Study session on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)

On August 20, JEN held a study session on Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) for staff members in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Japan.  At the study session, we learned examples on the measures that humanitarian organizations should take to prevent people affected by disasters and conflicts from being sexually exploited and/or abused by humanitarian organization staff, volunteers, contractors and others concerned.
The measures we learned, for example, are to prohibit acts of  sexual exploitation, abuse, and sexual harassment in the Code of Conduct which is signed by all staff; and to implement programs safely by protecting children, women and vulnerable people and securing their participation.

JEN has implemented all program activities in compliance with The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) and respecting the ideas and opinions of those affected by the disaster.  JEN continues to learn the necessary knowledge and do its best so that JEN can always support the independence of the affected people and respect human rights.

We went to participate in the Manpower Management Study Group!

On January 21^st, JEN participated in the Second Annual “Learning about Manpower Management via Hunger Free World” Study Group as part of the NPO`s Efforts to Promote NSR (NPO`s Social Responsibility) Project. Although we did not report about our participation in the first Study Group hosted last year, this is our second time participating in this Study Group.  

The main objective of this Study Group was to learn the methods behind manpower management used by Hunger Free World, considering problems that may arise when implementing their techniques into our own organizations, and sharing ideas to find solutions to those problems.

In the First Annual Study Group that was hosted October 12^th of last year, we learned how Hunger Free World developed their manpower management, and how it functions today from Ms. Rika Tanaka, the Deputy Director of the Executive Office at Hunger Free World.

In the second Study Group, each participating organization presented their own approach to manpower management. Additionally, each organization asked questions and provided suggestions to the approaches taken by other organizations.

In regards to manpower management, JEN still has a long ways to go. However, after participating in this Study Group, we were able to remind ourselves that time is an important resource when running an organization. We hope to create a work environment where we can clarify who works what job with how much effort and time, where each worker remains conscious of the important tasks, and where we can rethink our priorities in order to reach our goals. We thought that this will not only help JEN`s operations, but also the staff members of JEN as well.

We hope to implement what we have learned about manpower management from the lecturers and other organizations in this Study Group and create our basis of manpower management by the end of 2019.

Management Department Staff

Sharing knowledge of the latest version of SPHERE standard 2018

The latest “Sphere standard 2018,” version 4, was newly released on the 6^th of November, and a group–study-session was held on the 21^st of December, 2018 by the NGO Unit of JPF (Japan Platform). A JEN staff who participated in this session shared what she learned to the staffs at the first weekly meeting of this year, the 8^th of January, 2019.

 

While there is no major change on the basic component, the followings are the points revised in this new version.

1. New types of complex assistances, such as technological support as well as cash programing, are included as possible components, beyond conventional material distributions, owing to the changing situation on the ground, responding to the refugee camp situation and/or disaster response in urban cities.
2. The Sphere standard released in 2011 was the core-standard, then, but this latest version is integrated with CHS (Core Humanitarian Standard)
3. Sexual violence is newly included in “Health” section, 4 actions to protect lives, and consideration to SEA (sexual exploitation and abuse) is focused.
4. Apart from the above, detailed explanations were added to basic actions, new classifications were added to basic criteria and examples for guidance notes were renewed to recent cases.

All the staff strengthened our will to seriously observe and comply the SPHERE standards as professional humanitarian aid workers.

 ＊Sphere standard 2018 English version

 ＊Application for above

 ＊CHS Alliance Verifications verifies organization’s CHS commitment

 ＊Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response. Established by group of NGO and International     Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement during conflict of Rwanda in 1990s.