Intervision at Terre des Hommes
On September 12, we are welcome at the Terre des Hommes office to exchange in an intervision. Terre des Hommes launched its Ethical Content Policy in the beginning of this year. It has strict guidelines for how professionals must behave with the children in its projects. However, sometimes, some of the guidelines contradict each other. In inclusive communication, we learned that it is essential to describe, for instance, which village and what kind of people you’re talking about. However, they do not want the children to be recognised within the ethical content strategy.
Intervision with the professionals in India and Kenya
And then you have the professionals who are working with the children. How do they cope with these new rules? And how does Terre des Hommes try not to dictate how the professionals must work?
In this intervision, the team from Terre des Hommes will guide us:
- Mahima Shashank (Regional Communications Advisor Asia),
- Grace Kirui (Regional Communications Advisor East Africa)
- Kari Postma (Global Communications Manager),
- Monique Janssens (Senior Communications Advisor)
Casus 1 – Inclusive vs. Ethical
In the stories Terre des Hommes tells, we want to respect and even strengthen the agency of the persons featured in our stories – children, youth and communities that participate in our projects. We want to amplify their voices, create platforms to make their voices count. At the same time we have strict safeguarding guidelines in our Ethical Content Policy to protect their identities, specifically for children (<18 years), specifically for survivors of child exploitation. These guidelines require us to refrain from disclosing personal details, even if the portrayed person insists on full disclosure and argues it well. How do you handle the friction between the wish for inclusive communication and the ethical need for protection and safeguarding of the persons featured?
Casus 2 – Aftercare: time consumption vs. time pressure
Being ethical and authentic in our communication requires involvement and informed consent from the persons portrayed in every step of the communication process according to our Ethical Content Policy. This is not only when the content is being collected and created but also before the end product is published or externally shared. Aftercare in this final step means sharing the end product with everyone featured in it, for their feedback and final consent to publish. This sounds nice and inclusive in theory, but in practice it is at least very time consuming (with the time pressure of publication deadlines). More often than not it is also very challenging, specifically in humanitarian contexts and in communities with high levels of migration. How do you ensure proper ethical aftercare in these challenging contexts, often while feeling the pressure of a fast approaching deadline?