Diversity and inclusion

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The Ministry of Foreign Affairs wants to be an organisation where everyone can express themselves and make the best use of the power to make a difference. It also wants to be an organisation where everyone feels at home, and where everyone can be themselves and be heard, seen, and valued. This work culture does not come about by itself and instead requires continuous dedication by all colleagues. Being aware of mutual differences is the point of departure when it comes to promoting mutual understanding, respect, and appreciation. These values also form the basis for honest behaviour, together with clear agreements about how we should interact with each other and approach our work. Diversity, inclusion, integrity, and a safe work environment are therefore inextricably linked.

Issues

‘Together with the coordinator and the D&I strategic advisors (SADIs), my job is to discuss the D&I issues that play a role within our organisation with the departments and missions. Examples include the role of humour and microaggression in the workplace. I then translate those issues into learning activities which provide staff across the world with guidelines on how to work together, create a socially safe work environment, and stand up for each other if that is necessary. The Academy offers four different learning activities of which there were 33 versions in 2023.’

Curriculum

The ‘Unconscious bias’ online workshop is intended to give people knowledge and practical examples on how to reduce any unconscious bias they might have. Managers can take part in hybrid work sessions entitled ‘Inclusive leadership – connecting the differences’ (Inclusief leiderschap – verbinden van verschillen), during which they can discuss initiatives, success stories, and setbacks relating to inclusion. The emphasis is on active listening and getting to grips with the problems. During the workshop entitled ‘Honest and Socially Safe Working – Doing the Right Thing’ (Integer en Sociaal Veilig Werken – Doing the Right Thing), staff can learn how they can make an active/a more active contribution themselves to a socially safe work environment, and how they should deal with the various dilemmas, such as witnessing fraud or transgressive behaviour. The ‘Speaking Up!’ workshop is intended to teach staff how to take action as a bystander.

Knowledge

‘In 2023, the focus in our learning activities was on transferring knowledge and joint practice sessions,’ explains Gina. ‘We wanted to answer questions such as what is an inclusive, socially safe work culture? What is understood to be honest behaviour and being authentic and inclusive? What do we need from each other to achieve this, and how do we do this in daily practice?’

Additions to the curriculum

Partly as a result of the research report which was published in December 2022 under the title ‘Racism at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: an exploratory study’, the Inclusion Plaza has been expanded further in 2023 in order to combat and prevent forms of racism and discrimination. Our curriculum now includes stories from internal and external experts which are tailored to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, team training sessions for inclusive recruitment and selection, and webinars on racism and discrimination.

A toolbox full

‘We are also offering other learning formats, in addition to the individual learning activities. So you can now also start working on inclusion and integrity with your team,’ Gina adds. ‘You should then make use of the inclusion and integrity toolboxes which are packed with tools and resources to inspire you and your team to engage in discussions and mutual learning on communication and social skills, reflection, empathy, and conduct.’

Inclusion Plaza

All our learning activities, e-learnings, (government-wide) information and tools on diversity and inclusion (D&I), a safe work environment, and integrity can be found in the Inclusion Plaza. As Gina explains, ‘The Inclusion Plaza allows colleagues to see the entire curriculum and the different learning formats at a glance, enabling them to refresh their basic knowledge of D&I and social safety wherever and whenever they like. The majority of the learning activities are available in Dutch and English.’

Obligatory

‘The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive work culture and safe work environment in which everyone is aware of how important this is. We are adapting our curriculum accordingly. We have started by making the “Unconscious bias” online workshop obligatory for everyone, and the new learning portal, which went live in January 2024, is helping in that respect. The personal dashboards of managers and staff contains the menu entitled “obligatory for you” where everyone can immediately see which learning activities are obligatory for their work at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.’

Challenge

‘The evaluations of our learning activities revealed that colleagues feel the need to learn more about diversity and inclusion. They also indicate that they want to practise things with each other and find out more by sharing stories and inspiring each other. That is going to be our focus in 2024. At the same time, the issues of the day, crises, and deadlines continue to be a major distraction from learning and development in our work. Despite the fact that staff regard learning and development as important, learning activities are regularly cancelled at the last minute, and sometimes people even fail to show up. That is having an impact on the learning activity content and teaching methods due to ad hoc modifications. It is important that we are all aware of this and continue to commit. After all, the culture and working atmosphere at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is something we all create together.’