Completing 60 years of service in the humanitarian and development sector, Caritas India strives to enhance existing and future assistance through consistent learning. In this attempt, the second phase of “Training on Safeguarding and Prevention of sexual harassment (POSH)” took place in Navjeevan Centre, on 12th-13th December 2022. Firmly grounded on the principle of Do No Harm, the training aimed at eliminating any unintentional or intentional caused during any phase of the program implementation. Bringing together 35 program associates from various departments and programs implemented across India, the training also linked the Catholic Social Teachings of the Church and Caritas India values.

The Keynote address from Fr. Paul Moonjely, Executive Director & Fr. Sushil Modi, Administrator of ensuring a collective responsibility to protect/ safeguard the rights and dignity of vulnerable groups, staff and all relevant stakeholders partnering with the organization, and mitigate any such risks in the given context set the tone of the training sessions. 

The first day focused on building an understanding of Safeguarding as a concept, and its relevance in the sector with rapidly evolving disasters and conflicts. The sessions were designed to provide knowledge at an introductory level to ensure easy engagement from different departments. Sessions facilitated by Mr. Kushal Neogy, Technical Advisor of Catholic Relief Services with the support of Ms. M. Shimray, Lead Strategic Planning focused on equipping the practitioners with the lens to differentiate between protection & safeguarding, non-negotiables of conduct, and eventually setting forth a pathway to tackle safeguarding breaches through a survivor-centric approach of framing our “Policies, Prevention strategies and Response mechanism”. 

A glimpse into the draft of Caritas India’s Safeguarding policy was provided by Ms. Seema Shalini Lugun, Lead- Human Resource, which highlighted the importance of maintaining high standards of personal and professional conduct, and non-negotiables as a staff. To protect the organisation’s assets and resources, reporting mechanisms in case of any breach were also shared with the participants. 

In compliance with the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (SHWW Act 2013), the second day of the training elaborated on Caritas India’s Gender-Neutral Policy for POSH. Having zero tolerance for any such cases, the sessions focused on sensing staff to create a safe working environment for everyone associated with the organization. Complemented by group exercise, the session gave hands-on experience to participants in handling cases of sexual harassment, enhancing their reasoning and application skills. 

Active participation from the attendees through Q&As, group exercises, and recommendations from field-level scenarios made the sessions lively and acted as food for Caritas India to make its policies more comprehensive and relevant to ground-level situations.