About

The aim of the project is to:

1: Strengthen the capacity of HR and managerial staff of selected SMEs and of public sector officials in central and local government bodies in Greece on diversity management and inclusion practices. This will be achieved through targeted needs-based trainings to selected SMEs and public sector agencies to adopt an intersectional approach addressing inclusive leadership, unconscious bias, discrimination and equality issues in the in the recruitment process and in the workplace
2: Increase awareness on multi-dimensional diversity in business through strengthened links between SMEs, CSOs, the academic and research community, underrepresented groups and policy makers. This will be achieved by creating spaces for exchange and strengthening links between businesses, groups that are underrepresented in the corporate world, policy makers and the research community via a three-tier approach: stakeholder consultative workshops and the piloting of informal cross- company dialogue sessions among employees and diversity experts from the academic and research community.
3: Motivate and engage companies, public sector agencies and organisations to further endorse the Diversity Charter in Greece. This will be achieved through targeted local communication activities promoting and highlighting the benefits of diversity in the workplace and PROGEDI activities as well as (a) and a diversity career fair bringing together diverse jobseekers and businesses and (b) final Diversity Conference organized by KEAN bringing together over 300 practitioners and business representatives in Greece to disseminate lessons learned from the action and the Diversity Charter. The support of the project by the Municipality of Athens, as well as the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Migration and Asylum will further support the dissemination of the Diversity Charter’s activities to increase the number of signatories.
4: Strengthen national and transnational cooperation on diversity management among private companies, civil society organizations and community-based organizations through the dissemination and exchange of best practices, resources and lessons learned. This will be achieved through the organisation of two transnational webinars with representatives of Diversity Charters across Europe. Specifically, the support of the project by Diversity Charters in Cyprus and Ireland will further promote transnational cooperation between Greece, Ireland and Cyprus and solidify the base for further dissemination improving the sustainability of the projects’ results.

PROGEDI will directly benefit the target-groups:

Human resources employees, hiring managers and senior management from selected SMEs in Greece in sectors with growth potential with unconscious bias in recruitment training;

Public sector officials from central and local government bodies with needs-based capacity building in DEI with the overall goal to promote long-term organisational change;

Community organisations that advocate for the rights of under-represented groups such as women, LGBTQI+, people of migrant origin, persons with physical or mental disability through their representation in consultative workshops for the project’s objectives;

Employees across businesses, academia and selected stakeholders from the public sector by creating dialogue platforms for consultation and reflection aiming to create a culture of discussion and interaction that will lead to more inclusive workplaces and societies;

A wider European network of CSOs and practitioners working in the field of diversity management and inclusion and in particular the representative Diversity Charters in other EU MS aiming to foster cross-border learning and transnational cooperation to promote shared values on diversity and inclusion.

PROGEDI’s innovative aspects of the project lay on:

Adapting DEI initiatives to SMEs and public sector agencies responding to identified needs while tools and resources created such as the Unconscious Bias in Recruitment Guide and the adapted DEI curricula for the public sector will set the basis for future initiatives.

A diverse consortium of actors with complementary experience and buy-in: the representative of the Diversity Charter in Greece (KEAN), an organisation with innovative internal DEI practices (IRC Hellas) and a community-founded organisation consisted of people with different origins working to promote equal participation in society (G2RED).

Creating space for dialogue with an intersectional focus between key stakeholders that need to be involved and strengthened through a three-tier approach: Stakeholder consultation workshops will strengthen links between communities of underrepresented groups and policy makers, dialogue sessions will strengthen links between the academic/research community, business and employees and the first diversity career fair will bring together diverse job seekers and businesses in Greece.

Insights

Diversity and equality are core values of the European Union (EU) and increasingly policies to combatting discrimination have advanced with the EU integrating equality in policies and major initiatives. Recent efforts such as the Gender Equality Strategy 2020-20256, the EU Anti-racism Action Plan 2020-20257 and the LGBTQI Equality Strategy 2020-2025 stress the importance of preventing and tackling all forms of discrimination. The EU also moved to create legal protections for minorities in the labour market with legislative instruments such as the Employment Equality Directive and the Race Equality Directive. In an effort to support organisations and businesses across the EU adopt a learning orientation towards diversity, the EU is also pushing for diversity management through initiatives such as the EU platform for diversity charters launched in 2010.

In Greece, the uniformity in the ethnic and religious profile of its population – of which 93% are Greek – has led the discussions on diversity management and inclusion being mostly focused on the participation of women in the public sphere. Notably, Greece records the lowest female employment rate in the EU at 51.8%, while men overwhelmingly occupy management positions with women accounting for less than one third of managers in Greece. At the same time, the demographic mix has rapidly changed in recent years – migrants and second generation along with the ongoing so-called refugee crisis, form a workforce landscape of increasingly diverse racial, ethnic, religious backgrounds and legal statuses. Indicatively, in 2020, 8,5% of the population (906,300) were non-Greeks, the vast majority of them (730,000) being citizens of a non-EU country. The policy climate is also changing from the commitment of Greece to comply with European legislation relating to the recognition of rights of people with diverse identities and characteristics.