With the PARI project, a training course aimed at civil servants to protect diversity and inclusion
Anna Di Lallo and Priscilla Robledo – Formez PA
Formez PA is committed to supporting the public administration in the acquisition of skills, tools and methods useful in the prevention and removal of discrimination against vulnerable subjects and at risk of social exclusion. With the PARI project, a training course aimed at civil servants to protect diversity and inclusion.
E’ on line la e-learning platform intended for employees of Municipalities, Metropolitan Cities, Regions and the Penitentiary System, health and social workers, information operators. This tool is aimed in particular at URP operators, offices that carry out front office activities, user assistance, help desks, who will be able to participate in asynchronous multimedia training courses and collaborative social learning activities.
The training platform is a product of the project PARI – Public Administration Resources for Inclusion, which aims to positively affect the PA’s ability to include and the creation of a new organizational culture. Many public administrations have already joined, such as the Municipalities of Trento, Turin, Milan, Bergamo, Genoa and Follonica; the Regions of Veneto, Campania, Trentino Alto Adige; the Metropolitan Cities of Milan, Turin and Bari.
The project PARI, financed by the PON Inclusion 2014-2020, implements specific interventions such as the fight against anti-Gypsyism, the definition of local action plans, online training for the PA and information for greater awareness and sensitivity to the issue. The provision of operational tools aimed at facilitating access to public services by subjects at risk of exclusion is the real challenge of the project. The objective is therefore to increase the awareness of public service operators for the fight against multiple discrimination and to strengthen the skills of the PA on the issues of diversity and respect for differences, both within the organization and in the management of public users.
With the revision of the Code of Conduct for civil servants, which took place in November 2022, not only were the spotlights turned on the fight against discrimination through the prohibition of any type of discrimination in the workplace, but the road was paved for a PA that bases its efficiency on the valorisation of skills and on the empowerment of personnel. More specifically, with the new Code of Conduct, the manager is given responsibility for the professional growth of collaborators and for promoting training opportunities and development opportunities, introducing the express provision of the prohibition of discrimination based on the personal conditions of the employee, such as sexual orientation, gender, disability, ethnicity and religion.
The project operates in this direction PARI which takes into account the important role that public employees play for an inclusive society and intends to support the administrations in this process of change.
Il catalog of e-learning courses it is divided into a general part, of an introductory nature, and four in-depth courses on issues relating to LGBT+ people and Roma, Sinti and Caminanti and includes tests to verify in-depth analysis, as well as a final evaluation.
Furthermore, e-learning in the strict sense is also accompanied by a social learning environment, in which it will be possible to discuss common problems to be faced in daily work, with a view to creating a real community of practice on diversity issues and inclusion in the PA.
The flexible and dynamic e-learning platform is provided free of charge and is already operational. This is an important experimentation, the success of which is linked to the collaborative approach shown by the individual administrations and to the value that each participant will bring to the various organizational contexts.
For any information and further information on the project, visit the website www.progettopari.it or write to [email protected]
The initiative is part of the PARI – Public Administration Resources for Inclusion project, born from the collaboration between Unar, the National Office against Racial Discrimination set up at the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and Formez PA, which provides for the implementation of four project lines: 1 ) Counteracting anti-Gypsyism: a cultural journey between memory and current events; 2) Pilot interventions for the creation of Local Action Plans (PAL) to be implemented in continuity with the process started in 2018; 3) Training courses aimed at strengthening the skills of PA personnel in relation to discrimination against LGBT people, also with attention to multiple discrimination to be implemented through online interactive platforms; 4) Information, awareness-raising and training interventions for prison system operators on the subject of anti-discrimination and the inclusion of LGBT people through online interactive platforms.