A SESSION ON THE REVISED ECM’S CHILD AND VULNERABLE ADULTS SAFEGUARDING POLICY

(By Bro. Gasper Kalisto)

The Provincial Council of Malawi organized a session for the brothers on Episcopal Conference of Malawi’s (ECM) Child and Vulnerable Adults Safeguarding Policy document. The session was conducted on 30^th January, 2022 at Bethel Community. The facilitation was done by Bro. Pascal Mtuwana.

Bro. Mtuwana made a brief summary of the old policy which emphasized more on child protection. The policy was received with a lot of apprehension as it had no clear guidelines for reporting cases; and there were little consultations among the stakeholders. The ECM has revised the policy to make it more holistic. The policy now has clear guidelines for reporting cases of abuse on children and vulnerable people. Unlike the old policy, the revised document has also included safeguarding vulnerable adults. It is our task to safeguard children and vulnerable adults from harm as they are at greater risk of being abused. In its definition of terms, the document expresses a child as any person under the age of 18; and vulnerable adult as anyone above the age of 18 who is at greater risk of insignificant harm due various factors. These factors may include age, gender, mental or physical health as a result of poverty or inequality. The vulnerability comes with power imbalance and dependency.