Workplace Anti-Harassment Policies and Practices: Lessons from the Unraveling of Ushahidi.
Ushahidi’s internal operations have recently come under public scrutiny due to media coverage on sexual harassment claims, most recently corroborated by a damning Medium piece by the complainant, Ms. Angela Kabari. After what seems to be a unnecessarily protracted wait, a top executive at Ushahidi has been suspended in relation to these allegations to allow due process to take it’s course. Ushahidi was created to help document eyewitness reports of violence during the post-election crisis that arose in Kenya after the disputed 2007 elections and has since received global recognition for its development of crowd-sourcing tools to promote inclusivity and transparency.
Truthfully, nothing about this story is shocking. Research after media report after judgment have confirmed what we have known for a long time, workplace sexual harassment in Kenya is endemic. According to a report by the International Labour Rights Fund, sampling the export processing industry in Kenya, over 90% of women workers have encountered workplace sexual harassment, with 95% of victims opting not to report their encounters for fear of losing their jobs.

This unfortunate tragedy points at two realities:
1. Rape culture is so deeply ingrained in the contemporary Kenyan social experience that many acts that qualify as sexual harassment in law are viewed as natural, conventional behavior.
2. The conversation around sexual harassment in the average Kenyan office is not so much a conversation as it is a whisper. The principle seems to be: the less we talk about it, the further away it is.
Whenever one person is in a position of power over another in the workplace, sexual harassment can happen. Men can harass women and other men and women can harass men and other women. Shrouding workplace sexual harassment in silence works against everyone for a number of reasons. The most obvious is that the consequences of sexual harassment for any organization are costly.
Sexual harassment not only translates into a less productive work environment but increases turnover and absenteeism. Victims suffer from depression, shame and psychological instability all of which affect their performance at the workplace. It lowers productivity and results to loss of managerial time in investigation of claims. As we have seen with Ushahidi, sexual harassment allegations could have huge reputation and ethical costs to an organization as well, not to mention the legal costs that follow successful civil action by the victim.
Creating an organizational climate in which sexual harassment is not tolerated is the single most important influence on whether harassment happens in the workplace or not. Although there is little research to which organizational policies are most effective in creating such an environment, there is consensus that a strong, well implemented policy of no tolerance sexual harassment coupled with a safe and comprehensive complaint mechanism with clear protections against retaliation goes a long way.
Section 6 of the Employment Act of Kenya, 2006 definitively sets out what behaviour qualifies as sexual harassment and requires employers to issue a policy statement prohibiting sexual harassment. While the act requires that the policy statement describe the procedure through which worker may bring the complaints of sexual harassment to the attention of the employer,there is no mention of a procedure of handling the complaints. Best practices, on the other hand, require a clearly set out the procedure for handling complaints, including timelines. Setting effective timelines demands that every complaint is handled quickly and adequately. The policy statement must also create avenues to offer counseling and support to victims. To assess the implementation and results of the anti-harassment policy, best standards call for regular monitoring and an annual evaluation of the sexual harassment policy.
In addition to setting up stronger policies and procedures, organisations should underline prevention by investing in training in what constitutes workplace sexual harassment, the mechanisms for redress are available to victims and the sanctions and disciplinary measures that may be taken against sexual harassers. Training increases the awareness of what constitutes sexual harassment and motivates employees to avoid such behaviors and enforce the norms in their teams. Knowledge of the redress mechanisms also may promote the victims trust in the organization and encourage them to come forward.
While policies, procedures and training are all tangible measures for reducing workplace sexual harassment, every organization must be prepared to walk the walk when a complaint is lodged. The first commandment of dealing with a sexual harassment complaint is that the responsible officer must adopt a sympathetic attitude towards the victim. It is crucial at this point to take the victim for their word and make no decisions regarding whether the harassment actually happened or not. The investigating officer must keep the information confidential, and begin the investigation expeditiously. At the core, they must also determine what interim measures to take during the course of investigation, such as suspending the parties to the investigation to allow for the investigation to continue and provide remedial leave for the victim.
