Context
On a daily basis, our organization is committed to taking action in line with the values and vision it advocates. The Justice & Peace Commission is a learning organization, which pursues different concurrent paths to continuously improve.
Statutes of the Justice & Peace Commission
As a non-profit organization, the Justice and Peace Commission anchors its missions and its action within the framework of its statutes. These are published in the Belgian Monitor and also specify the internal functioning of the organization. Find them here.
Code of ethics and professional conduct
Internal charter
The Justice and Peace Commission seeks to act with endurance, always consistent with the values advocated by the organization. Our team is committed to respecting the ethical framework of the organization, ensuring that we embody the values of transparency, rigorous, of respect and D'independence, with the aim of consolidating the common good.
A document was created by the entire team and stakeholders of the organization; and applies to all people who represent the Justice & Peace Commission in their actions. The organization is committed to training its staff and pursuing a path of continuous improvement on the ethical issues linked to our activities.
Alert mechanism
Conscient·es des risques qui demeurent malgré nos engagements, un mécanisme d’alerte est prévu en cas de défaillance dans nos pratiques. Si vous avez été victime ou témoin d’un comportement inadéquat de la part d’un·e membre de notre personnel ou d’un·e de nos volontaires, veuillez-nous écrire à l’adresse à alert@justicepaix.be. Votre plainte sera traitée immédiatement.
Environment
The Justice and Peace Commission advocates the strengthening of peace and democracy, as well as social and environmental justice. Aware that these objectives are interdependent, the association wishes to adopt a structural approach which aims to work on environmental issues, both through the subjects it covers in its activities (analysis, advocacy, awareness, training) and through the operationalization of his work. The work pursued is part of an integral ecology perspective and integrates environmental and social aspects.
The association has an environmental charter which commits it in its daily work to taking actions and making decisions in line with the values and vision it advocates. This charter leads the organization to pursue continuous evaluation and prospecting with regard to internal policy related to respect for the environment. This policy is notably driven by an internal committee.
In order to reduce the ecological footprint linked to its activities, the Justice and Peace Commission carries out work on different aspects:
- Purchasing & consumption (priority for ethical and sustainable choices in consumables, IT devices, furniture, etc.);
- Business travel (choice in the context of events and international trips, compensation for the latter, etc.);
- Internal logistics of the building and daily life in the offices (external training, teambuilding, etc.).
Ecological and reasoned travel
The Justice and Peace Commission is questioning the choice of modes of travel within the framework of its activities. The organization works to make travel as low in fossil energy emissions as possible. Thus, it favors, as much as possible, public and soft transport, as well as intermodality.
Compensation for CO2 emissions
Air travel as well as any other motorized travel to and from abroad are subject to particular attention. Thus, to the extent that a balanced budget is ensured, the organization “compensates” the greenhouse gas emissions produced during these journeys with specialized external organizations.
Recently, Justice and Peace supported a social and environmental project in Uganda.
In Uganda, 95% of the population depends on wood and charcoal for cooking, which creates problems of deforestation. Furthermore, the “oven”, made up of a few stones and wood within the house, does not allow the smoke to be evacuated correctly. This causes many respiratory illnesses. UNICEF estimates, for example, that 2 million children die of pneumonia each year.
To offset its CO2 emissions, Justice and Peace supports the project which facilitates access for Ugandan families to efficient wood-burning ovens.
Each oven reduces the consumption of wood or coal of 40%. This is equivalent to reducing emissions by 1.4 tonnes of CO2 per year. As the oven evacuates the fumes through a chimney, this project also reduces health problems, particularly respiratory diseases.
The project to offset our GHG emissions is:
- Coordinated by CO2logic, the highest ranked organization at the Belgian level and which is in 2nd position at the European level;
- Certified by Gold Standard, a globally recognized label.
Appendices
Inclusion, gender and diversity
Gender Mainstreaming Charter
Convinced that gender equality constitutes a fundamental right and an essential value to any democracy, our organization is aware of its role as an associative actor. It is therefore committed to integrating the gender dimension into its activities and implementing appropriate human resources management.
The integration of this principle is operationalized with and with:
- Our audiences, in our training activities, our publications, our educational tools, our open events (conference, webinar, etc.), our communication tools;
- Our volunteers, in our animation groups;
- Our partners in Belgium (civil society, working groups) and international;
- Internally and with our donors, in the construction of our programs, our approval files, our action plans and in our closed reporting (DGD narrative reports, activity report);
- In our advocacy strategy with political or media actors.
The organization also integrates this policy at all levels of the institution:
- We ensure that women are represented in decision-making/management positions, including within decision-making bodies (Board of Directors and General Assembly).
- We pay attention to the composition of employment between women and men and ensure, as far as possible, to ensure parity;
- We delegate a member of staff as a gender referent in order to facilitate everyone's effective consideration of the principle of gender equality in the activities offered by the organization (others, but not exclusively : lead a proactive approach to continuing gender training for all employees; lead a “Gender” sub-working group; be a reference person for questions from permanent staff relating to implementation activities) ;
- We remind you that questions or problems relating to interpersonal relations in the organization must be reported to the person of confidence, who is distinct from the gender referent.
Appendices
Diversity plan
Aware of the structural inequalities and discrimination that remain significant in Belgium, the Justice & Peace Commission wishes to promote a pro-active approach to diversity.
After 2 years of commitment to a global plan and a positive evaluation, Justice & Peace received the “Diversity label” from ACTIRIS. This is awarded by the Minister of Employment of the Brussels-Capital Region to employers who recognize, respect and value differences in the professional environment.
More information on this label on the Actiris website: https://www.actiris.brussels/fr/employeurs/label-diversite/
Appendices
External certifications and assessments
Certification
Providing a clear picture of the relationships between an organization's actions and results, the C2E-ONG quality label (Committed to Excellence) is a program specifically developed by the Belgian NGO federations with the collaboration ofEFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management).
By engaging in this certification procedure, Justice and Peace reaffirms its desire for constant improvement. Our association was awarded the C2E certificate for the quality of its operation thanks to:
- the adoption of its ethical and ecological charter;
- its human resources management policy;
- its volunteer management policy.
The Capacity of the Justice and Peace Commission to operationalize monitoring-evaluation systems was also certified by the Special Evaluation Service of Belgian Development Cooperation. This certification, granted after an audit carried out by an external assessor, confirms that our organization has the capacity to carry out credible evaluations of its activities.
External evaluations
L'final evaluation of the 2017-2021 DGD program, carried out in partnership by Caritas International and the Justice Commission can be downloaded below. This document concerns the evaluation of the EMMO program (Empowerment in a world in movement) in Belgium, as well as on the partnership between Justice and Peace and Caritas international. The responses from this part of the evaluation feed into a more global analysis of the EMMO program in 7 countries in order to identify rather generic findings and lessons that can guide adaptations/improvements to the way of working in the future.
Appendices
