Case Study - Wakefield Metropolitan Distrcit Council

Background

Championing Diversity was a West Yorkshire wide programme offered to employers to help them develop their management of diversity. This included an assessment of the company’s progress to date and extensive help over 18 months to move them in the direction they wanted to be in the future.

The Organisation

Shaping the companies into ‘Champions of Diversity’ in their industry, the programme worked with Emma Judge - Equality and Diversity Team Manager & Sue Bearder - Equality and Diversity Officer at Wakefield Metropolitan District Council to develop their approach to diversity. Wakefield Council continuously improves its services to meet citizens’ needs and make positive difference. The District has a diverse mix of communities and a rich heritage..

Impact • Raised the profile of the Equality and Diversity agenda • Built the capacity of emerging Equality and Diversity champions through training and awareness raising • Gained greater insight as to where we are currently on the Equality and Diversity journey • Focused and strengthened our business case for key actions.

What did we do?

The programme underpinned the business case and is helping to drive forward: • Innovative Elected Member, employee and senior management Equality and Diversity Training. • Engagement with hard to reach communities through Service Equality Impact Assessments. • Equality Impact Assessment of Corporate Management Team Reports.

What did we learn?

Credible external measure to inform and support future actions Realisation of how great the task is, as in the main the results were taken from ‘very engaged’ groups and others might have less understanding Sound self-awareness in respect of the Equality and Diversity agenda Partnership working works!