Who we are

The Civil Service Hindu Connection is a cross-government faith, inclusion and wellbeing staff support network for Hindu civil servants and other civil servants interested in Hindu culture.

The Hindu Connection’s focus is to:

• support the needs of Hindu staff and our members
• promote diversity and inclusion
• support Civil Service departments

The network chair is Sandeep Mahida (Home Office).

Goals

Our goals have been developed to support the Civil Service diversity and inclusion strategy:

1. creating an inclusive environment for Hindu staff
2. enhancing staff wellbeing using Hindu Dharma’s holistic approach
3. developing partnerships with networks and individuals to improve departmental diversity and inclusion
4. reaching out to the wider Hindu community

What we do: our services

• We offer advice, assistance and support to managers and staff about Hindu concerns at work
• We deliver wellbeing sessions including yoga, mindfulness, nutrition and stress management
• We organise events to celebrate Hindu Dharma and diversity and inclusion
• We quality assure departmental guidance and information about Hindus and Hindu Dharma
• We review and develop policies to ensure they do not adversely impact on Hindu staff
• We reach out to the wider Hindu community to promote the Civil Service as an inclusive employer

Fasting guide

The network has created the Civil Service Hindu Fasting Awareness Guide for Line Managers and Staff.

Core aims

• Represent, support, connect and champion Muslim civil servants across government.
• De-mystify Islam and tackle (un)conscious bias.
• Establish a shared understanding of the CSMN vision and priorities.
• Create a network of senior allies who recognise the lived experience of Muslim colleagues and help improve religious literacy and respect.

Making the vision a reality 

• Collaborating with wider diversity and inclusion networks on projects, events and initiatives; promoting interfaith activities and projects. 
• Recognising the contributions of Muslims in the Civil Service.
• Promoting development opportunities for CSMN members.
• Raising aspirations through a range of approaches.
• Offering advice and community insight to support policy development.
• Sharing thought-leadership and expert research.

Background

The Civil Service Jewish Network (JNet) is a cross-government network of over 300 Jewish civil servants and other civil servants interested in Jewish culture. JNet is one of the eight Civil Service diversity networks.

The network co-chairs for 2022-23 are Harry Ingram, Joel Salmon and Alma Puts Keren.

Our senior sponsors are Matthew Gould (NHSX) and Tamara Finkelstein (Defra).

Aims

The network has several aims:

• to encourage and support the growth of a community of Jewish civil servants
• to promote an awareness of and provide resources relating to Jewish religion and culture across the Civil Service
• to coordinate networking, social, development and volunteering opportunities for Jewish civil servants and civil servants interested in Jewish culture
• to forge links with and provide support to other Civil Service diversity networks
• to represent the views and concerns of Jewish civil servants as appropriate in wider discussions about diversity and inclusion in Government

Activities

• we organise networking and speaker events based on current affairs and topics of interest
• we engage in the wider landscape of diversity and inclusion, as well as religious literacy, across government
• we host social events and organise volunteering opportunities for civil servants
• we are able to signpost Jewish civil servants to relevant resources where advocacy is needed
• we enjoy strong relationships with the other government faith networks, and are interested in establishing relationships with all the diversity networks

Guidance

• We have published JNet's guidance for civil servants about Jewish practice to help raise awareness of the issues to consider when interacting with Jewish civil servants. The guidance can be found  here
• For further information that might be useful to staff, please refer to this fact sheet.

Humanists in Government is a forum within Humanists UK bringing together civil service personnel and other professionals working in government to network and share experiences with like-minded people.

Humanists in Government is open to people of all ranks and all departments currently working in the UK and devolved governments and the London Assembly, as well as political advisers and parliamentary staff.

If you’re a local councillor or working in the Ministry of Defence, you might like to check out Humanist Councillors or Defence Humanists.

The network was formally launched by Humanists UK Vice President Professor Jim Al-Khalili at an event at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in April 2019.