UNIT 1: History, Philosophy & Policies of Palms - Palms International Volunteering

Introduction

This unit provides an introduction to the history, philosophy and policies of Palms International Volunteering.

Please either click through the slide presentation below or read the one page summary of Key Milestones on our Volunteering Journey and the Vision, Mission & Values document. Palms policies can be found here (Palms Child Safeguarding, GEDSI & Modern Slavery policies are referred to in the quiz). The best way to view the slides is to click on the three vertical dots in the bottom left hand corner and select ‘Enter full screen’.

Please complete the quiz at the bottom of this page before continuing to Unit 2: Telling the Story.

1.1 Opening our hands to the World

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QUIZ: History, Philosophy and Policies & Procedures

When answering the following questions please choose the most correct response. Click on START to begin.

QUIZ: History and Philosophy of Palms

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1. Palms International Volunteering (as the Paulian Association) started in

a. 1965

b. 1962

c. 1956

d. 1961

2. After PNG what was the first Pacific country Palms Participants undertook assignments:

a. Kiribati

b. Samoa

c. Tonga

d. None of the above

3. The major purpose of Palms Global Mission is to:

a. Answer the call for sustainable development

b. Facilitating the mutual exchange of knowledge, skills and experience

c. Relive poverty and suffering and reduce inequity

d. All of the above

4. What is the key value of Palms?

a. Love

b. Joy

c. Solidarity

d. Peace

5A. You work in an all-female environment of professional social workers and church community workers. This means that you don’t need to worry about Child Safeguarding.

a. True

b. False

5B. Why ?

a. Women are nurturing, stemming from their role as mothers, and will naturally keep children safe.

b. Men are born protectors of both women and children and therefore have prime responsibility for child safeguarding.

c. As long as you keep children and young people together, they will be safe.

d. Social workers are bound by their professional Code of Ethics to look after children and can always be trusted.

e. None of the above

6. It is important for Palms to promote disability inclusion because

a. It is estimated that 15% of the world’s population have a disability

b. Around 80% of people with disabilities live in developing countries.

c. People with disabilities are often among the poorest of the poor, and with less access to education and employment to promote resilience to shocks such as natural disasters and conflict situations.

d. All of the above.

7. Under the Palms Whistleblower Policy, you are protected if you report (to the Executive Officer, Board member or if they are involved, ASIC) where you have reasonable grounds to suspect:

a. Dishonest, corrupt or fraudulent behaviour or improper accounting conduct

b. Illegality or breaches of internal policies or codes

c. Action endangering health or safety

d. Damage or substantial risk to damage to the environment

e. Maladministration or serious mismanagement of Palms resources or detriment to Palms’ financial position or reputation. e. Maladministration or serious mismanagement of Palms resources or detriment to Palms’ financial position or reputation.

f. All of the above

8. You notice that one of the boys in your school/community centre has a tendency to bully the younger children. You call him in to talk to him and tell him that you will need to speak to his father about this. You can see an immediate reaction of fear in the child.

a. This is good. The child will realise that bullying is a serious matter and if he is fearful of his father’s reaction this might mean he might be punished, which is something you can’t really do.

b. You expect that the boy might get a taste of his own medicine, which wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

c. You make a note to observe the parent-child interaction when you invite the father to the school/community centre.

d. You report this immediately to the Palms Executive Director.

9. You can see that your host organisation would very much benefit from an additional long term volunteer, and one has been requested of Palms but has not yet been found. You are a great photographer and are confident that – if only people would see the beautiful people at the centre you work at, they would volunteer immediately. You take many candid shots of activities in the centre, including of children playing.

a. Great. These are perfect to attract attention on Palms website, and you know that all the children at the centre are all well looked after.

b. Perfect. All the children love being in photos and run to be part of them every time there’s a chance. But these will not look so posed, and realistic photos are the best.

c. In order to avoid getting close ups of their faces I had to be particularly skillful with my angles, or seek written parental permission to include them.

d. Avoid taking any photographs because nothing can really capture the specialness of the moment.

10. Any instance of actual or suspected modern slavery amounts to a ‘disclosable matter’ under Palms’ Whistleblower Policy

a. True

b. False

11. Inequality arises because:

a. People are all born with different abilities and strengths, but society does not take account of these differences

b. We allocate resources (like jobs) on the basis of gender, race, class (connections) and other physical and social markers, rather than aptitude

c. The culture values and ways of working in organisations and societal institutions favour a privileged segment of society and tend to exclude others.

d. People are marginalised on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, indigeneity, disability, age, displacement, caste, gender, gender

e. All of the above

12. You know that your host organisation supports Child Safeguarding but is very busy and unable to yet develop its own policy. More than one of the following may be appropriate action for you:

a. Breathe a sigh of relief. It’s good to be free of rules.

b. Observe the child related practice in your organisation and remain vigilant to instances of potential child abuse or neglect

c. Discuss ways that your host currently safeguard children and build on your shared concerns to protect children, including by using curiosity to promote improved practices.

d. Debrief with the Global Practice Manager any concerns, however small, with local practices you think may put children at risk, and report any actual harm immediately to the Executive Director.

e. B, C and D

13. Exploitative treatment of workers is:

a. A sad fact of life, particularly in developing countries, which we just need to accept. At least they have a job – so many others don’t.

b. A thing of the past in Australia, thanks to the excellent work of our trade union movement

c. An underlying aspect of modern slavery, particularly where they have no means of escaping that exploitation (eg due to debt bondage, forced marriage, loss of appropriate immigration documentation, denial of access to information on their rights or a means to raise concerns about these)

d. Something I need to be aware of in my own workplace, but I can’t be expected to also worry about that of my suppliers.

14. Palms participants are valued and trusted by our partners and (more than one answer may apply):

a. That means it is fine for us to stay overnight in rooms with local children without their parents or guardians

b. Participants may be seen as attractive sexual partners by local people, especially where there may be a perceived advantage or access to favours which we might be able to bestow. I need to avoid any implication of preferential treatment and discuss with the Global Programs Manager any existing or emerging personal relationships with local people, as Palms prohibits anything which could be interpreted as fraternisation.

c. We need to acknowledge that we hold a privileged position and may hold unequal power which we need to beware of in all our relationships, but particularly our relationships with children

d. We need to ensure we discuss with the Global Programs Manager any potential conflicts of interest.

e. B, C and D

15. Palms will only undertake aid or development activities, including community development and education in support of these activities. It does not engage in, or support, any religious proselytising activities and is not linked to any political party. In some instances, Palms may partner with local faith-based organisations on the basis that the agreed-to scope of work is without religious proselytising or making participation conditional on conversion or adherence to any particular religion.

a. True

b. False

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