Amman- 3 August 2021
On August 3, 2021, “Together Against Discrimination” virtual diploma addressed writing offical reports after conducting investigations of sexual harassment and misuse of power complaints in the workplace.
“Together Against Discrimination” training program extends over a period of 3 months, within the framework of the “I Will Not Stay Silent” project launched by ARIJ in partnership with the Facebook Journalism Project, Women in News / WAN-IFRA, the International Women’s Media Foundation (IWMF), and SAFE, IREX, and supported by Germany’s Federal Foreign Office. The project aims at creating a safe, pluralistic, and diverse media working environment that is free of discrimination.
This 9th session was delivered by ARIJ’s human resources consultant, Hassan Jadallah, and facilitated by Besan Jaber, the project manager.
Jadallah started the session by presenting the trainees with some forms which help in implementing the investigation. These forms and templates include, investigation plan, interview form and the information checklist. He explained how the more structured the investigation process is, the more effective and accurate it is.
Jadallah then further explained how an investigation report must start with the alleged behavior or incident and how it was discovered. It also must specify to whom it was first reported, the steps for gathering evidence, and the results reported by the investigators. He also noted that the investigation monitor – if any – should not be involved in the final report writing, but she or he may provide supporting notes. When complaints are filed against several individuals, Jadallah stressed that preparing separate reports for each complaint is a necessity. He pointed out that harassment complaints are often against one person but corruption cases are mostly filed against several people.
In addition, Jadallah emphasized aspects of professional investigation reports including clarity, brevity, accuracy, impartiality, integrity, in addition to comprehensiveness. Despite different reporting times, most institutions require reports be submitted within 30 days of filing a complaint.
“Together Against Discrimination” focuses on equipping participants with theoretical and practical hands-on knowledge to design and implement effective internal complaints mechanisms against various forms of misuse of authority in media institutions and general media working environments, such as fraud, corruption, harassment and hate speech, to permit stakeholders to best receive, respond, investigate and report any form of alleged complaints.
