Agencies, including USAID, are expected to adhere to laws that guide personnel management in such organizations. Multiple laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, Family and Medical Leave Act, and Equal Pay Act, are some of the legislation that USAID employs to create equal opportunity for its employees while promoting diversity. Federal employees are often guided by multiple legal limitations, especially those that refrain them from having a conflict of interest. The Hatch Act of 1939 prohibits government employees from engaging in political activities (Government Accountability Office, 2018). At the national level, the Act prohibits partisan political participation by the federal government. However, in 1993, the Act was amended, allowing state and local governments to develop their own rules, which may also prevent their employees from participating in nonpartisan politics. However, in the case of USAID, the organization does not allow its employees to participate in any form of partisan politics. The primary objective of such restrictions is to make the delivery of services nonpartisan, and also to protect employees and citizens from abuses and discrimination. The Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA), as amended, is the primary framework that governs the rights of most federal employees (Government Accountability Office, 2018). Among other things, the Act also establishes a statutory framework, codified in Title 5 of the U.S Code, regulating actions taken by agencies against federal workers, including adverse actions such as suspensions, demolitions, reduction in pay or grade, and removal, for any form of employee misconduct (Cole, 2017). Chapter 75 of Title 5 provides details about the procedural rights that federal employees are free to follow when faced with adverse actions. Depending on the type of misconduct, USAID may employ alternative discipline approaches that have been employed traditionally by government agencies to correct behavior. Some of the actions that can be taken by the agency include letters of reprimand and suspension of 14 days or less (Government Accountability Office, 2018). According to CSRA, an employee have a property interest when the government or a government agency gives assurance of continued employment or conditions dismissal for particular misdemeanors. Before depriving an employee this property interest, three factors, as stipulated by the Supreme Court decision in Mathews v. Eldridge , the following must be considered: the private interest that will be affected by the decision, the risk of erroneous deprivation, and the interest of the federal government (Cole, 2017). Following the groundbreaking presidential memorandum by President Barack Obama, where he directed USAID and other federal agencies to partake in ensuring that the United States promotes and protects the rights of LGBTQ people, the agency has taken measures to integrate LGBTQ people in their mission woks (USAID, n.d.). The agency came up with ways to integrate LGBTQ considerations into its activities and workplaces, including conducting workplace training and encouraging USAID partners to take part in promoting access to education, fair job opportunities, and other economic opportunities for the LGBTQ community. To achieve an inclusive development program, USAID increased the integration of LGBTQ issues into USAID’s organizational processes, policies, and programming, particularly when addressing health and DRG portfolios (USAID, n.d.). To effectively incorporate LGBTQ considerations on an international level, the agency has invested in understanding the local concepts of identity, influential actors, laws, customs, the geopolitics of the region, and the historical and religious factors linked to the LGBTQ groups. The agency targets to achieve more inclusive development by adopting integrated programming that reaches out to individuals from all marginalized groups, including women and girls, people with disabilities, and ethnic minorities. Aside from integration, the agency also supports and empowers local LGBTQ civil society organizations. The inclusion of LGBT persons in the development process facilitates ensures that the voices of these individuals are heard; it also promotes transparency in decision-making that might impact their well-being. USAID formed an Inclusive Development Working Group (IDWG) as a way of incorporating issues affecting marginalized groups, LGBTQ groups included, into its mission activities (USAID, 2018). IDWG is a steering and coordination body that ideally meets monthly o quarterly to promote the effective integration of inclusive development in USAID’s mission activities. Ideally, IDWG is co-chaired by a Mission senior leader and an inclusive development advisor (IDA) (USAID, 2018). some of the functions and responsibilities of an IDA in IDWG include The development and implementation of a strategy for integrating inclusive development across Mission activities. The IDA is involved in staff training, stakeholder, and public outreach, among other activities.
Promote and implement training for staff members and partners on inclusive development, and training associated with programming with marginalized groups, including LGBTQ people. Serve as a resource to help technical teams in conducting consultations with marginalized groups throughout the program. Although the organization has taken up multiple measures to ensure the inclusion of the LGBTQ community in its workplace and mission activities, the organization has not been effective in incorporating country and cultural context in relation to the LGBT community (USAID, n.d.). The issues affecting the LGBT community vary from one country to another, with the level of violence, discrimination, and stigma reflecting the prevailing local context. However, in addressing LGBTQ issues, the organization has not effectively incorporated the need to understand the cultural context of LGBTQ persons on a country-to-country basis. Aside from helping the organization to achieve its mission and performance objectives, USAID’s training and professional development programs also support the agency’s core values of teamwork, participation, and respect for diversity. The agency has dedicated departments that are responsible for instilling organizational ethics and sensitizing its staff members, both new and existing, on diversity (USAID, 2015). The Office of General Counsel, Office of Ethics Administration has the responsibility of determining and delivering compulsory ethics training for the agency (USAID, 2015). The Office of Civil Rights and Diversity (OCRD) is responsible for determining mandatory equal employment opportunity (EEO), diversity, and inclusion training (USAID, 2015). OCRD provides diversity awareness and EEO training through various E-learning courses. The training sensitizes employees about the Notification and Federal Employee Antidiscrimination and Retaliation Act (No FEAR Act) and its implementing regulations. The No FEAR Act training is conducted online. The agency adheres to Public Law 107-174, the No FEAR Act, which requires all employees to attend the No FEAR Act on a yearly basis (USAID, 2015). The primary objective of the training is to help reduce cases of discrimination among members of the staff by ensuring that the agency is more accountable. The organization has supervisors who facilitate compliance among all employees. The organization runs a new employee orientation, which runs for five days. All new employees must attend this orientation to help them familiarize themselves with the organization, its structure, and the conditions of employment. Between days three and five of the orientation session, new employees are informed about various topics, including USAID’s organizational structure, strategic vision, professional development opportunities, diversity, inclusion and equal opportunity, and ethics (USAID, 2015). Therefore, upon the completion of the orientation session, new employees are expected to be accustomed to the organization’s perspective on diversity. In addition, the orientation provides new employees with an opportunity to understand the ethical demands that are expected of them by the organization. Today, top management has shifted their attention to valuing diversity and HR managers’ responsibility in developing an organizational culture that promotes diversity. USAID should strive to develop an organizational culture that supports diversity. The organization’s leadership should strive to promote a culture that encourages growth and success without any inhibition as a result of age, gender, race, nationality, religion, disability, and sexual orientation, among other factors (Kundu et al., 2015). The agency’s human resource management should strive to develop a culture that unifies diversified staff members under common value sets and, as a result, encourages them to embrace diversity as a tool for achieving organizational effectiveness and performance. In addition, the organization should target to develop a workplace environment that enhances the motivation, satisfaction, and commitment of members from marginalized groups (Kundu et al., 2015). Furthermore, human resources practices and policies, including recruitment, placements, succession planning, and rewards, among others, play a significant role in facilitating effective diversity management. Therefore, the agency should incorporate its HR managers in its strategic plans to address the challenges of diversity management. The agency’s leadership and management have a huge responsibility for promoting diversity within the organization. Therefore, upon the generation of policies and guidelines by HR managers and diversity managers, the leaders should ensure that these policies are effective and implementable (Kundu et al., 2015). Moreover, the organization should involve employees through their views. Employee participation is a vital part of the diversity initiative for any agency. Therefore, to effectively develop and sustain effective diversity policies, the agency’s members the staff ought to be consulted. Through effective leadership and employee involvement, USAID can be able to collect suggestions that can help the organization to effectively adopt the new regulations. Besides, employee involvement promotes team spirit throughout the implementation process, and, as a result, makes the implementation process more effective.
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References
Cole, J. P. (2017). The Civil Service Reform Act: Due Process and Misconduct-Related Adverse Actions.
Government Accountability Office (GAO). (2018). Federal employee misconduct: actions needed to ensure agencies have tools to effectively address misconduct. https://www.gao.gov/assets/700/693133.pdf
Kundu, S. C., Bansal, J., & Chawla, A. S. (2015). Managing workforce diversity through HR practices: A review. Emerging horizons in business management, 115-124.
USAID. (n.d.). LGBT vision for action: promoting and supporting the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. http://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/Draft_USAID_LGBT_Vision_for_Public_Comment.pdf?source=post_page
USAID. (2018). Suggested approaches for integrating inclusive development across the program cycle and in mission operations. https://usaidlearninglab.org/sites/default/files/resource/files/additional_help_for_ads_201_inclusive_development_180726_final_r.pdf
USAID. (2015). ADS Chapter 458: training and career/ professional development. https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1877/458.pdf
