ReGenerativa

Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct

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Safeguarding Policy and Code of Conduct

This is the network’s safeguarding document — the one it hands to an insurer, the RUNTS, or a safeguarding audit. Its binding duty lives in the General Terms (GT-2.6); its operational mechanics (designated leads, vetting steps, reporting workflow, timeframes) live in Operational Procedures Section M.

1. Purpose and scope

The network exists to leave people and places “measurably better” (GT-2). The first condition of that promise is that no one is harmed in our care. This policy states how the network prevents, recognises, and responds to abuse, exploitation, and harm.

It applies to every hub and every activity, physical and digital, and to everyone holding a role in the constellation — members, stewards, mentors, supporters present at hubs, partners, venture members, elders, and the Board — in their dealings with all participants, and above all with minors and vulnerable adults.

2. Principles

  • Dignity Floor. Every person carries a baseline of safety and respect that no contribution score, role, or seniority modifies (GT-1.14; distinct from the members’ access floor, GT-3A.8).
  • No-harm precedes all else. Where any provision of the constellation conflicts with safeguarding, safeguarding prevails (GT-2.6).
  • Power awareness. Stewards, mentors, and elders hold real power over participants’ standing, access, and belonging. The greater the power, the greater the duty of care and the boundary discipline.
  • Believe, record, refer. Concerns are taken seriously, recorded factually, and referred — never minimised, never investigated informally by the person who received them.

3. Code of Conduct (binds all roles)

Everyone holding a role shall:

  • treat participants with respect and maintain clear, appropriate boundaries (physical, emotional, digital, financial);
  • never use a position of trust, or a participant’s need for access or belonging, to obtain personal, sexual, financial, or other advantage;
  • not be alone with a minor or a vulnerable adult in a manner that cannot be accounted for, save where unavoidable and on the safeguarding-lead’s terms;
  • not work under the influence of substances while responsible for participants;
  • protect participants’ privacy and personal data (GT-3.4, GT-5), and never share images of minors without informed consent;
  • raise any safeguarding concern promptly (Section 7), including concerns about a person more senior than themselves;
  • complete the safeguarding orientation appropriate to their role.

Breach of this Code is “serious cause” within GT-6A.1 and a ground for the role-specific suspensions in Section 8.

4. Designated Safeguarding Lead (DSL)

  • Each hub names a Designated Safeguarding Lead (ordinarily a Steward, recorded in the Hub DNA, A1-5) who is the first point of contact for concerns at that hub.
  • The network names a Safeguarding Lead at Board level, to whom hub DSLs escalate and who holds the network’s relationship with the authorities.
  • Where a concern involves the DSL, it is raised directly to the network lead; where it involves the network lead, to the Board / Elder Council.

5. Suitability and vetting

  • Where a role involves working with minors or vulnerable adults, suitability checks required by Italian law are a condition of the role — including the certificato penale del casellario giudiziale and the anti-pedophilia certificate (art. 25-bis, DPR 313/2002).
  • All role-holders provide a self-declaration of suitability at onboarding and on a stated renewal cadence (Operational Procedures M.2).
  • Suitability is a continuing condition: a relevant change must be disclosed.

6. Recognising and raising concerns

  • Anyone — participant, role-holder, or visitor — may raise a concern, to any DSL, by any reasonable means; an accessible channel is published at each hub.
  • Concerns are recorded factually and contemporaneously (what was seen/heard/disclosed, when, by whom), without leading questions or informal investigation.
  • Whistleblower protection: raising a concern in good faith never counts against the person’s standing, access, or role, and retaliation is itself serious cause.

7. Response

  • Precautionary suspension. On a credible safeguarding concern, the person’s access to participants is suspended pending the outcome, under GT-6A.1 and the role-specific limbs — A2 §7.1 (membership), A4 §8 (mentors), A8 §8.4A / Operational Procedures G.2A (elders) — without prejudice and without affecting permanent recognition where it applies (e.g. an Elder’s honour, A8).
  • Reporting to authorities. A credible concern of a crime, or of risk to a minor or vulnerable adult, is reported to the competent authorities as Italian law requires; the network does not substitute its own process for a mandatory report.
  • Support. The affected participant’s safety and support come first; the network offers appropriate support and, where it holds, restorative process — but never in place of a required report.

8. Records, data, and confidentiality

Safeguarding records are held securely, separately from the Contribution Ledger, on a need-to-know basis, and processed under GDPR and GT-5; retention follows legal requirement and the cadence in Operational Procedures M.6. Off-ledger handling mirrors GT-3.4.

9. Training and review

Role-appropriate safeguarding orientation is part of onboarding (member, steward, mentor, venture, elder). This policy is reviewed at least annually and after any serious incident, by the network Safeguarding Lead with advisor input.

Binding duty: GT-2.6. Mechanics: Operational Procedures Section M. Enforcement limbs: GT-6A.1, A2 §7.1, A4 §8, A8 §8.4A. Related: Regenerative Impact Framework (dimension b, Human Health and Well-Being).

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