Publisher

The Charity Commission (the Commission) has issued this alert to help trustees of international aid charities to improve their safeguarding practices. 

Trustees should read this alert and consider what further steps they could take to ensure they are keeping people safe from harm. Every trustee should have clear oversight of how safeguarding and protecting people from harm are managed within their charity. This means monitoring your performance, not just using statistics, but with supporting information. This will help you to understand common themes and identify risks and gaps so you can ensure they are addressed.

Evidence from recent reports suggests that underreporting of safeguarding incidents directly to international aid charities persists. The Commission recently contacted a sample of international aid charities and found that several had not received any safeguarding reports from third parties or partner agencies. A nil return in itself is not assurance that incidents are not occurring, as incidents may be going unreported. The local context, including cultural traditions, gender roles and differing justice systems, can lead to reporting barriers, as could the reporting mechanism itself.

Trustees should ensure that support is available to victims and survivors. Experts recommend a survivor-centred approach and this was echoed in the IDC’s recent report. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) define a survivor-centred approach to safeguarding as putting the victims’ or survivors’ needs at the centre of thinking, based on principles of safety, confidentiality, respect and non-discrimination. In such circumstances, your approach would therefore be tailored in order to factor in the victim’s or survivor’s individual and ongoing needs.

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Safeguarding Essentials