Safeguarding

Our Full Safeguarding Policy

1. Purpose, Scope and Audience

The purpose of this Safeguarding Policy ("Policy") is to provide a framework for ensuring that all Ramzunā Languages programmes and activities are designed and delivered with the safety, well-being, dignity, and best interests of students in mind.

The Policy aims to ensure that children and adult participants are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, and harm in connection with Ramzunā Languages activities, that preventative measures are prioritised, and that safeguarding concerns are reported and addressed appropriately.

This Policy applies to all Ramzunā Languages activities and interactions involving children and adult participants, whether conducted online or in person. It applies to all individuals acting on behalf of Ramzunā Languages, including volunteer teachers, team members, interns, partners, advisors, and any other representatives of the organisation, regardless of location.

This Policy also sets out safeguarding expectations and reporting procedures relating to concerns about violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, or other risks affecting children and adults participating in Ramzunā Languages activities.

2. Document Detail

2.1 Background. Ramzunā Languages recognises that children and some adult participants may face heightened vulnerabilities due to age, dependency on others, unequal power relationships, disability, war, genocide, displacement, family separation, bereavement, trauma, social isolation, or other circumstances that increase the risk of harm, abuse, exploitation, or neglect.

Ramzunā Languages also recognises its responsibility to promote the safety, dignity, and well-being of adult participants who participate in its programmes and activities.

Ramzunā Languages is committed to ensuring that the best interests of the child are a primary consideration in decisions affecting children who participate in or are reached through its programmes and activities. In relation to adult participants, Ramzunā Languages is committed to taking reasonable steps to safeguard their welfare and to prevent harm, abuse, exploitation, and neglect.

This commitment applies equally to all children and adult participants, regardless of nationality, migration status, disability, ethnicity, language, culture, religion, political belief, socio-economic background, family circumstances, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status, or any other characteristic.

2.2 Our Actions. Ramzunā Languages is committed to safeguarding through the following means.

Awareness. Ramzunā Languages shall ensure that all volunteers, team members, advisors, interns, and partners are aware of:

• the risks of violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, and other forms of harm affecting children and adult participants;
• the additional vulnerabilities that may arise from conflict, displacement, family separation, loss, malnutrition, interrupted education, disability, or other adverse circumstances;
• relevant laws, policies, and safeguarding standards;
• their safeguarding responsibilities towards children and adult participants; and
• how to recognise, report, and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns.

This Policy shall be communicated to all relevant volunteers, team members, advisors, interns, and partners through induction and onboarding processes, safeguarding briefings, training sessions, and other appropriate organisational communications.

All individuals covered by this Policy are expected to familiarise themselves with its contents and comply with its requirements throughout their involvement with Ramzunā Languages.

Prevention. Ramzunā Languages shall take reasonable steps to prevent harm to students within its programmes and activities. These measures may include:

• Safeguarding risk assessments
• Volunteer screening and recruitment procedures
• Criminal record checks or equivalent background screening for volunteers working with minors
• Safeguarding training and guidance
• Clear codes of conduct
• Appropriate supervision and support of volunteers
• The use of approved communication channels for interactions with students where reasonably practicable
• Maintaining clear professional boundaries in one-to-one and small-group lessons
• Ensuring that safeguarding concerns arising during lessons, messaging, email communications, or other online interactions can be reported and addressed appropriately
• Promoting safe, respectful, and professional conduct in all educational activities

Ramzunā Languages shall seek to create learning environments that promote the safety, dignity, and well-being of all students.

Reporting and Responding. All volunteers, team members, advisors, interns, and partners have a responsibility to report safeguarding concerns as soon as reasonably practicable.

Where a concern is identified, Ramzunā Languages shall take appropriate action to assess the concern, protect those involved, document relevant information, and determine any necessary follow-up measures.

Safeguarding concerns shall be handled confidentially and shared only with those who need the information to protect a student, fulfil safeguarding responsibilities, or comply with legal obligations.

Ramzunā Languages is committed to responding to safeguarding concerns in a timely, fair, and child-centred manner, with the best interests of the child and the safety, dignity, welfare, and autonomy of adult participants as primary considerations.

2.3 Guiding Policy Principles

Principle 1: Zero-tolerance of violence, abuse, exploitation, and neglect. Ramzunā Languages has a zero-tolerance approach to violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, and other forms of harm against children and adult participants. The organisation will not knowingly engage, directly or indirectly, any individual who poses a risk to a student. Ramzunā Languages is committed to minimising safeguarding risks within its programmes and activities and ensuring that all volunteers, team members, interns, advisors, and partners understand and fulfil their responsibilities under this Policy. Any breach of this Policy may result in disciplinary action, termination of involvement with the organisation, referral to relevant authorities, or other appropriate action.

Principle 2: Recognition of the Best Interests of the Child. Ramzunā Languages is committed to upholding the rights and well-being of children. In all actions and decisions concerning children, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

Principle 3: Respect for Views and Participation. Ramzunā Languages recognises the right of children and adult participants to express their views on matters that affect them and to participate meaningfully in decisions concerning their involvement in programmes and activities. Children's views shall be considered in accordance with their age, maturity, and circumstances. The organisation will seek appropriate opportunities for students to provide feedback on their learning experience, raise concerns, and contribute to the improvement of programmes and services where appropriate. Concerns arising from online lessons, messaging platforms, social media interactions, or other digital communications shall be reported and managed in accordance with this Policy.

Principle 4: Assess and Manage Protection Risk and Impact. Ramzunā Languages recognises that it is not possible to eliminate all risks. However, careful planning, monitoring, and safeguarding measures can help identify, reduce, and manage risks associated with the organisation's activities. The organisation will take reasonable steps to create learning environments that are safe, respectful, and supportive for children. This includes considering safeguarding risks when designing programmes, recruiting volunteers, delivering lessons, and interacting with students online or in person. Particular attention shall be given to risks arising from conflict, displacement, family separation, interrupted education, and other circumstances that may increase the vulnerability of children and adult participants to harm.

Principle 5: Shared Responsibility for Safeguarding. Safeguarding is everyone's responsibility. All volunteers, team members, advisors, interns, partners, and representatives of Ramzunā Languages are expected to contribute to the protection and well-being of children and adult participants and to comply with this Policy. The effective safeguarding of children and adult participants requires the cooperation, vigilance, and commitment of all individuals involved in the organisation's activities.

Principle 6: Fair, Confidential, and Student-Centred Responses. All safeguarding concerns and allegations shall be taken seriously and assessed promptly. Ramzunā Languages is committed to responding to concerns in a manner that prioritises the safety, well-being, dignity, and rights of the student as the primary consideration. Safeguarding information shall be handled confidentially and shared only with those who need the information in order to protect a child, fulfil safeguarding responsibilities, or comply with legal obligations. Where concerns relate to the conduct of an individual, that person shall be treated fairly and given an appropriate opportunity to respond, while ensuring that the safety and well-being of any student involved remains the primary consideration.

2.4 Review of the Policy. This Policy shall be reviewed at least once every two years, or sooner where required by changes in law, organisational activities, safeguarding best practice, or following a significant safeguarding incident. The President and Safeguarding Lead shall be responsible for ensuring that the Policy remains appropriate, effective, and up to date.

2.5 Report of Breaches. Any volunteer, team member, advisor, intern, partner, student, parent, or other individual who has reason to believe that a student may have experienced abuse, exploitation, neglect, or any other form of harm, or that a child or an adult participant's safety or well-being may be at risk, should report the concern as soon as reasonably practicable.

Safeguarding concerns should be reported to the Safeguarding Lead or, where appropriate, to the Student Coordinator, who shall promptly refer the concern to the Safeguarding Lead.

Reports should include, where known:

• What happened
• Who was involved
• When and where the concern arose
• How the information became known
• Any immediate actions taken

All safeguarding concerns shall be treated seriously, documented appropriately, and handled with due regard for confidentiality and data protection requirements.

Ramzunā Languages will not tolerate retaliation against any person who raises a safeguarding concern in good faith.

All reports and concerns shall be considered promptly and fairly, with the safety, well-being, dignity, and rights of the student as the primary considerations. See our Incident and Concern Reporting Procedure for how to make a report.

3. Prohibited & Unsafe Actions Against Children & Adults

To help clarify our safeguarding approach, listed here are examples of prohibited behaviours. These apply to interactions between Ramzunā Languages volunteers, team members, interns, advisors, partners, and students we interact with, provide support to, or deliver services to through our programming. The examples are not exhaustive.

Abuse, Exploitation, and Harm

• Engaging in any sexual activity or sexual relationship with a person under the age of 18 years.
• Marrying or becoming involved in an informal union with anyone under the age of 18 years.
• Engaging in romantic or sexual relationships with students where a teaching, mentoring, supervisory, or other position of trust, authority, or dependency exists, or where such a relationship could reasonably be perceived as exploitative, coercive, or inappropriate.
• Developing relationships with children or adult participants that could reasonably be considered abusive, exploitative, manipulative, or inappropriate.
• Using threats, intimidation, or any form of physical abuse against a student.
• Engaging in emotional or psychological abuse, including humiliating, shaming, degrading, belittling, intimidating, threatening, or deliberately isolating a student.
• Exploiting a child's vulnerability arising from conflict, displacement, refugee status, poverty, family separation, disability, trauma, interrupted education, or other adverse circumstances.
• Discriminating against a student on the basis of nationality, ethnicity, language, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, refugee status, or any other personal characteristic.
• Hiring children for labour that is exploitative or does not meet local and international child labour laws.

Online Safety and Digital Communications

• Using language or behaviour, whether online or in person, that is abusive, discriminatory, sexually suggestive, harassing, exploitative, demeaning, or otherwise inappropriate.
• Communicating with students through secret, anonymous, disappearing, or unauthorised channels in a manner that circumvents organisational safeguards.
• Requesting, encouraging, or pressuring students to share personal photographs, videos, contact details, or personal information unrelated to educational purposes.
• Recording, storing, sharing, or distributing lessons, conversations, screenshots, images, or communications involving students without appropriate organisational authorisation or a lawful basis.
• Using personal social media accounts to engage in inappropriate, exploitative, or unprofessional interactions with students.
• Engaging in online behaviour that may reasonably be perceived as grooming, harassment, intimidation, exploitation, or manipulation.

Professional Boundaries and Conduct

• Giving, requesting, borrowing, or lending money, gifts, favours, or other benefits in a manner that could create dependency, favouritism, exploitation, or a conflict of interest.
• Abusing a position of trust, authority, or influence for personal, financial, political, ideological, religious, or sexual purposes.
• Pressuring, coercing, or requiring a student to remove religious attire, abandon religious practices, conceal aspects of their identity, or otherwise act against their sincerely held beliefs, except where necessary for legitimate safeguarding, legal, or educational purposes.
• Using educational activities to proselytise, pressure, coerce, or induce students to adopt particular religious, political, or ideological beliefs.
• Using a position of trust, authority, or influence to encourage, pressure, or induce students to support, engage in, or participate in violence, hatred, discrimination, harassment, or other unlawful conduct.
• Teaching, mentoring, supervising, or communicating with students while under the influence of alcohol, illegal drugs, or any substance that significantly impairs judgment, behaviour, or professional conduct.

Safeguarding Responsibilities

• Ignoring, concealing, or deliberately failing to report safeguarding concerns that come to their attention.
• Discouraging a child or an adult participant from reporting a safeguarding concern or seeking help.
• Retaliating against any individual who reports a safeguarding concern in good faith.
• Sharing a student’s personal information without a legitimate organisational purpose or appropriate consent.

Any behaviour that results in harm to a child or an adult participant, creates a risk of harm, undermines the well-being of a student, or breaches the safeguarding principles of Ramzunā Languages may constitute a violation of this Policy, even if it is not specifically listed above.

4. Terms

• Child refers to a human being under the age of 18 years regardless of the applicable legal definition of the term in the relevant country.
• Child exploitation refers to the abuse of a position of trust, vulnerability, or power for personal, financial, material, political, ideological, religious, military, social, or sexual gain.
• A Position of Trust exists where an individual has responsibility for, authority over, influence upon, or regular contact with a child through teaching, mentoring, supervision, support, or other organisational activities.
• A conflict-affected setting is an environment in which armed conflict, occupation, political violence, displacement, insecurity, malnutrition, or humanitarian crisis may affect the safety, health, wellbeing, rights, or development of children.
• Safeguarding refers to the policies, procedures, practices, and actions taken to prevent and respond to violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect, and other harms affecting children.
• A safeguarding concern is any concern, suspicion, allegation, disclosure, incident, or observation suggesting that a child may be experiencing, or may be at risk of experiencing, harm.
• Violence against children encompasses all acts that involve the intentional use of power, verbal, sexual or physical force, threatened or actual, against a child or against a group of children that either results in or has a high likelihood of resulting in actual or potential harm to the child or children's health, survival, development, or dignity.
• Survivor-centred approach prioritises the safety, dignity, well-being, confidentiality, choices, wishes, and rights of the person who has experienced harm.