Safeguarding: Creating a Safe Space in the Workplace

In today’s social development work, safeguarding takes a centre stage while working with vulnerable groups, as it helps to ensure that the employees carry out their duties knowledgeably and safely. Keeping this objective in mind Caritas India in collaboration with CRS conducted sensitisation on Safeguarding on 19^th September 2022 at Head Office, New Delhi.

Fr. (Dr) Jolly Puthenpura, Assistant Executive Director of Caritas India in his opening remark stated that there is a global awakening regarding the safeguarding principles and emphasized the responsibility of Caritas staff to practice and implement the learnings to ensure a safe and enabling environment at the workplace and in the community. He highlighted that Caritas India is not merely an entity but an organisation upholding, practising, and protecting the rights and dignity of the community. As the world is witnessing declining human behaviour patterns and changed values, it becomes vital to collectively safeguard the values of Solidarity, Dignity, Justice, Respect, Integral Human Development, Compassion and Preferential treatment for the poor.

The day started with Ms. Mungreiphy Shimray Lead-Training & Development – CIDAL, sharing the Key Concepts and the nuances Safeguarding Framework. The participants were educated on Safeguarding being the collective responsibility of all and how different organisations have different safeguarding priorities. The differences between safeguarding and protection were discussed through case studies and how Safeguarding is deeply embedded in Caritas values as a faith-based organization and as a relief and development agency was highlighted. In the next session, Ms. Shimray presented the Safeguarding Policy and Process underlining Prohibited Behaviours, terminologies, and vital aspects of the policy. The participants learnt about the consequence of safeguarding breaches for the survivor, the organisation, and the community.

Mr. Kushal Neogy facilitated an important segment of the training on “Response”, CRS wherein he informed the participants about the Feedback and Complaints Reporting Mechanism. The next segment touched upon investigation procedures in case of safeguarding breach and the role and composition of the investigation team. The Survivor Centric Approach in Safeguarding policy laid down the principles for supporting survivors and defined emotional abuse. Keeping with the theme, input on safeguarding policy (CI) from a Human Resource perspective was provided by Ms. Seema, Associate HR. She shared what needs to be kept in mind while making referrals and how safeguarding principles apply in the workspace.

The day’s proceedings ended with a discussion on cases of abuse and maltreatment and seeking clarifications on the principles of Safeguarding.

POSH: Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal of Sexual harassment at the workplace: Be Safe and Feel Safe

“Equality of status and opportunity” must be secured for all and equality of every person is guaranteed by the Constitution. Prevention of Sexual Harassment of women at Workplace (POSH) training for employees helps them to identify and differentiate between appropriate and inappropriate behaviours in the workplace. Sessions were facilitated for the 30 Programme Associates /employees of Caritas India in New Delhi on 20th September 2022. The purpose of training was to acquaint all the staff with POSH: What, Why and How of harassment at the workplace in order to build a culture of mutual respect and equal opportunity.

It also educates participants on the legal aspect of the POSH (Prevention of sexual harassment) Act. Training on POSH gives clarity to employees, what kind of behaviour falls under sexual harassment. POSH training is necessary to foster a respectful and safe working environment for employees. An incident can damage the reputation of the organization and ruin the career of the employee/s (Aggrieved and Respondent). Hence, the need to ensure that the employees are sensitized about the boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour in the workplace.

Ms. M. Shimray’s opening session dwelt on the genesis of the POSH Act, 2013 as an outcome of the landmark judgment Vishakha vs. the State of Rajasthan. She went on to explain the meaning of ‘Sexual Harassment with the help of laws and examples. Various terminologies were elaborated for clarity and appropriate use. She highlighted how Impact of the behaviour on the complainant takes precedence over intent of the respondent.

Detailed procedure for filing a complaint to the Internal Committee by an aggrieved woman and the timeline for every action for redressal were shared. She shared relevant points that must be mentioned in a complaint. She also spoke about the option to file complaints at the complaint Box. The sessions provided a deep understanding of the Compliant, redressal and appeal processes under the POSH Act.

She dwelt on the organisation’s responsibility to address POSH cases.

Caritas India makes efforts to maintain and fosters a conducive work environment in which all employees are treated with dignity and respect. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and unlawful discrimination against any staff, officers, contractor, part-time employees or any other person, irrespective of the fact whether they are at the head office or on the field. We are compliant with the POSH Act, 2013 and have constituted an Internal Committee in accordance with the law.

The facilitator and Participants expressed their gratitude to Caritas India Management for a platform of interactive sessions on POSH.  Sensitizing employees on POSH contribute to the prevention of sexual harassment incidents in the workplace. The staff understood what acceptable behaviours are, what is not in the workplace and redressal mechanisms in place.  As part of prevention, many such trainings were also organised every year for the staff including separate training for the POSH IC members.   Different batches of such workshops are in the pipeline and such sensitization workshops will be an ongoing refresher for Caritas staff in future.