First Web Foundation Community Anti-Harassment Policy Guide
Adopted on 12 April 2023
How to Use This Resource
This comprehensive anti-harassment policy guide serves as your complete reference for understanding and implementing respectful community standards at First Web Foundation. Whether you’re a new participant or a seasoned community member, this resource will help you understand what behaviour we expect and how to report concerns when they arise.
Target Audience
This anti-harassment policy resource is designed for:
- New participants joining First Web Foundation community programmes
- Existing community members seeking clarity on acceptable behaviour
- Small nonprofits and social enterprises establishing their own policies
- Community leaders responsible for maintaining respectful environments
- Anyone involved in First Web Foundation’s multi-stakeholder processes
When to Use This Resource
Refer to this anti-harassment policy guide when you:
- Join any First Web Foundation community programme or event
- Need to understand what constitutes inappropriate behaviour
- Want to report concerning conduct you’ve witnessed or experienced
- Are establishing similar policies for your own organisation
- Need guidance on creating inclusive, respectful communities
Introduction: Creating Safe Spaces for Everyone
Building strong nonprofit communities requires trust, respect, and safety for all participants. This anti-harassment policy exists to protect everyone in our community whilst encouraging open dialogue and collaboration.
Our community brings together people from many different backgrounds, cultures, and experiences. This diversity strengthens our work, but it also means we must be thoughtful about how we treat each other. Respectful behaviour isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential for creating the kind of environment where everyone can contribute their best work.
In this chapter, you’ll learn why we need this anti-harassment policy, what it covers, and how it creates a foundation for positive community engagement. By the end, you’ll understand how respectful behaviour supports our mission to help nonprofits across Africa.
Why Our Anti-Harassment Policy Matters
Every person who joins our community deserves to feel safe, respected, and valued. When people experience harassment, it doesn’t just hurt them—it weakens our entire community. Good ideas get lost. Talented people leave. The nonprofits we serve suffer as a result.
Our anti-harassment policy creates clear expectations for behaviour. It helps prevent problems before they start and provides clear steps to address issues when they arise. This isn’t about limiting free speech or walking on eggshells. It’s about creating an environment where everyone can participate fully.
Consider Sarah, a nonprofit director from Kenya who joined our online training programme. During her first week, another participant made repeated comments about her English accent during group discussions. These comments made Sarah feel unwelcome and less likely to share her valuable insights. Our anti-harassment policy gives Sarah a clear path to address this behaviour and ensures all participants understand what’s expected of them.
Chapter Recap: Our anti-harassment policy protects community members whilst supporting open dialogue. It creates clear expectations that help everyone participate fully and safely in our programmes.
Understanding Professional Behaviour Standards
Professional behaviour in our community means treating everyone with dignity and respect, regardless of their background or characteristics. This applies to all interactions, whether you’re in a face-to-face meeting, participating in online forums, or communicating through email.
What Professional Behaviour Looks Like
Professional behaviour includes listening actively when others speak, disagreeing respectfully when you have different views, and recognising that everyone brings valuable perspectives to our work. It means being mindful of your language and actions, especially when discussing sensitive topics or cultural differences.
For example, during a recent webinar about digital fundraising, participants had different views about social media strategies. Professional behaviour meant acknowledging these differences while finding common ground. Participants asked clarifying questions, shared their own experiences, and worked together to find solutions that could work in different contexts.
Protected Characteristics in Our Anti-Harassment Policy
Our anti-harassment policy protects people from discrimination based on many characteristics, including age, ancestry, ethnicity, physical or mental disability, genetic information, medical condition, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex (including gender, gender identity and gender expression), sexual orientation, citizenship, primary language, immigration status, socioeconomic status, pregnancy, childbirth, and related medical conditions.
This means we don’t tolerate jokes, comments, or actions that target people based on these characteristics. We also don’t allow behaviour that makes people feel excluded or unwelcome because of who they are.
Chapter Recap: Professional behaviour means treating everyone with dignity and respect. Our anti-harassment policy protects people from discrimination based on many personal characteristics, creating a welcoming environment for all community members.
Recognising Harassment Under Our Anti-Harassment Policy
Harassment is unwelcome behaviour that makes someone feel uncomfortable, intimidated, or unsafe. It doesn’t matter if the person causing harm didn’t mean to upset anyone—what matters is the impact on the person experiencing it. Our anti-harassment policy covers many types of inappropriate behaviour.
Types of Harassment Covered by Our Policy
Harassment can take many forms, from obvious actions like inappropriate touching to subtler behaviours like repeatedly interrupting someone or making them feel excluded from conversations. It includes verbal harassment like name-calling or offensive language, written harassment through emails or social media, and physical harassment like unwanted touching or invading personal space.
Consider Marcus, a young nonprofit founder who joined our mentorship programme. During online meetings, an older participant repeatedly questioned his expertise, made comments about his age, and interrupted him when he tried to share ideas. This behaviour made Marcus reluctant to participate and affected his confidence. Under our anti-harassment policy, this pattern of behaviour constitutes harassment, even though it might seem less serious than other forms.
Inappropriate Physical Behaviour
Physical harassment includes any unwanted touching, from obviously inappropriate behaviour like groping or kissing to seemingly innocent actions like rubbing shoulders or stroking someone’s hair. Just because someone meant it as friendly doesn’t make it appropriate if the other person didn’t want it.
In face-to-face meetings, respect people’s personal space. If someone steps back when you move closer, give them room. If someone seems uncomfortable with handshakes or hugs, respect their boundaries. Cultural differences around physical contact make it even more important to pay attention to other people’s comfort levels.
Verbal and Written Harassment
Offensive language, inappropriate jokes, and disrespectful comments all violate our anti-harassment policy. This includes comments about people’s appearance, abilities, backgrounds, or personal lives. It also covers sharing inappropriate images or materials that make people uncomfortable.
During online meetings, be mindful of your language and avoid jokes that might exclude or offend others. Remember that written communication can be easily misunderstood, so choose your words carefully when sending emails or posting in online forums.
Creating Unwelcome Environments
Harassment also includes behaviours that create an unwelcome environment for others. This might include repeatedly asking someone for dates after they’ve said no, staring at someone in a way that makes them uncomfortable, or making suggestive gestures or comments.
Chapter Recap: Our anti-harassment policy covers many types of inappropriate behaviour, from physical harassment to verbal abuse to creating unwelcome environments. The key is understanding that harassment is defined by its impact on others, not by the intentions of the person causing harm.
Reporting Procedures: Making Our Anti-Harassment Policy Work
When you experience or witness inappropriate behaviour, you have options for addressing it. Our anti-harassment policy provides clear steps for reporting concerns and ensures that all reports are handled fairly and confidentially.
Informal Resolution Options
Sometimes, you might choose to address inappropriate behaviour directly with the person involved. This works best when the behaviour seems unintentional and the person appears receptive to feedback. For example, if someone repeatedly interrupts you during meetings, you might say, “I’d like to finish my point before hearing your thoughts.”
However, you’re never required to confront someone directly, especially if you feel unsafe or uncomfortable doing so. Our anti-harassment policy gives you other options that don’t put the burden on you to resolve the situation yourself.
Formal Reporting Process
When you need to make a formal report, contact the First Web Foundation Complaints Department with details about what happened. Include information about when and where the incident occurred, who was involved, and any witnesses who saw what happened. The more specific information you can provide, the better our team can understand and address the situation.
The Complaints Department will review your report and may speak with you to clarify details. They might also speak with the person you’re reporting and any witnesses to get a complete picture of what happened. This process is designed to be fair to everyone involved whilst taking your concerns seriously.
Investigation and Resolution
Once you make a report, the Complaints Department will investigate thoroughly. They’ll look at all available evidence, speak with relevant people, and make a decision about whether inappropriate behaviour occurred. You don’t need to prove your case beyond doubt—the team will consider the credibility of everyone involved and make a fair decision.
If the investigation finds that inappropriate behaviour occurred, the Complaints Department will decide on appropriate consequences. These might include requiring an apology, limiting someone’s participation in community activities, or removing them from programmes entirely. The goal is to address the harm caused and prevent future problems.
Confidentiality and Protection
All reports are handled confidentially to protect both the person making the report and the person being reported. The Complaints Department only shares information with people who need to know in order to investigate and resolve the situation.
Our anti-harassment policy also protects people from retaliation for making reports or participating in investigations. If someone treats you badly because you reported inappropriate behaviour, that’s a separate violation of our policy that will be addressed accordingly.
Chapter Recap: Our anti-harassment policy provides clear reporting procedures that protect everyone involved. You can choose to address issues informally or make formal reports, and all reports are handled confidentially with appropriate consequences for inappropriate behaviour.
Building a Respectful Community Together
Our anti-harassment policy is just one tool for creating a respectful community. The real work happens when all of us commit to treating each other with dignity and building an environment where everyone can thrive.
Your Role in Upholding Our Anti-Harassment Policy
Every community member has a role in maintaining respectful behaviour. This means not only following the policy yourself but also speaking up when you see others behaving inappropriately. You can intervene directly when you feel safe doing so, or you can report concerns to the appropriate authorities.
Supporting others who experience harassment is also important. Believe people when they share their experiences, offer your support, and help them access the resources they need. Creating a culture where people feel safe reporting problems makes our anti-harassment policy more effective.
Creating Inclusive Spaces
Beyond avoiding harassment, we can actively work to make our community more inclusive. This means being mindful of different cultural norms, making sure meetings are accessible to people with disabilities, and creating opportunities for everyone to participate fully.
Consider how Fatima, a nonprofit leader from Morocco, felt more included when meeting facilitators started checking that everyone could hear clearly and asking for input from people who hadn’t spoken yet. These small changes made a big difference in creating a more inclusive environment.
Learning and Growing Together
Creating respectful communities is an ongoing process. We all make mistakes sometimes, and the goal isn’t perfection—it’s continuous improvement. When someone points out that your behaviour was inappropriate, listen with an open mind and commit to doing better.
Our anti-harassment policy provides a framework for addressing problems, but it’s most effective when combined with education, awareness, and a genuine commitment to treating each other well.
Chapter Recap: Building respectful communities requires everyone’s participation. Our anti-harassment policy provides structure, but the real work happens when we all commit to treating each other with dignity and creating inclusive spaces for everyone.
Recommended Resources
To learn more about creating respectful communities and implementing anti-harassment policies, consider these valuable resources:
- UN Women Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces – Global guidance on creating safe spaces for women and marginalised groups
- Nonprofit Quarterly: Creating Inclusive Workplaces – Practical advice for nonprofit leaders on building inclusive environments
- TechSoup Nonprofit Technology Resources – Guidance on maintaining respectful behaviour in digital spaces
- Council of Europe Anti-Harassment Resources – European perspectives on preventing and addressing harassment
- Association of Fundraising Professionals Code of Ethics – Professional standards for nonprofit fundraising and community engagement
Support the Work of First Web Foundation
Our anti-harassment policy is part of our broader commitment to supporting nonprofits across Africa with the tools and resources they need to succeed. There are many ways you can help us continue this important work:
Make a Donation: Your financial support helps us provide free resources, training, and support to under-resourced nonprofits. Visit our official donation page to make a secure online donation.
Subscribe to Our YouTube Channel: Watch our latest videos about digital best practices, nonprofit management, and community building by subscribing to our YouTube channel.
Follow Us on Social Media: Stay connected with our daily work and latest updates by following our Facebook page and our LinkedIn page.
Share Our Resources: Help us reach more nonprofits by sharing our anti-harassment policy and other resources with your network. Every share helps us support more organisations in building respectful, inclusive communities.
Your support, whether through donations, sharing our content, or simply implementing these practices in your own organisation, helps us create a more inclusive digital future for nonprofits across Africa.
With gratitude,
The First Web Foundation Team