Child Protection Policy
Masaka Diocese Education Commission
Strict protection of children as top priority
The new Child Protection Policy of Masaka Diocese Education Commission
"It is a task of development cooperation to strengthen the rights of children, improve their development opportunities and protect them from potential dangers. Non-governmental organisations must assume their responsibility in this regard and implement the protection of children in their everyday programme work" - see http://kindesschutz.venro.org.
As part of its cooperation with Masaka Diocese Education Commission (MDES) in Uganda, ADEPT has taken on this very task and motivated and supported the partner to issue its own child protection guidelines. After a good year of intensive work, the new guideline was published in September 2023 and solemnly presented to the public on 18 November 2023 by Bishop Rt. Rev. Severus Jjumba. The Catholic Church is a powerful body in Uganda. By issuing this guideline, the Diocese's school organisation is clearly positioning itself by declaring the standards of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child as binding for its schools. The strict guideline with "zero tolerance" for the violation of the rights of children and young people up to the age of 18 makes Masaka Diocese Education Commission in Uganda a pioneer in child protection - because the result is a guideline that can really "point the way forward" if it is implemented as clearly as intended. The child protection guideline will apply to all 750 educational institutions in the Masaka Diocese from 2024.
The new guideline is convincing on several levels. It begins with a clear statement from MDES on previous misconduct towards children and young people, whether at home or in the Diocese's schools. This is followed by a commitment that no child or young person should be subjected to mistreatment or abuse and that it is the central task of Masaka Diocese Education Commission to guarantee this in its schools to the full extent. The guiding principles and rules of behaviour are supplemented with clear instructions for action and zero tolerance is demanded. All teachers, staff, school governing boards and all other persons who have any kind of contact with children are held accountable. Compliance with the rules is monitored at several levels and the content is published in abridged form in every classroom. A whistle-blowing system and a clearly regulated reporting system should ensure that all cases of misbehaviour are actually reported.
It will certainly take some time before the new child protection guidelines are fully implemented at all schools in the Diocese. But the direction is now clearly set and zero tolerance is demanded from all those responsible. ADEPT congratulates Masaka Diocese Education Commission on this forward-looking policy.
MDES is solely responsible for the content of the guideline; the project was realised with financial support from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Beurer Foundation.