DiPA and Citizens For Europe. Collectively you’re an amazing army of idea pollinators. THANK YOU.
– Beatriz Hernandez de Fuhr and Anthony Sylvester

 

The agenda was very inspiring with international and national experts on diversity and social innovation.

For the whole agenda, participant information, pictures, videos and documentation of the event:

Learn more!

Thursday 27th November

Introduction and Welcome by Beatriz Hernadez-Fuhr (KVINFO) and Martin Wilhelm (Citizens For Europe)

Workshop I: Social Impact Orientation and Measurement by Julia Propp (Phineo gAG)
This workshop’s objectives were to enable the leaners to: 1) identify key strategic objectives and challenges for their projects, 2) develop their “theory of change” on how to make a difference in society, 3) give and receive peer-feedback and 4) communicate and scale up their projects‘ social impact. It was designed to allow for feedback and learning between “peers”.

Public Session:
Søren Heisel, General Secretary of the United Federation of Workers in Denmark
Mette Ovgaard, Diversity Manager, Arriva Denmark
Pernille Kjeldgård, Head of the Centre for Diversity and Employment/ Copenhagen Diversity Charter 
Martin Wilhem, Director, Citizens for Europe, Coordinator of “Diversity in Leadership
Europe”

Friday 28th November

Workshop IISquare Pegs Round Holes- Creating Intercultural boards, Joy Warmington and Diane Rutherford (Brap)
Brap’s approach draws on the latest thinking about “uncouncious bias” and intercultural competences. The audit tool is for any innovator, especially those determined to take action on the diversity challenge. Via floor exercises the learners tested the four key areas of Brap’s intercultural board model: individual awareness, board values and behaviours, decision making, and the ability to realise the benefits of  diversity.  The board audit tool is a work in progress.

Workshop IIIThe training needed to serve on diverse boards, Shaama Saggar-Malik (DiPA)
This workshop focused on showing  in practice what does it take to prepare individual candidates for serving, on diverse boards. DiPA works on a daily bases with non-profits dealing with the diversity challenge and in the process of forming a diverse board for their enterprises. But more importantly, Shaama Malik and her team at DiPa have developed a whole support system for individuals to join in through the process of creating a diverse board.

Walk through Nørrebro: with Uzma Andressen (I am Norrebro) and Laerke Clausen (3F) Over the last couple of decades Nørrebro has evolved from being a working-class area into Copenhagen’s hottest neighbourhood. Trendy bars and fashionable designer shops are side by side with cheap kebab places. Nørrebro is also the place of the Assistens Cemetery, which holds the graves of  Hans Christian Andersen and  Søren Kirkegaard. The residents of Nørrebro love their neighborhood so much, that they create an audio walk: I AM NØRREBRO. Uzma Ahmed Andresen, social activist and candidate for Alternative, and Lærke Kamma Clausen, student assistant – 3F,   walked with the learners  in a very cold November afternoon exploring Nørrebro’s diverse and hip multicultural atmosphere.

Workshop IV: Media, Branding and Communication, Catherine Wurth (Citizens For Europe)
What needs to happen so that diversity is more valued in public discourses?
This workshop designed and facilitated by Catherine Wurth aimed at developing 5 good practice projects/actions on what needs to happen so that cultural diversity is more valued in public discourse. First a silent brainstorm session in six small groups. Next, each learner shortly presented two ideas on diversity to her/his small group.  Cultural diversity was concretely related to  the learner’s daily work and projects. Ideas were then presented to all the learners, and further refined into best practice projects/action. Prototypes of these projects were then pitch. Templates, pictures and outputs  of each pitch can be seen here.

To get a deeper insight in what we discussed during the workshops, you can easily access thedocumentation.
For more pictures, please have a look at our huge photo gallery!

2. Video Release “Why Diversity Matters?”

Finally our video about “Why Diversity Matters” from the Berlin Learning exchange meeting is finished! Have a look: there are great interviews and a nice shot about what we did in Berlin in June.

“Our cities are diverse, our leadership is not”.

 

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9w8Z0FAYf8

3. Partners & Projects from the European Learning Exchange

Berlin: Citizens For Europe & DeutschPlus

vielfaltentscheidet.de

Catherine Wurth
wurth@citizensforeurope.org

Vielfalt entscheidet is a joint project of DeutschPlus and Citizens For Europe and calls for more diversity in leadership positions in Berlin.

During the last few months, the Vielfalt entscheidet Competence Team was institutionalised; a diverse team with more than ten experts from Federal Ministries, city administrations, foundations, the private sector, various NGOs and academia regularly meet to consult the team of Vielfalt entscheidet on project developments and strategic decisions. The aim is to work with different stakeholders to be constantly confronted to the different facets of diversity, from working against structural discrimination as well as improving the performance of institutions. We also want to experience cross-sector cooperation and specialise in multi-stakeholder engagement in order to maximise collective impact.

Vielfalt entscheidet is currently gathering data about diversity in leadership data in different sectors. Beginning 2015, the data on the number of people with migration background, People of Colour (PoC’s) and women in boards and in the executive management in federations, associations and stages (theatres, operas, etc.) based in Berlin will be released. In addition, the team of Vielfalt entscheidet has been looking for best practice institutions and personalities in shaping and enhancing diversity in leadership that will be published in the beginning of January. Have a look atwww.vielfaltentscheidet.de.
           

The big aim of 2015 is the implementation of a Vielfalt entscheidet Pilot Project in Berlin thanks to the intense fundraising we done during the last months.

 

Copenhagen: KVINFO

https://www.kvinfo.dk/side/661/

Beatriz Hernandez de Fuhr
beatriz.hernandez@kvinfo.dk

Focus on Diversity in Leadership in the Cutlutral Sector

There have been serious efforts to bring more diversity in the workforce in Denmark.There has also been successful experiences bringing more women into leadership positions in the Danish private sector. Therefore, KVINFO has been assessing the local needs and readiness for a program that tackles diversity in leadership beyond mere representation in the cultural sector (schools, kindergartens, nurseries, sport clubs & other clubs, old people’s homes, libraries, etc.) There is momentum for issues related to diversity, civic engagement and participation in a city like Copenhagen. However, there are also basic questions such as:

  • Is there a sufficient pool of eligible applicants among women and youth, among ethnic minority groups?
  • How will you prepare applicants to serve on boards and expert committees in the broad cultural sector?.
  • How to help boards and expert committees of cultural organizations asses how diverse they are?

KVINFO role is to create the prototype of an online dashboard, which shows the kind of talent pool available. The prototype will include access to the board intercultural audit tool presented by the British think-tank Brap in Copenhagen, and access to the steps designed by the partner organization DiPA to make individuals board-ready. The prototype is a first step to develop a business case to garner support, obtain funding for a future pilot project.

        

 

Dublin: Immigrant Council of Ireland

 

www.immigrantcouncil.ie

Brian Killoran
Brian@immigrantcouncil.ie

Teresa Buczkowska
Teresa@immigrantcouncil.ie

 

As a partner organisation in the DiverseCity onBoard project the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) has benefited immensely from the opportunity to further develop its ideas and campaigns in several areas.

Focus on Inclusive Transport System in Ireland and Leadership Programmes
During the last few months, the ICI has furthered its work with transport providers in Ireland, having successfully received funding from the Equality Authority in Ireland to deliver internal anti-racism and diversity capacity building session within private transport companies such as taxi companies and a private bus company.

This training, to be delivered in 2015, will seek to work with companies to identify or formulate best practice approaches to diversity and anti-racism within their organisations and to develop protocols which describe this.The ICI has also further developed its intention to initiate a leadership programme for 2015 which will build upon the success of previous ICI leadership and mentoring schemes and intends to include an element of facilitating young people from a migrant background who are interested in volunteering for boards of organisations or companies.

 

To further develop this element of the programme, the ICI has engaged with an organisation in Ireland who matches candidates with interested boards, Boardmacth. The ICI will be meeting with this organisation in the coming weeks, and hopes to invite them to participate in future planned learning exchanges within the “Diversity in Leadership” project.

 

London: DiPA

www.dipa.org.uk

Shaama Saggar Malik
shaama@dipa.org.uk

 

DiPA has been continuing to spread the word about why diversity in leadership and on boards in particular is important and a win-win for individuals and organisations. This includes links with central government teams leading on public appointments, the office of Northern Ireland Commissioner for Public Appointments and attending a new network to be launched in January by a leading executive recruitment firm (Harvey Nash), aimed at identifying and supporting more diverse talent for non-executive and board appointments.

In February 2015, DIPA, in partnership with Women in Public Policy (a development network for a wide range of women involved in public policy roles), will run a workshop to promote understanding of public appointments, improve confidence and skills in making effective applications and to practically help women apply for current vacancies. ‘What are we waiting for?’ will be the encouraging theme of the workshop.

      

 

Reggio Emilia: Mondinsieme

 

https://www.mondinsieme.org/

Nicoletta Manzini
nicoletta.manzini@municipio.re.it

2015: The year of the Diversity Advantage

Mondinsieme’s engagement with the issues of Diversity in Leadership and Diversity Advantage/Diversity Management, with a special focus on second generation youngsters, is continuing under the umbrella of the Diversity Advantage year. Two international events will be held; 1) in March 2015 – Spring against Racism and 2) in June 2015 – Summer school on cultural diversity advantage.
       As many local actors are interested in the development of activities on such issues, the present challenge for Mondinsieme is to create and coordinate a competence team (composed of the Muncipality of Reggio Emilia, business and trade associations, companies, trade unions, academics, employment agencies, etc.) to define  an action plan for 2015. In view of the summer school and the action plan 2015, data on Board composition, as well as on second generation’ s qualifications and employment rate, need to be collected and processed. Mondisieme, together with the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, will be in charge of all data collection and processing.

 

The action plan 2015 will in particular include:

– training opportunities for companies interested in approaching the issues of Diversity in Leadership and Diversity Advantage/Diversity Management;
– training opportunities for youngsters entering the job market in order to become conscious of their diversity competitive advantage.

Luxembourg: OLAI

https://www.olai.public.lu/en/

 

Laure Amoyel
laure.amoyel.olai.etat.lu

Catia Fernandes
catia.fernandes.neves@gmail.com

Focus on Local Integration: Setting the right basis for diversity in leadership

The Luxembourgish Reception and Integration Agency has developed and implemented local Integration action plans. Information sequences have been distributed to all the local towns and in total 10-12 towns are interested in setting up an integration plan for their community.

The aim is to mainstream integration practices to the local community level in order to encourage the local decision making bodies to develop long term strategies for a sustainable integration policy. A hand book has been created and promoted. At the moment the OLAI has tailored personalised workshops for the different towns in order to find out the different priorities. In addition, equal representation in the local associations is target. At the moment, a survey has been distributed to find out the status quo.

In addition, the Luxembourgish Chamber of Commerce has shown interest in the topic of Diversity in Leadership. There will be a follow-up on the opportunities to tailor a workshop for them.

   

4. Interview with Ratna Omidva


Ratna Omidvar and Consul General Walter Stechel

 

Ratna Omidvar is Founding Executive Director of the Global Diversity Exchange (GDX) at Ryerson University and former director of the Maytree Foundation. She initiated DiverseCity onBoard, that won the Intercultural Innovation Award of UNAoC and BMW Group in 2011, and since then has spreat throughout the world and is at the origin of the European Learning Exchange.

The Order of Merit is awarded by the President of the Federal Republic of Germany to draw public attention to achievements that are of particular value to society. Of special significance is the contribution that Ratna’s international work with German foundations, universities and public institutions and the new vision she brought to Germany as a country of immigration, and a nation committed to fostering a culture of welcome.

To see the whole interview, please follow this link!

An interview with Ratna Omidvar

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany  “Today, Germany and Canada are both countries of immigration. And Germany can learn much from Canada.” (Walter Stechel)
What can Germany learn from Canada?
Canada is not perfect by any means, and Canadians will be the first to say it. But I think there are some areas we have become quite good at over time, and others can learn from this experience. From policymakers down to educators, Canadians see immigrants asfuture citizens. We recognize that Canada will only succeed if its newest residents succeed alongside with it. What does this mean in practice? It means that weinvest in people from the start. We want you, a newcomer, to pass your citizenship exams, we want you to learn English or French, we want you healthy, we want you to get hired, and we put tax dollars into doing these things faster and better.

Another lesson is found in the Canadian private sector, in a class of its own in terms of leadership on diversity and inclusion. Businesses of all sizes have proactively improved their newcomer hiring and management strategies. Why? They recognize that diversity is an asset, and they leverage that asset as good businesspeople do. With a top-to-bottom diverse workforce, Canadian companies have reached new markets both outside Canada and inside the country, for example, by developing products and services targeted at newcomers.

But one of the most important institutional levers we have in Toronto (and in Canada) to promote our multicultural identity and values is our school system. An institution that touches all of us, at the heart of every community with a mandate to leave no child behind, committed to fairness and equal opportunity, and rigidly intolerant of discrimination, racism and hatred of any kind – these policies are transformative, and are seeded and grow up very naturally among our young people. Germany can better recognize schools – also libraries, health services, and police services – as critical forms of public space where systemic change can occur every day in ordinary ways.

Finally, as Canadians have done, I urge Germans to find your symbols. To develop a national narrative that recognizes your diversity and tells its story. It will feature your brilliant scientists, artists, young leaders, economists, and entrepreneurs who are making Germany what it is today.

Thank you!

Newsletter No 3

 

    

 

Diversity in Leadership Europe 

Third international Newsletter

1. Third International Workshop London, April 28-30
2. News: Partners & Projects 
Berlin: Vielfalt entscheidet
Copenhagen: KVINFO
Dublin: Immigration Council Ireland
London: Diversity in Public Appointments
Reggio Emilia: Mondinsieme
Luxembourg: Local integration
3. Diversity Day in Luxembourg

Dear colleagues and friends,

The European Learning Partnership “Diversity in Leadership Europe” is happy to provide you with the newest insights on what is going on good practice diversity projects.

After the kick-off meeting in Reggio Emilia in January 2014, the first international meeting in Berlin in June 2014 and the second international meeting in Copenhagen in November 2014, all the partners and their learners met for a final official time in London. Celebration and sustainability were at the heart of the gathering in London. The participants had the opportunity to review progress, celebrate successes and consider how to build on successes into the future.

We thank you for your cooperation and interest in our activities.

                

The partnership is funded by the LifeLongLearning programme of Grundtvig. Its objective is self-empowerment through knowledge building and sharing at European level and with that, to boost local projects in participating cities based on DiverseCity.DiverseCity onBoard initiative of the Maytree Foundation connects qualified candidates from visible minority and under-represented immigrant communities to the governance bodies of agencies, boards and commissions and voluntary organizations in the Greater Toronto Area. Our sincerest thanks to Maytree for their generous support in the concept development of this project.

 

  

1. Third international workshop in LONDON, April 26-28 2015

Learning in London!

DiPA and Citizens For Europe would like to thank all the participants from Berlin, Copenhagen, Dublin, Luxembourg, Reggio Emilia, and London as well as all the amazing speakers from all over the globe. We are very happy for sharing with you the knowledge and professional experience of organisations and leaders such as Joy Warmington, Katerina Prevelianiki, as well as Richard Catherall, Judith Davey, Fidele Mutwarasibo, and Dorian Leatham as expert members of the Jury. A big thank to Paula McDonard and Rosalyn Eales from the Cabinet Office to have shared their experience about diversity in public appointments with us. Finally it was amazing that the Lewisham Council with Malcolm Ball, Arhag Housing Associations with Dorian Leatham and Transport for London with Laily Thompson have organised amazing field visits.

A special thank you to Curtis Juman and his whole team from the Equality and Human Rights Commission for hosting and supporting us in such a great way!

   

The agenda was very inspiring with international and national experts on diversity, funding and social innovation. 

For the whole agenda, participant information, pictures, videos and documentation of the event:

Learn More!

 

2. News: Partners & Projects

 

Berlin: Citizens For Europe & DeutschPlus

vielfaltentscheidet.de

Catherine Wurth

wurth@citizensforeurope.org

Vielfalt entscheidet is a joint project of DeutschPlus and Citizens For Europe and calls for more diversity in leadership positions in Berlin.

Pilot Project Presentation:

How can recruiting processes be more diversity aware?

Penetrability and equal opportunities are decisive factors for enabling more diversity in leadership positions. The project idea of Vielfalt Entscheidet tackles the question of how to enable employers to make changes in their recruiting processes with the goal to be more diversity aware. Our project idea for the pitch was centred on a consulting project, which one of the group members is currently implementing in the field of personnel recruitment and aptitude diagnostic within large organisations. The main assignment in the consulting project is to provide guidance on how to change recruiting structures in order to provide more penetrability for more diverse employees. Our project goal that has been elaborate in the workshop was to make the knowledge and findings obtained in the consulting project available for employers, which are willing to enable more diversity in their leadership. Against this background we developed the following project milestones:

1. Finding out which elevating screws have to be altered within recruitment processes, in order to make them more diversity aware.
2. Finding out how the elevating screws have to be altered.

3. Document the obtained knowledge and findings in the implementation in case

studies.4. Develop and publish a manual for employers based on the case studies.

The aim of Competence team is to test this prototype during the following months.

 

Copenhagen: KVINFO

https://www.kvinfo.dk/side/661/

Beatriz Hernandez de Fuhr

beatriz.hernandez@kvinfo.dk

After the Learning Exchange Conference in Copenhagen in November 2014, KVINFO’s learners have been working on:

1) Developing and testing the prototype of an online dashboard, which makes the business case for diversity in leadership in Copenhagen.

2) Developing a crowdfunding campaign as an alternative mean for obtaining funding for a future online dashboard/megasite. Prototyping is about testing the critical elements of an idea.

Regarding the development of the prototype, the problem we were trying to solve was how to encourage more diversed boards in the non-profit sector, and how to encourage individuals to prepare themselves to be in leadership positions. We wanted a solution that could work similar to the one used by DiverseCity onBoard in Toronto. We run our online dashboard for a couple of weeks out in the real world, and it didn’t work. We don’t think of it as a failure, we think of it as
a designing experiment through which we learned a lot. A new version of this tool should not provide rigid frameworks to be followed, but rather guide users and help them to generate ideas. The crowdfunding campaign came as a consequence of testing our prototype. KVINFO’s learners understood that they will need some help getting the tool ready for the market. The crowdfunding campaign mock-up was developed and designed by the Danish learners Katerina Prevelianaki and Azadeh Sabouri, and it was tested successfully during at the “Sustaining Success” Learning exchange in London in April 2015.

Dublin: Immigrant Council of Ireland

www.immigrantcouncil.ie

Teresa Buczkowska

Teresa@immigrantcouncil.ie

Towards an Inclusive Public Transport For over four years, the Immigrant Council of Ireland has been coordinating the work of a partnership involving public transport companies, Dublin City Council and the National Transport Authority. Several issues have been identified in the transport sector regarding effective diversity management.Public Transport companies have particular relevance with regards to diversity and anti-racism, in (a) workplace relations; (b) service provision; and (c) occupying a public space.In a few short years, the partnership has developed robust and proactive anti-racism annual campaign, as well as diversity strategies and policies. Public transport companies have been working to embed diversity in their day-to-day operation. Outcomes of the work include: establishing in-house racism reporting mechanisms, reviewing internal diversity policies and training.

They also developed a mentoring program at the companies’ top management level. Wider impact is evident from the generation of media debate around the prevalence of racism in Irish society. It has also stimulated a debate at the political level. During the London conference it was suggests the initiative has a potential to become a benchmark for aninclusive public transport services in Ireland and EU, but the project is at a crossroads and must develop beyond its current position to become sustainable. It was advised that the partnership needs to develop a strategy to ensure the initiative is mainstreamed in society and the workplace. The partnership should also develop a pack and look at avenues to provide this knowledge to other interested parties to benchmark their initiative. A working group has been established to reflect on the collective effort to date and our future activities. The undergoing work will reflect on the requirements and shape the modern public transport sector with regard to a diverse and inclusive work environment and how its relationship with customers is articulated.

London: DiPA

www.dipa.org.uk

Shaama Saggar Malik

shaama@dipa.org.uk

DIPA has continued to provide support to individuals applying for public appointments. In spring, we were delighted, in partnership with Women in Public Policy and with generous support from Odgers Berndtson (a leading executive search company), to run a practical skills workshop for women applying for public appointments. The response was very positive and several women have now gained the confidence to apply. We are considering how we can build on the event and needs expressed. We are having continuing discussions with various potential supporters to develop a new training programme based on what we have learned from our previous work and feedback from the Learning Exchanges. 

At the London conference, DIPA was very grateful for the insights and advice from colleagues about our idea to develop a framework for a training programme to develop skills for applying for, and participating in, public appointments. Our intention is that the framework will be sufficiently flexible so that it can be modified to suit local needs but still provide a consistent standard of common, shared good practice principles and skills. We will send out more information over the next few months and we would welcome anyone who is interested in helping develop or pilot the programme.

DIPA is also very excited as we have just been appointed as consultants to assist Dublin City Council to review and develop a new Integration Strategy for the city. Fidele Mutwarasibo, who is an enthusiastic supporter of the Partnership, will be one of the lead consultants working on this project over the next few months. Finally, DIPA will be visiting Reggio Emilia in July, to support Mondinsieme in an exciting two day conference, sponsored by the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, to promote diversity and inclusive leadership in executive and public life roles to local

businesses and organisations.

Reggio Emilia: Mondinsieme

https://www.mondinsieme.org/

Nicoletta Manzini

nicoletta.manzini@municipio.re.it

The Reggio Emilia Summer School: DIVERSITY AT WORK

On June 11-12, 2015 Reggio Emilia is going to host DIVERSITY AT WORK. International Summer School on Diversity Advantage, organized by the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, Fondazione Mondinsieme, and the voluntary work centre DarVoce, with the support of the Council of Europe and European Commission’ s programme, Intercultural Cities. DIVERSITY AT WORK is a relevant learning opportunity as it deals with a selection of Italian and international best practices on diversity advantage. The Summer School is open to everyone interested in the issue of cultural diversity advantage, such as: local, regional and national public administration and decision-making bodies; trade associations; companies and firms; undergraduate and graduate students; work agencies; youth with foreign origins; high-schools; universities; associations and no-profit organizations.

The summer school is a starting point to develop new and innovative approaches on diversity advantage, an issue that is earning more and more attention and relevance due to the increasing diversity of the social fabric of our cities and to the global exchanges of cultures and economies. These changes are effecting the work experience of individuals and companies in different areas, such as public administration and decision-making bodies, health and social care, business, and education.

The Summer School represents the final event of two European projects financed by the Lifelong Learning Programme of European Union within the Leonardo and Grundtvig framework, DICE – Developing Intercultural Competences for Enterprises and Diversity on Board – An European Learning Experience.

For more information, visit https://diversityatwork.weebly.com/

Luxembourg: OLAI

https://www.olai.public.lu/en/

Laure Amoyel

laure.amoyel.olai.etat.lu

Catia Fernandes

catia.fernandes.neves@gmail.com

Focus on Local Integration:

Municipalities are committing to the action plans After the creation of a hand book aimed at encouraging the local decision making bodies to develop long term strategies for a sustainable integration policy, constructed around a classic 3 step management plan, OLAI has tailored workshops for the different towns in order to help them identify their priorities and assist them in implementing the PCI- Local integration plan. 5 public workshops gathering over 40 municipalities and 7 personalized workshops have been organized and followed up by Syvicol, the Union of Luxembourg Cities and Communes, in close collaboration with OLAI. So far, 3 municipalities- Steinsel, Lintgen and Berdorf- already sent in the deliberation of their Town Council, which is the first and foremost condition to start the local integration plan as the political support of the municipalities’ Council is essential to the success of a sustainable integration policy. 10 municipalities from Mosel region and 5 from SIAS (Union of 5 municipalities) are also committing to the action plans and 8 others are already organizing themselves to be able to commit soon. OLAI offers the possibility to apply for financial help (25.000 max / year) and continues to accompany and advise the communes.

 

4. Celebrating Diversity in Luxembourg

Luxembourg launched its very first national Diversity Day on 12th May 2015

Over 70 organizations joined the celebration which was initiated by the Committee for the Diversity Charter Lëtzebuerg, showing that diversity is “on its way” in Luxembourg.

A colorful program for diversity

A rich program was set up for thousands of citizens, employees and volunteers on this unique day. Inspired by diversity, the organizations proved themselves to be at their most creative: diversity quizzes, youth workshops, limited edition stamps, exhibitions, themed contests, decorated bank agencies and cash dispensers or a diversity walk in the colors of the Diversity Day. Furthermore, a Diversity Meeting Place in MUDAM (Contemporary Art Museum) allowed organizations which wish to act on diversity to meet with diversity specialists. The Prime Minister, Xavier Bettel, and Minister of Family and Integration, Corinne Cahen, showed their support to promote diversity by attending some of the planned actions with official visits along the day.

Disseminating best practices and European partnerships 
The Diversity Meeting Place was the setting which OLAI, the Luxembourg Welcome and Integration Agency,partner in the “Diversity in Leadership” project chose to disseminate the information on the European learning exchange at a national level: present as one of the specialists on diversity, OLAI had prepared an information sheet on the “Diversity in Leadership” project to hand out and explain the project to the interested people.

And the winners are…

The Diversity Day was completed with the first Diversity Awards Lëtzebuerg ceremony, which awarded the 4 best diversity management practices in Luxembourg. Over a hundred guests attended the ceremony hosted by Christian Scharff, IMS Luxembourg (Inspiring More Sustainability) and Diversity Charter Lëtzebuerg Committee president, and presided by Corinne Cahen, Luxembourg Minister of Family and Integration, sponsor of the Charter and president of the Awards jury. The ceremony was an highlight of the day for many of the candidate and nominated organizations.

organizations were nominated in each category: 

« Recruitment, Welcoming and Integration »

o Recruit through the motivation of diversified profiles, ONET

o Anonymous recruitment : the recruit by simulation method, Sodexo

o Welcome and integration of communities in their « divercity », municipality of Strassen

« Career management »

o Raising awareness on the fight against discriminations, BNP Paribas

o Diversity initatives and training for staff members, State Street

o Implementation of telework in a municipality, Luxembourg City

« Environment and Well-being at work »

o Mixcity : a mixed network promoting professional equality, BNP Paribas

o Choose your well-being, ING Luxembourg

o Mental handicap, integration and adaptation of the working environment, Luxembourg City

« Communication and values »

o Women’s Day celebration, Deloitte o Gender Balance Project, KPMG Luxembourg

o Educational staff training, City of Esch-sur-Alzette & MEC asbl

After a two-round analysis by a jury of independent, the winners are : ONET, BNP Paribas, Luxembourg City and the City of Esch-sur-Alzette and MEC asbl (Movement for Equal Opportunities)

Vielfalt entscheidet on FB
Vielfalt entscheidet on FB

@Vielfalt_Ent
@Vielfalt_Ent

good old Website
good old Website

Email to Catherine
Email to Catherine