Safeguarding

1. Who and what this applies to

Safeguarding expectations apply to trustees or leaders, staff, volunteers, contractors, consultants, visitors, partners, vendors, photographers, storytellers, and anyone representing the foundation. They apply during programs, meetings, travel, distributions, events, home or community visits, online contact, data collection, fundraising, photography, and communications.

A child is any person under 18. An adult at risk may be unable to protect themselves from abuse, neglect, or exploitation because of disability, illness, age, displacement, dependency, crisis, unequal power, or another circumstance. Safeguarding also considers risks to community members, reporters, and representatives.

2. Forms of concern

Concerns can include physical, sexual, or emotional abuse; neglect; exploitation; trafficking; harassment; grooming; discrimination; coercion; unsafe supervision; misuse of images or data; retaliation; financial exploitation; harmful traditional practices; abuse of authority; boundary violations; or a failure to act on a known risk.

A concern may arise from something witnessed, disclosed, suspected, reported by another person, identified through records, or observed online. You do not need to prove that harm occurred before making a good-faith report.

3. Expected conduct

4. Prevention and safer delivery

• Role design: define responsibilities, supervision, access, and conduct before recruitment or deployment.
• Proportionate screening: identity, references, declarations, and lawful background checks where relevant and available.
• Briefing and learning: explain expected conduct, reporting routes, confidentiality, and context-specific risks.
• Activity risk assessment: review location, transport, ratios, accessibility, photography, data, distribution, and emergency arrangements.
• Participation and consent: provide understandable information, respect refusal, and seek appropriate permission without treating consent as a substitute for safety.
• Safe feedback: ensure participants can raise concerns without relying solely on the person delivering the activity.
• Partner requirements: agree responsibilities, reporting timelines, referral routes, records, and consequences for breach.

5. How to report a concern

Share what happened or was disclosed, who may be at risk, when and where it occurred, immediate safety needs, and how you can be contacted. Record the person’s own words where possible. Do not confront the alleged person, seek graphic detail, conduct interviews, or circulate the report.

You may report anonymously, but this can limit clarification and follow-up. A good-faith report is welcomed even when it is not ultimately substantiated. Deliberately malicious allegations are different from honest concerns.

6. How we respond

1. Receive and record: preserve essential facts and acknowledge the report when contact details are available.
2. Protect immediate safety: identify urgent medical, security, separation, evidence-preservation, or referral needs.
3. Assign without conflict: direct the matter to an appropriate person who is not implicated in the concern.
4. Refer where required: involve competent statutory, law-enforcement, medical, or specialist services according to risk and applicable law.
5. Decide and document: record actions, rationale, limitations, outcome, and any employment, partnership, or program measures.
6. Learn: address control gaps and communicate lessons without exposing affected people.

We cannot promise a particular outcome or timeline because cases differ in seriousness, location, legal duties, available evidence, and external-authority involvement. We aim to communicate appropriately without compromising privacy, safety, or a fair process.

7. Confidentiality, records, and images

Safeguarding information is shared only with people who need it to protect someone, assess the report, meet a legal duty, or manage an appropriate response. Absolute confidentiality cannot be guaranteed. Records should be factual, access-controlled, retained for an appropriate safeguarding or legal period, and protected from casual circulation.

Stories and images must not expose a child’s location, health, family circumstances, school, or identity where this creates risk. Consent must be meaningful and appropriate, but consent alone does not justify unsafe or undignified publication.

8. Partners, accountability, and non-retaliation

Material partners should have compatible safeguarding expectations, named reporting contacts, clear referral routes, and a duty to notify relevant concerns promptly. Failure to report, obstruction, retaliation, or serious breach may lead to suspension, removal from activity, ending a relationship, or external referral, subject to fair and lawful process.

No person should suffer intimidation or disadvantage for raising a genuine concern or participating honestly in a safeguarding response. Support needs for the affected person, reporter, witnesses, and others should be considered without compromising independence or safety.

9. Review and limitations

Safeguarding arrangements should be reviewed after serious incidents, material near misses, program changes, new partnerships, or changes in law and context. This public page explains our framework; it does not replace local emergency procedures, statutory duties, or a case-specific response plan.