Fiotec professionals met with Unitaid representative Nicolas Peniche to discuss the institution’s breakthroughs in the fight against moral and sexual harassment. The meeting was held on May 9, one year after the first meeting on this subject, involving the two organizations.

Fiotec’s Governance and Quality Manager, Luanara Damasceno, was in charge of presenting the actions developed by the institution between January 2022 and May this year, such as the publication of the Code of Ethical and Conduct Policy for the Prevention of Fraud and Corruption, in addition to advances in the Participative Strategic Planning (Pepar).

Damasceno also mentioned the work involved in developing Fiotec’s Denunciation and Hospitality Line, which will work as a platform for the institution’s professionals to give their active contribution to build a culture of integrity. Asked by Peniche on how to evaluate whether people are actually learning with the published policies and codes, Damasceno emphasized that courses and workshops on the subject must be implemented and terms of acknowledgment must be signed after their conclusion. Repeated dissemination of materials through Fiotec’s communication channels, according to Damasceno, is another important strategy in the fight against harassment in the work place.

The representative of Unitaid’s legal team was clearly satisfied with the breakthroughs made by Fiotec in these 12 months. In 2022, the institution’s Code of Ethics and Conduct was still waiting to be approved. Peniche then mentioned what may be the greatest challenge to the fight against harassment in jointly managed projects: how do we define co-responsibility between Fiotec and Fiocruz coordinations, to align the different codes and policies published by the institutions?

Unitaid, represented by Nicolas Peniche, is an arm of the World Health Organization (WHO) and sponsors important projects managed by Fiotec, such as the Cuida Chagas consortium and ImPrEP. In addition to Peniche and Damasceno, the meeting was attended by Fiotec’s technical director, Cristiane Sendim, International Projects Coordinator, Lidiane Lima, accompanied by team professionals Camilla Portugal, Thaiany Medeiros and Pedro Tavares, and by Abrahão Nepomuceno, Governance and Quality analyst.

The next meeting, to follow up on the actions developed by Fiotec, is expected to take place in 2024. Until then, the institution has committed itself to sending updates on the main advances made to fight harassment.