Child Protection and Safeguarding training

On the 2nd of June, Ruben Centre Director, Programs Manager and Communications Officer attended a 3-hour training on child protection and safeguarding training. Dubbed a “mini UN meeting”, the training took place virtually on Microsoft Teams and Ruben Centre were part of several other ERFA projects across the globe in attendance.

Leading the training was ERFA International Programs Manager, Sabine Walther, and ERFK Relations and Immersions officer, Samuel Karanja. Sabine began by stating the importance of image consent being granted in order to safeguard persons captured in photos and other recordings. She emphasized that the need to educate various project members was paramount. In her presentation, she highlighted 3 key areas of focus while capturing subjects. These were:

         i.            Free- subjects do not have to agree to be captured digitally

       ii.            Prior- consent has to be obtained from subjects before capturing them

     iii.            Informed- subjects must understand the implication of being captured i.e what the media will be used for.

Several guidelines were stipulated on how to capture subjects. This included use of pseudonyms and showing subjects how previous photos of different subjects have been taken, just to name a few. Projects were asked to also place anonymous complaint boxes around the organization and have the onsite safeguarding officers undergo a child protection and safeguarding policy at least once a year. The training ended at midday East African Time with the ∼50 members undergoing simple online tests to gauge their understanding. More than 55% of the members felt confident whilst the remainder felt there was need for regular similar trainings to ascertain their understanding on the subject matter.

Ruben Centre is happy to be part of intensifying this action. We have always put the safety of children, vulnerable persons as well our staff members ahead of everything else. We would to reinstate our unwavering support for our main donor Edmund Rice Foundation Australia.

By: Gregory Barake