A big tervetuloa to The Kick Project, who have joined the KCS members’ network!
The Kick Project is a Finnish not-for-profit organisation using sport as a tool to bring joy, hope and interaction to children and youth in troubled communities worldwide. Their mission is to provide and support sports-related & educational activities and resources allowing to rebuild societies broken by war, poverty, economic crisis, enforced asylum, natural disaster or other crises scenarios.
As always, we invited them to tell us more about why they decided to join our global network, in their own words:
What made you decide to join the KCS as a member?
The Kick Project is dedicated to supporting the development of local communities from the bottom up. This means that children and youths are at the very centre of our work and together with our local partners we are determined to change their lives for the better.
This requires improving our child safeguarding, based on the current level and situation of our every partner organisation. But we can’t do this work alone, and by becoming a member of the KCS network we will be one step forward, show the world that we take child safeguarding seriously. With KCS we are able to learn from both experts and from the experience of other organisations like us. And with the support and guidance from KCS, we can be sure that we have more resources and the highest possible standards in place not only as written documents but implemented appropriately throughout our whole network.
What is your key driver in your ambition to implement child safeguarding?
Every child’s childhood belongs to them. Everything that happens during one’s childhood can have even life-lasting effects and consequences. It is everyone’s responsibility to do their best to ensure that those effects will be as positive as possible. All children have the right to live in safety and dignity to be able to develop their full potential.
We are working with local partners coming from communities facing many kinds of difficulties. What is common for them all is the highly vulnerable situation of children within the communities. When there are not many opportunities available for children to express themselves and enjoying their childhood, it is even more important to ensure that these children are safe and protected from any potential harm. That is why we want to ensure that our network is well-equipped with the highest possible knowledge and the best available resources to safeguard any children.
Where do you think your organisation will be regarding child safeguarding in a year?
In cooperation with KCS, we expect that in a year we have improved our policies, standards and reporting mechanisms and most importantly implemented them all around our network. This is to guarantee that our local partners have the support they need to have uncompromising and in-depth safeguarding measures, as well as a clear understanding of reporting any violations or concerns in a manner that prioritises the privacy of the child.
What message do you want to tell your staff, donors and the wider world?
Children are the least able to influence any kind of calamities but the most to suffer from them, whether caused by humans or nature. It is the utmost responsibility of every human being to protect children and keep them safe. Child safeguarding needs to be at the core of every organisation, no matter the size. And The Kick Project is definitely not an exception. Together with KCS, we want to ensure that every single step made by us (our staff, volunteers, partners or any other stakeholder) is done in respect of the toughest safeguarding standards available.
We are committed to constant learning and making improvements whenever needed. This will not only be based on the guidance of KCS, but on the feedback of the children through our local partners.
You can follow The Kick Project on LinkedIn.