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Open Cultural Center is a non-governmental organization active in Spain and Greece and formed by volunteers who develop educational, cultural, and awareness projects to support refugee and migrant communities in Europe.
Our objective is to enhance the social and economic integration of migrants at a local level, and to be an important voice advocating for policies that protect the rights of migrants and favor their inclusion within a diverse European society. OCC wants to strongly contribute to an inclusive society without barriers to the legal, social, and economic participation of migrants. In this sense, OCC promotes an equal and valued position in society for everyone. OCC equips migrants with tools to access opportunities and build a future while advancing equality and inclusion within local communities, through intercultural exchange, education, and advocacy.
This is based on a fundamental belief in the equality of people, regardless of country of origin, language, religion, or immigration status. A community-led model means working in partnership with the community we are supporting, respecting them as the experts in their experience and needs.
We seek to enable leaders from within the community, especially youth, and see the community as partners in the work, not as 'beneficiaries'. This is an anti-racist approach, and we believe it is ethically and morally correct, as well as allowing us to achieve a greater impact with our work.
The community-led model has the following benefits:
We can work with a clearer picture of the needs, vulnerabilities and strengths of our community
We are better able to maintain effective channels of communication with the community, and can listen as well as distribute information
We can work against the sense of powerlessness that the asylum and migration legal framework in Europe forces upon refugees
We can build trust within the community because the approach is based on dignity and respect
MigraCode acts as a bridge between the demand for skilled people in the tech sector and people with a migration background who are eager to work in the tech industry. Founded in 2019, we are cooperating with other code schools in Europe to build a large community of companies and students to foster both labour integration as well as social inclusion.
The website of the European Project can be found here.
The website of the coding school in Barcelona can be found here.
Our philosophy
We believe that everyone deserves the right to follow education, especially those with fewer opportunities. Therefore we focus on those with a migration background and who have the eagerness to learn, but are often not able to do so.
Our support
Our project is financed by various sources, ranging from the European Union to companies in the private sector. Together with the support of our partners, we are able to continue our journey.
1) Open Education
We believe in equal opportunity for everyone and our academy is therefore freely accessible for people with a migration background and limited access to the labor market
2) Job Placements
We are in contact with many tech companies in and around Barcelona and we aim to find jobs for our students after they graduate from our coding course, with help from employability training
3) Community Building
In order to foster not only labor but also social integration, we work towards the inclusion of newcomers and host-country nationals through our program and our events
4) Additional Support
We do not only support our students with learning how to code, but we also offer soft skill trainings, psychological support, and other forms of additional but necessary support
In this handbook (powered by Gitbook), you can find all information about our organisation to be fully prepared to work with us. Whether you are a part-time or full-time employee or a volunteer (with the European Solidarity Corps or other), this handbook gives you all the information about our organisation, regarding both OCC Spain and OCC Greece.
Nosotros te recomendamos usar el guía en Inglés para mejorar tu nivel de Inglés. Sin embargo, si hay una parte que no entiendes nada, puedes usar Google Traductor. Como? Sencillo! Usa Google Chrome, haga clic derecho en esta página y haga clic en 'Traducir a espanol'.
To keep all information about our organisation - from safeguarding to practical rules - in one place, accessible by all OCC team members
To provide a resource to fall back on with information about OCC or general working guidelines
To list the right contact persons depending on your question or doubt
To create a safe, interesting, meaningful and positive experience for you at OCC
If you have specific questions or feedback about the content, reach out to your supervisor to see who is the right person to make changes (if applicable). If it's a more general question about this Gitbook, feel free to contact @Vincent van Grondelle on Slack or email vincent@openculturalcenter.org.
Open Cultural Center was established in Spain at the end of 2017. As some of the volunteers who founded OCC were from Catalonia, it made sense to have a base in Barcelona. Like Greece, Spain is also home to many migrants and refugees. They mainly come to Europe via the Western Mediterranean and Western African routes, but many also travel from Latin American countries such as Venezuela.
At OCC Spain we offer free educational activities for refugees and migrants at MigraCode and Barcelona Language Lab. We also raise awareness about the experience of refugees by doing talks at schools and hosting events to promote social inclusion and cultural diversity. A significant part of the work we do is administrative, and we also support OCC Greece in fundraising and communications.
The OCC Spain team is made up of ESC volunteers, interns, external volunteers and several full-time and part-time employees. Some of the team members live in the shared volunteers flat near the office. We have a weekly meeting on Tuesdays during our co-working day when the whole team works from the office.
OCC has an office in El Born, one of the neighbourhoods in Barcelona's old town. The office is open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and there is always someone there to welcome visitors, students and team members. The office is in a space that is shared with the neighbours association, who we sometimes collaborate with.
OCC's work in Spain is centered around education, social inclusion, raising awareness and innovation. Every team member is involved in different projects and we all work together to provide the best quality support possible to everyone who benefits from our activities. We have some base projects, like MigraCode and Amigo Mio, and some short-term projects, like Untold Stories for example.
MigraCode is one of OCC's biggest and most impactful projects. You will definitely meet some students and alumni during your time at OCC. It is a programming course that is free for people with a migration background. Through this project, OCC works towards the integration of migrants in the European labor market.
OCC Spain also offers free language classes in Spanish, Catalan, Arabic and English, to improve the target community's chances of integrating and accessing employment and education. Teachers and students from all over the world learn together in a multicultural environment. You may be involved as a volunteer teacher or as a student, or you might just want to join our language exchange meet-ups.
As we only have a small office space and due to the current health risks, all MigraCode and language classes are held online at the moment.
The community of people who are involved in our activities mainly live in Barcelona and have already integrated to a certain extent in the local community. They may have lived in Spain for a few years already, or be familiar with the Spanish language or culture. Inclusivity and cultural exchange are at the heart of OCC activities, and all team members are expected to promote these values. Although OCC Spain is not located near a refugee camp like OCC Greece, it is always important to be openminded, understanding and respectful in all our work, and welcome everyone equally.
Unfortunately, since the beginning of the global health crisis, we have not been able to continue events such as the monthly intercultural event or the jam session. Nevertheless, we have organised some events respecting the local health restrictions, such as the book exchange for San Jordi in April 2021, where we sold roses and copies of our book Amigo Mio.
(The footage in the video below was recorded before the pandemic.)
We carry out many projects in Spain and in Greece. Here, we share some examples of our base projects. However, if you want to see more examples, have a look at our website over here.
OCC Barcelona offer weekly language classes in order to provide informal eduction as well as to facilite cultural integration. There is two levels per language : beginners (A1-A2) and intermediate (B1-B2) and two classes of one hour per week and per level. Our current courses are : arabic, spanish and catalan. During the past we also had some english, french and frasi class. If you want to suggest and lead another language course, feel free to share it with us!
The Spanish and Catalan classes are given by locals. Other classes are given by refugees or migrants who have arrived in Barcelona. We enable them to give these classes so that they can gain teaching experience in a foreign language, feel empowered, become independent and share their culture.
The Spanish and Catalan classes are given by locals. Other classes are given by refugees or migrants who have arrived in Barcelona. We enable them to give these classes so that they can gain teaching experience in a foreign language, feel empowered, become independent and share their culture.
Following the Covid-19 crisis, we provide our classes online. We are try to do our best to organised presencial classes as soon as possible.
We offer free language classes for members of our organization. For those who don't work directly with us and want to follow these classes, the membership is 15 euros per month. All the financial benefits of the efforts put into the language classes will go directly to our projects. At the same time, please keep in account that we are a non-profit organization. This means that we are always working hard to provide you with the best learning experience, but that we sometimes need to improvise with classroom arrangements. Also, we are constantly working on improving our materials and facilities, and we will always do this together in cooperation with our students.
If you want to suggest and lead another language course, feel free to share it with us!
The Nea Kavala camp is an hour’s walk from Polykastro, the main urban center in the area. The villagers have to face long journeys to get to classes, participate in city activities or even go shopping. Another factor of discrimination that adds to the long list of difficulties that life in a refugee camp entails. At OCC we have fought to smooth out this inconvenience and bring the city closer to Nea Kavala. OCC launches a new free bus service that will bring students from the countryside and the city of Axiopolis to the centers of the organization located in Polykastro on a daily basis. A small change that will make a big difference for our students: it will save frustrations related to the long commutes to the city and will mean added motivation for those who could not attend classes simply due to lack of time.
OCCycling is a multidisciplinary project that includes the planning and execution of a shared mobility system with bikes and provides a training program in bicycle mechanics for young people and adults of the refugee population. That way, it seeks the empowerment of the main beneficiary groups and the feeling of belonging or ownership of the project through the repair of bicycles, and also participating in the coordination of the rental system.
Refugee camps have the door open, however, the lack of mobility and resources of refugees, and the remote and unfavorable location of the campsites, convert the door to be rather closed, and refugee camps approach more of a detention camp.
For people living in refugee camps, the capacity of circulation outside the camp not only allows their mobility, but a greater degree of autonomy and the potential integration in the territory by having easy access to basic social needs and services provided in the near urban areas.
To ensure proper safeguarding and provide clear rules and and protocols to prevent, respond and report to safeguarding issues, we have developed policies that clearly describe our safeguarding guidelines.
When working with adults, we always have to keep our general safeguarding policy in mind.
When working specifically with children, we always have to keep our child safeguarding policy in mind.
The book “My Friend!” is a project by Open Cultural Center that was created in the refugee camp of Cherso, to the north of Thessaloniki. The words and drawings by children in the refugee camp explain the journey of refugees to arrive in Greece. Abdul, Elaf, Amar and Heva are some of the children who illustrated and explained their personal stories: their life in Syria, before and during the war, the journey to Europe, life in the camp in Greece and their dreams for the future.
At OCC Spain we use the book to raise awareness and spread knowledge about the experience of thousands of refugees displaced by war for months and years, stuck in limbo between their past and the unknown future. Thousands of children have had their lives and education interrupted by war or violence. The book teaches us about these children's reality, and helps us to understand that, despite living in such a different situation, their dreams and hopes are not so far removed from the dreams of our own children, siblings, nephews and nieces, and even those we used to have when we were younger! To be able to be with family, go to school, play with friends and imagine our future.
We continue to use the book as a tool for raising awareness among the population. It is great to use in schools with children to teach values such as inclusion, respect, and tolerance towards other cultures.
"The story is overwhelmingly eloquent, because it exudes that naturalness with which children speak of the horror, the tenacity and hope with which they cling to life, their joy at making friends or dreaming of a better future.“ Rosa Montero in El Pais
The price/donation of the book is 10 € which will be used to continue financing the activities of Open Cultural Center in Greece.
OCC believes that everyone we come into contact with, regardless of age, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation or ethnic origin has the right to be protected from all forms of harm, abuse, neglect and exploitation.
The definition of organisational safeguarding is “the range of measures in place to protect people in a charity, or those it comes into contact with, from abuse and maltreatment of any kind.”
Our safeguarding measures apply equally to the board of trustees, all staff contracted by OCC (under any contractual mechanism) and associated personnel whilst engaged with work or visits related to OCC, including volunteers and our ESC volunteers. We commit to addressing safeguarding throughout our work using the three pillars of prevention, reporting and response. You can read more about these pillars in the next section.
IMPORTANT: If you face any issue right now, you can contact your the designated safeguarding leads directly through the page below. Or, read further below how you can report issues through other ways.
Follow up safeguarding reports and concerns according to policy and procedure, and legal and statutory obligations;
Apply appropriate disciplinary measures to staff found in breach of policy. It is OCC's policy to report all crimes to the relevant law enforcement authorities unless doing so may pose a risk to anyone involved in the case.
Within its means, OCC will offer support to survivors of harm caused by staff or associated personnel, regardless of whether a formal internal response is carried out (such as an internal investigation).
OCC will ensure that safe, appropriate, accessible means of reporting safeguarding concerns are made available to staff and those we come in to contact with.
To enable this, OCC has appointed Vincent van Grondelle & Maria Serra as the named safeguarding Designated Persons who are responsible for ensuring that safeguarding is given high priority within OCC and that all safeguarding reports are dealt with in a timely manner.
Ensure all staff have access to, are familiar with and know their responsibilities concerning our Safeguarding policy.
Undertake our operations in a way that protects people from any risk of harm that may arise from their coming into contact with OCC.
Implement appropriate safeguarding procedures when recruiting, managing and deploying staff and associated personnel.
Ensure staff receive orientation on safeguarding at a level commensurate with their role in the organisation.
Appoint a Designated Person to ensure that safeguarding is given a high priority within OCC.
Follow up on reports of safeguarding concerns promptly and according to due process.
SOURCE: The above information and protocols are based on the Safeguarding introduction of INSO: the International NGO Safety Organisation.
Our Code of Conduct defines the base rules of everyone working or participating in Open Cultural Center's activities. It is part of prevention: if we follow these rules, we will prevent safeguarding issues.
To ensure proper safeguarding and provide clear rules and and protocols to prevent, respond and report to safeguarding issues, we have developed policies that clearly describe our safeguarding guidelines.
In case you want to report a (potential) safeguarding issue, please follow the link below for more information.
For the purposes of this policy, and procedures contained within it, the following working definitions are used:
Abuse’ is used in its widest sense and includes physical, emotional / psychological and sexual abuse, neglect and negligent treatment, violence and exploitation in all forms.
Refers to anyone under the age of 18 years old, irrespective of the age of majority in their country, or the country where they are located or living.
Refers to when an allegation is made, even if it is unsubstantiated, that a child is being abused or is likely to be abused.
Refers to when an allegation is made, even if it is unsubstantiated, that a person is being subjected to preventable risk by the actions of another.
The person mainly in charge to handle Safeguarding concerns in a specific OCC location.
There are three clear distinctions between partners:
Those whom OCC have a contract with and as such are required to comply with child safeguarding/child protection as a condition of the contract, such as NGOs and Community based organizations (CBOs).
Those where the relationship is less formal or built upon mutual work and interests, such as a network or coalition, rather than a formal contract. In these cases we may be able to positively influence the practice of the partner, even if we cannot insist upon observing child protection/child safeguarding practice as a condition of our partnership.
Those who form part of a consortium or who are associated with the wider child and social protection system. This could include Ministries, Government Departments and Agencies, Statutory Authorities and other organisations including universities and research bodies. In these cases we should seek to advocate for child safeguarding across their activities and to positively influence their policies and procedures. This might include providing technical support.
Team members of OCC can be divided into two groups:
Staff: The term staff replies to anyone who works for or on behalf of OCC on a full time or part time basis. As such it includes employed staff, interns, and consultants.
Volunteers: The term volunteers relates to anyone working for OCC on an unpaid basis.
A Standing Volunteer is one who works for OCC on a regular and ongoing basis. They may undertake a range of activities, and for representative purposes be considered similar to staff except that they are not paid. All Standing Volunteers should follow the same processes in terms of safeguarding, including recruitment checks and the signing of the Code of Conduct as staff. ESC volunteers also fall under this category.
An Occasional Volunteer is one who works for OCC on a one-off basis, typically for a specific task or campaign. However, even though their involvement with OCC can be limited at any one time, it may be repeated over several years or more. All Occasional Volunteers should be recruited and managed in accordance with the safeguarding policy and will be required to sign and abide by the Code of Conduct if their work brings them into contact with service users.
Safeguarding is how the organization delivers on its duty of care to prevent and minimize the risk of harm to its service users and staff/volunteers. This includes both preventative actions to minimize the chances of harm occurring, and responsive actions to ensure that incidents which may happen are appropriately handled. Safeguarding implies a wider duty of care towards vulnerable adults and children especially, but also to those staff and volunteers working in the OCC community.
OCC takes seriously it’s responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of its community, including vulnerable children and adults from the refugee community, and the volunteers working with them. We are committed as an organization to keeping the OCC community safe and protecting them from all forms of harm and abuse.
This policy aims to act as a guide to managing day-to-day activities with vulnerable adults and children, and mitigating against the risk of harm, whether physical or psychological. We recognize that there is risk of harm to members of our community, especially vulnerable people on the move, and that OCC has a duty of care. We have developed this safeguarding policy as a means of minimizing the risk of harm across all OCC operations, and ensuring that any safeguarding concerns or incidents are met with an appropriate and rigorous response. We also extend the requirements of the safeguarding policy to any partners or visitors, as well as OCC staff, via the Code Of Conduct.
Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue and will result in disciplinary action being taken, including termination and any other available legal remedy. This policy also describes these actions.
While the Safeguarding Policy aims to be comprehensive, it is likely that there may be circumstances which are not covered or where there is a question about the application of the policy and procedures. In such situations, the local coordinator should be contacted or other reporting forms can be followed as described here.
All members of staff and volunteers are made aware of this policy upon joining OCC. During induction training they are required to familiarize themselves with the policy, and sign the Code Of Conduct. All OCC partners who visit or participate in OCC operations will be required to read a copy of the policy and sign the Code Of Conduct.
Our Safeguarding Policy is based upon a number of principles and beliefs, including:
All members of the OCC community have a right to a safe environment, free of harm, abuse and neglect.
People on the move and children may be more vulnerable to harm by others.
Everybody has a responsibility for safeguarding. This policy is mandatory for all those who work for or on behalf of Open Cultural Center, including staff, volunteers and partners. Although training, advice and support will be provided, everyone should actively participate so that they can carry out their responsibilities towards safeguarding children.
We work in a transparent and open way where safeguarding is recognized as a priority. We understand that situations of abuse and harm are able to flourish when staff, volunteers, partners, children, families and community members do not feel able to raise their concerns.
All reports of concern regarding safety and protection will be taken seriously. Where necessary, appropriate steps will be taken to protect vulnerable individuals and to take action against the alleged perpetrator. This may include referrals to law enforcement and child protection agencies. In relation to allegations against staff, volunteers and partners, action may also include the suspension or termination of engagement or any type of cooperation.
No single organisation is able to safeguard children by working in isolation, and therefore we will work with other organisations, agencies and groups as necessary and appropriate.
We maintain confidentiality and do not disclose personal details of those involved in protection concerns, including the names of those raising concerns unless it is necessary to pass on information to ensure that a vulnerable person is protected (for example where a child may need specialist services or where a criminal offence may have been committed).
We work within the framework of international and national laws and policies regarding safeguarding.
There is no one specific way of safeguarding vulnerable people and promoting their rights. Solutions need to reflect the culture and operating environment and the nature of activities being undertaken. However, culture can never be used as an excuse for abuse.
The Designated Safeguarding Lead is a member of the Leadership Team. The Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL) acts as the main source of support and advice for safeguarding. The DSL is primarily responsible for:
supporting staff and volunteers with advice and guidance on safeguarding issues.
managing safeguarding concerns raised by volunteers, staff or community members.
referring concerns to external agencies including the police, NGOs and other statutory bodies.
keeping up to date with relevant safeguarding legislation and good practice
providing safeguarding training for group members
The Safeguarding Committee is responsible for overseeing safeguarding policy process and culture across OCC. When safeguarding decisions are escalated beyond local staff or volunteers, the Safeguarding Committee will take over decisions and responsibility for managing the situation. The Safeguarding Committee can also advise local staff and provide support with assessing risk and responses.
The Committees work includes:
writing and approving the safeguarding policy
reviewing the policy annually
ensuring this policy meets the requirements of local regulatory frameworks, as well as staff volunteers and the wider OCC community
ensuring group members are recruited safely (as outlined in the Safer Selection guidelines)
at least one member of the group acts as a DSL, with other members stepping in to deputize in their absence.
arrangements are put in place in the event of a complaint against any staff member/volunteer by the OCC community
ensuring all volunteers attend Safeguarding training and read the Handbook for Volunteers and this policy.
All OCC staff and volunteers have a responsibility to:
Read and follow the Volunteer Handbook which includes this policy
Attend Safeguarding Training provided in your induction.
Be aware of, and alert to signs and indicators that all might not be well with colleagues and members of the community.
Treat all safeguarding concerns seriously, reporting immediately to the Designated Safeguarding Lead and taking advice when needed.
If for any reason the Designated Safeguarding Lead cannot be contacted, it is not appropriate to do so, or the need is immediate, report any Safeguarding Concerns directly to the appropriate agencies (Director of OCC Didac Guillamet, local Police, other agencies or organizations in the area).
The Handbook for Volunteers and mandatory Safeguarding Training covers the following:
Good practice guidelines, including the Code of Conduct
Volunteer Self Care
Working with refugees
Identifying and reporting safeguarding concerns
Whistleblowing and complaints
A safeguarding concern is any worry or concern about the safety or well-being of a person because of something seen or heard, or information which has been received. It can be a one-time occurance, or a recurring something that is happening. This includes any concerns about the behavior of community members, staff or volunteers which is harmful or puts others at risk. A concern may arise in several ways, for example:
Someone’s behavior gives cause for concern.
Someone says they are being harmed, exploited, or abused.
Someone indicates they want to harm themselves.
Signs of harm, exploitation, radicalisation, abuse or neglect are seen
Someone witnesses a person being harmed.
An adult survivor discloses their experience of harm, exploitation, radicalisation, abuse or neglect (often called ‘historical abuse’). The perpetrator may still be alive, and others may be at risk.
Concerns and reports may be received from a number of sources – including staff, volunteers, partners, children and families/community members. When a safeguarding concern is raised our group members will:
Treat all safeguarding concerns seriously.
If appropriate try to speak to the person, to explain their concerns and seek further information.
Always act in the best interests of the person, respecting and involving them, giving them a choice over decision making which impacts them, unless they lack the capacity to do so or it would put them at serious risk of harm, exploitation, radicalisation, abuse and neglect.
Provide people with safe and appropriate advice, signposting and referring them to services that meet their needs.
Work in partnership with other organisations, including statutory services like the police and social care to make sure they get the help they need.
Refer concerns where a child or adult at risk has been or is at significant risk of harm, exploitation, radicalisation, abuse and neglect to local authority social care or the police.
Protect confidential information except where the wider duty of care or the public interest might justify making it known.
In any medical emergency or when there is a risk of imminent, significant harm, we will contact the appropriate emergency services, and report directly to the Designated Safeguarding Lead immediately.
All Representatives should know the steps to take and whom to contact when concerns arise regarding the safeguarding. Failure to report a reasonable suspicion of misconduct in accordance with this Policy will be treated as a serious issue and may result in disciplinary action. If a child or vulnerable person is in danger or in harm’s way, call the local authorities immediately. In any case you must inform your manager about the danger and contact directly the Designated Safeguarding Lead or the Safeguarding Committee.
Key takeaways about reporting:
Any manager who receives a report of any allegation of a violation of this Safeguarding Policy must forward the report as soon as practicable to the `Designated Safeguarding Lead.
All other staff/volunteers covered by this policy must report any suspicion of misconduct covered by this policy as soon as practicable to their direct supervisor. Usually this will be the local Project Coordinator, who is also the Designated Safeguarding Lead.
The main point of referral should be the Designated Safeguarding Lead. This is to ensure that reports are managed in a systematic way, and lessons are learned in terms of the implementation of the policy. The Designated Safeguarding Lead is always in direct contact with the Safeguarding Committee and is required to report any worries or doubts directly to the committee.
Decisions about child protection incidents must not be made by individual workers in isolation. However in exceptional circumstances – such as a life threatening situation – staff or volunteers may take whatever action they deem necessary to protect a child at immediate risk, but this must be reported as soon as possible in accordance with the reporting framework described in this policy document.
Local contacts with child protection agencies, social workers and law enforcement should be identified in advance to enable a referral to an outside agency if required to protect the child or adult. Contact details should be retained so a referral can be made quickly and efficiently. Table 1 provides a list of current focal points for safeguarding within the Polykastro/Axioupoli/Nea Kavala ecosystem.
Consideration on whether to refer to an outside agency for protection must always be made within the legal framework of the country and with consideration for the best interests and wishes of the person at risk.
When concerns are raised or reports made, importance must be placed on CONFIDENTIALITY, both of the referrer and also the child(ren)/adults involved. Information must be shared strictly on a need to know basis as necessary to ensure vulnerable people are kept safe and appropriate assistance is given.
Referrals to local child protection agencies/police should be done in the prescribed manner (for example, there may be a particular format for reporting). Where the referral is made verbally it must also be confirmed in writing.
Written records of all reports received (even if the report is vague) must be kept and maintained in a secure and confidential location by the Safeguarding Committee.
In Greece, Open Cultural Center shall require criminal background checks from all Open Cultural Center staff and volunteers, and anyone who visits Open Cultural Center’s programs (e.g., journalists, donors, celebrities) and as it deems appropriate and as permitted by law. In OCC Spain, criminal background checks will be asked if required for the specific role.
Specific obligations and responsibilities for all adults (including Board Members, staff, interns, volunteers and consultants) working with/for Open Cultural Center, whether paid or unpaid or full or part time.
The Safeguarding Policy applies to all those working with or on behalf of Open Cultural Center. By agreeing to work with/for the organization, it is implied that the terms and conditions of the Safeguarding Policy have been accepted as a condition of involvement.
All staff (including consultants and standing volunteers) are required to sign and abide by the Code of Conduct as a condition of their involvement with Open Cultural Center. This sets out specific expectations of acceptable and unacceptable behavior.
All occasional volunteers and visitors are required to sign the Code of Conduct as a condition of their involvement with Open Cultural Center.
While orientation on the policy together with any necessary additional training regarding responsibilities and duty of care (particular to specific roles) will be provided, all adults have a personal responsibility to seek further clarification and advice where they are not clear about what is expected of them.
Breaching the Code of Conduct or contravening the Safeguarding Policy may lead to suspension and termination of any type of engagement. This will be determined on a case by case basis, ensuring that applicable employment conditions and legislation are observed and with regard for the privacy and confidentiality of those concerned while any internal investigation is carried out. In addition, after a thorough consideration of the facts, we will decide whether the case needs to be reported to law enforcement authorities in full conformity with the law.
The Safeguarding Policy focuses on contact with members of the OCC community taking place during work under the responsibility of the organization. Nevertheless, conduct outside the work environment of those associated with Open Cultural Center may also contravene the principles and values of the Safeguarding Policy. If such issues arise, these will be carefully considered and any decisions made will place utmost importance on the community’s best interests.
All open Cultural Center staff must undertake an initial training on safeguarding and the OCC Safeguarding Policy before starting their work for OCC. Managers at all levels are responsible for ensuring those reporting to them are made aware of and understand this Policy and are given trainings as described above. Refresher training will also be provided periodically.
To establish and maintain a strong safeguarding culture, OCC will monitor data from a number of different sources. We will create spaces and channels where volunteers and community members can communicate concerns openly, and where possible, anonymously.
The Safeguarding Policy will be reviewed annually by the safeguarding committee. Safeguarding incidents will be monitored in monthly meetings of the Safeguarding Committee.
OCC team members should uphold the humanitarian principles at all times: Humanity, Neutrality, Impartiality and Independence.
OCC team members should be kind and respectful to others at all times: any behaviour which could be considered bullying is absolutely unacceptable.
Weapons or other materials that could be used to engage in violent acts should not be brought into or near OCC spaces.
OCC team members should not engage in any sexual relationship with other team members, unless they were already a couple when they arrived. If a relationship is started, the Safeguarding Committee shall review the situation and take necessary actions, which may mean the termination of the contract.
OCC team members are requested not to actively participate in political activities such as working for a political party (left or right-wing). However, this does not include participating in demonstrations or other activist activities, as long as these activities do not go against OCCs core values and/or migrant/refugee rights.
Friends and family should not be invited to OCC team-only activities, unless specifically communicated by management.
OCC team members should not give preferential access to any OCC facilities/space/equipment.
OCC team members should not engage in disrespectful/confrontational behaviour, whether in person or in online communication.
OCC team members should attend their workplace with adequate physical and mental conditions. It is not allowed to arrive at the workplace under the use of alcohol or drugs, or to use such substances during working hours, or outside working hours in the presence of beneficiaries.
OCC team members should wear clean and appropriate clothes. Working clothes should be adequate to avoid provocation. This means that for example hats, short clothes, clothes with disrespectful messages/logos/symbols or other clothing that could somehow be offensive should be avoided.
All OCC team members have specific working hours stipulated by the contract. During a shift, there are hours for administrative work and hours for working in the field. Priority and preference will be given, at all times, to the hours devoted to field work.
OCC team members must be punctual in their hours of entry and exit from the workplace. In case of delay, they will inform other team members affected by the delay, and inform the coordinator.
Repeated and unjustified late-coming or non-attendance will be considered a breach of internal regulations.
During each working day, breaks should be taken every 3-5 hours of at least 20 minutes. Lunch time shall also be respect of a minimum of one hour. The break must be agreed with the team, so as not to interfere with the direct operation of the project, nor in the proper functioning of the other projects. The break will be coordinated and in turns, as far as possible, there should always be a member of each team on duty in case of active field-work.
Personal arrangements (medical assistance, administrative appointments, etc.) will be made, if possible, outside working hours, and/or preferably during non-field work hours. If this is not possible, they will be notified in advance and duly justified. The receipt or a proof of the appointment will be given to the coordinator.
In the event of extra hours of working, the team member can work less hours at another point of time in consultation with their supervisor.
OCC materials are for educational activities, events and office use. It is not possible to use any materials for personal use without prior approval from the coordinator.
The spaces we use will be respected and kept clean and tidy all the time and by all team members. If you leave a space, never leave trash or other things that don’t belong in that space behind.
Personal calls should be avoided during working hours, especially if you are working with beneficiaries. In the event of a personal emergency, calls will be made in a private place and away from the beneficiaries, in order to maintain the optimal distance between professional and personal life.
During work, social media and other non-work related applications are not allowed to be used.
Teamwork is an essential part of OCC’s work. All team members are part of a small team with which they must coordinate for proper functioning, and at the same time they are part of the larger OCC team.
All the people in the team participate in the weekly meeting. During the week, there may be other meetings of each small working group, where the managers can participate if they consider it necessary. These meetings aim to evaluate the operation of the project operationally, strategically and methodologically. Additionally, the meetings are a space to transfer information of common interest or other information that has an impact on the project or the team members.
The meeting space should be used to coordinate, evaluate, resolve conflicts between the team, develop new proposals, etc. In the event of a conflict within the small work team, action should be taken by supervisors and/or the coordinator.
Under no circumstances, OCC’s internal issues will be discussed in the presence of beneficiaries. Additionally, all team members will respect and follow the decisions taken by the team and approved at the relevant meeting.
All personal data and files of the people served must be treated confidentially, as set out in the GDPR.
Videos or images of beneficiaries must not be used for dissemination in a non-educational context or on personal social networks. Those images used by OCC must be accompanied by prior authorisation from the person, if of legal age, or the corresponding parent/guardian. If the images are to be transferred to other entities or media, the family or person concerned must give prior authorisation for any recording, photograph, etc.
The personal data of beneficiaries will be kept in a closed file with restricted access.
Under no circumstances will the personal data of other people be given to external parties. Volunteers should also have restricted access to personal data. However, exceptions might be necessary to allow the correct delivery of the activities. In this case, approval should be requested from the person responsible for GDPR.
Team members should ask questions and seek guidance if unclear about resolving a situation.
Team members should be mindful and respectful of cultural differences (for example, it’s best not to extend your hand when meeting somebody of the opposite sex).
Team members should try to be patient and understanding; sometimes the situation can be tense, but try to understand what people living in the community have been through (but obviously with limits, when the situation is not safe for example).
Team members should never engage in any sexual relationship with anyone from the asylum seeker/refugee/migrant community.
Team members should not give false hope or individual advice to beneficiaries.
Team members should not shout at or be violent with members of the community.
Team members should not use any form or force (physical or verbal) under any circumstances, except if it’s to provide safety to other people. Law enforcement will be requested if necessary.
Team members should not develop relationships with beneficiaries that go beyond the professional level. Relationships should be kept at an optimal distance, to preserve the personal life of beneficiaries and team members.
Staff and others must never:
Hit or otherwise physically assault or physically abuse children
Develop physical/sexual relationships with children.
Act in ways that may be abusive or may place a child at risk of abuse.
Use language, make suggestions or offer advice which is inappropriate, offensive or abusive
Behave physically in a manner which is inappropriate or sexually provocative
Have a child/children with whom they are working to stay overnight at their home unsupervised
Sleep in the same room or bed as a child with whom they are working
Do things for children of a personal nature that they can do for themselves
Condone, or participate in, behavior of children which is illegal, unsafe or abusive
Act in ways intended to shame, humiliate, belittle or degrade children, or otherwise perpetrate any form of emotional abuse
Discriminate against, show differential treatment, or favor particular children to the exclusion of others.
Taking pictures for the children. (In the school or any other place)
It is important for all staff and others in contact with children to:
Be aware of situations which may present risks and manage these
Plan and organize the work and the workplace so as to minimize risks
As far as possible, be visible in working with children
Ensure that a culture of openness exists to enable any issues or concerns to be raised and discussed
Make sure that you are not alone while you are teaching children, always must be two adults.
Talk to children about their contact with staff or others and encourage them to raise any concerns
Empower children - discuss with them their rights, what is acceptable and unacceptable, and what they can do if there is a problem.
Use the safe chairs for the car and never have children in front.
In general it is inappropriate to:
Spend excessive time alone with children away from others
Take children to your home, especially where they will be alone with you.
Use children as an interpreter in processes and responsibilities (such as interview, social history etc.)
Show children’s faces in presentations or publications and never publish a story or image which may endanger the child, their family or community or stigmatize the child
Engage in excessive hugging, kissing or behavior that should be restricted to family members.
This is not an exhaustive or exclusive list. The principle is that staff should avoid actions or behavior which may constitute poor practice or potentially abusive behavior.
Safeguarding is how the organization delivers on its duty of care to prevent and minimize the risk of harm to its service users and staff/volunteers. This includes both preventative actions to minimise the chances of harm occurring, and responsive actions to ensure that incidents which may happen are appropriately handled. Safeguarding implies a wider duty of care towards vulnerable adults and children especially, but also to those staff and volunteers working in the OCC community.
OCC takes seriously it’s responsibility to protect the safety and well-being of its community, including vulnerable children and adults from the refugee community, and the volunteers working with them. We are committed as an organization to keeping the OCC community safe and protecting them from all forms of harm and abuse.
Because of this, we have strict Safeguarding Policies which can be found also in this Handbook. It is highly important to understand that these policies fall directly under our Code of Conduct and that it is required to read the full policy before accepting this Code of Conduct.
In all cases, an attempt will always be made to reach a prior agreement between the team member and the organisation to resolve the conflict in the least harmful manner.
Not taking care of the materials and the spaces where the activities are carried out.
Incorrectness with other team members.
Inadequate clothing and/or personal hygiene.
Repeated and unjustified late-comings or non-attendance.
Failure to deliver the medical certificate of sick leave after the absence of 3 consecutive days.
Indiscipline or disobedience.
Abandonment of the activity without just cause.
Lack of respect for beneficiaries or other team members.
Recidivism in the commission of three minor offenses, even if they are of a different nature, within three months.
Misapplication of material.
Destroy or damage the material.
Alcohol or drug use, when it affects or occurs during the service hours.
Provision of personal data of other people to third parties, or volunteers. In the latter case, an exception will be made if the provision has been approved by the person responsible for GDPR.
Any conduct constituting a crime.
Physical or verbal aggression against beneficiaries or other team members.
Any conduct of sexual harassment or other intimidating behaviour (physical, verbal or non-verbal) that affects the dignity of beneficiaries or other team members.
Recidivism of serious offenses, despite being of a different nature, in the period of six calendar months.
Verbal warning.
Return improperly appropriated material.
Repair or replace damaged material.
Verbal and written warning.
Temporary suspension of salary and/or economic fine.
Termination of the volunteering period or employment contract.
This code of conduct must be carefully read and understood before starting your work at Open Cultural Center. To accept the signed Code of Conduct before arrival, please fill . This Code of Conduct is directly connected to our Safeguarding Policy which is the next page after this one.
All people working within OCC will fill , in which they are urgently asked to read this Code of Conduct, and have to mark 'I accept' to acknowledge they have read the complete Code of Conduct, including our Safeguarding Policies.
Training Course | Who? | When? |
Safeguarding Basics | All staff and volunteers | Before starting work |
Refresher Training | All staff and volunteers | Every 3 months |
What are you monitoring? | Data source | Action Owner | Escalation levels | Frequency |
Policies and procedures are being communicated to relevant audience | Volunteer exit questionnaires | OCC Barcelona | OCC Director | Once a member leaves |
Safeguarding awareness as part of induction process | Signed Code of Conduct records | OCC Greece | OCC Director | Once a new member joins |
Whether we are managing risk well | Safeguarding Incident Log | Safeguarding Committee | OCC Director | Monthly |
Due to its geographical location, at the gateway to the Schengen area, as well as to EU legislation, notably the Dublin procedure, Greece is one of the countries where many migrants have transited.
"In 2021, the main arrivals countries of origin will remain the Syrian Arab Republic and Afghanistan, arriving through Turkey, although a significant increase of arrivals from Iraq, Turkey, Eritrea, Somalia, and other African countries may still occur." - UNHCR
Turkey plays a central role in managing migration flows by preventing attempts to cross borders. However, on 27 February 2020, Turkey announced that it would no longer stop refugees trying to cross its borders into Europe, which has been closed since 2016.
Turkey hosts 3.6 million Syrian refugees - more than any other country. And since December 2019, hundreds of thousands more people have fled towards the closed Turkish border in Syria’s Idlib Province, where the Syrian government is bombarding civilians with airstrikes. European states and other countries have failed to share responsibility for hosting the women, men, and children who have fled their homes in Syria. Turkey says it can no longer cope with the number of refugees it hosts. An inevitable result of the Turkish announcement was that desperate people who had been unlawfully trapped in Turkey since at least 2016 rushed to border crossings that were newly re-opened - but only on one side. What people found when they arrived were heavily armed Greek border guards, tear gas, rubber bullets, and razor wire.
Due to the situation, on 1 March 2020, the Greek and Hungarian Governments announced the suspension of the right to asylum for one month. Various organizations complained that this was in breach of international treaties like the Geneva Conventions. Ursula Von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited the border, backing Greece’s hard-line and offering €700 million and 100 troops to protect the border. Later, the European Union offered €2000 to each refugee who agreed to return to his or her country of origin on a voluntary basis. Meanwhile, the Greek government announces that it wants to set up closed structures on the islands to accommodate 20,000 refugees. Demonstrations against the construction of this structure by the local community begin at Lesbos. The situation is heating up and fascist attacks are beginning to take place on the islands, against refugees and organizations. With the arrival of Covid19, Turkey announces that it is once again closing its borders. The Greek Government has beginning to impose isolation measures in the refugee camps and they announced the repatriation of 1,600 unaccompanied minors to other European countries and nearly 1,000 vulnerable migrants to be transferred to hotels in Greece.
As described in the "European context" section, Spain is a territory particularly involved in the migration waves towards Europe, as it is one of the countries of entry to the European Union. According to IOM in Spain there is a little bit less than 1 migrant for 1000 person of which 51.2% are women and 14.9% are children.
Barcelona is Spain's second largest city and the capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It is a multicultural hub in Europe and is home to over 300,000 foreigners from different parts of the world. The graph below shows the nationalities of the biggest groups of foreigners living in Barcelona.
The OCC Barcelona office is located in El Born, which is one of the neighbourhoods in the district of Ciutat Vella. In the graph below, we can see that Ciutat Vella (which includes El Born, El Raval, El Gotico, and La Barceloneta) has the highest percentage of foreign inhabitants in relation to its total population.
You can read more about the intercultural approach to migration in Barcelona here.
The right of asylum: an international human right included in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in the Geneva Convention and the Spanish Constitution, among others. It consists of the protection offered by a State to certain people whose fundamental rights are threatened by acts of persecution or violence.
International protection is a term that encompasses both refugee status and subsidiary protection. It is often confused with the term refugee status, but it is necessary to emphasize that the term international protection is broader. It can include the following:
Refugee status It is a form of protection that can be recognized to people who meet the requirements to be a refugee, that is, a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinions, belonging to a certain social group, of gender or sexual orientation.
Subsidiary protection The right to subsidiary protection is that granted to people who, without meeting the requirements to be recognized as refugees, give themselves good reasons to believe that if they returned to their country of origin they would face a real risk of suffering any of the damages serious such as death, torture, threats against integrity, etc.
Humanitarian reasons It involves the granting of a temporary residence permit that is granted in certain cases; to asylum seekers whose application has been denied at the proposal of the Interministerial Commission for Asylum and Refuge.
In all situations, one of the biggest barriers for refugees is access to education and the labour market. In general, if they are able to find (illegal) work, they are often working (and exploited) in precarious jobs such as food delivery (which is an extremely demanding job in Spain and mainly done by refugees and migrants), and can barely or not at all make it to the end of the month, let alone the physical and mental challenges most people in such situations face.
While many people have a high motivation to upskill and further develop themselves, work in better conditions and as a result, gain stability and the opportunity to provide for their families, they simply do not have the chance to do so as they either lack papers, economic means, knowledge of the labour market and/or the skills requested for certain jobs.
Apart from the above, it is also important to mention that trauma and other kinds of negative past or present experiences often block many refugee populations in Spain from participating in more advanced upskilling programs, as often, these programs are not prepared to work with people from this context.
Moreover, while a refugee with papers has - in theory - access to the health system of Spain, which includes (very) basic psychosocial support, the professionals offering this support are not specialized in the specific cultural backgrounds and are not specialized in working with the mental challenges that refugees commonly face.
Concluding, there are many improvements possible in refugee reception system, and there are huge gaps to fill in terms of adequate support on various levels, including education, mental support and labour integration. Luckily, there are various, specialized NGOs carrying out programs with a specific focus on exactly that, and like us, provide a holistic approach to specialized refugee care.
Since the refugee crisis started during the summer of 2015, the migration dynamics in the European space have been altered. Indeed, 2015 was a pivotal year with more than 1.28 million asylum applications filed.
The migration flow is managed in accordance with the Dublin regulation, with asylum applications being processed mainly in the countries of entry to the European territory. Although a system of relocation of asylum seekers has been adopted, its implementation is largely limited by the reluctance of Member States to show more solidarity in receiving migrants. This is why migration flows are particularly concentrated in the countries of arrival of the migration routes: Italy, Greece, Spain and Malta.
The protectionist policies of the European Union, which are illustrated in particular by the FRONTEX agency, the EURODAC system, or the Ankara agreement, are creating greater precariousness for migrants who are taking ever-greater risks.
To know more about the EU-Turkey Statement on refugees you can read this paper
More recently, a Pact on Migration and Asylum was proposed by the European Commission on 23/09/2020. Another novelty concerning the period 2021-2027 is the EU's Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion. The main points of this Plan are the following ones :
Improving employment opportunities and skills recognition
Inclusive education and training
Promoting access to health services
Facilitating access to adequate and affordable housing
OCC is already working on three of these priorities with the housing project and the MigraCode project which provides access to education and employability.
Despite these new European legislations facilitating integration, we can observe that the situation of illegal immigrants has worsened in recent years, especially with the Covid-19 health crisis.
Concerning migrations and integration to the European society, we can observe some divergences between European governments. For example, Germany has welcomed more migrants following the summer 2015 crisis. We should be aware that it is not only because of the defence of human rights but also to strengthen its economy thanks to the new workforce and demography. States that are part of the Visegrád Group (Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia) have another political orientation about integration.
The policies and governments of these countries are often seen in the West as nationalistic and xenophobic. In August 2018, Viktor Orbán, supported by the other Visegrád countries and Austria, joined forces with Italy, led by Matteo Salvini, to form an 'anti-immigration axis'. However, although Italy and Hungary agree that mass migration should stop completely, they disagree on how to deal with the migrants already in the EU. Italy wants them to be redistributed to other EU countries, but the Visegrád states are opposed to accepting any migrants.
Full address of the flat: Carrer de Gombau 12, 2-2, 08003, Barcelona
“2-2” means that it is flat number 2 on the 2nd floor.
The flat is located in El Born, one of the neighbourhoods in Barcelona’s Ciutat Vella. The OCC office is just a 5 minute walk away from the flat, at Carrer del Rec, 27.
Before arriving, make sure you inform someone from OCC about your time of arrival so that there is someone at the flat to welcome you. They can also meet you at the train or bus station and help to carry your bags.
You will receive your set of keys upon arrival (one key for the main entrance downstairs, and one key for the door that enters the flat).
When you move out of the flat:
return your set of keys
leave your room clean and tidy as you found it
clean your spot in the fridge
leave your cupboards empty (you can move anything left into the common cupboards)
let everyone know if you are leaving things behind so that they don’t get thrown away and can be used by other flatmates
IMPORTANT: As the apartment is very central and in the middle of other housing with some elderly people, we need to be very strict with keeping people in the building happy with our presence - that means that the rules below are very important to adhere correctly.
We had quite some severe issues with this in the past when we did not fully adhere to these rules and in the worst case, it could lead to eviction.
The whole apartment has to stay clean which is supposed to be done by all the residents
Do not play loud music or cause any other loud noise/sounds
Between 21:30 and 9:00 make sure to be extra quiet to not break general housing rules in Barcelona
The public spaces (including the rest of the building) should always be kept clean and tidy, and also there, noise should be prevented at all costs
It is not allowed to smoke/use drugs in or around the volunteer house - please go outside to not disturb neighbours with the smell
Make sure that we don't disturb neighbours in other ways (leaking water from the balcony, leaving stuff in the hallway, hanging in front of the building, etc.)
It is forbidden to take bikes or scooters in the elevator.
Parties and gatherings with non-residents are not allowed
If you have a guest/friend over longer than 1 night, please let the OCC Spain coordinator know through Slack or by email
People not living in the apartment are only welcome on invite-basis and if all residents feel comfortable with their presence - if this is not the case, call the coordinator immediately
Any issues in the house - dirtiness, feeling uncomfortable, unwanted guests, etc. - should be directly reported to the OCC Spain coordinator. You can also report anonymously if needed.
It is important to maintain good relations with Gabriela, the "portera", as well as the neighbours in the building.
Gabriela is in charge of security and cleaning the entrance hall during the weekdays, and also receives our mail and informs us about anything happening in the building. She generally works from Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 16:00. Don't hesitate to ask a Spanish speaker to help if you have any trouble communicating with her.
As mentioned above, we have had some issues at the flat in the past, which almost led to an eviction. In order to avoid any risk, it is important to stay on good terms with the neighbours in the building.
The flat has 4 bedrooms and can accomodate 6 people. There are 2 single bedrooms and 2 double bedrooms. Depending on how many volunteers are living there, the people in the 2 larger rooms might be sharing their rooms.
It is up to those living in the flat to determine who goes in which room, always being respectful and understanding of each other. If you have any problems with your bedroom, please discuss it with your flatmates, or with Vincent or your own manager if it is not resolvable.
The main items in the flat that are shared by everyone are kitchen essentials, cleaning products (sprays, bleach, disinfectant, etc.) and communal bathroom items (toilet roll and soap). Flatmates take it in turns to buy these things and they are not covered by OCC.
We also share washing detergent and take it in turn to do laundry. As there is only 1 washing machine and 1 clothes rack, we try not to wash our clothes too regularly so that everyone has time to clean and dry their clothes. We usually ask everyone before putting the machine on, to avoid laundry traffic jams. There is also a laundrette on our street.
Anything that is going to stay in the flat permanently is covered by OCC. This includes: furniture, lights, pots and pans, solid cleaning supplies (broom, mop, duster, etc.), bedding, games. If you are unsure about a specific item, you can ask Marcel, Joana or Vincent. Any products or traps to fight the cucarachas are also covered by OCC, so we should use the OCC cards when buying these items.
There is a rota for cleaning the flat’s common areas (the spaces that are shared by all the flatmates). The rota will change depending on how many people are living in the flat, but there are 3 areas that should be cleaned once per week: kitchen, bathroom, hallway and living room.
It is really important to separate our waste and empty the bins regularly.
We have 4 bins: organic, paper/cardboard, plastic and general waste.
There are containers just around the corner outside, so we don’t have to walk far to empty our rubbish.
Cockroaches love to hang out in wet and dirty places so we try to keep the whole area around the bins clean too.
Usually, one of the sets of keys to open the OCC office is kept at the volunteers flat.
This means that the flatmates can be asked to unlock or lock the office if someone else doesn’t have keys (MigraCode students, volunteers, employees, visitors, etc.). If you aren’t sure how to do it, another team member will help you!
Every Thursday, we receive a delivery of some fresh vegetables from outside Barcelona at the OCC office. One of the crates is for the OCC flat, the one for “Didac”. These are organic vegetables to be shared by all the flatmates.
So, every Thursday one person should pick up the box from the office and bring it back to the flat. The veggies should be put away in the fridge and the black boxes should be returned empty to the office as soon as possible.
There are flat meetings once per month with all the flatmates and the Coordinator of OCC or the office manager. These meetings are to check that everything is running smoothly in the flat and flag any problems.
The flatmates who have been in the flat for a while already are familiar with the flat and local area and can probably help in most circumstances.
Marta is in contact with the energy company and can help making phone calls in Spanish or Catalan if necessary.
Marta is the contact person for the estate agency that rents the flat, and can also be in direct contact with Didac for any issues related to the flat.
In order to respect the intimacy and healthy cohabitation of the volunteers residing in the flat, the following issues should be kept in mind and rules must be followed:
The flat is the responsibility of OCC and OCC has the right to take any decision regarding it.
OCC takes responsibility for the cost of rent and associated bills. If, due to misuse, bills are more expensive than normal, or if furniture is damaged, the residents must bear the additional costs. Also, if anyone wishes to bring new furniture into the house they must ask first.
People from outside of the team are not allowed to enter the flat. Exceptions can be made for special occasions (e.g. if former volunteers come to visit), but these must be approved by staff first.
Between 14:00 and 17:00 (quiet time in Polykastro) and after 23:00 there must be a calm atmosphere that permits all the residents and neighbors to rest.
Residents must facilitate a respectful relationship with the community of neighbors.
The flat must be kept in good hygienic conditions. Everyone is responsible for keeping their own bedroom clean and tidy. There is a rota for cleaning the flat’s common areas that will change depending on how many people are living in the flat.
Each resident gives 20 euros once per week (shopping day) to cover the cost of food and communal products (cleaning products, laundry detergent, toilet paper, etc).
Residents must not put toilet paper in the toilet; they must use the bin provided.
The boiler must be turned off when it’s not being use as it can overheat.
Drugs and narcotic substances cannot be consumed in the flat.
In order to maintain a comfortable shared living environment, there will be periodical meetings of the flat residents with one member of OCC staff. Attendance is mandatory.
Staff must be informed if the residents will not sleep in the flat.
Pets are not allowed in the house.
- return your set of keys;
- leave your room clean and tidy;
- let everyone know if you are leaving things behind so that they don’t get thrown away and can be used by other flatmates
Can legally live in Greece until the asylum service has made a final decision on their asylum case
Children can go to school
Free movement within greek territory
Access to primary healthcare
Access basic assistance from UNHCR and other organizations
Located in the mainland and offer temporary accommodation to asylum applicants, meeting residents’ essential material, social and educational needs:
Accommodation
Meal services
Counseling on rights and obligations
Medical services
Personal hygiene items
Psychological support services
Greek language classes
Training sessions
The purpose of the program is to provide good living conditions to applicants of international protection by offering housing and supportive services:
Accommodation within urban area
Meals
Information, counselling and support to beneficiaries with regards to processes that pertain to their rights and obligations
Psychological counseling
Translation and interpretation services
For accepted asylums so people who have a refugee status:
Accommodation support
Integration courses
Employability support
Sensitization of host community
Integration monitoring
The right to appeal within a specific deadline
Being given a new International Protection Applicant’ s card
Legal Support free of charge
Stay in Greece is no more legal
All forms of material assistance are discontinued
Running the risk of immediate arrest and detention in a pre-removal center
As you may know, we improvise a bit with holidays at OCC. The logic behind this is that we all work very hard, with high motivation and dedication, to support our target groups. We often make many hours and we don't just do this to get our salary at the end of the month, but rather to offer the best support possible as part of the ideals of OCC.
OFFICIAL NR. OF HOLIDAYS Please check your contract for your the official number of holidays you can take or contact your main manager or OCC's director for more details. If you are an ESC volunteer, you will have 2 holidays for each month that you work with us (according to Erasmus+ official rules).
In return for your dedication, we offer many flexibility with holidays. That means there are no specific limits, except if your ESC (then we stick to the above mentioned days, but with flexibility). You can make any request to your manager and we can see what's possible together. Together with your manager and colleagues, you can plan your holiday period, whether it's just a long weekend or a longer holiday period.
To officially request your holidays, please fill this form.
BANK HOLIDAYS
In theory we are always off on bank holidays. However, in case we have an event or there is another reason we need you to work on a bank holiday, we will always specifically request you to work by email or Slack.
In case of sickness, employees must notify the coordinator immediately.
The person who is sick should go to the doctor and bring a medical certificate. If the provision, by medical prescription, is to stay at home for a few days. It has to be kept in mind that, on the third day of sick leave, the person has to go to return to work or provide a sick leave certificate and send it to the coordinator. Without the certificate, he/she will be considered absent from work and will be penalized.
Likewise, when the person returns to work, the certificate must be brought and handed in to the coordinator.
Update your slack status and disable notifications
Set a proper out of office in Gmail with a backup person and the date you return
Inform your backup colleague about any urgent, pending issues/topics to take care off
Use the 'Out of Office' funcionality in Google Calendar to automatically block calendar invites and show others when you are away
Write a template message you can easily send to people contacting you on WhatsApp saying to drop you an email and save it to your notes in your phone
OUT OF OFFICE GMAIL TEMPLATE (please paste by using CTRL+SHIFT+V)
Thank you for your email.
I do not have access to my email/Slack until [Date+Time}. As soon as I am back I will reply to your message.
For urgent matters please contact [Name] for Open Cultural Center related questions at [name]@openculturalcenter.org.
Thank you.
Both in Spain and Greece, we organise recurring meetings, either on a (bi-)weekly or monthly basis to check-in with individual team members or to have team meetings with (a part of) the core teams. Below you can find a description of the various meetings we currently organise on a steady basis in Greece and in Spain.
Important: if for any reason you need to miss a meeting, communicate it in advance in a private message to the coordinator with a proper justification, at least one day in advance.
MEETING MINUTES INFORMATION
We have a rotating schedule on who makes the meeting minutes, which can be found here.
Before each weekly meeting, each team fills the template (which can be found here) that will be shared before the meeting with their talking points.
During the meeting, the person making notes focuses on writing down the action points for next week.
Important: afterwards, make sure to save the file in this Google Drive folder. Use DD-MM-YYYY for the filename.
If you have a personal issue, we can of course also schedule a separate meeting to discuss it.
Overall Team Meetings
Duration
1 to 2 hours
Frequency
Weekly
For who
All staff
All ESC Volunteers
Purpose
Discuss any important and relevant topics
Discuss which projects and events we are working on
Discuss any issues or challenges that we had or face
Discuss and share any important updates about OCC
Main Team Meetings
Duration
1 to 2 hours
Frequency
Monthly
For who
All Staff
Purpose
Discuss overall progress of OCC
Discuss objectives and targets
Discuss team dynamics
Discuss potential improvements
Discuss (potential) grants
Discuss and share OCC-wide/management updates
ESC/intern Progress Meetings
Duration
45 minutes to 1 hour
Frequency
Monthly
For who
Individual ESC volunteer, supervisor and (if available) local coordinator
Purpose
Discuss learning process
Discuss tasks and how they are going
Provide feedback (both directions)
Discuss any personal issues if required
Overall Team Meetings
Duration
1 to 2 hours
Frequency
Weekly
For who
All staff
All volunteers
Purpose
Discuss any important and relevant topics
Discuss which projects and events we are working on
Discuss any issues or challenges that we had or face
Discuss and share any important updates about OCC
Staff Meetings
Duration
1 to 2 hours
Frequency
Weekly, usually on Thursdays 10-12 am
For who
All staff
Purpose
Discuss overall progress of OCC
Discuss objectives and targets
Discuss team dynamics
Discuss potential improvements
Discuss (potential) grants
Discuss and share OCC-wide/management updates
Flat Meetings
Duration
1 hour
Frequency
Every second month, one meeting each apartment
For who
All staff
All the volunteers living in the apartment
Purpose
Discuss any important and relevant topics
Discuss potential improvements for a serene cohabitation
Discuss any issues or challenges between the flatmates
As an OCC volunteer, developing your abilities to deliver these things to our community will mean you also develop valuable skills and competences that you will carry forward into your career. We understand that you may not have had any experience teaching before. That's ok, we have seen volunteers without teaching experience grow into great teachers. What matters is that you want to learn. There are several key areas of learning for the volunteer English teacher at OCC:
1. Pedagogy - in other words, teaching methodology
2. Relationships - understanding the importance of the teacher/learner relationship
3. Resources - knowing how to access teaching materials and assets to support you
Pedagogy just means methods of teaching. As a teacher you will draw on your natural strengths and communication skills, but you will also need to be curious and open-minded to new techniques or approaches. One key pedagogical tool is the Lesson Plan.
Why is it important to plan your lesson carefully?
It allows you to control how much time you spend on different activities, and make sure you cover what you want to cover
It provides you with a written record of what you have done. This can be very useful when you can't remember what topics have been covered, or you're handing over to another teacher.
it allows you, as the teacher, to know what sequence of activities you will run in the class, and so ensure you go through some pedagogical steps, e.g. Present, Practice, Produce. Knowing what you are going to do, and being ready, also really helps inexperienced teachers to deal with being nervous!
What Goes Into Your Lesson Plan?
Read the blog post on the FluentU website, here.
Your learners will have probably experienced very traditional learning environments before arriving in Polykastro. They will probably be used to rather formal lessons with emphasis on learning grammar structures and memorising vocabulary. If this is what you are comfortable teaching, then that's ok, but we'd encourage you to explore alternatives.
Non-traditional teaching philosophies have gained traction in the teaching world in recent years, including the 'flipped classroom' and project-based learning. Learners in the OCC community are often very happy to be taught in more interactive and creative ways, and in our experience this results in a more enjoyable and productive learning experience.
One example is provided in the video opposite, where educator Roberto Guzman talks about how he moved away from a grammar/rule-based approach to teaching, and focused on helping his students learn through discussion and self-expression.
At OCC our work is centred on a basic principal of caring for our fellow human beings. That principal should drive all of our work. A lot of our work is around language teaching, and both research and the experience of our teachers indicates that the teacher-learner relationship is a key enabler of effective learning and positive outcomes. Read this blog post on the Importance of Teaching Through Relationships
Appreciate and accommodate the similarities and differences among the students' cultures
Effective teachers of culturally diverse students acknowledge both individual and cultural differences enthusiastically and identify these differences in a positive manner. This positive identification creates a basis for the development of effective communication and instructional strategies. Social skills such as respect and cross-cultural understanding can be modeled, taught, prompted, and reinforced by the teacher.
Build relationships with students
Interviews with African-American high school students who presented behavior challenges for staff revealed that they wanted their teachers to discover what their lives were like outside of school and that they wanted an opportunity to partake in the school's reward systems. Developing an understanding of students' lives also enables the teacher to increase the relevance of lessons and make examples more meaningful.
Focus on the ways students learn and observe students to identify their task orientations
Once students' orientations are known, the teacher can structure tasks to take them into account. For example, before some students can begin a task, they need time to prepare or attend to details. In this case, the teacher can allow time for students to prepare, provide them with advance organizers, and announce how much time will be given for preparation and when the task will begin. This is a positive way to honor their need for preparation, rituals, or customs.
Teach students to match their behaviors to the setting.
We all behave differently in different settings. For example, we behave more formally at official ceremonies. Teaching students the differences between their home, school, and community settings can help them switch to appropriate behavior for each context. For example, a teacher may talk about the differences between conversations with friends in the community and conversations with adults at school and discuss how each behavior is valued and useful in that setting. While some students adjust their behavior automatically, others must be taught and provided ample opportunities to practice. Involving families and the community can help students learn to adjust their behavior in each of the settings in which they interact.
Use a variety of instructional strategies and learning activities
Offering variety provides the students with opportunities to learn in ways that are responsive to their own communication styles, cognitive styles, and aptitudes. In addition, the variety helps them develop and strengthen other approaches to learning.
Consider students' cultures and language skills when developing learning objectives and instructional activities
Facilitate comparable learning opportunities for students with differing characteristics. For example, consider opportunities for students who differ in appearance, race, sex, disability, ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic status, or ability.
Incorporate objectives for affective and personal development
Provide increased opportunities for high and low achievers to boost their self-esteem, develop positive self-attributes, and enhance their strengths and talents. Such opportunities can enhance students' motivation to learn and achieve.
Communicate expectations
Let the students know the "classroom rules" about talking, verbal participation in lessons, and moving about the room. Tell them how long a task will take to complete or how long it will take to learn a skill or strategy, and when appropriate, give them information on their ability to master a certain skill or complete a task. For example, it may be necessary to encourage students who expect to achieve mastery but are struggling to do so. They may need to know that they have the ability to achieve mastery, but must work through the difficulty.
Provide rationales
Explain the benefits of learning a concept, skill, or task. Ask students to tell you the rationale for learning and explain how the concept or skill applies to their lives at school, home, and work.
Use advance and post organizers
At the beginning of lessons, give the students an overview and tell them the purpose or goal of the activity. If applicable, tell them the order that the lesson will follow and relate it to previous lessons. At the end of the lesson, summarize its main points.
Provide frequent reviews of the content learned
For example, check with the students to see if they remember the difference between simple and compound sentences. Provide a brief review of the previous lesson before continuing on to a new and related lesson.
Facilitate independence in thinking and action
There are many ways to facilitate students' independence. For example, when students begin their work without specific instruction from the teacher, they are displaying independence. When students ask questions, the teacher can encourage independence by responding in a way that lets the student know how to find the answer for him- or herself. When teachers ask students to evaluate their own work or progress, they are facilitating independence, and asking students to perform for the class (e.g., by reciting or role-playing) also promotes independence.
Promote student on-task behavior
Keeping students on task maintains a high level of intensity of instruction. By starting lessons promptly and minimizing transition time between lessons, teachers can help students stay on task. Shifting smoothly (no halts) and efficiently (no wasted effort) from one lesson to another and being business-like about housekeeping tasks such as handing out papers and setting up audiovisual equipment helps to maintain their attention. Keeping students actively involved in the lessons for example, by asking questions that require students to recall information also helps them to stay focused and increases the intensity of instruction.
Monitor students' academic progress during lessons and independent work.
Check with students during seatwork to see if they need assistance before they have to ask for help. Ask if they have any questions about what they are doing and if they understand what they are doing. Also make the students aware of the various situations in which a skill or strategy can be used as well as adaptations that will broaden its applicability to additional situations.
Provide frequent feedback.
Feedback at multiple levels is preferred. For example, acknowledging a correct response is a form of brief feedback, while prompting a student who has given an incorrect answer by providing clues or repeating or rephrasing the question is another level. The teacher may also give positive feedback by stating the appropriate aspects of a student's performance. Finally, the teacher may give positive corrective feedback by making students aware of specific aspects of their performance that need work, reviewing concepts and asking questions, making suggestions for improvement, and having the students correct their work.
Require mastery
Require students to master one task before going on to the next. When tasks are assigned, tell the students the criteria that define mastery and the different ways mastery can be obtained. When mastery is achieved on one aspect or portion of the task, give students corrective feedback to let them know what aspects they have mastered and what aspects still need more work. When the task is complete, let the students know that mastery was reached.
How To Use The OCC Teaching Resources
There are electronic resources that we keep in the Google Drive. The folder is called 'Team Teaching', and you can access it here.
Please do take some time to familiarise yourself with the resources before you arrive in Polykastro, as you will be very busy. OCC is a bustling and dynamic environment, and it's not easy to get time to yourself!
You probably won't need to use all the resources available. Instead, be aware of what is there so that you can pick and choose what to use at the right time. Do make sure you familiarise yourself with the OCC Behaviour Policy, as it is really important that this policy is applied consistently in OCC classrooms. Inconsistent application of the behaviour policy can create a lot of problems!
The resources include: behaviour policy, example lesson plans, lesson resources, syllabi, class lists.
External resources
The University of Kent's English Hub for Refugees contains a wide range of materials, conveniently arranged by topic, and specifically designed for refugee learners.
Bogglesworld is a website with crowd-sourced ESL activity sheets and lesson plans. Some of the activities are really fun!
Gateway Qualifications has published a set of activity ideas for teachers, here.
For resources on mental health, trauma and refugees, check the University of East London's Refugee Mental Health and Wellbeing Portal
As a response to the Covid situation, the Barcelona office of OCC has given more flexibility in terms of working from the office and working remotely. As this worked well, we have continued to offer much flexibility with this and below you can find more information about when you need to be in the office, and when and how much you can work remotely.
This page and information only applies to OCC Spain.
Whether you are working from home or from the office (more details below), it's important to let the team know that you are working and to keep track of your hours. For this, we use the tool 'Jibble' to clock in and out of work.
To start using it, create an account through the invitation link that will be send to you when you start working at OCC Spain. Once you have done that, you can Jibble in and out through:
Slack, by typing /Jibble in (or out) in any chat
Through https://app.jibble.io/ (top right button to check in/out)
Through the Jibble website, you can always see who's working, or by typing /Jibble all in Slack.
IMPORTANT: Make sure to also Jibble out by typing in Slack /Jibble out or from the browser.
Every week, on Tuesday from 10:00 to 16:00, we all work from the office, including ESC volunteers. We split up in different rooms to work Covid-safe and we aim to have the MigraCode team together and the rest of the OCC team in another room.
In case you are not able to come, or if you will be late or have to leave early, please always let the coordinator know in advance or with a proper justification afterwards.
Next to the co-working day, all full timers and ESC volunteers are expected to work from the office one other day in the week between Wednesday and Friday.
Besides the above obligated office hours, and any more hours you want to work at the office (in theory you can work always from the office if prefered of course), you can work remotely. There are no limits to this in terms of location, but if you leave Barcelona while working remotely, please let the coordinator know in advance.
We have a specific logic in our space usage to make sure everyone feels comfortable and can work properly in the office, especially because except of our office room, all the other spaces we work in are shared with the building managers.
The information about our main spaces below apply to office hours - in case you want to hold a meeting or work in our spaces outside office hours, it's more flexible and it simply depends on availability.
MAIN OFFICE SPACE: To work or to have a call (if no one else isn't having a call yet) - there are now 6 flexspots and 3 steady ones (Main Manager + Office Manager + Comms/Fundraising Manager). In general, we work in this space except for meetings.
HALLWAY: To prepare/consume food, or to have a meeting (either formal or informal), either with team members or a call. Food moments only during lunch time please - we want the hallway in general to be available for meetings as well.
DOWNSTAIRS: Reception, always 2 people present and if there is space, more people can sit and work there. However, always keep in mind this space is definitely not to be claimed by us in any way.
STUDY SPACE: Only to be used by students, except if there is a serious lack of space in our other spaces (keeping Covid in mind as well). No meetings if there are students present.
If you can, make calls in another space from the one where people are working. In any case, don't make calls if someone else is already calling, just do it from another space.
Hold meetings in the designated areas (downstairs or at the table in the hallway). If the meeting contains sensitive information, please plan it after 16:00 and then you can also use the office.
If you used a flexspot, please leave it clean and empty.
Don't use the power box below my desk - it's super unstable and if you touch it, it sometimes disconnects the internet.
In general, keep all spaces clean and tidy and leave them how you find them.
As an OCC volunteer, you will be working with a population of people that have high levels of trauma. This trauma will impact the behaviour of community members, learners, and yes also volunteers. Understanding trauma, how it manifests, and ways of working with trauma, will help you to make a positive contribution to the OCC family.
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that disproportionately affects refugee communities, who have often been traumatised by war, separation from home, family and their community, their journey, and stigmatisation for being 'a refugee'. You can read more and listen to a great podcast over from the University of Oxfords Dept of Psychiatry.
Early Childhood Development (ECD) is an important part of OCC's work. We partner with Refugee Trauma Initiative to provide trauma-informed ECD support to our community. You can learn more about ECD .
You can read about the ECD work that OCC do, as part of Refugee Trauma Initiative's 'Baytna' programme, and . For resources on mental health, trauma and refugees, check the University of East London's . You can learn more about the impact of trauma on childhood development .
Foxit Reader is a free PDF reader, but we also use it to easily sign PDF documents with a digital signature. Below the instructions where to download the tool, and how to insert your signature.
You can download Foxit Reader for Mac & Windows over here: https://www.foxit.com/pdf-reader/
First, you need a clear picture/image of your signature
Now you need to remove the paper background to make your signature have a transparent background (otherwise it will look really strange in the PDF). You can use this online tool.
Open Foxit Reader and the PDF document you need to sign
At the top bar, go to 'Fill & Sign'
Click on the double arrow down and click on 'Create signature'
Now click on 'Import file', and open the image of your signature
Once added, click on 'Save' and you will see your signature in the options to click
To apply your signature, select it, click where you want to put it, adjust the size if necessary and then save the document
If you have any questions, reach out to our IT Manager.
OCC works with the free nonprofit version of Google Workspace. Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) is a suite of web applications created by Google for organisations. Your OCC Google Workspace account will give you access to Gmail domain and 30GB of Google Drive storage. Through G Suite, you will also have access to a number of powerful Google applications: Calendar, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Forms, Sites, Meets, and Chats.
The technical administrator of OCC will create an account for you once you have filled this form to register as an OCC member. You will get an email to your personal email address to login. You can also login to your account by clicking here.
With 2-Step Verification (also known as two-factor authentication), you add an extra layer of security to your account in case your password is stolen. After you set up 2-Step Verification, you’ll sign in to your account in two steps using:
Something you know, like your password
Something you have, like your phone
If you forgot your password and you are not able to recover it, or if you have lost your phone or changed your phone number and are not able to use 2-step verification, you need to contact our technical administrator. He can reset your password and/or give you a 'backup code' to reset your 2-step verification to a new phone number.
In case you received a backup code from the system administrator, you need to follow the following steps to login again and renew your phone number:
First, login using the backup code:
Type in your OCC email address and click 'Next'
Fill in your password and click 'Next'
Now it will ask for the 2-step verification - click on 'Try another way'
You will get various options - click on 'Enter one of your 8-digit backup codes'
Fill in the backup code you received and click on 'Next'
You are now asked to fill a new password - please fill a new, strong password
Now, change your phone number:
Go to your Google Account Security settings over here
Click on the above option 'Voice or text message'
Click on 'Change phone' and follow the steps to replace the phone number
Make sure to disable the 'Created with HubSpot' button
Select 'Template 3' (the other ones don't display well on a mobile phone).
In the fields editing section, fill your personal details (up to you what to include and what not, but for sure your email and the OCC website).
In the 'Company name' field, please fill Open Cultural Center Spain or Open Cultural Center Greece. It's up to you to add your LinkedIn and/or Twitter profile (don't add Instagram or Facebook in any case. If you don't want to add your personal social profiles, please add those of OCC.
In the styling section, put #15D4BE as 'Theme colour'.
As font, select 'Verdena' and change size to 'Small'
In the 'CTA color' field, fill #15D4BE.
Log in to your Gmail account, then click the configuration wheel in the top right corner.
Click on 'View all settings" from the drop down menu.
Scroll down until you reach the email signature editor, then paste your new email signature there.
The only change you need to make is make 'Open Cultural Center Spain/Greece' bold
Scroll to the bottom of the page and click 'Save changes’.
The key to using work email in an organised and efficient way is to treat it as a to-do list to avoid accumulating hundreds of emails.
Basically, with that logic, your email inbox should only have emails that still require an action from your side. To do so and to keep your inbox clean and neat, in general, for each email that you have in your inbox, either:
Archive when you want to save the email if but when you don't need it anymore for now;
Delete when an email is Spam, not relevant or simply not useful;
Postpone after sending a reply and when you need a reply from the receiver so you can follow up in case they don't reply (if someone replies, Gmail is smart enough to remove the postpone option).
If an email is completely useless, DELETE it. However, the most important action is to archive emails.
If you are having an email conversation and you replied or are waiting for a reply, you can check the “Sent” folder.
UNSUBSCRIBE from unnecessary newsletters.
Use SLACK to reduce email workload, communicate through Slack channels.
Go to this online tool, Hubspot:
If you want to add a profile picture to your signature (reccomended for more personal communication), you need to upload a profile picture over . Then, once done, right click and click 'Obtain link', and copy the link and paste it in the 'Profile picture' field in Hobspot.
In the 'Company logo' field, fill this link:
If an email is not important or doesn’t require any action, it. You won’t lose the email, it will just go to another folder (“All”) and disappear from your inbox.
Another option is to emails until later after sending a reply, which is postponing them and temporarily removing them from your inbox until you want it to pop up again (you can select when).
Use with different colours. A folder will be created (e.g., “High priority”).
Use (Settings < All settings < Filters and blocked addresses). You can select categories to classify emails and where future emails under this category would go. Another option: “filter similar emails” when you receive one.
Use the to keep your inbox in view while reading and replying to emails (Settings < All settings < Inbox < Reading pane).
If you want to save an email that is specifically important, you can a message as well instead of labelling it
Connect to Gmail to easily convert an email to a Trello card
Connect to Gmail to easily forward an email to a Slack message
Useful Google Chrome plugin to check email easily:
Useful Google Chrome plugin to save and insert template emails:
Each payment, whether in a store, online or else, has to be registered through this form. Make sure to fill all details as accurate as possible and to do it before the end of the month of paying (ideally right after making the payment).
ALWAYS pay by card, with a card from OCC - so avoid cash payments or payments made with your personal card
ALWAYS ask for a receipt & a ticket/proof of payment and save the psychical copies correctly (also after registering the documents through the form)
ALWAYS write right after paying on the receipt:
the payment date
a short but clear description
which project the payment was done for
IF for a very specific reason you have to pay by cash, make sure that it's a 'round' amount that we can take exactly from an ATM so the receipt matches with the amount taken from the ATM.
NEVER pay alcohol with an OCC card and make sure it's also not on any receipt in OCC accounting. Pay it separately with your own card/money, please.
For many EU-sponsored transnational projects, we have employees and/or volunteers travelling to transnational meetings and training activities all over Spain, Greece and Europe. When you have one of these trips planned, it is highly important to properly manage the expenses made during this trip.
What is covered by OCC on these trips?
In general, all main meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) are covered
One coffee a day is covered
All travel costs are covered related to the activity (including field trips at the location for example)
Any additional costs made necessary for the trip
If the budget allows it, you can go to a restaurant or lunch place, but in general, try to save as much costs as possible by going to the supermarket and cook for yourselves and have at least breakfast at the apartment/hotel. Also, IF you go to a restaurant or something, don't go to a fancy place please and keep the budget per person under 25/30 euros.
If during a European project the hosting organisation proposes a bar/restaurant where we cannot pay by card, please push to change the place.
Go to www.gmail.com
Login with your @openculturalcenter.org account
On the top right, click on the wheel and then on settings
Scroll down to the ‘Signature’ part
Paste the signature and don’t forget to add your name, your role and your email address.
More info over here.
Main professional communication method
To use for setting up team workspaces for efficient and easy communication
Video conferencing, with recording options and many other options since we use it via G Suite
Video conferencing with many advanced possibilities, mainly used for MigraCode
You will always have a direct contact person when you work at Open Cultural Center, whether you are in Greece or in Spain. You can ask this person any work-related questions or doubts, but if you want, you can also share any personal issues you face. We believe that sharing is important, so don't hesitate to share any doubts/issues/conflicts or other challenges you face with team members or with us directly. We are happy to help you and create a safe working environment for any team member of OCC.
In any urgent, life threatening situations, always reach out directly to local emergency services:
SPAIN
For all emergency services, reach out to 112 from any phone.
GREECE
Emergency - 112
Ambulance - 166
Fire Department - 199
Police - 100
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have a specific issue with your supervisor, you can always reach out to the main focal points mentioned below. They are always open to discuss any kind of issue you have faced, and the shared information - unless there is a situation that may cause direct harm to people - is confidential.
If your issue is with one of the local focal points, you can reach out to the backup focal point or to a focal point of another OCC branch.
Coordinator: Alexandros Saridis
Slack: @Alexandros Saridis
Email: alexandros@openculturalcenter.org
Backup / Designated Safeguarding Lead: Judith Ballestín
Slack: @Judith Ballestin
Email: judith@openculturalcenter.org
Coordinator / Designated Safeguarding Lead: Vincent van Grondelle
Slack: @Vincent van Grondelle
Email: vincent@openculturalcenter.org
Backup: Marta Hormaecha
Slack: @Marta Hormaechea
Email: marta@openculturalcenter.org
In case you face an issue about which you prefer to talk to a woman who is specialized in gender issues and questions, you can reach out to our Gender Safeguarding Lead directly, Marta Hormaechea (marta@openculturalcenter.org).
Main contact person: Marta Hormaechea
Slack: @Marta Hormaechea
Email: marta@openculturalcenter.org
Main contact person: Emma Santanach
Slack: @Emma Santanach
Email: emma@openculturalcenter.org
Main contact person: Irene Viti
Slack: @Irene Viti
Email: irene@openculturalcenter.org
Main contact person: Vincent van Grondelle
Slack: @Vincent van Grondelle
Email: vincent@openculturalcenter.org
Are you an intern? an ESC volunteer? a full-time employee? Find out about the different roles at OCC.
Every year OCC hosts ESC volunteers in Barcelona and Polykastro. They are key members of the teams delivering our programme of activities and work on many different projects depending on their skills and interests.
The European Solidarity Corps is an EU initiative that connects young people with solidarity projects by organizations whose everyday work benefits local communities. Find out more about ESC volunteering here.
OCC has welcomed many interns over the years. Interns are usually university students who join the team to gain work experience. They work closely with everyone else and sometimes specialise in a specific area that is linked to their studies. Internships at OCC are a minimum of 6 months long.
OCC has a growing community of volunteers that includes former employees and ESC volunteers, teachers and assistants, lawyers and social educators, and anyone who wants to be involved with our projects. Volunteers can join us for a one-off event, or teach for a few months, or be a long-term team member.
Most of the OCC team are volunteers, but there are also part-time and full-time employees in Greece and Spain. They are in charge of managing the organisation, the volunteers and all the different projects. Most of them are former volunteers who decided to stick around!
Whatever your role is at OCC, you are a valued team member!
Open Cultural Center was first established in 2016 at Idomeni refugee camp in Northern Greece. When that camp closed, OCC moved to Cherso and Sounio. Finally we relocated to Polykastro, where OCC Greece is located today, near Nea Kavala refugee camp. Many people migrating to Europe from Asian, Middle Eastern and African countries enter the Schengen Area through Greece, which is on the Eastern Mediterranean route. Since January 2021, the highest numbers of migrants arriving in Greece originated from Syria, Turkey, Afghanistan, Congo and Nigeria.
The OCC Greece team is made up of full-time employees and many volunteers. There are non-resident volunteers and resident volunteers (refugees / asylum seekers) and decisions are made together. We have a weekly meeting on Saturdays to review the week and plan the following week.
At OCC Greece we offer a wide range of educational and cultural activities to refugees and migrants of all ages and backgrounds. Some of the main support we provide includes a bus service, language classes for children and adults and a Women's Space.
OCC has 4 rented spaces in Polykastro, all located on the street below the non-resident volunteer house: the Madrassa (classrooms), Bike Space, Cafeteria and Kindergarten.
OCC’s activities run from Monday to Friday, in the morning and in the afternoon. We run adult classes, children’s classes, kindergarten and other activities, as well as having the cafeteria open for all as a safe space and relaxing environment for the community. The timings of these activities are subject to change, but you will be given a weekly schedule when you are there, so it is clear when and where you should be every day.
All spaces need to be safe for everybody. Please ensure there is no shouting or fighting and a calm, child-friendly atmosphere is maintained. Make a special effort to welcome women and invite them in for coffee/tea.
All users of OCC are expected to be polite and respectful to ensure we are a safe and welcoming space for all members of the refugee community, as well as to maintain positive relationships with the local Greek community. There should be no bad language or violence.
Although Nea Kavala is an open camp, with the refugees being able to leave for short periods of time without losing their registration, mobility is limited due to the lack of public transport or footpaths between the camp and Polykastro. The supermarket is close by, but access to further services is very difficult, making it difficult for residents to gain independence and integrate in Greece.
OCC provides a bus service and a bike rental service.
The photos below give an insight into life at Nea Kavala refugee camp. They were taken by Carlos Gutiérrez as part of his project MyView, which he started when he was a volunteer at OCC Greece. Carlos won a prize for this project, you can read about it here, and watch his TedTalk here (both in Spanish).
Whether you are working at OCC Greece or Spain, you should always report any (potential) safeguarding concern that happened while working and that made you feel uncomfortable, unsafe or that affected you mentally and/or physically. It can also be an issue that affected someone else or a group of people, whether it included you or not, and can be about team members and/or the people we work with (beneficiaries of OCC).
Below you can find some scenarios in which it would be good to report what you have experienced, or what you saw/observed what others experienced:
You felt unsafe or threatened, or you felt someone acted inappropriate to you
You saw others feeling unsafe or threatened
You observed dangerous or threatening behaviour from others
You noticed incorrect/inappropriate behaviour from others
You heard about concerning situations and you are not sure what to do with that information
You have reported an issue before but you feel it has not been handled correctly
IMPORTANT INFORMATION BEFORE FURTHER READING
Note 1: It is completely up to you to submit safeguarding issues by name or anonymously. Read further below how to do it in the way you feel most comfortable and safe.
Note 2: If you face an emergency situation right now, skip all the text and reach out to your local vocal point right away or reach out to local emergency services (see Main Contacts in the menu on the left).
Note 3: You may doubt to report a concern because you have doubts about confidentiality, but keep in mind that the committee respects privacy and keeps all matters discussed confidential. However, keep in mind, a safeguarding concern could mean that there is (potential) harm or danger involved to others, and we therefore have a responsibility to sometimes choose safety and acting on safeguarding concerns over breaking or not breaking confidentiality. If you doubt how to deal with this, we recommend to speak to one of the Safeguarding Leads for advice.
There are two ways to report a safeguarding concern that you have experienced or observed. For both methods, there are ways to either do it by name or anonymously - this is completely up to you.
If you feel comfortable to do so, you can report any issue and/or discuss them directly with your local coordinator (also called 'Focal point'). They will be able to help you and give you advice, and/or take required action.
They will always discuss the reported issue within our Safeguarding Committee to see what's the best way to handle the issue. They can either do this by mentioning you OR without doing so - it's always your choice if you want to be further involved in how we handle the issue. In other words, even if you report a safeguarding issue in-person, it can still be processed anonymously.
GENDER SAFEGUARDING: If you would prefer your issue to be handled directly by a female staff member of OCC due to the nature of the issue you face, you can reach out directly to Marta Hormaechea (marta@openculturalcenter.org or on Slack @Marta Hormaechea).
If you prefer to report the safeguarding issue you experienced or observed online, you can fill this form to report any issue that has occured to you or to anyone else around you within OCC. Make sure to write a clear description of the issue so the Safeguarding Committee can handle it correctly.
The form can only be seen by the OCC Safeguarding Committee. Also here, it's completely up to you to report the issue with your name or anonymously - the first question in the form is related to this.
SOME TIPS WHEN YOU DESCRIBE THE ISSUE
If possible/applicable,
include who was involved (you can mention names - the report is processed confidently)
include where the issue happened
include how you were involved
include why you think this was a (potential) harmful/dangerous situation
Whether an issue is reported by name or anonymously, when we receive a reported safeguarding issue, it will be discussed by the OCC Safeguarding Committee - they are also the only individuals who will see the content of the issue that is reported.
The OCC Safeguarding Committee has been compiled by four professionals who know OCC well and have safeguarding-related knowledge and experience. They meet on a monthly basis to address any safeguarding issues, or meet more regularly in case of high-urgent issues.
At the moment, the Safeguarding Committee is compiled of:
Didac Guillamet (OCC General Director)
Jalal Afhim (Previous coordinator OCC Greece)
Marta Hormaechea (Communications Manager)
Irene Viti (Project Manager)
Vincent van Grondelle (OCC Spain Coordinator)
Maria Serra (Project Manager
The committee will address the severity of the issue, discuss the best steps to handle it, take any necessary action and close the issue once everyone who is involved feels safe and heard.
If you reported a safeguarding issue with your name (so not anonymously), a committee member may reach out to you to ask more details or offer support to you. If this happens, it's still always up to you to what extent you want to be involved in the handling of the issue.
The only exception to not keeping the issue within the Safeguarding Committee is if there is a danger of direct harm to anyone involved - in that case we may take direct action to prevent any harm or abuse. In that scenario, we may also reach out to local emergency services.
✔ Recruitment adverts or application details shall state that the recruitment is carried out in line with safe recruitment practices.
✔ Clear job and roles descriptions with clear reference to safeguarding responsibilities as well as clear specifications of roles containing core, competency concerning child protection.
✔ Shortlisting through formal application process, that shall be based on criteria set in accordance with the job/role’s specifications, required qualifications and principles of Safeguarding Policy.
✔ Interviews are conducted according to equal opportunity principles and interview questions are based on the relevant job description and person specification.
✔ References should be provided either from the current or most recent employer or academic referee. Open references (e.g. candidate providing a written reference) are not sufficient.
✔ A written and official declaration shall be provided declaring that they have no criminal records regarding an offence towards a child and do not know of any reason why anyone would deem them unsuitable to work with children. In certain cases criminal record documents may be required by the candidate and Criminal Bureau Records checks will be conducted for specific roles for all staff (paid or unpaid) working with children and vulnerable youth. ✔ Formal job offers are made after checks for suitability in line with this Policy and in conjunction with job’s specifications. Therefore any document concerning health, education and generally any necessary information may be requested, provided that it is absolutely necessary for the certain purpose, its use will be strictly limited within this purpose and it is in line with the privacy and data protection legislative principles.
Check out the summary of our children's safeguarding policy in this slideshow over here.
In Polykastro, OCC works in collaboration with Greek schools supporting the Ministry of Education in all the procedures of enrolling the children, as well as during the development of their experience in the educational centres. OCC also acts as a bridge between schools and refugee families while providing the centres with translators and transportation when needed.
Open Cultural Center is committed to conducting its programs and operations in a manner that is safe for all children. All OCC representatives are explicitly prohibited from engaging in any activity that may result in harm to the child. It is OCC's obligation to create and proactively maintain a safe environment that aims to prevent and deter any action or omission that could place children at risk of any kind of abuse.
For this reason, we have policies and systems in place to prevent abuse and harm and to safeguard the children we work with. These measures also protect volunteers and visitors from actions that could be misconstrued and lead to false or malicious accusations.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, an independent expert for the UN study on violence against children, acknowledged the importance of a Children Safeguarding Policy, stating: “It offers an excellent opportunity not only for the improvement of the quality and professionalism of those working with children, but most importantly, it will help to achieve a greater impact for children”.
Child safeguarding is the responsibility that organisations have to make sure their staff, operations, and programmes do no harm to children, that is that they do not expose children to the risk of harm and abuse, and that any concerns the organisation has about children’s safety within the communities in which they work, are reported to the appropriate authorities.
“Do no harm” is a principle that has been used in the humanitarian sector but can equally be applied to the development field. It refers to organisations’ responsibility to minimise the harm they may be doing inadvertently through their organisational activities.
This includes both having preventative procedures in place to minimise the chances of an incident occurring and responsive systems to respond if an incident occurs.
Acknowledging risks and implementing measures to address them is fundamental to organisations’ strategies and governance. The more this is recognised, the more risks can be prevented.
Abuse arising within the community may not be due to our organisation’s programmes or operations. However, OCC recognises that it still has the responsibility to report on suspected or actual child abuse taking place. This should be reported to the formal authorities or, where they are weak or corrupt, organisations that are able to deal with cases appropriately. The reporting process will need to be decided at a local level and advice and guidance must be sought to ensure that children and their families are not put at further risk, or made vulnerable by the very action of reporting harm and/or abuse.
At the 9th European Forum on the rights of the child, the European Commission suggested the following 10 Principles for integrated child protection systems.
Every child is recognised, respected and protected as a rights holder, with non negotiable rights to protection.
No child is discriminated against.
Child protection systems include prevention measures.
Families are supported in their role as primary caregivers.
Society is aware and supportive of the child's right to freedom from all forms of violence.
Child protection systems ensure adequate care, including:
standards, indicators and systems of monitoring and evaluation
child safeguarding policies and reporting mechanisms for organisations working with children
certification and training for all professionals working for and with children.
Child protection systems have transnational and cross-border mechanisms in place.
No child should be without the support and protection of a legal guardian or other responsible adult or competent public body at any time.
Training on identification of risks is given to teachers, health sector professionals, and social workers.
Safe, well-publicised, confidential and accessible reporting mechanisms are in place.
All children, wherever they live and whatever their circumstances, have the right to be protected, nurtured and free from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect, maltreatment and exploitation as set out in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Respecting and supporting this right is the essence of child safeguarding.
Every organisation whose employees, partners or volunteers engage directly or indirectly with children has a legal and moral duty of care to do all it can to protect children from harm.
All Open Cultural Center Representatives need to conduct themselves in a manner consistent with this commitment and obligation. Any violations of this policy will be treated as a serious issue and will result in disciplinary action being taken, including termination or any other available legal remedy.
We would like you to enjoy your volunteer work/visit and at the same time help us to keep children safe by introducing to you the key elements of our policy that affect you as a volunteer or visitor. If you have any questions, you should contact and refer to the focal point, the OCC coordinator.
It is difficult to define “harm” to children because children can be abused in so many ways depending on the context and culture. They may be abused in a family, an institution, community or faith setting, or via social media/internet.
The following definitions can be used as a guide:
1. Physical abuse: actual or potential physical harm perpetrated by another person, adult or child. It may involve hitting, shaking, poisoning, drowning and burning. Physical harm may also happen when a parent or caregiver fabricates the symptoms of, or deliberately induces illness in a child.
2. Sexual abuse: forcing or enticing a child to take part in sexual activities that they do not fully understand and have little choice in consenting to. This may include, but is not limited to, rape, oral sex, penetration, or non-penetrative acts such as masturbation, kissing, rubbing and touching. It may also include involving children in looking at, or producing sexual images, watching sexual activities and encouraging children to behave in sexually inappropriate ways.
3. Child sexual exploitation: a form of sexual abuse that involves children being engaged in any sexual activity in exchange for money, gifts, food, accommodation, affection, status, or anything else that they or their family needs. It usually involves a child being manipulated or coerced, which may involve befriending children, gaining their trust, and subjecting them to drugs and alcohol. The abusive relationship between victim and perpetrator involves an imbalance of power where the victim’s options are limited. It is a form of abuse that can be misunderstood by children and adults as consensual.
4. Child sexual exploitation manifests in different ways. It can involve an older perpetrator exercising financial, emotional or physical control over a young person. It can involve peers manipulating or forcing victims into sexual activity, sometimes within gangs and in gang-affected neighbourhoods. It may also involve opportunistic or organised networks of perpetrators who profit financially from trafficking young victims between different locations to engage in sexual activity with multiple men.
5. Neglect and negligent treatment: allowing for context, resources and circumstances, neglect and negligent treatment refers to a persistent failure to meet a child’s basic physical and/or psychological needs, which is likely to result in serious impairment of a child’s healthy physical, spiritual, moral and mental development. It includes the failure to properly supervise and protect children from harm and provide for nutrition, shelter and safe living/working conditions. It may also involve maternal neglect during pregnancy because of drug or alcohol misuse and the neglect and ill treatment of a disabled child.
6. Emotional abuse: persistent emotional maltreatment that impacts on a child’s emotional development. Emotionally abusive acts include restriction of movement, degrading, humiliating, bullying (including cyber bullying), and threatening, scaring, discriminating, ridiculing or other non-physical forms of hostile or rejecting treatment.
7. Commercial exploitation: exploiting a child in work or other activities for the benefit of others and to the detriment of the child’s physical or mental health, education, moral or social-emotional development. It includes, but is not limited to, child labour.
Estimated and ranked as follows:
H: High Risk & Probability
M. Medium Risk & Probability
L: Low Risk & Probability
Parents that in order to participate in OCC activities neglect/leave their children alone at home.
A sponsor/volunteer/visitor has been reported for/questioned by police about possessing abusive images of children.
A male member of the local staff asks for a few days off to get married. Afterwards, it becomes clear that the bride is 14 years old.
Your organisation is participating in a conference on child rights and is bringing a group of children you are working with to the conference. Volunteers, acting as chaperones, accompany the children while they are away from home. After the conference an anonymous report reaches the organisation that one of the volunteers abused a child during the conference.
Your organisation produced a publication for supporters, which featured a photo and story about a girl and her family who were having difficulties in their village. The girl and family had given permission for the story to be published. The week following publication project staff tell you that community leaders, who saw the publication online, were angry and have driven the girl and her family out of the community.
Children report to the facilitator that someone has been missing school repeatedly and has not been around the neighbourhood, and asks the facilitator to keep it a secret.
Public Prosecutor of Kilkis
Tel: +30 2341 026078
E-mail: eisageliakilkis@yahoo.gr
Most children who experience abuse do not ask for help, and children’s disclosures must always be taken seriously. Most importantly, the volunteer/employee should immediately contact emergency services if the child is in immediate danger, report it to the child safeguarding focal point (coordinator) for follow up if the child is not in immediate danger.
If a child speaks with a member of the team (teacher, facilitator, volunteer, etc.) about a ‘secret’ or discloses information that suggests they are at risk or have been abused, it is important that this person:
Remain calm and does not show shock or disbelief.
Listen carefully to child’s concern and offer comfort statements, particularly when a child discloses sexual abuse, for instance, “I’m sorry this happened to you”, “It’s not your fault.”
Reassure the child or young person that they have done the right thing in telling someone.
Write down what they have said.
Explain what they are going to do (depending on the child’s age, this would include asking what type of help is wanted, and whom the child feels comfortable having involved).
Tell the child that they cannot keep a secret that could cause harm, but the information will only be shared in order to keep them safe.
Stay passive and assume someone else will do something.
Promise not to tell anyone else.
Ask the child leading questions, such as "did your mum/dad do that to you?"
Discuss the concerns with the suspected abuser if it will put the child at further risk.
Attempt to investigate any allegation of abuse: Your role is to recognise signs of possible maltreatment and/or simply to receive a child’s story.
Express disbelief in what the child is saying.
Seem to tell the child off (“Why didn't you tell me before?”)
Panic asking what type of help is preferred and whom the child feels comfortable having involved.
All staff, volunteers and visitors are required to sign and abide by the Code of Conduct as a condition of their involvement with OCC. This sets out specific expectations of acceptable and unacceptable behaviour.
Breaching the Code of Conduct (CoC) or contravening the Child Safeguarding Policy may lead to suspension and termination of any type of engagement. This will be determined on a case-by-case basis, ensuring that applicable employment conditions and legislation are observed and after a thorough consideration of the facts, OCC’s coordinator(s) will decide the appropriate actions that need to be taken.
Specifically relating to children, volunteers should not:
Do things for children of a personal nature that they can do for themselves.
Condone, or participate in, behaviour of children which is illegal, unsafe or abusive.
Act in ways intended to shame, humiliate, belittle or degrade children, or otherwise perpetrate any form of emotional abuse.
Discriminate against, show differential treatment of, or favor particular children to the exclusion of others.
Spend excessive time alone with children away from others.
Use children as interpreters in processes and responsibilities (such as interviews, appointments, and so on).
OCC recognises the importance to minimise the risk of inappropriate use of information, stories and visual images (photographs, video or social media) of children.
This section considers the actions that need to be taken to ensure that safeguarding is included in media activities. The organisation’s staff, volunteers and the Communications Team, which is in charge of organising and updating the newsletter and the social media accounts, must ensure that they abide by the following ethical rules:
Images of children must not show them in inappropriate poses.
Do not take or publish photos of children who are completely naked or dressed inappropriately. Images of children that are exploitative or offensive must not be used.
Always respect the children’s dignity. Do not represent them as victims (weak, desperate etc.). Images should present children in a positive way. Similarly, stories about children should aim to report not only the negative aspects of children’s lives, but also their strengths rather than sensationalising the child’s experience.
Taking pictures or videos exclusively for professional use. Unofficial photographs must not be posted or uploaded on personal pages.
Details attached to images and included in stories must not allow that child to be traced to their home, community and environment.
Distinctive buildings, street signs or landmarks should not be included in an image if they identify where a child lives or works.
Only use photos available for public use (verified and validated by an official country representative and the person in charge of visual communication).
Geotagging of images must be disabled when taking photographs.
Ensure the photographer/journalist/translator has been properly vetted and reference checked.
Make sure you have been given permission by children and their parents/carers/guardians to take their image and use their information.
While no recruitment processes can ever be 100% safe, by having stringent recruitment processes in place, the likelihood of engaging someone who is not suitable to work with children can be significantly reduced.
Safer recruitment procedures act like a safety net that in combination provide a level of assurance that proper attempts have been made to ensure that recruitment processes identify those who may pose a risk. No one check is sufficient.
Open Cultural Center ensures the safest recruitment possible through a carefully considered process that is described thoroughly in Appendix 2.
This Children Safeguarding Policy applies to all those working with or on behalf of OCC. By agreeing to work with/for the organisation, it is implied that the terms and conditions of the Safeguarding Policy have been accepted as a condition of involvement.
Everyone has a responsibility for ensuring that the Child Safeguarding Policy is implemented as set out in the policy and procedures outline in this document and as may be adapted to suit local conditions.
The content of this policy is based on the safeguarded principles concerning children and youth rights and protections; the relevant templates, guidance, guidelines, policy principles and provisions that are proposed and/or adopted by other relevant institutions in child and youth protection field have been taken into account and they have been directly/precisely or indirectly included in this Policy.
There are numerous resources available, in addition to those contained in the appendices, to support organizations in implementing the Child Safeguarding Policy, according to the country of operation and the specific needs.
The following resources has been studied and used as guidelines for OCC’s Child Safeguarding Policy:
1. Child Safeguarding Standards and How to Implement Them (2014) by Keeping Children Safe.
2. Child Safeguarding Policy (2015) by Terre des hommes.
3. Signs and Symptoms of Abuse (2019) by Terre des hommes. 4. Types of Abuse (2019) by Terre des hommes.
5. Response Guide (2019) by Terre des hommes.
6. 9th European Forum on the rights of the child; Coordination and cooperation in integrated child protection systems (2015) by the European Commission.
7. Child safeguarding toolkit for business (2018) by UNICEF
8. Children Safeguarding Policy by Refugee Trauma Initiative (RTI). 9. OCC Code of Conduct (2019) by Open Cultural Center
Benjamin Brewer, Didac Guillamet, Elpida Giorgi, Jalal Afhim, Maria Serra Martìnez
Carlos Gutierrez Herrero (original document), Vincent van Grondelle (new Gitbook version)
1st Version – Brochure in English
Where
Areas of indoor
activities at OCC's premises (Madrassa, Kindergarten
Cafeteria, Bike Space)
Areas of outdoor
activities and/or
trips/excursions (Parks, Square, Football Field - any possible
location/no
restrictions)
Locations not
specified -
anywhere that
members are in
contact with
children, including social media.
Risk Significance
H
H
M
When
Before / During /After the activity
Before / During /After any activity
Anytime during the stay at OCC
Risk Significance
H
H
M
How
cf. APPENDIX A.
cf. APPENDIX A.
cf. APPENDIX A.
Risk Significance
H
H
M
In the end, Safeguarding also simply means taking care of ourselves and the other people active in OCC. In other words, in our daily work, we need to combine the Safeguarding Policies with the rules from the Code of Conduct, while also thinking about our own well-being. To do so, we have set-up some basic guidelines - OCCares - to make sure that we do not burn-out, not get overworked and feel good during our working time at OCC.
As already mentioned in our Code of Conduct, breaks are a required part of your daily work. But it's always important to keep in mind that depending on your workload and tasks, some may one day need a longer break than others, and we always try to be flexible with this. If you need a longer break or lunch, ask your supervisor and talk about your needs.
We tend to overwork, and even skip our holidays in the nonprofit sector. However, at OCC, we do our best to prevent this and encourage everyone to take their (legally required) holidays every year. This is why we also have regular meetings with the teams, to check holiday usage and this is also why we now have specific holiday guidelines in this handbook. In other words: plan your holidays well! In good consultation, we are always quite flexible when you want to take your holidays.
Without getting also constructive feedback, we won't improve. So never hesitate to provide feedback to colleagues, but also to OCC management. We are not perfect, and we constantly want to improve. If you are afraid to give someone that is managing you feedback, team-up with a colleague and give the feedback together. Read this page to get some insights how you can give adequate and effective feedback.
Make sure to take good care of yourself. Of course, we won't interfere with your personal life, but in order to feel also good at work, we give some recommendations:
Eat healthy (some tips here)
Talk about your feelings (why here)
Do some sports now and then (the effect of sports here)
Sleep well (at least 7 hours a night, why here)
You can always ask advice from your team about any tips and support for taking care of yourself. We are of course not psychologists or coaches, but we are happy to help where we can and give you some personal advice.
And maybe most importantly: when you are NOT working, make sure to disconnect properly from your work. That means:
Mute Slack
Mute any OCC WhatsApp groups
Mute your email notifications
Inform colleagues you're off so they won't contact you for work topics
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased people's insecurity. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the year 2020 saw 111,000 travel restrictions and border closures worldwide (data from December 2020). According to the IOM, these measures "have undermined the ability of many people to pursue migration as a tool to escape conflict, economic collapse, environmental disaster and other crises" By mid-July, nearly three million people were blocked, sometimes without access to the basic needs. Border closures have also prevented displaced people from seeking refuge. With the possibilities for migrants to move severely restricted, in the first half of 2020, it was observed that asylum applications fell by a third, compared to the same period the previous year. The closure of borders has also deteriorated the (poor) quality of life of people living in camps such as Lesvos in Greece or Calais in France. Refugees are also more exposed than ever to health risks, as access to essential hygiene resources and protective equipment is limited. Refugees are also more exposed than usual to health risks, as access to essential hygiene resources and protective equipment is limited.
In theory, people who ask for international protection in Spain have the right to join a care programme once their application has been accepted for processing. However, this is often assigned late and runs out long before the completion of the application process, which can drag on for three years.
For the first arrival, the Spanish government has outsourced reception management to larger NGOs working in the field of asylum, which provide asylum seekers with a place to live and upkeep for six months, and a maximum of nine in the most vulnerable cases. However, as the process of requesting asylum is often much longer, and the NGOs often do not have enough capacity, many people are left to fend for themselves and depend on support of other NGOs or family, if any.
At the same time, more than 60% of the requests for asylum are denied (2020), leaving people unsupported and often on the street, or dependent on small, local NGOs. Moreover, these small NGOs are often also overloaded with support requests, and can often only support people with very basic needs (so no upskilling training etc.).
In these NGOs, people have access to:
Accommodation and temporary maintenance.
Information and advice on new situation.
Guidance for their incorporation into the educational, health and social system.
Psychological attention.
Specialized social care and management of complementary financial aid.
Development of courses for learning the language and basic social skills.
Guidance and intermediation for professional training and job placement.
Occupational and leisure activities and free time.
Awareness-raising and dissemination activities of the CAR's actions aimed at the host society.
After a year we have learned Spanish, I have done a masseur course and my sister in hairdressing, but to this day we are still without work, which is the biggest obstacle when you have to start a new life without the protection of the reception center . I have a work permit, yes, because they grant it to you six months after applying for international protection. But there is no work. If a qualified Spanish, with perfect Castilian and with contacts does not have, how am I going to find? It is very difficult. I'm looking in stores, in restaurants ... I don't care about the type of work, if it's hard, if it's easy ... I can work whatever it is, but there is nothing.
Migrant who left the reception center
A denial of the asylum application means that the Spanish state does not recognise the person’s need to receive international protection. Denial of asylum involves notification of a compulsory order to leave Spanish territory within 15 days, deportation, or transfer to another country responsible for examining the application under the Dublin Convention.
The information below is specifically written for OCC Greece. However, most of the information and rules apply the same for OCC Spain. Soon we will update this section to match the current situation in Catalunya as well.
As we are in frequent contact with people on the move or with the population in refugee camps, everybody of us must be trying their best to avoid spreading COVID-19 to these populations and among ourselves.
International organisations dealing with vulnerable populations are called to implement robust preventive activities to mitigate the epidemic risk. Please read this policy carefully and implement it immediately. Repeated failure of complying with this policy will lead to you having to leave the project. If you have any questions or doubts about any part of this policy, please contact the coordinator.
The COVID-19 situation in Greece, as everywhere else in the world, is extremely unstable and unpredictable. This requires a constant evaluation of the circumstances. Information, official procedures, rules, restrictions, and correct way of actions should be always deducted from official resources. The present protocol should also be frequently updated – all those measures that might easily change are highlighted.
Official information regarding COVID-19 restrictions and measures in the country are available here:
https://covid19.gov.gr/ https://covid19.gov.gr/covid-map
The National Public Health Organization (EODY) is reachable for Covid related inquiries 24/7 by calling 1135. Official information concerning health and the Greek health system is accessible in the following link:
https://eody.gov.gr/en/covid-19/
Please try to minimise the risk of getting infected before joining the team, especially if you are travelling from a high-risk area:
● Wear a mask in public indoor places.
● Avoid crowds.
● Avoid shaking hands and giving hugs.
● Avoid touching your face with your hands.
● Follow social distancing rules.
New volunteers, fully-vaccinated or with a recovery certificate, will be able to join OCC without getting tested. New volunteers that are not vaccinated are required to get tested upon arrival. The test will be arranged by OCC, ideally on the day of the new volunteer’s arrival. OCC will pay the price of the first test. Considering the new COVID-19 regulations, volunteers without a certificate of vaccination or of recovery, will have to get a rapid test once a week to be allowed inside OCC’s spaces. The first test will be covered by OCC, while the following ones will be paid by the volunteer.
Some regulations tackle specific limits on the number of beneficiaries allowed per square meter, while others generally advise that the number of beneficiaries (and volunteers) in the working area should be limited, so that individuals can remain at least 1.5 meters apart. High-level research demonstrates that the transmission of viruses is lower with the physical distance of 1.5 m, compared with a distance of less than 1 m. Thus, this is the threshold adopted by OCC.
If you have any symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough or difficulties breathing) stay at home – if possible, in your room – and inform the coordinator. Avoid meeting with other people and do not stay in any of OCC’s spaces if you present one of the symptoms mentioned above.
If one of our beneficiaries has symptoms of COVID-19 (fever, cough or difficulties breathing) two different scenarios apply:
If they are an adult, the teacher should request the beneficiary to go home immediately and to do a self test. If the test is negative, the beneficiary can resume classes once they feel better and upon an additional negative test result. If the test results are positive, the whole class and the teacher should be quarantined. The same procedure specified below applies in this scenario, from the question “Is there a high probability you may have contracted the virus in the past days?”
If they are a minor, the teacher will call the family to ask to pick the child up if they are from Polykastro. Otherwise, if from Axioupoli, the child has to remain in class until the end of the activity. During the class, the symptomatic child should be separated from the other children as much as possible. At the end of the class, the teacher/interpreter should call the family to inform them about the symptoms and ask the family to keep the child at home until they feel better. Negative tests must be provided before they resume classes. If the test results are positive, the whole class and the teacher should be quarantined. The same procedure specified below applies in this scenario, from the question “Is there a high probability you may have contracted the virus in the past days?”
In some cases maintaining social distancing requires additional working space and OCC’s locations can easily become overcrowded. Therefore, when possible, volunteers should work from home.
Only people with a certificate of vaccination, of recovery from COVID or a rapid test are allowed inside the space;
No more than 9 people are allowed inside the space.
While registering new students and translating, both volunteers and recipients are required to wear a mask.
Before starting and after finishing the registration process, disinfect the desk and all the pens utilised.
Volunteers working in the bike space are required to wear a mask all the time.
Whenever possible, keep a distance of at least 1.5 meters from other people, while working, smoking or socialising at the workspace. Do not shake hands and do not give hugs.
Disinfect or properly wash your hands regularly, especially after touching commonly used surfaces in the space, like the doorknob or the toilet flush.
Only people with a certificate of vaccination, of recovery from COVID or a rapid test are allowed inside the space;
Children are allowed to enter the space if they can provide a certification of self-test (of aged up to 11) or rapid test (if aged above 11);
No more than 9 adult students are allowed inside the classroom;
No more than 15 children are allowed inside the classroom;
The use of face masks is mandatory for students and teachers.
Teachers have to disinfect all surfaces, especially desks and chairs, before and after each class.
Teachers have to disinfect and sanitise all materials utilised during the class (pens, markers, etc.).
Try to ventilate and keep the doors open as much as possible.
Disinfect or properly wash your hands regularly, especially after touching commonly used surfaces in the class, like the doorknob or the toilet flush.
Only people with a certificate of vaccination, of recovery from COVID or a rapid test are allowed inside the space;
Children are allowed to enter the space if they can provide a certification of self-test (of aged up to 11) or rapid test (if aged above 11);
Children below the age of 5 do not need to provide any sort of COVID certification;
No more than 15 people (kids and mothers) are allowed inside the kinder.
The use of face masks is mandatory for teachers and mothers. Kids younger than 4 do not have to wear masks.
Before starting and after finishing the activities, disinfect the material and games utilised.
Disinfect or properly wash your hands regularly, especially after touching commonly used surfaces in the kinder, like the doorknob or the toilet flush.
Please be responsible while socialising. All of us must follow some simple rules to minimise the risk of getting infected and spreading the disease to the population we want to assist:
● Wear a mask in public indoor and outdoor places, (there is a fine of 150 Euro if you don't wear a mask).
● Avoid crowds and especially crowded indoor places like bars and clubs.
● Avoid shaking hands and giving hugs.
● Avoid touching your face with your hands.
● Follow social distancing rules.
In order to avoid the spread of COVID-19 between OCC team members and beneficiaries, staff and volunteers should maintain responsible behaviours while socialising at all times.
Specifically, the measures mentioned above in ‘Socialising’ must be followed not only during working hours, but during weekends and personal holidays as well.
As specified above, crowds and especially crowded indoor places like bars and clubs should be avoided. However, an OCC member might find themself in an unexpected and unforeseen situation in which they might have been exposed to COVID-19, or been in direct contact with someone from a high-risk area. If this happens, they must immediately report to the managers about the incident. Failure to report will lead to consequences determined case by case and proportioned to the negligence by the coordinators.
The causes of migration are numerous and often multi-causal, below is a summary of the reasons for fleeing one's country.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) defines environmental migrants as "persons or groups of persons who, mainly for reasons related to sudden or gradual environmental change adversely affecting their lives or living conditions, are forced to leave their homes or leave them on their own initiative, temporarily or permanently, and thereby move within or out of their country. " Environmental migration can take many complex forms: forced and voluntary, temporary and permanent, internal and international. People who migrate for environmental reasons do not clearly fall into any particular category under the existing international legal framework. Terms such as "environmental refugee" or "climate refugee" have no legal basis in international refugee law. There is a growing consensus among relevant agencies, including UNHCR, to avoid their use.
Although the Syrian migration wave is mainly related to the Syrian civil war, it has been exacerbated by environmental issues such as drought. The article below highlights how the Syrian case proves how the effects of environmental degradation and global warming affect countries' political stability, with consequences on a global level.
Political migration is any migration motivated primarily by political interests. Typically, political migration is in one of two classes, private or government, depending on who encourages the migration. Political migrations differ from other migrations by attempting to change aspects of a political system. These changes are accomplished by modifying the demographics of a specific region. The focus on demographics necessitates an emphasis on migration towards low-population regions or artificially creating high-population regions. - https://www.definitions.net/
Political migration can be caused by different societal phenomena, below you can see a non-exhaustive list of political practices leading to mass migration.
State persecution involves the harassment, discrimination, and torture of people who disagree with their government, have minority religious beliefs or ethnic backgrounds. Governments can also force cultural groups to move from one place to another (within or outside the country) to gain political advantage in having less cultural diversity. Because conditions in their country are unsafe, these people are forced to migrate to safer countries. Asylum seeking is a direct result of the outflow of political migrants from an oppressive state to a more democratic country.
the rise in claims of persecutions in countries such as Iraq, Zimbabwe, Somalia, Afghanistan, or China.
+ an example
The lack of political liberties and rights, and endemic corruption act as push factors for migrants seeking greater freedoms. Even though they are not persecuted in their places of birth, concerns that limit people’s freedoms cause them to leave. If the political environment is hostile, then the economic situation is likely to be poor. This triggers migration for political and economic reasons. Most migrants leave for more democratic countries where they can pursue better careers, education, and freedom.
2.3. War
Economic migration is the movement of people from one country to another to benefit from greater economic opportunities in the receiving country. It is often assumed that such migration is primarily from less economically developed countries in the global south to the more economically developed countries in the global north (also known as the ‘West’) - for example, from Mexico to the USA, from North Africa to Europe and from former colonies to the country that was the imperial power. - Source
The following video explains the Venezuelan case. Indeed Venezuela is a victim of one of the biggest economic crisis of the decade generating a massive migration wave particularly in other South American states or in European countries and particularly in Spain.
Open Cultural Center provides accommodation for volunteers both in Barcelona and Polykastro. If you are an ESC volunteer, you will most probably be staying in this accommodation throughout your volunteering project.
Important: Below you will find detailed information including rules, responsibilities, and contact persons for those living in volunteer housing. Please read this carefully to ensure smooth communication and a comfortable living situation for you and your housemates.
Everyone should feel welcome and safe in the accommodation provided by OCC, and every housemate is expected to contribute towards maintaining a welcoming and safe environment.
Below you can read OCC's Safeguarding policies, which also apply to volunteer housing.
Both in Spain and in Greece we use Google Calendar to schedule our events, meetings, classes and all other important things. We both use personal calendars from Google, as well as public calendars that are accessible to all our team members. Find more information below.
We will always create your own OCC Google Account, which gives you access to Google Calendar, Google Drive and more Google services, for free.
Link to the public view over here (showing the calendar as a webpage)
Link to add the calendar to a personal calendar over here (adding it to your calendar)
Links to the calendars of each OCC space in Greece:
You can also view the calendar of each space directly from Google Calendar. To do so, click on the + symbol on the right next to 'Other Calendars', and click 'Browse resources'. You can now select the spaces you want to see in your calendar.
The advantage of this is that if you use day view, you see all the spaces next to each other with different colours.
Through Airtable, we manage all types of data that we have within OCC. From student data of MigraCode to the list of all the partners and their contact details, you can find pretty much everything in OCCs Airtable. This means the data in Airtable is also sensitive regarding privacy and safety, so make sure to work very carefully.
IMPORTANT: When using Airtable, don't edit complete rows or columns - only add new data by using the Airtable forms or edit existing data. If you make a mistake, immediately contact Vincent (vincent@openculturalcenter.org) so it can be fixed and no data gets lost.
You can receive the login details from Vincent - contact him directly (vincent@openculturalcenter.org) to request them. Once you have received access, you can login via https://airtable.com/login. After logging in, you will see the overview below from where you can select the databases you need to access.
Once you have selected a dataset, you will see on the top the specific datasets (or tables) with more specific data. For instance, in the screenshot below of the OCC Management database, you can see the Team dataset (with all our team members), the Partners dataset (with all our partners) and the Computers dataset (with an overview of all the computers within OCC.
Once you select a dataset, you can find the various 'Views' on the left: the same data, but with different filters and views applied. For instance, in the screenshot below the view is configured as a table, and in the other screenshot as tiles (cards) - however, it's the same base dataset.
In general, never manually edit rows in Airtable itself. In general, Airtable should only be used to find existing data, update it or - if necessary - delete it. For adding data, use the forms that almost each of our Airtable database has:
Find some of the main forms for our main datasets below:
Adding a new OCC partner: https://airtable.com/shrwOKioAD1yhaOvB
Adding a new computer: https://airtable.com/shr8O4Wy0sXAdTpUp
Adding a new MigraCode volunteer: https://airtable.com/shrQ7DJtzqBRNa2QL
Adding a new OCC team member: https://airtable.com/shrGbJvmVHSKSreYY
Adding a new press contact: https://airtable.com/shromZ0dq7YrNkx3S
Adding a new OCC project: https://airtable.com/shrVK1RQQDbzt3pWf
When you want to filter specific data (for instance only showing the NGO partners from all our partners), it's best to duplicate an existing view to prevent editing other people's working views. You can do this easily by right-clicking an existing view and clicking on 'Duplicate'.
IMPORTANT: If you delete a row or data from your own view, the data will also be removed from the original data - in general, don't delete, only edit/update data and make sure to leave comments about your edits.
You can also create a new view from scratch by clicking on 'New' on the bottom left. Check out this video to learn about the different views that you can use and when you should use which one.
To just get a list of email addresses, for instance from all our partners or all students of MigraCode, it's best to simply duplicate the Base Data of a view and filter accordingly. Once filtered, you can select the list of emails like you would do in an Excel/Google Sheet and use CTRL+C to copy the emails into an email.
IMPORTANT: ALWAYS use BCC (blind copy) when sending an email to a list of email addresses to prevent our partners or other people to see the other email addresses.
Airtable has unlimited possibilities. We strongly recommend you to watch videos on their great Learning Center to get to know more and prevent making mistakes. Check it out over here.
Manage tasks and project progress
Manage and share OCC related files
Main tool to write and share documents - we avoid using Microsoft office tools
Manage sheets, including ones created in Excel - we avoid using office tools
Tool to manage all internal OCC databases
Manage your passwords in a safe and secure place.
Before starting to work at Open Cultural Center, each volunteer, employee and intern is obliged to review our policy documents related to the data they use and store while working at OCC, the photos they make and that are taken of them and any other privacy-related topics, including GDPR guidelines.
OCC has the following documents that are important to be aware off:
All these documents are part of our onboarding procedure for each OCC team member, and everything related to GDPR and Privacy will be communicated through this form that each team member has to fill and sign. This form includes the following documents:
There are some important points to consider:
You can always change your consent to anything you have signed for by contacting your main contact at OCC (also after you stopped at OCC, by sending an email to info@openculturalcenter.org).
Once you leave OCC, OCC management will close your OCC accounts and forward any new emails to your work email address to the person that takes over your position.
Keep in mind that in case we need to access an important work-related file or email, OCC keeps the right to access your OCC account after you left OCC to find this information, but ONLY if it's to find work-related information.
If things are needed to be bought for the OCC office, the volunteer house, specific projects or for other things, anyone in OCC can add it to this Google Sheet.
The OCC Spain coordinator will review the list at the beginning of each month and approve/deny requested materials, and tag the person who is asked to buy these materials.
In case something is urgent, tag the coordinator directly in the Sheet for him/her to review the needed material right away.
When the materials will be bought, make sure to follow general payment guidelines.