Lyons and Caves Oh My: Week 2
Last weekend I took a day trip to Lyon, France. Immediately upon crossing the border into France the “international” data plan I had selected at a kiosk in the mall my first day in Geneva revealed itself as being anything but international. Two hours of wandering Lyon trying to pronounce “SIM” in a French accent later, and I was off to exploring. Though, arguably, my exploring started the moment I tracked down a chocolate croissant about ten minutes after stepping foot outside the train station. This week, I ate a croissant every day and I consider it a personal goal met.
I also researched how other NGO’s handle risk management. A risk management plan is a broad framework an organization can use to plan how their policies and procedures will play out in various situations. This allows the organization to see and fill gaps in order to protect against liability. Since IBJ does not have a risk management plan, I started asking questions. Such as, when staff travel to conflict areas, is IBJ’s travel and entertainment policy alongside a procedure for travel preparation that includes signing a travel waiver enough to protect IBJ? After dividing the sections of risk management with my trusty W&M Law colleague, Jamie, I began researching various harassment policies and procedures. Possibly, this breadth of research into workplace sexual harassment fueled my chocolate croissant obsession. Interestingly, the protocols for reporting did not seem to change dependent on the size of the organization, or whether the organization separated sexual and other harassment within their overarching policy. My plan for the upcoming week is to draft a more expansive harassment policy, as well write reporting procedures that IBJ currently does not have in place.
This weekend Jamie and I went to Caves Ouvertes, a day-long wine festival where all eighty of the canton’s wineries have open tastings. Although we did not get to all eighty, we did have some of the best wine I have ever had, in a setting fit for a postcard, after managing to run into friends I met my first week here.
