Ombudsman Workshop on Dignity: Civility, Communication & Community

By Selome Yifru, Regional Ombudsman, UNOMS

In the fall of last year, the Regional Ombudsman Office in Entebbe delivered a Civility, Communication and Community (C3) workshop at the Regional Training and Conference Centre. The United Nations Ombudsman and Mediation Services’ (UNOMS) offers this workshop as part of the Secretary-General’s initiative to promote dignity and civility in the workplace.

The C3 workshop, centered around three key themes encapsulated in its title, welcomed twenty-one participants from various units and service lines within the UN Entebbe Campus.

The session was highly interactive and participatory, providing a platform for participants to explore the inherent interconnectedness of civility and dignity. The discussions delved into how operationalizing these values could contribute to fostering a healthier, happier, more fulfilling, and ultimately more productive work environment.

The C3 workshop employed a dynamic mix of facilitation, insightful audio-visual presentations featuring experts in the field, and various participant exercises. This approach allowed for comprehensive coverage of thematic areas that either bolster or undermine civility and dignity in the workplace.

The workshop delved into essential topics, such as exploring the fundamental elements of dignity, examining positive and negative reactions to violations of dignity, understanding how communication and feedback can impact the dignity of colleagues, addressing microaggressions and microinequities, exploring elements of team/community building, and discussing how leaders can nurture and foster such communities in alignment with UN values.

The workshop culminated in participants making pledges. The commitments, both on an individual and team level, represent the participants’ collective contribution towards realizing the shared aspiration of creating and maintaining a more harmonious workplace for all.

“I will encourage my colleagues to work colleactively to make the work area conducive to work in by:

• Accepting the identity of each other

• Giving everyone full attention

• Treating everyone with respect & dignity

• Treating everyone with fairness

• Making everyone feel recognized positively in the workplace

We can support a sense of community in our workplace by being inclusive in everything that we do. This is because we can achieve more as a team than working as individuals.

My commitment is to always work together with others for the common goal, treat each other with dignity and recognizing their contributions towards achieving the mandate of the UN.

Thank you for this session!”