Safeguarding Policy
Purpose
This document has the purpose of sets out a clear policy about the safeguarding measures JA EUROPE has.
Junior Achievement Europe ( JA EUROPE ) is a role model to all the European JA members and as a part of the global network JA Worldwide, shows its commitment to safeguarding in every aspect of its activity.
Definition of SAFEGUARDING:
‘The protection of children (under 18) from violence, exploitation, abuse and neglect‘. Article 19 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child provides for the protection of children in and out of the home. Extending this definition beyond children, safeguarding refers to the proactive measures and protective actions an organization has to take into consideration, to ensure the safety, well-being, and rights of individuals, especially those who are vulnerable to harm or abuse. It involves prevention, recognition, and intervention.
JA EUROPE is deeply committed to safeguarding, ensuring that all of its programs set the highest standards of child protection and security.
Children safeguarding
A child safeguarding concern is any situation or behaviour that places a child at risk or that has the potential to harm a child, whether online or in person. This can include physical, sexual or emotional abuse, neglect, or exploitation. JA Europe places the best interests of children as a primary consideration in all of our work, following clear standards of behaviour and conduct.
What we do
JA EUROPE has a strict protocol which, it’s employees and coordinators are obligated to follow, referring to putting on first place children well-being protection. It has a code of conduct with precise and detail terms that require the committed adherence to them. The breach of contract lead to legal sanction and failure to cooperate with the organization.
We ensure we have clear data policy about the protection of personal information that we handle. We monitor and update the documents referring to the protection privacy of all sensitive information. Setting strict internal policies and ensuring every JA member, coordinator, volunteer, staff, or donator follows respectfully. Our processes that are followed, when it comes to data protection, sensitive information like photo, videos and content, guarantees the singed agreement of all parties involved.
JA Europe includes into its safeguarding policy, tools that help preventing and handling abuse or other unacceptable actions. Having implemented all the necessary proactive polices, JA prevents harm or abuse from occurring in the first place. The written documents that outline the organization’s commitment to safeguarding, is an important toll that JA has taken into consideration. The code of conduct has the set of guidelines and of the expected behavior of organization’s staff. One more important tool JA Europe invests in, is the training programs and sessions to the employees. Raising awareness through programs and training our staff is JA’s priority. We demonstrate our commitment to safeguarding by implementing policies, to identify the potential dangers and by the appropriate measures, be able to act drastically against them. Finally, risk assessment and systematic evaluations of the organization’s activities can identify potential risks related to safeguarding.
JA Europe has a briefly commitment to safeguarding policy when in comes to events. Events might have a physical or a virtual activity, either way the organization takes into consideration measures to ensure the safety and well-being of all the participants. Having implemented the regulations and code of conduct, to outline the expected behavior and the prohibited actions. Also setting clear reporting procedures that ensure the appropriate handling of any complaint. Ensuring privacy and secure handling of personal information is a priority for the organization. Reporting systems guarantee the anonymity and discretion required. The zero tolerance of non-ethical and illegal actions dominated the culture of the organization, so each member of the staff has the need to fights and respects the humans rights through the safeguard framework.
Virtual and Physical Events safeguarding principles
JA Europe ensures that has installed all the necessary measures and procedures for the protection of personal information of all the contestants.
It is strictly prohibited to use photographs, video or relevant content without the approval of all the parties concerned. All participants have signed contracts that give their permission to the organization to handle with discrete their personal information.
All volunteers, staff and coordinators have signed the code of conduct that refers to the obligation they have to treat with respect to each entity and their information.
No staff member is allowed to asking for personal information, having to connection with the needs of the event.
No special treatment is acceptable and the suspicion or differential to particular children will guide to investigation of the purposes.
All the members of the organization are obligated to follow the guidelines about collecting and handling personal information.
The collection of personal information happens only for the work- evet related purposes.
Ensuring no photograph is insulting a child, or exposes its personal space.
Each member of JA Europe has the obligation to report any suspicious action that might fall into his/her consideration.
JA Europe provides continuously support and protection to all the participants of the events, respecting their rights.
JA Europe communicates its reporting channels anyone can report to.
Receiving and handling the reports
JA Europe has established an e-mail address for reporting any complaints. In case of official incident report the safeguarding team of JA Europe safeguarding@jaeurope.org and the team has to, within 24 hours, confirm the receipt of complaint.
Persons in charge to this email and actions taken upon any complaints are:
Kristina Velkovska Dias, Chief Finance Officer available at kristina@jaeurope.org
Davide Coppaloni, Service Network Manager available at davide@jaeurope.org
Bojan Pavlovic, Senior Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning manager available at bojan@jaeurope.org
Whistleblower protection
JA Europe ensures the protection of whistleblowers in the reporting and investigation procedures in incidents relevant to sexual exploitation and abuse. This vital value for the organization helps to foster an open and safe communication channel. The protection mechanisms ensure the confidentiality of the personal information of all the parties involved, to safeguard the identity of the whistleblowers. To achieve the effective protection of the individuals, JA Europe provides a confidential reporting channel where anyone can report their complaints about an incident, anonymously.
A well-trained team is responsible, as mentioned before, for handling and investigating the complaints and will treat any personal information with sensitivity and respect.
JA Europe is committed to secure high ethics of dignity and transparency, promoting the good reputation of the organisation. To achieve that, in the culture of the organisation there is a powerful encouragement to the employees, for reporting any misconduct or concerns relevant to unethical behavior. Each one of JA staff or partner associated with JA Europe, is obligated to comply with the framework of safeguarding.
Protecting whistleblowers is a vital value in the investigation and reporting process of the organisation. Ensuring the confidentiality of the process, zero-tolerance to retaliation while providing the anonymously necessary channels.