Since 2019 Hassan seized the opportunity to start raising the profile of the challenge faced by BAME colleagues through providing insight into his experience of working in HMRC Fraud Investigation Service (FIS) as a black man. He began by presenting a powerful piece to his work colleagues and new recruits entitled "The Paper Cut Affect - Micro Incivilities", and the success of this presentation has led to his services being requested by numerous other groups including the Bee at One Manchester events, HMRC FIS SLT Listening events, the LGBT PRISM National Event, D&I workshops, Original mind behind Cross Civil Service Race Network event, workshop for Criminology and Criminal Justice students at University of Salford. Hassan became a FIS national Diversity and Inclusion strand member in 2019 and has been working to implement policy to support FIS D&I strategic messages of inclusivity, diversity, and creating a welcoming and supportive organisation. He has worked with FIS national and regional leadership communities and the FIS D&I strand to develop and facilitate a D&I agenda. He is influencing the regional approach to resourcing and recruitment to ensure diversity and inclusion is at the heart of recruitment processes.  As a D&I champion Hassan recognised three critical areas of focus; race, socio-economic background and disability, all of which faced challenges regarding progression for our people in the profession. He has researched to build a picture based on robust data and evidence to credibly and effectively present the case for change. He has developed and presented specific workshops addressing micro-incivilities and other forms of discrimination and inequalities faced by minority groups to raise awareness amongst colleagues across HMRC. Drawing on lived experience's, including his own to bring authenticity to an area he feels so passionately about. 

Sally Davis initiated and led the creation of The Derby House Principles to promote diversity and inclusion in professional Wargaming. This was done in collaboration with other editors of PAXsims: a professional gaming blog with international contributors from governmental organisations, universities and the private sector. The principles were created in response to abusive online behaviours towards minorities within the Wargaming community. The principles embody a commitment to making Wargaming a more diverse and inclusive environment, with the aim of challenging and changing the culture within Wargaming.  In Sally’s own time, she authored the Derby House principles and brought them to the attention of Dstl, which contains the Defence Wargaming Centre, for organisational endorsement. Sally shared the principles and started a conversation on our social business software Distillery (Jive) that has engaged Dstl’s workforce like no other D&I initiative before it.  Sally designed a pin badge for people to openly show their enthusiasm and personal commitment to these diversity and inclusion principles. She launched a survey to understand minority experiences, which along with anecdotes shared directly to Sally, enabled her to create an interactive card deck of Women’s & Minority Experiences. This is providing a way for our people to engage with the situations experienced within Dstl and across MOD.  From Sally’s lead, Dstl has publicly endorsed and strongly believes in these principles, encouraging everyone to adopt them in their daily life whether they are a wargamer or not. Industry, academia and government departments have also endorsed the Derby House Principles worldwide.  Links: https://paxsims.wordpress.com/derby-house-principles/ https://paxsims.wordpress.com/about/ https://paxsims.wordpress.com/2020/06/19/dstl-embraces-the-derby-house-principles/ 

Supporting people at work who’ve been affected by cancer is an increasingly important topic, especially during lockdown and with a greater focus on working from home.  In the UK 1 in 2 people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime and around 1 million people of working age have been told they have cancer. The impacts of Covid-19 on people affected by cancer are significant, and supporting colleagues in vulnerable and shielding categories is vital for physical and mental wellbeing, to ensure people feel able to deliver their best work and feel included and valued during these extraordinary times.  Last year the Home Office Working Through Cancer Network won the ‘Championing Disability Inclusion’ Award for its ground-breaking work to reduce the stigma of talking about cancer in the workplace and for offering practical, every day support to its hundreds of members. Since then, we have established the Civil Service Working Through Cancer Network! In 2019 network chair, Seonaid Webb, delivered a presentation to CS Disability Champions. Afterwards she was contacted by several departments, asking for advice on setting up their own WTC networks and where cancer support networks already existed, looking to work together on cross-cutting themes such as improving HR policies, enhancing the lived experience of people with a disability, and building line manager confidence and capability. Membership has continued to grow throughout 2020 and at the last count there are now 25 organisations represented in the network, including Scottish, Welsh and NI governments!  We now have >150 trainers across the Civil Service.  The network has two simple principles: 1) to support people affected by cancer, as well as carers and line managers supporting people diagnosed with cancer, and 2) to normalise talking about cancer in the workplace to build a more inclusive culture and improve lived experience. 

Rowaa is passionate about promoting diversity and inclusion and has made a huge contribution to D&I in HMT, all of it voluntary and done on top of her demanding day job.  Probably her biggest achievement was establishing a parents network in HMT at the start of lockdown, which has become a powerful voice and fully integrated into the flexible working network championed by the Perm Sec.  But this is just the tip of the iceberg for Rowaa. She initiated and organised an event with the minister on mental health awareness, has helped to set up and run the race workstream for HMT's 300 analysts, and supports HMT’s Race Steering Group as well as the recruitment review for the Ethnic Minority Network. On top of this she mentors a colleague with disability and leads by example in constructively helping people to develop more inclusive behaviour. For example she ran a session in our Group to help us consider the diversity of our stakeholders, which was thought-provoking and run in a very sensitive way, which helped people engage with the subject and think about what they could do about it.

100 Women. Closing the widest Gender pay gap in the UK. The DWP Avon Somerset and Gloucestershire Jobcentre District have been working in partnership with Sedgemoor Council, and a whole range of community organisations to deliver the 100 Women project. Sedgemoor in Somerset (the Somerset Levels, Bridgwater, and the Quantocks) had the widest gender pay gap for women in the UK before our work, and the project we designed was tackle that gender pay disparity and the underrepresentation of women in traditionally male dominated roles.  The mission’s aim was by using mentoring; apprenticeships, training, voluntary work, work experience, business start-up we could enable over 100 women into sustainable well paid employment. We empowered ambassadors to support women into employment to enable retention and sustainability for the project going forward ~ providing a lasting legacy. We wanted to also build community cohesion and break down barriers by encouraging communication and understanding. We made sure this project met the needs of BAME citizens using contacts with Bridgwater’s community elders and faith leaders. From this many of the participants were BAME, working to became ambassadors and role models themselves. Equality of access to, and attainment of, educational qualifications was integral so we enabled literacy, ESOL and numeracy knowing they are key to improving health, nutrition and education in the family and to empowering women to participate in decision-making in society. We made sure things were fun as well so there were 10 pin bowling nights and yoga in the park ~ all to make sure people were engaged in making a career their attainable goal. Our objective was that investing in the education of women brings high returns in terms of breaking cycles of poverty and aiding economic growth for all our citizens.

The Home Office Gender Equality Network (GEN) was re-launched by Kerry O’Dea and Jason Ghaboos (Co-Chairs) in April 2019. They established a core team, a diverse group of over 25 passionate volunteers from all across the Home Office.  GEN takes a programmatic approach, initiating a series of pilots and projects aimed at improving workplace inclusivity for all staff and embedding gender equality in everything the department does. GEN take an evidence led approach to pilot new initiatives and ways of working, drawing from departmental data, surveys and focus groups with staff, with a strong focus on outcomes.  GEN focus on the personal development of our team, supporting each other to achieve our goals. GEN doesn’t recognise grade structures- the most junior grade can be working on the highest profile project.  Since 2019 GEN has delivered: •Jason Ghaboos was seconded to Murray College, University of Cambridge to take forward ground-breaking research on workplace inclusion, 'Collaborating with Men'. The research has featured in Forbes magazine and Jason undertook outreach with stakeholders including: Number 10, Cabinet Office, the Government of Jersey, ONS, GCHQ and more. •GEN developed a new Gender Action Plan for the department with an intersectional approach, considering how different protected characteristics are interconnected, recognising the importance of how this relates to our workplace culture. •GEN delivered the first ever Home Office intersectional event in March for 250 staff, celebrating the Civil Service Year of Inclusion and bringing together all the staff support networks.  • Working with HR and all the staff support networks, GEN led an intersectional and collaborative approach to establish Exit Interviews for the department, delivering one survey for all staff, covering all the protected characteristics.  •Established a project on imposter syndrome, almost 100 staff members have benefited from training sessions, a discussion forum, and key note speaker events. 

Title: Research into Action: The Experiences of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Men in DFID “They have taken everything they can from me as a black man short of killing me.” (DFID BAME Men’s Report, 2020) Problem/objectives: DFID has a problem of representation and discrimination of its ethnic minority staff, particularly acute for black men. There are no black men in DFID’s Senior Civil Service (SCS). Granular data on BAME men’s experiences in DFID and ways to support them fulfil their potential has been lacking. For the first time in DFID’s history, this innovative project sought to (i) empower BAME men to share lived experiences; (ii) understand how race affects BAME men’s employment experiences; and (iii) advocate for improvements. The analysis unpacked the term BAME by disaggregating responses from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic men. The outcome was a 43-page report launched on 21 March 2020 (International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination) which proved particularly timely given the subsequent focus on race following the death of George Floyd and reporting on the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on minority communities. The report provided unique insights on what is preventing BAME men from realising their potential, including subtle and overt forms of discrimination: racially-aggravated shouting, swearing, racist jokes and sexualised-racial harassment. The findings ran contrary to the Department’s values in helping the world’s poorest and ensuring ‘no-one is left behind’.  Methodology/actions/challenges: The team of nine (including six BAME men) were volunteers with full-time jobs. The work supported DFID’s first Race Action Plan launched in January 2020. BAME men were encouraged to share lived experiences with assurance that anonymity would be maintained and information provided would be handled sensitively.  Respondents demonstrated considerable bravery in providing testimonies and some reported re-living traumas they had buried. Support was offered. Expectations were managed given culture change takes time. The outcome was the amplification of previously silent voices on uncomfortable truths and a commitment from senior management to turn awareness into prioritising race within the inclusion agenda. This has been borne out in 4 actions taken since the merger of DFID and FCO, now the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO): (i) appointment of Tim Barrow as Board Sponsor for Race; (ii) signing up the FCDO to Business in the Community’s Race at Work Charter; (iii) launch of the FCDO Summit Programme (a talent scheme for HEO-G6 BAME FCDO Civil Servants) and (iv) creation of an Inclusion Unit, led by a Deputy Director, with dedicated resource on race.

Improving services to BME communities in the Bradford area Bradford is one of five Integrated Community Strategy Areas, a key initiative owned by the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) which aims to reduce BME inequalities by co-designing local integration strategies to take tailored actions to address the challenges specific to their place. The Bradford DWP team led on labour market improvements to increase employment outcomes for BME customers. The team; •Researched and provided detailed information regarding the barriers facing ethnic minorities in Bradford and gaps in existing services.  •Identified a lack of provision for Asian women furthest from the labour market and Asian female graduates  •Co-delivered workshops for stakeholders and partners with MHCLG to encourage innovative ideas which we could pilot to deliver service improvements and increase outcomes for these groups •Developed creative solutions, particularly for BME women of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin who had the worst employment rates and face the most severe barriers to employment.  •Procured a multi layered provision for these women, delivered in new community settings, exploiting fresh techniques, improving services to individuals who did not engage via traditional services and securing employment for some customers who had never worked. •Engaged with two other local community groups to share good practice and deliver a similar service in other parts of the district. •Set up a textile academy, in partnership with employers and the local college, securing employment for BME women. •Developed a joint intervention strategy with the University to research and test additional support for graduates, funding provision with local partners, securing employment for customers. •Attended a Ministerial DWP RDA challenge event in London, sharing the good practice from Bradford  •Contributed to the Bradford Stronger Communities Together Partnership aims for improving integration in the Bradford area  

Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network toolkit  Network members are often unsure how to explain what dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia are, to know what they are good at and worry about asking for adjustments. Earlier this year the Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network (CSDDN), a cross government staff network, published a toolkit to help line managers have supportive conversations with team members. It is intended to educate, make suggestions that may help and challenge stigma. The content can be used to help write workplace adjustment passports. It uses cartoons to introduce scenarios quickly with a written description, an explanation of what is happening and suggestions that may help. Visuals are used as many network members struggle with reading huge volumes of text. The toolkit highlights the positives and strengths of dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and dysgraphia.  Network members worked on the toolkit completely remotely in addition to day jobs. This work was led by and mostly written by Heather Wilson an EO based in Edinburgh. The team never met in person until the intended launch date. The network gave feedback as the toolkit was evolving. Experiences shared at network events and monthly calls influenced the content. A request was made to the network for advice on improving the accessibility and images. This led to a user researcher, content designer and graphic designer getting directly involved (all remotely) resulting in a much better product. 

Tasha has single-handedly led a comprehensive work programme of positive change by increasing disability awareness at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv.  She designed and recruited a diverse range of speakers to educate all staff, as well as bringing a healthy debate about what it means to be disabled. Topics have included: ableism, visual impairment, ADHD, and different models of social disability. Tasha herself has photosensitive epilepsy. She recently wrote a blog for Enable sharing her personal experience of being diagnosed, how it has affected her life, the challenges she has faced and how she has had to adapt her lifestyle accordingly.