The Foreign Service Journal, September 2020

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2020 27 year. Grounded in clear, actionable milestones and performance indicators, the plan aims to focus the department’s efforts, ensure accountability, and measure outcomes to inform future initiatives. The State Department’s commitment to diver- sity and inclusion is not new; the 2020 DISP is the third of its kind. However, an important lesson from the previous DISP was that we must act col- lectively to achieve our diversity and inclusion goals. As a result, the 2020 DISP, for the first time, incorporates feedback from a department- wide task force of more than 40 bureau repre- sentatives and all employee groups, and it offers a cohesive and practical vision to guide our efforts with built-in accountability measures. Drawing on the wealth of ideas and innova- tive solutions proposed by the DISP task force and our many employee groups, the department aims to achieve a fully integrated, “gold-level” diversity and inclusion framework, as measured by the Office of Personnel Management’s “Diversity and Inclusion Framework Matrix” for federal agencies. In aiming for gold, and while retain- ing focus on the traditional OPM-defined minority categories, we are requiring leaders to consciously maximize organizational performance through inclusive practices; we are dedicating resources to advance diversity and inclusion; and we are acting collectively. These goals frame the three key objectives of the 2020 DISP, which incorporates critical themes, milestones and action in the three areas that fundamentally drive diversity and inclu- sion: recruitment, retention and employee advancement. The Bureau of Global Talent Management and the Office of Civil Rights will review the plan annually to assess progress, and a full update is scheduled for 2022. We are putting in place a two- year plan rather than the typical four-year plan to better mesh with the department’s 2018-2022 Joint Strategic Plan’s timeline. This will ensure that our diversity and inclusion goals are formally embedded in the department’s JSP process so that bureaus and missions have alignment and consistency in how operating units execute lines of effort. The DISP will then be updated in align- ment and integration with the upcoming 2022-2026 JSP process. Within the DISP, we have outlined milestones and perfor- mance indicators that we will reassess at the end of the year. Our goal is to hold each other accountable for the implementa- tion of the DISP, which is why we will rely on our partnerships with bureau diversity councils, employee affinity groups and senior leadership. DCM Mirembe Nantongo, center, with the U.S. Embassy Nairobi Marine Security Guard detachment at the Marine Ball in November 2017. (Inset) DCM Nantongo with her sons, Dominic (at left) and Sebastian, when they visited her in Kenya in June 2018. COURTESYOFMIREMBENANTONGO ing national upheaval and introspection have been vividly reflected within the State Department. In an institution known for its staid, traditional professionalism, open conversations around issues affecting diversity and inclu- sion are still a new phenomenon, but they are blossoming rapidly. Leaders and colleagues are participating in difficult discussions across the institution on race and racism, privilege, unconscious bias, microaggressions and allyship. These exchanges are opening the eyes of many of our colleagues to the indignities, disrespect and marginaliza- tion suffered routinely by Black colleagues and persons of color both inside and outside the workplace. Colleagues are understanding that while rules and policies are important, individual action and commitment are just as important for shifting our culture. The days of standing by are over. From hour to hour, fromminute to minute, is every one of us walking the walk, opening our hearts, and recog- nizing and interrupting bias where we encounter it? Do we understand privilege, and are we everyday active partners in making our national values of justice and equality a lived experience for all? Change is hard, and shifting a culture happens one person at a time, one action at a time, until a tipping point is reached. As I retire, I am heartened and inspired by my colleagues’ determined energy around the issue and our collective hunger for change. I know we will get there. —Mirembe L. Nantongo COURTESYOFMIREMBENANTONGO