Diversity Audit & Toolkit
The President’s Office - Public Service Management (PO-PSM) is commissioned by the Government of Tanzania, to provide guidelines and meaningful initiatives and, through the Public Service Reform Programme (PSRP), has successfully completed Phase I of the reform agenda and is set to embark on Phase II.

One of the challenges facing the Human Resources Management function of the Public Service is for PO-PSM to enhance Diversity Management in all Ministerial Department Agencies (MDAs). The Unit currently entrusted with that responsibility is the Gender Unit (to be called the Diversity Management Unit [DMU]).

The Unit contracted Farrah Qureshi to develop an Action Plan and Diversity Management Toolkit aimed at mainstreaming diversity in the Public Service. These initiatives will assist the Unit to carry out meaningful activities under PSRP II.

The Terms of Reference (ToR) included the following approach:
The process tools’ role and function was to update the ‘What’ and now it is the ‘How’ the project focuses on.

The study included a ‘temperature check’ phase in which focus groups were facilitated and sample questionnaires distributed to a select set of MDAs to elicit their current views. There was also a desktop review of select documentation given by the Unit and a Stakeholders Workshop with participants invited from MDAs and other institutions.

One of the challenges of this project was to ensure that such potential fast tracking of diversity issues must be realistically achieved within a limited timeframe and under financial and Human Resource constraints.

We drew on our extensive experience and best practices to ensure that the deliverables achieved the requirements of the ToR, the needs of the PO-PSM and the challenges it current faces.

The Diversity Excellence Model (DEM) was used in order to establish where MDAs perceive themselves to be in relation to key equality and diversity issues. This model can be viewed as a ‘Journey to Excellence’, where the departure lounge represents ‘Awareness’ and the final destination represents ‘Excellence’.