Transcript

[MUSIC PLAYING]

CHERYL:

Connecting diverse voices is a mutual mentoring scheme that brings together colleagues from across the government communications service to share their experiences on equality and diversity issues and their own professional career expertise.

LAURIE:

It provides a platform that you can tailor to your own needs and desires, addressing any area of diversity and inclusion that you're interested in.

CHERYL:

Colleagues with diverse viewpoints and experience in diversity and inclusion are matched with senior civil servants who are keen to raise their awareness on diversity inclusion issues.

SPEAKER 3:

We've asked some of our participants to share their experiences to give you a taste of what CDV is like.

ASIF:

I'm obviously BAME, and so I have an understanding of the issues surrounding that and what it's like for BAME people in the Civil Service, but I wanted to learn about someone who was from a different background. Some of the issues they're facing.

CHRIS:

The conversations around it help encourage my team and other teams to feel confident about this. I think this is an area that people have felt less confident about, so giving people the opportunity to talk about it in a different way actually enables them to be more confident and more likely to find the right solutions.

JUSTINE:

It was a great learning experience, a great opportunity to branch out of my department network, and I think it's a great way to meet people that you wouldn't normally cross paths with and you wouldn't necessarily make the effort to talk to and get to know.

ROXANNE:

It gave me the opportunity through all the work that I've been doing in diversity and inclusion to share that, but also learn a great deal about what's happening for somebody in a different organisation as well.