Charities have made new safeguarding commitments, including to ensure that the relationship between those delivering aid and those receiving it is equal, following a summit on safeguarding yesterday.
Yesterday Penny Mordaunt, international development secretary, set out the government’s plans. Bond, the umbrella body for international development charities, has now published a set of 12 commitments the sector will follow.
Bond said it has been working with its members for seven months to improve safeguarding policies and practices and that the document published yesterday evening “pulls this work together and demonstrates how the NGO sector will drive forwards consistency and leadership on safeguarding”.
Judith Brodie, interim chief executive of Bond, said yesterday’s summit “marks a turning point”.
“As a sector, we are determined to do all we can to ensure those we work with are safe and secure. This is about significant and sustainable change for the long-term.
“Our 12 commitments show we are raising the bar on safeguarding, but this isn’t just about words – our commitments are backed up by much needed action,” she added.
The 12 commitments are:
- Protecting the dignity and safety of the people our work serves
- Ensuring victims and survivors are central to our safeguarding response
- Being transparent and sharing progress
- Rigorous and inclusive reporting and complaints processes
- Driving cultural change and addressing structural inequalities from the top
- Collaborating to improve employment practice
- Applying internationally-recognised standards and practices
- Collaborating with other sectors to advance global safeguarding practice
- Ensuring policies and practices address vulnerable groups’ needs
- Improving and sharing expertise of staff, volunteers and trustees
- Creating equal relationships between organisations delivering and receiving aid
- Testing and scaling innovative technology solutions
Bond said that the commitments would lead to behaviour change to prevent abusers joining the aid sector, make sure whistle-blowers are listened to, help charities act on complaints and build better cultures.
Eight charities set out actions
After the summit eight of the UK’s major aid charities also issued a statement setting out “concrete actions”.
ActionAidUK, Cafod, Care International UK, Christian Aid, the International Rescue Committee UK, Oxfam GB, Plan International UK and Save the Children UK all promised to do better, build on the work done by Bond, and hold themselves accountable.
They said: “The vulnerability of the people we serve places a special duty of protection on us. Honouring the trust and expectation of the communities we serve is the single biggest priority for each of us. We will not rest until we can ensure that no one in our care is ever let down.
“To deliver truly transformational change, it is incumbent on all of us to recognise the power imbalances that sit at the heart of global poverty and injustice. To overcome these, we must confront the behaviours within our organisations that entrench them, and we must put the voices of women, children, marginalised social and economic groups, differently abled, LGBTQ and the aged first. Following today’s summit, we will continue to not just reform our systems but also to work in partnership with donors and global institutions, other development and humanitarian organisations, and – most importantly – affected communities, survivors and staff, to drive cultural change.”
Barriers to reporting abuse and harassment
The Department for International Development has also published the findings of a listening exercise with representatives of victims and survivors.
It said: “We have heard accounts of deep rooted power imbalances between the communities receiving aid and the aid workers delivering it (as well as between community members and other actors present). The power imbalance is often ‘gendered’ - the abuse is predominantly men abusing women and girls.”
The exercise also found that there were cultural and traditional barriers to change, as well as many victims and survivors feeling that nothing will be done, and that governance structures were partly to blame.
“Ineffective governance structures have often left a situation where no one individual is responsible and therefore accountable,” it said.
£20m in research funding from DfID
As part of the summit DfID announced £20m in research funding to improve understanding of the risks people affected by conflict face, including those subjected to sexual exploitation.
“The research will make a valuable contribution in helping to determine what can be done to avoid and mitigate the risks associated with exploitation and harm and what we all can do to effectively safeguard people who are trusting us to care for them,” the announcement said.
The United Nations also published a statement outlining its key commitments to tackle exploitation and abuse.
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