Project FLAME
24/07/2007
By
Natalia Janiczak. Intern BGO Gemini
On July 1, BGO Gemini launched the project FLAME – Fair Labor Attitude – Measurable Equality. “FLAME – Fair Labor Attitude – Measurable Equality” consists of development of an Equal Opportunities Code in the workplace jointly by experts and key players on the employment sphere. The project aims at empowering sexual minorities in Bulgaria and improving their position as employees. It also aims to raise awareness in the general society and the employment sector on the anti-discrimination legislation. The main target groups of the project are sexual minorities and the most commonly discriminated social groups in Bulgaria. Activities also target employers, policy makers and public authorities; human rights NGOs in Bulgaria and the general society.
The project seeks to explore possibilities for closer cooperation between the employment sphere and human rights NGOs and facilitate shared learning in a manner in which voluntary codes of antidiscrimination labor practices contribute to better workplace conditions. The project involves joint monitoring and remediation work at 10 Bulgarian companies. These joint activities will incorporate a variety of equality code enforcement methods and strategies and through this work, an extensive analysis of the outcomes, the participating groups will identify “best practices” and develop viable models for ongoing cooperation in terms of equal opportunities provision. The results were broadly shared.
Purposely, the project includes widely disseminated information to encourage active public participation in monitoring actions to combat intolerance; collecting information the type and nature of discrimination based on the Bulgarian Law for protection against discrimination grounds, specifically focusing on sexual minorities, namely women, disabilities and ethnic minorities through a variety of methods; detailed assessment of the current labor conditions situation in the targeted 10 employers as to make comprehensive review of the current policies and practices as to assess the level of correspondence with the Act Against Discrimination and equal opportunities principles. Next to this, training on the Bulgarian antidiscrimination legislation and best practices will be delivered to provide for the full involvement of all involved parties (employers, employees, labor unions, etc.). A strategic action plan for provision of all antidiscrimination legislative provisions will follow the training, which will be a management tool in the project implementation. The fulfillment of the strategic plan through the implementation of equal opportunities standard phase will complete final diversity audit by independent expert, who will certify that the requirements of the Bulgarian Act against Discrimination and the best antidiscrimination labor practices are provided and made operational in the involved in the project employers.
The project is financially supported by the Democracy Commission of the USA Embassy in Bulgaria. The duration of the FLAME project is one year.
Results:
30 business companies and 5 non-profit organizations in Bulgaria have been invited to participate in the project. Qualifying criteria for the targeted companies was geographical location (to enable national implementation of the initiative), size (small-to-medium size, 20-150 employees), business line and type of sector (service/products provider; medical care, transportation and logistics, construction, civil engineering, etc.) and any certification status. The latter was explicit prerequisite – Equal Opportunities Code would be adopted smoothly in a business company, which has already been recognized for compliance with international quality standard, such as ISO 9000 – a ground-base standard, setting the basic rules for all occupational and health and social responsibility standards. A total of 13 responses have been received, which exceeds the number of participants expected.
Representatives of the participating organizations and others, not fully involved, demonstrated a will to learn and allocated time and resources to become more aware of the anti-discriminative provisions. They have been trained in the framework of the Bulgarian and European legislative requirements for non-discrimination. The induction training also covered best practices for diversity management in Europe and the USA. It is worth mentioning that one of the participating organizations declared intention to recruit person with physical disabilities and has already taken measures in this respective.
The senior management of the participating organization defined an organizational policy on diversity and equal opportunities and ensured that the policy and the following practices included the organization’s commitment for compliance with the Bulgarian and European anti-discrimination legislation.
20,000 equality-promoting free cards have been published and distributed nationally. The free cards were distributed to a total of 297 locations in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Stara Zagora, reaching a large number of recipients.
For the first time Gemini took the role of participator in its own project. As to benefit the most of the project results and to be able to provide expertise and perspective from the source, the project is also implemented in Gemini in the same fashion and phases as the other project partners and participants. It enables the building of new and neutral perception for the community values as employees/employers, facing the same issues and challenges on the workplace. By gaining expertise and opening new communication and operational channels between the sexual minority’s members and the employment sphere, Gemini builds confidence and provides support before the community in managing their work-related issues. Employers realized the benefits of managing their employees and communicating their products/services in humane manner, considering one’s interpersonal matters as substantial part of someone’s personality. It also opens new channels for working ideas and prospect markets and marketing approaches. Employers are now concerned also about the reputation they maintain before their subordinates and do not demand respect and leadership by the power of their position, but as result of their humane and socially responsible approach. The complaints of cases of discrimination on the workplace have increased dramatically, both in terms of number and as seriousness of the case. Gemini filled new discrimination case before the Commission against Discrimination against a hospital in the city of Montana. The case forms strategic non-discrimination objectives both for the organization, and the community’s equality position.
The project seeks to explore possibilities for closer cooperation between the employment sphere and human rights NGOs and facilitate shared learning in a manner in which voluntary codes of antidiscrimination labor practices contribute to better workplace conditions. The project involves joint monitoring and remediation work at 10 Bulgarian companies. These joint activities will incorporate a variety of equality code enforcement methods and strategies and through this work, an extensive analysis of the outcomes, the participating groups will identify “best practices” and develop viable models for ongoing cooperation in terms of equal opportunities provision. The results were broadly shared.
Purposely, the project includes widely disseminated information to encourage active public participation in monitoring actions to combat intolerance; collecting information the type and nature of discrimination based on the Bulgarian Law for protection against discrimination grounds, specifically focusing on sexual minorities, namely women, disabilities and ethnic minorities through a variety of methods; detailed assessment of the current labor conditions situation in the targeted 10 employers as to make comprehensive review of the current policies and practices as to assess the level of correspondence with the Act Against Discrimination and equal opportunities principles. Next to this, training on the Bulgarian antidiscrimination legislation and best practices will be delivered to provide for the full involvement of all involved parties (employers, employees, labor unions, etc.). A strategic action plan for provision of all antidiscrimination legislative provisions will follow the training, which will be a management tool in the project implementation. The fulfillment of the strategic plan through the implementation of equal opportunities standard phase will complete final diversity audit by independent expert, who will certify that the requirements of the Bulgarian Act against Discrimination and the best antidiscrimination labor practices are provided and made operational in the involved in the project employers.
The project is financially supported by the Democracy Commission of the USA Embassy in Bulgaria. The duration of the FLAME project is one year.
Results:
30 business companies and 5 non-profit organizations in Bulgaria have been invited to participate in the project. Qualifying criteria for the targeted companies was geographical location (to enable national implementation of the initiative), size (small-to-medium size, 20-150 employees), business line and type of sector (service/products provider; medical care, transportation and logistics, construction, civil engineering, etc.) and any certification status. The latter was explicit prerequisite – Equal Opportunities Code would be adopted smoothly in a business company, which has already been recognized for compliance with international quality standard, such as ISO 9000 – a ground-base standard, setting the basic rules for all occupational and health and social responsibility standards. A total of 13 responses have been received, which exceeds the number of participants expected.
Representatives of the participating organizations and others, not fully involved, demonstrated a will to learn and allocated time and resources to become more aware of the anti-discriminative provisions. They have been trained in the framework of the Bulgarian and European legislative requirements for non-discrimination. The induction training also covered best practices for diversity management in Europe and the USA. It is worth mentioning that one of the participating organizations declared intention to recruit person with physical disabilities and has already taken measures in this respective.
The senior management of the participating organization defined an organizational policy on diversity and equal opportunities and ensured that the policy and the following practices included the organization’s commitment for compliance with the Bulgarian and European anti-discrimination legislation.
20,000 equality-promoting free cards have been published and distributed nationally. The free cards were distributed to a total of 297 locations in Sofia, Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas and Stara Zagora, reaching a large number of recipients.
For the first time Gemini took the role of participator in its own project. As to benefit the most of the project results and to be able to provide expertise and perspective from the source, the project is also implemented in Gemini in the same fashion and phases as the other project partners and participants. It enables the building of new and neutral perception for the community values as employees/employers, facing the same issues and challenges on the workplace. By gaining expertise and opening new communication and operational channels between the sexual minority’s members and the employment sphere, Gemini builds confidence and provides support before the community in managing their work-related issues. Employers realized the benefits of managing their employees and communicating their products/services in humane manner, considering one’s interpersonal matters as substantial part of someone’s personality. It also opens new channels for working ideas and prospect markets and marketing approaches. Employers are now concerned also about the reputation they maintain before their subordinates and do not demand respect and leadership by the power of their position, but as result of their humane and socially responsible approach. The complaints of cases of discrimination on the workplace have increased dramatically, both in terms of number and as seriousness of the case. Gemini filled new discrimination case before the Commission against Discrimination against a hospital in the city of Montana. The case forms strategic non-discrimination objectives both for the organization, and the community’s equality position.
