Child Protection Policy

March 2024

Paper Ball Educational Innovation is committed to protecting the safety and well-being of children. Thus, Paper Ball Educational Innovation has adopted this Child Protection Policy (this “Policy”) requiring covered persons to conduct themselves appropriately with children who participate in Paper Ball Educational Innovation activities, take reasonable measures to ensure the safety of such children, and report instances or suspicion of prohibited conduct.

Definitions

Child(ren):An individual under the age of eighteen years.

Covered Person:A Paper Ball Educational Innovation director, officer, staff member, volunteer, contractor, or other adult participant in a Paper Ball Educational Innovation activity.

Physical Abuse:Physical contact with a child that is intended to cause, or causes, pain or physical injury to a child, including, but not limited to, punching, beating, shaking, throwing, kicking, biting and burning, or directing a child, outside the norm of the supervised activity, to perform physical activity which is intended to cause physical injury.

Sexual Abuse:Any behaviour which results in touching of the sexual or other intimate parts of a child and/or adult for the purpose of sexual gratification of the child and/or adult, including touching with or without clothing, and any other sexual behaviour with a child to meet the adult’s sexual interests.

Sexual Exploitation:Any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, sexually or politically from the sexual exploitation of another. Sexual abuse and exploitation can include non-physical touching, abusive sexual behaviour, via internet, video cell phone contact, or through internet activity.

Neglect:Persistent failure to meet a child’s (who is in care) basic physical and /or psychological needs, which is likely to result in serious impairment of a child’s healthy physical and/or mental development.

Emotional Abuse:The actual or likely severe adverse effect on the emotional and behavioural development of a child caused by persistent or severe emotional ill-treatment or rejection. All abuses involve emotional ill-treatment.

Prohibited Conduct

A covered person shall not:

  • Engage in any form of physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or emotional abuse of a child;
  • Engage in any other sexually inappropriate conduct of any kind toward or in the presence of a child, including but not limited to making pornography or other sexually inappropriate materials in any form available to a child, assisting a child in gaining access to such materials, or in sexual activity;
  • Engage in the use of alcohol or illegal drugs, or be under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs, during programs or activities for and with children;
  • Enable, facilitate, or fail to appropriately address a child’s use of alcohol or illegal/non-prescribed drugs;
  • Contact a child through electronic media, including social media, for the purpose of engaging in any prohibited conduct, including sexual conduct;
  • Offer or make a gift to a child for the purpose of engaging in any prohibited conduct, including sexual conduct;
  • Take images of children (photos, video, etc.) which are detrimental and undermine a child’s dignity;
  • Violate any local laws pertaining to the protection of children in any country in which they are working or visiting.
Required Conduct, Including Duties To Report Abuse

A covered person shall:

  • Take all reasonable measures to prevent physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or emotional abuse of a child, including immediately removing a child from a potentially abusive situation;
  • Wherever possible, ensure that another adult is present when working in the proximity of children;
  • Report immediately any suspected physical abuse, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation, neglect, or emotional abuse of a child to the appropriate officials at a partner organization, including school officer or school security personnel where applicable;
  • Protect the privacy of children under the age of 13 by requesting parental/guardian consent for the online collection or use of any personal information of the child;
  • Protect the privacy of children under the age of 18 by requesting parental/guardian consent for the collection or use of any video, images or voice recordings of the child or their story;
  • Comply with all applicable legal requirements to report incidents of abuse or suspected abuse to the police and other government authorities; and
  • Alert Paper Ball Educational Innovation’s HR officer of any breach of this policy by any covered person or suspected prohibited conduct by any person, including any covered person.
Recruitment

Paper Ball Educational Innovation will ensure that it applies the highest standards in its recruitment and vetting policies across the organization. Checking evidence of identity and the authenticity of qualifications and a minimum of at least two references are carried out in all cases.

Risk Assessment

A risk assessment of all Paper Ball Educational Innovation’s operations, programs and project activities will be conducted. Risk mitigation strategies will be developed, which minimize the risk to children, and incorporated into the design, delivery and evaluation of programs, operations and activities which involve or impact upon children.