Volunteer
Code of
Conduct

Technovation volunteers play a key role in Technovation programs and may do some or all of the following:

• Support the learning of children and/or families in-person and/or online
• Provide feedback on project submissions from participants in-person and/or online
• Provide extra support to participants and organizations implementing Technovation programs (guest speaker, coaching, webinars, hosting or volunteering at events, etc.)

Read the “All Volunteers” section to access the more specific role guidelines for Chapters, Clubs, Mentors, Coaches, and Judges.

All Volunteers

As a volunteer, we ask that you contribute to creating a safe and secure environment for young people participating in any Technovation programs. This includes preparation to engage with participants virtually and/or in person by:

• Registering as a volunteer, Ambassador, Mentor, Coach or Judge with Technovation
• Completing all training that Technovation provides

To ensure the safety of its participants, all Technovation volunteers, including Chapter and Club Ambassadors, Mentors, Coaches, and Judges should follow the guidelines below. Failure to do so could lead to formal warnings from Technovation. Depending on the severity or frequency of the infractions, volunteers may be prohibited from volunteering with the organization for the remainder of the season and future seasons:

• Review the resources on this safety page.
• Ensure the physical and emotional safety of participants, through the following actions:
  • Discuss any uncertainties you have around child safeguarding with your region’s Ambassadors or Technovation staff at any time.
  • Meet during appropriate times in the day or evening. If meeting with children individually in-person or online, do it as openly as possible and inform another adult, such as the children’s parents or guardians, of the meeting.
  • Treat all young people as individuals, equally and with respect, regardless of their race, ethnicity, gender identity, age, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic background.
  • Adopt a zero tolerance policy around harassment or bullying. This includes, volunteer’s treatment of each other, participants, parents/guardians, Technovation staff; and participants’ treatment of each other, volunteers, parents/guardians.
  • Offer constructive, age-appropriate encouragement and feedback to positively contribute to participant’s learning and growth in the program.
  • If meeting in person:
    • Meet in community and public spaces such as libraries, schools, or workplaces and follow all safety procedures of the site.
      • Volunteers are discouraged from meeting with participants in the volunteer’s personal residence.
      • If teams are meeting in a participants’ personal residence, there should be a parent/guardian present with the volunteer at all times.
    • Work to maintain a recommended ratio of one adult per two to ten children (1:2 – 1:10) for Technovation activities.
    • Do not carry firearms or other weapons in the presence of program participants, other volunteers, and parents/guardians.
    • Release children only to parents, guardians, or other adults (as authorized by parents or guardians).
  • If meeting virtually, choose safe websites and apps to meet on, take any necessary safety precautions, such as using a passcode for the meeting, only admitting individuals you know, not sharing the meeting link publicly or not using a publicly shared meeting link.
    • If recording meetings, ensure all meeting attendees give consent to be recorded. If they do not consent, allow them to turn off their cameras and use the chat instead of their microphones.
  • Volunteers may interact or work with Student Ambassadors or other alumnae, who may be over the age of 18 and not considered minors under the law. Volunteers should continue to abide by the same Code of Conduct and safety rules when working with any alumnae over the age of 18.
• Communication
  • If you wish to communicate directly with participants outside of Technovation meetings, we encourage you to contact a participant’s guardians to get consent. Here is a template for you to share with parents. When possible, include parents in all communication with children.
  • Maintain what is, in the judgment of Technovation Girls, a courteous and polite tone in all forms of communication, both written and verbal with all stakeholders including Technovation staff.
  • Record any allegation a child makes of child abuse and follow the reporting procedures of your local government and also report the issue to the Chapter or Club Ambassador for your area, respecting any laws around anonymity and privacy. Don’t allow allegations a child makes to go without being recorded and addressed. If the allegations are connected to another Technovation volunteer, please inform the Technovation team at [email protected].

As a Technovation volunteer, the following actions are prohibited:

• Communication
  • Do not use offensive or sexually suggestive physical/verbal language. Students should not be permitted to use this type of language either.
  • Do not send inappropriate messages, imagery, and/or visuals to students in person or online. Unacceptable behavior includes but is not limited to, asking for personal photos, commenting on appearances, etc.
  • Do not connect/”friend”/follow children on social media.
  • Do not use any bullying or disparaging language especially when communicating with minors.
• Physical and emotional safety of participants
  • Do not single out any child for unfair favoritism, criticism, ridicule, or unwelcomed focus of attention.
  • Do not allow or engage in inappropriate touching of any form.
  • Do not ever physically or verbally abuse or punish children.
  • Do not consume alcohol or drugs before or during activities with participants.

More role-specific codes of conduct can be found below for Mentors and Coaches, Chapter/Club Ambassadors, and Judges.

Mentors and Coaches

Our Mentor and Coach communities comprise a variety of professionals, educators, and parents who take different approaches to working with youth. Your role as a Mentor can be to use the curriculum to teach the program, to help the team as a project manager, or to be a soundboard when students have questions or need a review of their work. Your role as a Coach can be to answer specific questions about the team’s project, give an overview of a concept, or to help the team plan a way forward. As a group of volunteers, Mentors and Coaches provide direct support to Technovation Girls participants. Mentors and Coaches should always keep student safety top of mind. In addition to the guidelines above, please note:

• Mentors should never be alone with only one student and should always have another trusted adult present. The trusted adult is to be chosen by the team of students.
  • Work to maintain a recommended ratio of one adult per two – ten children (1:2 – 1:10) during Technovation activities.
• Coaches should always meet with teams with a trusted adult present. The trusted adult is to be chosen by the team of students.
• Mentors and Coaches should never message a student privately, this includes social media sites and/or apps, messaging apps, and email.
• A teacher, educator, parent or guardian must accompany the team on field trips or workshops along with the Mentor.
• If Mentors or Coaches are meeting with teams virtually, at least one student should have a parent/guardian/other trusted adult present in the room with them.

Chapter/Club Ambassadors

In addition to the guidelines above, Chapter and Club Ambassadors agree to abide by the additional clauses outlined below. Your role as a Chapter or Club Ambassador can be to recruit participants (students and volunteers), prepare workshops/sessions to support student and volunteer learning, communicate with Technovation staff regarding updates, concerns, and programmatic questions, and report season participation and learnings.

• Interactions with Other Ambassadors
  • We deeply value our global ambassador community as a safe space for learning and growing together. Ambassadors are expected to support our community through respectful, culturally sensitive interactions with other ambassadors.
  • Ambassadors are encouraged but not required to collaborate with other ambassadors. Ambassadors should respect the decisions and leadership of other ambassadors. Unless formally agreed upon by both ambassadors, there is no established hierarchy among ambassadors.
  • Any conflict or disagreements between ambassadors should be handled with patience, humility, honesty and curiosity to understand one another.

• Interactions with Staff
  • Staff will maintain kind, professional, and respectful interactions with ambassadors in all communications, seeking to foster a sense of being understood and heard.
  • Ambassadors are expected to be professional and respectful in all interactions with Technovation staff.
  • Any conflict or disagreements between ambassadors and staff should be handled with patience, humility, honesty and curiosity to understand one another.

• Honesty:
  • Technovation Girls Ambassadors must not tamper with or attempt to influence or change Judge scores, change team’s submissions, abuse funds intended for Technovation Girls activities, receive or give bribes, or otherwise act in dishonest or fraudulent conduct.

• Additional Safety Measures:
  • Chapter Ambassadors must have an incident reporting system in place for any student and volunteer participating in their Chapter. Information may be shared with the Technovation team, respecting any local laws regarding privacy and anonymity.
  • Ambassadors must take every precaution to ensure the safety of children in any travel or participation by communicating directly with Mentors and parents/guardians about the date, time, venue, and attendance of Technovation Girls activities.
  • Please ensure you follow all safety guidelines and recommendations.
    • Encourage Mentors to get parental consent to communicate with girls outside of scheduled program meetings.
  • Participating students are minors. As such, all communication between Technovation Girls Ambassadors and students must include the student’s parent/guardian.
  • Sexual or romantic relationships between Chapter or Club Ambassadors and Student Ambassadors or any other Technovation alumnae, even those of legal age, are strongly discouraged by Technovation and can impact your ability to serve as an Ambassador or any other volunteer role with Technovation.

• Confidentiality:
  • Technovation Girls Ambassadors/Staff of local partner organizations shall maintain the confidentiality and privacy of program participants.
  • They shall not disclose or disseminate program participants’ personal information, including identifying information (such as name, school, address, age, and email address), photographs, or educational records, to anyone beyond Technovation Girls staff.
  • They shall use confidential information only in connection with and to benefit the Technovation Girls program and participants and obey all local laws around data privacy.
  • They will publicly shall only share materials of participants who have media consent on file with Technovation.
  • They will delete all confidential information from their computers when it is no longer needed for the use agreed upon with Technovation.
  • Should there be a breach of information and/or confidentiality, Technovation reserves the right to remove any involved parties from their roles with Technovation.

Judges

Our Judge community comprises a variety of professionals, educators, and parents who take different approaches to working with youth. Your role as a Judge is to provide written or verbal feedback to participants in an effort to encourage their learning. As a group of volunteers, Judges provide support to Technovation Girls participants through written or verbal communication. Judges should always keep student emotional well-being top of mind. In addition to the guidelines above, please note:

• Judges should not use profanity or harsh or demeaning language in feedback to teams.
• In order to maintain fairness in the judging process, Chapter, Club, and Student Ambassadors are ineligible to be judges.
• Judges should approach each team’s submissions from an unbiased perspective, keeping in mind the different backgrounds, ages, different native languages, and cultures of students and how that plays a part in communication.
• Judges should not review submissions of teams they know or who’s mentor(s) they know; and should make use of the recusal option appropriately.
• Misuse of the recusal option (ie. to see specific submissions, to see submissions from a specific geographic region, or specific divisions, etc.) may result in the suspension of the Judge’s account. It may prohibit future volunteering with Technovation.
• Judges should never message a student privately, this includes social media sites and/or apps, messaging apps, and email.

Last Updated: August 2024