Policy Statement

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of children to be protected from all forms of violence, exploitation, neglect, and abuse. Consequently, individuals and organization in contact with children and young people should ensure that children are protected and are safe from harm when participating in various activities.

Equality Myanmar (EQMM) is a child-safe organization. It believes that children have the right to be free from all forms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and discrimination upheld by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Convention also states that children have the right to participate in decision- making and due weight should be given to their opinions, according to their age and maturity. EQMM will strive to ensure that children who participate in its programs and activities will have a positive and enjoyable experience through its safe and child-supportive environment. The organization will not tolerate any form of violence against children, such as child abuse and sexual exploitation, committed by its staff (full time, part time, consultant, and volunteers); representatives; and staff of its partner or network organizations. It will undertake all necessary child-friendly measures to prevent these from happening.

EQMM recognizes that some children are more vulnerable to abuse and sexual exploitation than others, such as young children, those from ethnic minority communities, stateless and refugee/IDP children, and those who are disabled. EQMM will undertake reasonable and appropriate steps to ensure that their welfare is promoted and that their rights are protected.

 Policy Statement

All employees of Equality Myanmar have the right to be treated with dignity and respect and to be protected against harassment in the workplace. EQMM holds the responsibility to identify and prevent sexual harassment and to develop a culture of dignity and respect in the work environment. EQMM will respond to sexual harassment complaints, reports, and allegations with prompt and appropriate corrective action in order to stop prohibited conduct, eliminate any hostile environment, take steps to prevent the recurrence of sexual harassment, and address any effects in the workplace from such conduct. EQMM encourages all members of the organization to report any concerns or complaints of sexual harassment.

This policy is meant to inform the employees about what conduct constitutes sexual harassment, the ways and means EQMM adopts to prevent occurrence of any such event, and, in the event of such an occurrence, to enable a fair mechanism for dealing with such conduct.

Accounting and Finance Manual

Anti-Corruption Policy

I. Policy Statement
The EQMM Anti- Corruption Policy is a living document that reinforces EQMM human rights based principles and values. This document is a work in progress, bearing in mind EQMM’s practice of consultations, meetings, and one-on-one engagement with the staff from different levels of the organizational structure. This policy has been strongly informed by an interactive process involving staff members participating in defining and discussing corruption, cultural understanding, tolerance, and effective remedies. The purpose of this policy is to outline our three pronged approach to addressing corruption through awareness, prevention, and solutions, creating a culture of transparency and accountability.

The purpose of these guidelines is to outline Equality Myanmar’s standard procurement policies and procedures in an user‐friendly, understandable and more effective way in order to facilitate follow‐up and make reporting more consistent. The aim of the internal control system for procuring goods and services is to ensure orders are handled properly by individuals having the skills to evaluate what purchases are required from suppliers (or providers) offering the best deals.

Procurement guidelines must to be used as a tool when procuring goods and services by Equality Myanmar (EQMM)’s personnel (staff members, consultants/resource persons, interns and volunteers) and EQMM‐supported network and sub‐grant partners. These guidelines are aimed at ensuring transparency and avoiding any conflicts of interest in the procurement process by any individuals within the organization.

These policies and procedures can be further developed and improved following feedback and comments from users’ experiences and utilization of the procurement guidelines. In this regard, the guidelines will be regularly reviewed and updated to reflect changes in staffing and organizational policies.

Failure to comply with these policies and procedures may be deemed as serious misconduct and merit disciplinary action by EQMM’s Management Committee.

Introduction

Equality Myanmar (EQMM) was founded with the goal of empowering the people of Myanmar through human rights education and advocacy to engage in social transformation and promote a culture of human rights.

In doing so, personnel at Equality Myanmar (EQMM) is personally and collectively responsible for upholding and promoting the highest ethical and professional standards in their work. This also applies to board members when representing EQMM and temporary personnel such as consultants, interns and volunteers during their assignments with EQMM. Management at all levels of the Organization have a responsibility to ensure that all personnel are aware of this Code of Ethics, that they understand what it means in concrete behavioral terms and how it applies to their daily work.

Introduction

Equality Myanmar is a leading non-governmental organization working on protecting and promoting human rights in Myanmar. We produce a range of human rights materials, audio/visual tools, and other multimedia resources in order to address the lack of human rights information. We operate with a high visibility profile by publicity of our human rights and communication materials through its website, social medias, campaigns, events, and other communication platforms.

However, after military coup in February 2021, Equality Myanmar had high security risks that imperil its staff, beneficiaries, and operations. For security purposes, all public official references were avoided started from 1 February 2021. EQMM website or Social Media page were not operated at that time. Use of its logo on new IEC materials were avoided. We operated with a low visibility profile for two years after military coup by 1 February, 2021.

Introduction

Equality Myanmar’s purpose is to empower people in Myanmar to engage in social transformation and promote a culture of rights for all. For that reason, images play an important role in telling the story of our work and inspiring others.

However, the way we take and use images is important as well. Our images and video are an expression of our belief that all people have equal human rights and dignity. All individuals should be shown in a dignified way. This is particularly important for individuals who may face discrimination or exclusion. This may include, but is not limited to, older people, persons in economically challenged situations, persons with ill health, women, persons with disabilities, LGBT persons, children, and ethnic and religious minorities.

To this end, EQMM’s Ethical Image Policy both considers and affirms our values of respect, accountability, and integrity with regards to taking and using images.

Respect – We treat everyone with dignity and respect, and we stand up for the rights of all people.

Accountability – We are accountable to our beneficiaries, partners, staff, and society.

Integrity – We act with honesty and our actions are consistent with openness, equality, and human rights.

Anyone gathering or using images on behalf of Equality Myanmar, must read the policy before carrying out their work. Anyone commissioning a photographer or filmmaker or travelling with supporters taking images is responsible for ensuring that our ethical standard is adhered to.

 Introduction

It is integral to Equality Myanmar’s (EQMM) mission to ensure that we work with integrity and accountability to all our important stakeholders. EQMM has a responsibility to ensure its actions and activities are safe, professional, fair, and in compliance with our programmatic aims, policies, and obligations.

To this end, we are committed to implement a complaint & incident policy that enables individuals and organizations to raise complaints and give feedback on our work, as well as the work funded by EQMM carried out by partners. This system also enables EQMM staff to report incidents.

There may be occasions when EQMM does not meet the expectations of all stakeholders, or when we fail to live up to our commitments. When, or if this occurs, beneficiaries, partners, other stakeholders, and EQMM staff have the right to complain.

The benefit for EQMM in receiving complaints is to get input on programs, projects, and overall management. It will help identify problems and support timely response, which will improve the quality of our work and reduce the potential for inefficient or misuse of the resources entrusted to us. Lastly, it builds trust with our stakeholders, and seeks to empower them through the ability to easily give feedback and raise complaints about our work.

 Policy Statement

This policy document is a living document and continues to be reviewed, revised, modified from time to time. We think that we need to adapt our procedures from our experiences in the ground now. This may change without prior notice. However, we will ensure that the basic procedures will be in place to our best knowledge and ethical practice.

The process of verification goes with the bottom-up approach governance in the organization. Meaning, it underwent draft and consultation process with all the staff in the organization until it reaches approval by the body.

EQMM will ensure full transparency every step of outlined procedure and the information are accurate. In case of ineligibility of any expenses, EQMM will be responsible with its terms and conditions of the grants.

EQMM welcomes our partners input to improve our policy guidelines and procedures for transparency, accountability, including checks and balance.