Child Protection Policy

1)Child Protection Policy of NGO Organization Drom

NGO Organization Drom roots, vision, mission and values and its over 25 years of practice is committed to safeguarding all children, irrespective of ability, ethnicity, faith, gender, sexuality and culture. Our organization recognizes that types of risk may vary according to the child and that the means of addressing risks may also vary. 

The purpose of our policy is to protect children and young people who receive NGO Organization Drom services. This includes the children of adults who use our services; and to provide staff and volunteers with the overarching principles that guide our approach to child protection; NGO Organization Drom believes that a child or young person should never experience abuse of any kind. We have a responsibility to promote the welfare of all children and young people and to keep them safe. We are committed to practice in a way that protects them. NGO Organization Drom acknowledges that some children, including disabled children and young people or those from ethnic minority communities, can be particularly vulnerable to abuse and we accept the responsibility to take reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure their welfare. Our policy recognizes that the welfare and interests of children are paramount in all circumstances. It aims to ensure that regardless of age, ability or disability, gender reassignment, race, religion or belief, sex or sexual orientation, socio-economic background, all children have a positive and enjoyable experience during NGO Organization Drom educational workshops and activities in a safe and child centered environment; are protected from abuse whilst participating in NGO Organization Drom educational workshops and activities; their welfare is paramount, as enshrined in the Children Act 1989 • regardless of age, disability, gender, racial heritage, religious belief, sexual orientation or identity, have a right to equal protection from all types of harm or abuse. 

Preventing harm to children is a commitment of NGO Organization Drom staff and associates make whilst at work and outside of work. NGO Organization Drom staff and associates need to understand that they represent, or are identified with, the organization at all times. NGO Organization Drom identifies and manages risk by doing everything possible to minimize risk and address concerns and incidents appropriately when they arise, namely: 

• Risk assessment/risk mitigation
• Safe recruitment
• Behavior protocols/code of conduct 
• Education/training 
• Safe program design
• Communications/guidelines
• Management responsibilities 
• Reporting/responding to concerns 
• Implementation and review        

NGO Organization Drom guarantees the safety and support of children at all times, continuously learns and improves based on the experience gained and a continuous analysis of their actions and improvement of the Policy periodically. Participating children, their parents and the institutions will be informed that in case any concerns arise in the area of child protection (i.e. risk of harm), these cases will be followed through. A follow-up consultation may be organized to mitigate harm, with the involvement of an external experts (e.g. child psychologist), if necessary, depending on the issue, either in the presence of school representatives or in their absence.

NGO Organization Drom is committed to preventing, protecting and responding to, harm to children through the rigorous ethical standards of educational activities, communication, and research which correspond with their task within the project. These ethical standards are established by the American Psychological Association for research with children that prescribe ethical standards in 16 areas. These principles are described in the following areas (for more information, see https://www.srcd.org/about-us/ethical-standards-research-children): 

1. Non-harmful procedures
2. Informed consent
3. Parental consent
4. Additional consent (i.e. institutional)
5. Incentives
6. Deception
7. Anonymity
8. Mutual responsibilities
9. Jeopardy
10. Unforeseen consequences
11. Confidentiality
12. Informing participants
13. Reporting results
14. Implications of findings
15. Scientific misconduct
16. Personal misconduct

Specifically, for data collection among secondary school children, a detailed consent form will be prepared for children, their parents and the institution which will outline the purpose of the study, the potential risks of participation, explain that the survey is anonymous, voluntary and how the data will be stored and treated. For children under the age of 16 years, active parental consent will be required, for children above 16 years of age, passive parental consent will be requested. 

This policy is the sense of responsibility of NGO Organizatoin Drom entity to ensure the safety and support of children at all times in the offline and online space: provide a protected environment and a safe space for participation, expression and development for children and adolescents with whom they work, and create all the necessary conditions so that the people responsible for the well-being of children have all their capacities to promote, demand and defend their rights, paying the necessary attention to prevent, detect and report any threat or violation that puts the life, integrity or physical, psychological, emotional and social development of children.

NGO Organization Drom acknowledges the duty of care to safeguard and promote the welfare of children and is committed to ensuring safeguarding practices to reflect statutory responsibilities and government guidance. Our policy has been drawn up on the basis of law and guidance that seeks to protect children, namely the This policy reflects the rights of children to protection from abuse and exploitation as outlined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) and the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR).

2)People

Educational activities are led by NGO Organization Drom the staff members and volunteers. All members of our team will be informed about the policy regarding child protection related to the activity they are involved in (as described in the section on policy). In the recruitment of volunteers, attitudes toward child protection will be vetted. All staff members (including volunteers) will have to follow guidelines for data collection regarding child protection. 

Staff members of NGO Organization Drom conducting the interventions are both volunteers and paid employees. They participate in an initial training program of our organisation  to qualify for conducting the interventions. NGO Organization Drom ensures that all its staff and volunteers:

• prioritize the safety and wellbeing of children and young people
• understand their roles and responsibilities in respect of safeguarding and is provided with appropriate learning opportunities to recognize, identify and respond to signs of abuse, neglect and other safeguarding concerns relating to children and young people 
• ensure appropriate action is taken in the event of incidents/concerns of abuse and support provided to the individual/s who raise or disclose the concern 
• ensure that confidential, detailed and accurate records of all safeguarding concerns are maintained and securely stored 
• prevent the employment/deployment of unsuitable individuals 
• protect personal data by ensuring confidentiality and requesting consent from the stakeholders of NGO Organization Drom activities, (children, youth, students, parents, teachers, educators) 

Prior and during NGO Organization Drom educational activities, they prevent, empower and create a partnership with the participants by:  

• creating a safe space and informing children, co-workers, family and community members, volunteers and partners about the child protection policy and related procedures (awareness, prevention, reporting, responding) 
• making children aware of their rights and their active role in child protection 
• put in place fair, secure and transparent reporting channels in all types of NGO Organization Drom workshops and guarantee the right of stakeholders (children, parents, staff) to be heard 
• enabling and empower youth, students and children to make their own decisions and informed consent 
• valuing, listening to and respecting youth, students and children 
• working closely with the community because it has a part to play in preventing, detecting and reporting abuse 
• working in partnership with children, young people, their parents, carers and other agencies is essential in promoting young people’s welfare fostering open and honest discussions with the participants of NGO Organization Drom workshops and activities

NGO Organization Drom will request the documentation that by legal regulations corresponds to accredit the worker, volunteer or trainee personnel who, in the exercise of their functions, have relationship with minors. Without that, the NGO Organization Drom will be forced not to allow the relationship with the minor, even if it means not start or finish the employment, volunteer or internship relationship, for breach of the legal conditions for its provision.  In the NGO Organization Drom protocol is indicated that they must: 

• always have the authorization signed by legal responsible person of each minor in which they consent to participate in the programs and activities and transfer of data and image. It is not permitted to start professional work under any circumstances without this requirement. Guarantee the adequate custody of said authorizations according to our procedures. 
• have as an inspiring principle of their behavior as professionals the protection of the minor and show special care in always maintaining correct and ethical treatment. 
• immediately report the case to the post responsible for the team to which they belong, in cases of special gravity, all behavior that can be observes or that we have suspicion that acts against the interests of the minor or in violation of their rights, to follow the procedure of decision making. 
• guarantee a space / environment in which these situations can be transmitted with absolute confidentiality. Manage information related to the case with total privacy and do not leave personal data in sight. Do not disseminate case information to third parties (whether they are from the child's environment or from the professionals).

3)Procedures

During the intervention with school children these procedures are followed by staff members:  NGO Organization Drom Child Protection Policy applies to all staff, employees, volunteers who have contact with children and young people or anyone working on behalf of NGO Organization Drom. All our staff and volunteers have a full induction which will include Safeguarding and Child Protection if their role will take them into contact with children or young people in order to ensure they understand NGO Organization Drom’s guidelines on contact with children, and how to behave appropriately at all times towards children. It also ensures that they know how to respond to concerns, suspicions and allegations of abuse, what to record, who and when to report to. Failure to comply with the policy and procedures will be addressed without delay and may ultimately result in dismissal/exclusion from the organization. It is mandatory to follow the guidelines set out by NGO Organization Drom, which has made available to all people who are part of the NGO Organization Drom and that are published on the entity's website. The entity moreover, counts on a General Data Protection Regulations in this matter. For participating in interventions or data collection in which minors are involved, they will require the appropriate authorization.

NGO Organization Drom creates a child-safe environment through implementing child safeguarding procedures that are applied across the organization; reporting rules and procedures, including clear instructions. For data collection among children (pictures/videos/interviews with children are published online) consent of children and their parents or legal guardians will be collected and informed; exact procedures will be developed before each data collection to be adopted to the actual school in which data collection takes place. Common for each case is that the questionnaires will be developed to be appropriate for the agegroup in language, complexity and topics. Children will be asked to provide information on questions that they are familiar with. No matter where the data collection takes place, children must be provided with privacy in giving their answers (computer screens not visible to others, answers given on paper to be stored in closed envelopes not to be seen by other students or teachers). All data collection will take place in writing, no personal interviews will be conducted with children. Staff members will only be present during data collection to offer technical instructions, answer questions of clarification and when data is collected on paper, to distribute and collect questionnaires.

4)Accountability

NGO Organization Drom monitors and reviews its safeguarding measures. The child protection policy is available online, hence being transparent to all those who come in contact with the organization. Monitoring child protection will be an integral part on the evaluation of each data collection and intervention event. Staff members and volunteers of the interventions and data collection will always report the details to the project coordinator in personal or online, written and oral format and in group discussion. These conversations will allow discussions of problems or dilemmas related to child protection as well. Any concern that is presented during these reports will be followed through, as described in the section on Policy. Staff members are held accountable in case any concerns are raised during the project in their conduct with children, these cases will be appropriately investigated and dealt with according to the ethical and legal standards of NGO Organization Drom. 

NGO Organization Drom Child Protection Policy will be reviewed a year after development and then every three years.

Donka Panayotova, chair

NGO Organization Drom                                              

1/09/2023