Our Commitment
Our commitment to preventing sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment is unwavering. For us, safeguarding is not an end state but rather an ongoing process — one of humility as we continue to improve, one of courage as we raise our voices to protect ourselves and others, and one of accountability as we maintain the trust of the communities where we work. The people our mission calls us to serve, our volunteers, our staff and our partners all must feel safe in order for us to truly join together to build a world where everyone has a decent place to call home.
Habitat for Humanity Fiji - Code of Conduct
Habitat for Humanity Fiji has adopted the Ethics Covenant which has been developed by Habitat for Humanity International. The Ethics Covenant has been developed as a guide for employees. Every HFHF employee is required to read, understand, and sign an acknowledgement of this Ethics Covenant. This includes:
1.Paid HFHF staff.
2.Contract, part-time or temporary employees.
3.Volunteers.
Safeguarding Policy
Purpose
To provide guidance to all individuals either staff or community members in situations where they may have complaints
Habitat for Humanity Fiji is opposed to any form of discrimination, exploitation, and abuse, including slavery, coerced conscription, prostitution, trafficking of persons for any purpose, vulnerable adult, or child abuse, and dangerous or exploitative child labour. In the design and implementation of programs and policies, we seek always to work without bias, to do no harm and to reduce (rather than contribute to) the consequences of discrimination, exploitation, and abuse.
Habitat for Humanity Fiji has no tolerance for sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. Nothing is more important than the welfare of the people in the communities where we work, our volunteers and our staff.
Promoting a “speak-up” culture
Employees and members of the communities where we work are encouraged to report incidents of exploitation, abuse or harassment, including through our confidential reporting system, the Habitat Ethics and Accountability Line. Any staff member who files a report or is a witness providing information related to such a report is protected against retaliation.
Continuous improvement
We have worked hard to improve our safeguarding incident reporting systems. Even so, we know we must remain vigilant and continue to strengthen our training programs and screening of employees and volunteers. That commitment to continuous improvement led us to update our safeguarding policy in 2018 and strengthen it again in 2020 to reflect feedback on implementation from staff and partners.
We have expanded our team of safeguarding specialists globally and ramped up training for both our employees and our partners. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to do more work remotely, for example, we established trainings for safeguarding related to engagement of volunteers virtually. We also have collaborated with peer organizations to create the Safeguarding Community Visualization Toolkit, an adaptable set of resources designed to communicate key safeguarding messages to the communities in which we or our partners work, helping to break down barriers of language, literacy and accessibility.
For any concerns, you can reach out to us via email on complaints@habitatfiji.org.fj and phone sta
Complaints Policy
Purpose
Our complaints policy is to ensure transparency, fairness, and efficiency in addressing and resolving any concerns or grievances raised by our stakeholders, including Habitat for Humanity (HFHF) Board and committee members, staff, volunteers, affiliates, contractors, beneficiaries, and the public. The policy aims to provide clear guidelines and procedures for lodging complaints, investigating issues thoroughly, and implementing appropriate resolutions promptly.This Complaints Policy and procedures document is mandatory and applies to all Habitat for Humanity Fiji staff, volunteers, affiliates, and trustees.
