The Youth Cafe (TYC) is committed to forging a link between development, which we strive to achieve amongst young people from disadvantaged communities, and the Investment World. We accomplish this by seeking to evaluate our transformation mandate against both revenue targets and social impact outcomes. Through our solution-oriented model, we can provide our partners with measurable solutions.
The Youth Cafe will not tolerate any form of abuse, exploitation, or harm carried out towards our partners, The Youth Cafe leaders and members, or youth/adults at risk ( defined as someone over the age of 18 who, for physical, social, economic or environmental factors are more vulnerable to abuse, exploitation and other harms).
The purpose of this policy (Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) is to ensure that procedures are in place to protect partners and the community we work with who are at risk of sexual abuse or exploitation, or other harmful and inappropriate behavior, carried out by any member or staff of The Youth Cafe.
Every aspect of our work must be carried out to ensure the rights and dignity of rights holders, community members, and adults at risk. We are committed to working with them to ensure that they are not simply safe from harm but safe to realize their rights and be active agents of change.
Building on our Code of Conduct and feminist approach, TYC is committed to preventing sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse and responding robustly to these harms. We recognize that all these harms are rooted in an imbalance of power, particularly gendered and sexualized abuses of power.
We have a duty to prevent and respond to allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse because of the power imbalances inherent in the international aid sector and within the broader social norms and structures in which we work. This means that we take all concerns seriously and carry out timely and robust responses to allegations of harm.
No one will be victimized for making a complaint, and TYC is committed to taking a survivor-centered approach throughout. This means we work with survivors to ensure they are central to any response and are not further harmed or disempowered by any processes.
TYC views sexual violence as a gross violation of human rights. In line with Feminist Principle 10 (Zero Tolerance), we will not tolerate abuse, exploitation, or harm carried out towards our employees, rights holders, communities, or anyone we contact through our work.
Zero tolerance means we will always take action when Safeguarding harm takes place, ensure that support is offered to all affected and that the organization learns from the harm so it does not happen again.
We recognize that gendered forms of sexual violence disproportionately affect women and girls, and our work also recognizes the impact on boys, men, transgender, and non-binary people; we are committed to having an inclusive safeguarding approach and working with the marginalized, oppressed, and hard-to-reach groups.
We recognize that sexual violence impacts people differently depending on various factors, including other forms of oppression they may experience. So we will always look at how safeguarding harms impact people living in poverty, people in the LGBTQI community, and people of different ethnicities, religions, races, classes, and abilities.
As part of living out our feminist principles, we will champion intersectionality by recognizing different groups' diverse and connected experiences and take action to ensure we do not compound harm. We will take action to ensure our approach is anti-racist, inclusive, and safe for all.