At ISA we have recently taken steps to update our policies with regards to integrity. Amongst others by looking into what integrity means to us as an organisation, considering the work we do and in this time & age. Lately, the news is filled with different types of violations, most notably sexual harassment. The whole #MeToo movement is based mostly on sexual harassment and in all kinds of industries. These are important topics to cover within a proper policy on integrity, but this policy should reach further, because integrity violations are not limited to sexual harassment. With the ISA team, both in the Netherlands as well as abroad, a session was held in which we discussed the concept of integrity, what it means to us, why it is important to us and why we need to put a solid policy in place. We came to the conclusion that, to us, the core of integrity lies in acting in a just manner, in a manner that acknowledges everyone, and does no harm to others. In essence it is about treating people the way you would want to be treated, knowing you stand behind the way you act. Also, it is about not making people uncomfortable in any way possible. The next step is translating these views and principles to the ISA operations and activities and target groups.
Being an integer organisation is very important to us. Being trustworthy and integer strengthens us as an organisation, and the work we do in the countries we work in, supports the impact we aim to achieve and offers opportunities to expand our reach and impact. This position is not created easily, only years of effort and dedication can ensure it, in which we not only require outstanding behaviour of our direct staff, but also of the organisations and partners that we work with. For ISA, developing our integrity policy is therefore just as relevant and impactful for our partner organisations as it is for us, and we believe everyone we work with should uphold high integrity standards.
Updating our integrity policy is, in a way, putting onto paper many of the norms and values that we already uphold within ISA and integrating them with different policies already in place that link to integrity. In further expanding our policies, the main challenge lies in navigating through so-called the lesser clear-cut ‘gray-area’ cases with regards to integrity (violations) with the ISA team, identifying an appropriate ISA stance on them and deciding what consequences are deemed just for different violations of our integrity code. The results determine the policies. Also part of these policies is conducting this exercise with the team regularly. The goal is thus not to produce a static policy, but create a dynamic process within the organisation in which throughout the years different cases are discussed within the team so that we can jointly decide on our stance and adjust our policies on integrity accordingly. The policy aims to make it clear for our team on how to deal with specific challenging situations, as well as which consequences are tied to certain actions and violations. It also aims at showing our external partners our position with regards to these specific situations.
In our view, drawing up a policy on integrity on paper is an important first step, but in itself does not ensure preventing and combating integrity violations. Rather, we strive for our ISA people – in the Netherlands and abroad – to adopt and integrate our integrity policy in their day-to-day actions and dealings, and thus be the desired embodiment of our high-integrity standards in their actions.
Nadia Dajani is a board member at ISA. Through additional volunteering she has supported ISA in fundraising activities and organizational performance. Nadia has a background in business administration, governmental & organizational policy development, and consultancy on process optimization. Her support in ISA’s work stems from her belief that the solutions for many of the challenges the world faces today largely lie in the hands of our youth and their will and ability to grow and contribute to their community. Through her work for ISA, she’s been able to contribute to ISA in reaching our goals. Currently, Nadia is actively working with ISA’s management on further developing ISA’s policy on integrity.