Our Organisational Policy

Introduction

The Kalama Your Friend Community Based Organisation (KYF CBO), founded in 2019, is dedicated to the welfare and protection of children and young people in Mityana, Uganda. This Financial Policy outlines our commitment to ensuring a safe environment for all children involved in our programs, including but not limited to the Pen Pal Program, football activities, and various community outreach initiatives. This policy is designed to uphold the principles of our organisation.

Due to our efforts in the last year, we have grown as a community in strength, in numbers and in a more structured way of working. Therefor we have been pushed and instructed to move from a Community Based Organisation (CBO) to a more official and worldwide recognised form: a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO). We are preparing to become an NGO, by setting up and describing our:

• Organisational Structure *
• Financial Policy
• Child Protection Policy
• Whistle Blowing Policy
• Fund Raising Policy
• Organisational Policy (this document)

* Following our organisation, primary responsibility for the implementation and execution of this policy is assigned to the Organisation Officer’.

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide a clear view to each stakeholder about what we want to achieve and how we want to do this.

Scope

This policy applies to all staff, volunteers, board members, and participants in KYF CBO programs and all our stakeholders. The scope of the Organisational Policy encompasses all areas that are described and implemented in the organisational structure:

• Managing the Organisation
• Taking care of the Community
• Handling all Formalities

It encompasses all regular activities organised by KYF CBO, including but not limited to housing, feeding, medical care, educational programs, sports events, community outreach, and any other initiatives involving children and young people.

Principles

In line with our mission (breaking the cycle of poverty), we have defined some basic principles that guide us in all our activities we undertake to realise our goals. Each principle is considered when taking decisions and evaluating our priorities.

Self Reliance This principle applies to the community and to each individual. We strive to realise a community where every member is stimulated and supported to be able to ‘take care of themself (better)’.

Solidarity Where self reliance has a strong individual focus, solidarity is needed to create a healthy and loving community, where each member has a common mind set towards a better life for all and tries to support other individuals in the community to realise that.

Sustainability Sustainability is our principle that focusses on both ‘long term’ and the environment the community lives in.

Next to these principles we have defined some principles that guide us with the approach of how we are carrying out all of our activities

Structured: This means we make plans, we define a process and we organize things first before we do it (project description, budget, aso.). Structured means also “Dream Big, make small steps” (our next principle).

Step-By-Step: For multiple reasons this is important. To stay realistic, and to keep it achievable, to make sure that everybody can participate, to make sure that we keep learning from each step, and that it supports the self reliance (one of our other principles) of the community.

One example: Food security is the most important issue, not only to feed the community members, also because it is costing the most money, every day. Whatever we dream about, we should look at this first, above all other things. Education, Weemanye, Health and Energy are important, but the most important is Food Security, untill we have fixed it.

Focus on three At each level, for each Officer in the organisation, and for each period of planning, we define 3 priorities and commit to them. This helps us to become more successful and to enforce our two other guiding principles step-by-step and structured. We select three progams that we believe are the most import to focus on and to realise in a period of two/three years. We select three projects to focus on first to complete in a period of a (half) year We select three work items to focus on first to get realised in a period of one week. We try to do this for each officer, and to monitor this on a regular basis

Organisational Commitment The Kalama Your Friend Community Based Organisation commits to:

• Implementing this policy across all levels of our organization.
• Providing training for staff and volunteers on financial practices.
• Ensuring that procedures and principles are integrated into all organizational activities.

Training and Awareness The Kalama Your Friend CBO will ensure that:

• All staff members receive training on safeguarding policies and procedures upon recruitment.
• Ongoing training sessions are conducted regularly to reinforce knowledge and understanding of child protection issues.
• Children participating in our programs are educated about their rights and how to report concerns.

Reporting Procedures On a quarterly basis, reports will be produced to reflect all activities that have been carried out by the organisation as a whole. For each area of attention a report will be produced to reflect the actual situation with respect to the situation and maturity of the organisation.

Monitoring and Review This policy will be reviewed annually or as needed based on legislative changes or organizational needs. Feedback from staff, volunteers, children, partners and other stakeholders will be integral to this review process.