Safeguarding Standard Provision

M.XX PSEA - NEW DRAFT STANDARD PROVISION for ADS 303

M#. SAFEGUARDING AGAINST EXPLOITATION, SEXUAL ABUSE, CHILD ABUSE, AND CHILD NEGLECT

(a) Definitions for the purposes of this provision.

“Agent” means any individual, including a director, an officer, or an independent contractor, authorized to act on behalf of an organization.

“Child” means a person younger than 18 years of age.

“Child abuse” means emotional, physical, sexual, or any other ill-treatment carried out against a child by an adult.

“Emotional child abuse or ill-treatment” means injury to the psychological capacity or emotional stability of the child caused by acts, threats of acts, or coercive tactics.

“Physical child abuse” means acts or failures to act resulting in injury (not necessarily visible) or unnecessary or unjustified pain or suffering without causing injury, harm or risk of harm to a child’s health or welfare, or death.

“Child neglect” means a failure to provide for a child's basic needs in the absence of the child's parent or guardian when the care of the child is associated with the award activities.

“Employee” means an individual who is engaged in the performance of this award as a direct employee, consultant, or volunteer of the recipient or any subrecipient.

“Exploitation” constitutes any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, including for the purposes of profiting monetarily, socially, or politically. When carried out for a sexual purpose this constitutes sexual exploitation.

“Sexual abuse” constitutes any actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature towards another person whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. When carried out against a child by an adult, such conduct is considered sexual abuse even in the absence of force or unequal or coercive conditions.

(b) Requirements. In the performance of this award, the recipient must have and implement a set of publicly available standards, policies, or procedures to prevent, detect, address, and respond to allegations of exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse, and child neglect that:

(1) prohibit employees, agents, interns, or any other person provided access or contact with beneficiaries, from engaging in any exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse, and child neglect of any person during the period of performance, supporting or advancing these actions, or intentionally ignoring or failing to act upon allegations of these actions;

(2) are consistent with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s Six Core Principles Relating to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, as amended, available at https://psea.interagencystandingcommittee.org/update/iasc-six-core-principles and the Keeping Children Safe Standards, available at https://www.keepingchildrensafe.global/accountability/;

(3) require reporting of suspicions or concerns related to violations of the prohibitions in paragraph (1) to the recipient;

(4) require a “survivor-centered approach” for responding to alleged violations of the prohibitions. Such an approach must ensure the survivor’s dignity, experiences, considerations, needs, and resiliencies are placed at the center of the process;

(5) when a child is involved, require a “best interest of the child determination” for responding to alleged violations of the prohibitions. This determination considers the best possible outcome for a vulnerable child who has been exposed to violence, abuse, exploitation or neglect;

(6) include remedies for violations;

(7) monitor subrecipients, employees, agents, interns, or any other person provided access or contact with beneficiaries,

(8) details the actions that may be taken against subrecipients, employees, agents, interns, or any other person provided access or contact under the award who commit exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse, and child neglect of any person or who fail to take reasonable steps to prevent it; and;

(9) provide transparency on hiring, screening, and employment practices, including on rehiring or transfer and referencing for subsequent employers.

(c) Compliance Plan. For awards exceeding $500,000, the recipient must develop, implement, and maintain a compliance plan, either in conjunction with or separate from the Trafficking in Persons Compliance Plan, that details risk analysis and mitigation measures that will be implemented during the period of performance of the award to prevent and address exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse, and child neglect of any person, consistent with the requirements in paragraph (b) of this provision.

(1) The recipient’s compliance plan must be appropriate to the size and complexity of the award and to the nature and scope of the activities, including the particular risks presented by the operating context. The plan must include, at a minimum, the following:

(i) reasonable measures to reduce the risk of exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse, and child neglect. Where implementation of projects under this award may involve children, this includes limiting unsupervised interactions with children and complying with applicable laws, regulations, or customs regarding harmful image-generating activities of children;

(ii) an awareness program to inform employees, agents, interns, or any other person provided access or contact with beneficiaries about the requirements of this provision, including the activities prohibited, the action that will be taken in response to violations, and the mechanism(s) for reporting allegations;

(iii) a description of how beneficiaries and local community members:

A. are made aware of the prohibited activities,

B. how they may report allegations, and

C. how (A) and (B) are carried out in a manner which is inclusive, culturally appropriate, and sensitive to the context;

(iv) safe, accessible, and publicly available reporting mechanism(s) that may be integrated with any existing or similar such mechanisms, for anyone to confidentially report exploitation, sexual abuse, child abuse, and child neglect, with appropriate safeguards to protect whistle-blowers and survivors, including express protection against retaliation for reporting, and documented procedures for protecting personally identifiable information (PII) from unauthorized access and disclosure; and

(v) appropriate measures to protect survivors of or witnesses to activities prohibited in paragraph (b)(1) of this provision and not prevent or hinder cooperating fully with U.S. Government authorities.

(2) The recipient must provide a copy of the compliance plan to the Agreement Officer upon request.

(d) Notification.

(1) The recipient must immediately inform, in writing, the Bureau for Management, Office of Management Policy, Budget, and Performance, Responsibility, Safeguarding, and Compliance Division (M/MPBP/RSC) at [email protected] and USAID Office of Inspector General (OIG), with a copy to the Agreement Officer whenever the recipient receives credible information from any source that alleges the recipient, subrecipient, employee, agent, intern, or any other person provided access or contact with beneficiaries under the award has engaged in activities prohibited in paragraph (b)(1) of this provision; and

(2) As soon as practicable, the recipient must provide in writing, as specified above: (i) additional information on any actions planned or taken in response to the allegation; and (ii) any actions planned or taken to assess, address, or mitigate factors that contributed to the incident.

(3) The Agreement Officer authorizes M/MPBP/RSC to correspond with the recipient for further information relating to the notification.

(4) In providing any notifications under this subsection, the recipient should not share PII, unless specifically requested by the Agency or USAID OIG.

(e) Remedies. In addition to other remedies available to the U.S. Government, the recipient’s failure to comply with the requirements of paragraphs (b), (c), and (d) of this provision may also result in the Agency initiating suspension or debarment proceedings.

(f) Subrecipients. The recipient must insert the terms of this provision, including this paragraph (f), in all subawards except to require subrecipients to notify the recipient. The recipient must forward such notifications as required in paragraph (d).

(End of provision)

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