MPG continues to instil diversity principles into procurement practices, through exchange, knowledge development and implementing good practices at local and international levels.

Exchanging expertise across all levels of stakeholders

On 14 May, in partnership with the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission, MPG will be holding a joint Forum on European Supplier Diversity.

The Forum will take place in London and will be composed of:

• a select group of key decision-makers in procurement, equalities and sustainability policies in large purchasing organisations;
• policy makers;
• small and medium-sized businesses;
• business membership organisations;
• and other relevant organisations. 

Informal, off-the-record discussion sessions will be convened to drive the supplier diversity agenda forward by linking voluntary with legislative action.  The four key aims are to:

• Provide input into new UK legislation relating to supplier diversity
• Provide input into the implementation of existing UK Government initiatives and legislation relating to supplier diversity
• Clearly define the drivers for supplier diversity for different sectors
• Highlight good practices and processes where they exist and make recommendations as to what’s missing

A series of fora is planned to expand across Europe to Paris, Berlin, Stockholm and Amsterdam building on lessons learned from the London event.  MPG will lead the initiative in cooperation with local partners to maintain the momentum and spread the message further.

Building the knowledge base for action

Supplier Diversity Europe recently launched the Handbook on Supplier Diversity in Europe - the only Handbook of its kind to collect data and information on supplier diversity in Europe.

The book, which is freely available to download by clicking here, examines the context of supplier diversity in Europe and activity undertaken to date.

There is a particular focus on the situation in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Sweden as the UK, France and Germany are the largest economic powers and Sweden is culturally positioned between the UK and continental Europe.

The Handbook contains:

• Examples of current good practice in supplier diversity and learning from it
• Business case and business drivers
• Data demonstrating trends in population and business demographics in Europe
• An examination of relevant legislation
• An extensive list of references, websites and further information
  
  

The book summarises the years of learning so far and by seeking to answer the questions that the authors are so often asked, “Why should we care about supplier diversity?”, “What can we do to implement it?” it provides a platform from which to continue forward.

Helping cities put theory into practice

MPG incorporates its approach to improving procurement practices for the economic empowerment of migrants and ethnic minorities across its project areas.  The recently completed Diversity and Equality in European Cities project benchmarked how municipalities use diversity and equality considerations when acting as policy-makers and employers, and looked at the procurement processes of cities as service providers and buyers of goods and services.  The results of the project can be downloaded here.