Safeguarding Policy

Nyoka Mashinani Initiative works with children in schools and with community members in rural Baringo. Their safety, dignity and wellbeing come before every other objective of our programmes. This policy is aligned with the Children Act 2022 of Kenya and international good practice for community organisations.

1. Our commitments

• Every child and vulnerable adult we meet is treated with respect, without discrimination of any kind.
• We never work alone with a child out of sight of other adults; school sessions always have a teacher present.
• We obtain informed consent from parents, guardians or head teachers before photographing or filming children, and we never publish identifying details alongside images.
• Live demonstration animals are handled only by trained, permitted staff, at a safe distance from children, with the animal’s welfare observed at all times.

2. Safe recruitment

All staff, fellows and regular volunteers who work with children provide references, sign this policy, and undergo an induction on our code of conduct. Any history of offences against children is a permanent bar from working with us.

3. Code of conduct with children

• Use positive, age-appropriate language; never shame, threaten or frighten a child.
• Avoid being behind closed doors, in vehicles alone, or in private online contact with a child.
• Give and receive physical contact only in public, child-initiated and age-appropriate ways.
• Listen to a child who wants to talk about something worrying them; take it seriously; record it; report it the same day.

4. Reporting concerns

Concerns about a child’s safety — whether inside our programmes or outside them — are reported the same day to the Executive Director and, where a child is at immediate risk, directly to the Kenya Childline 116 or the nearest police station. We cooperate fully with children’s officers, police and other statutory services.

5. Safeguarding focal point

Our Board has designated a Safeguarding Focal Point responsible for training, record-keeping of concerns, and annual review of this policy. Reports can be made through the contact details on our website or, confidentially, through our whistleblower channel.

6. Review

This policy is reviewed annually and after any incident, with lessons learned documented and shared with the whole team.