This page was created to share information resources on Safeguarding with the Choose Love Foundation grantees.

Choose Love 

In an ever-shifting global political context, the situations in which Choose Love and their partners work are often unstable. As humanitarian work with refugees and displaced people becomes increasingly criminalised, and as the communities Choose Love supports are often socially excluded and without recourse to adequate legal protection, Choose Love acknowledges the potential for abuse and exploitation and the extreme challenges in keeping people safe.

Safeguarding everyone who comes into contact with Choose Love through their work remains a top priority. Therefore Choose Love continues to strengthen their own systems and aims to respond swiftly to any historical or contemporary concern that is reported to them.

The similar level of concern is also expected from the partners of Choose Love with whom it cooperates.

Choose Love is accountable to its donors, board, its governing body and the Charity Commission.

 “Safeguarding is the responsibility of organisations to make sure their staff, operations, and programmes do no harm to children and adults at risk nor expose them to abuse or exploitation”.

“However, it is becoming good practice to think about how we safeguard everyone in our organisations at all times, including protecting staff from harm and inappropriate behaviour such as bullying and harassment”.

Source: Bond

About Safeguarding

The following text was developed by Resource and Support Hub for Eastern Europe.

Governments, NGOs, civil society organisations (CSOs), faith-based organisations and volunteers across Europe have mobilised to welcome and offer support to Ukrainian refugees and displaced people. Whilst this effort is welcomed, the crisis and its response present various safeguarding risks – where people providing services to refugees can inflict harm – including unintentionally – on refugees and displaced people.

This can include sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment (SEAH), physical violence, exploitation, discrimination, harassment or denial of services. These might occur at border crossings, in transit centres, and while accessing accommodation and services. Some individuals such as children, women, racial/ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQI+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex) individuals face particularly high risks.

Safeguarding means preventing harm to people in the delivery of development and humanitarian assistance. The Resource and Support Hub for Eastern Europe understands safeguarding as taking all reasonable steps to prevent harm from occurring both to the recipients of aid and to people delivering it, and responding appropriately when harm occurs. 

It is well known that aid programmes can result in negative consequences to local populations. For example, it has been widely documented that sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) have occurred during the delivery of humanitarian and development assistance around the world. (See this report for a summary of the global evidence of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment (SEAH) in the aid sector.)

However, safeguarding also includes other forms of harm which are less well reported, including physical violence, bullying, harassment, discrimination and denial of services during the delivery of aid. Safeguarding also includes specific measures to keep children safe, often referred to as child safeguarding.

Read explanation of of different terms at Resource and Support Hub for Eastern Europe

Having strong and effective safeguarding policy and practice is essential for CSOs to carry out their work without causing harm to the people they serve. It also helps build trust between CSOs and local communities. Furthermore, international donors are committed to a sector that is free from harm and abuse. They are guided by global standards.

It is therefore important that CSOs have safeguarding measures in place and/or can show that they are working to put them in place. This document explains how the global standards on safeguarding and Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Sexual Harassment relate to the humanitarian response to the war on Ukraine.

See more at Resource and Support Hub for Eastern Europe

 

Background 

Safeguarding grew from a child protection but in last ten years the importance of safeguarding raised for the NGOs staff, be it employees, representatives, volunteers, external consultants or media representatives. I.e. for anyone who works for the organization.

Why was there such a shift in safeguarding in last years?

In past ten years, there were cases of serious incidents or abuse of power in the humanitarian sector committed by volunteers or staff working for various different international humanitarian organizations. And these incidents got a huge media coverage.

Since then, a huge wave of call to consciousness and responsibility of humanitarian sector raised.

NGO sector cannot have blind trust in people though they would offer their volunteer work. Also volunteers must be checked and their references including police record must be checked if recommended for any position working with people in risks.

Every organization needs to take responsibility that all people are safe.

How can organisations make it happen?

Prevention

Establishing a strong Safegaurding policy base and Code of Conduct

Committing to and promoting a strong Safeguarding culture.

Hiring the right people.

Developing an easy reporting system.

Appointing a safeguarding lead at operation and board level

Appointing focal points for larger/multi-site operations

Clear communication pathways – internal and with external stakeholders.

Promotion

Promoting awareness about safeguarding through induction, training and refresher training. Ensuring all stakeholders are aware of expectations and reporting systems.

Responding

Taking action when concerns arise.

Developing Safeguarding capacity for your organisation 

➢ Connect with a Safeguarding consultant via Non Profit Builder.

➢ Identify a contact person(s) in your organisation.

In the beginning, you would work in a team of people from your organization. Your operations, social workers are important people who might reflect the areas of potential risks. For policy framework development and safeguarding implementation, your board representatives will be necessary.

➢ Start discussing with the consultant the areas of potential risks in your organization.

Do not forget to make new risk assessment every year. Especially, when you start with risks assessment, you may not see all the potential risks that can occur in your organization.

➢ Start working on your policy framework documents to meet at least the minimum standards in Safeguarding, or improve your existing policy framework.

Code of Conduct is your basis where you have in written what behavior you want people to express. And what behavior is not allowed in your organization, neither in person, nor online.

The Safeguarding Policy is umbrella policy which describes what happens when the misconduct goes beyond the limits of desired behavior.

➢ Develop an implementation strategy in Safeguarding so that all staff is aware of the rules set in the policy framework. And all staff knows what happens in incident occurs.