This part of the course unpacks in more detail what you know about safeguarding, particularly international standards and their application.

What is safeguarding? An animation

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What are safeguarding standards?

There is no international law or policy that works across all countries to govern what organisations can and should do to prevent and respond to safeguarding concerns.

Thankfully, international and national organisations working in development and humanitarian sectors can look to international standards which can be adopted into organisational policies that will support them to be in a better position to prevent and respond to harm.

These standards have been formulated to ensure organisations:

• Undertake safe selection and recruitment processes.
• Develop clear codes of conduct that set up expected standards of behaviour.
• Develop reporting mechanisms that are accessible and confidential.
• Deal professionally with cases and consequences of misconduct by understanding how to implement these policies and procedures effectively.

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Most organisations have a set of organisational values that support the way they work, although these values are not binding.

When it comes to safeguarding children, vulnerable adults and staff, national law is an important reference point. However, enforcement of that law may be lax and not all instances of misconduct are criminal in nature.

Therefore, it’s important for us to look to safeguarding standards to help us develop rules of behaviour in the work that we do so that we can hold ourselves accountable when working with children, vulnerable adults, and with each other.

Here is a list of international safeguarding standards which are relevant to organisations:

Inter-agency Standing Committee (IASC) Task Force 6 Core Principles on Preventing Sexual Abuse and Exploitation (amended in 2019) and the accompanying Minimum Operation Standards (also available as a PDF download at the bottom of this page) – these principles reinforce the UNSG Bulletin Eliminating Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and now apply across the international aid sector.

In 2018 and 2019 the major governmental donors who form the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the OECD agreed that their work on safeguarding should be strengthened as a result of certain cases that were highlighted in the press. So, all of their partners should adhere to the IASC 6 Core Principles (mentioned above) and/or the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability focused on Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (PSEAH) and greater accountability to communities.

Institutional donors have also included their own safeguarding requirements for organisations which receive funding from them as part of their due diligence processes and require them to provide evidence of their continued adherence. The notable donor requirements are the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) Enhanced Due Diligence Standards and the DAC Recommendation on Ending SEAH in Development Co-operation and Humanitarian Assistance: Key Pillars of Prevention and Response.

For standards when working with children and/or vulnerable adults around behaviour, you might also want to refer to the UK charity Keeping Children Safe and their published standards. For those working on research and data collection, refer to the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Safeguarding Standards.

Application of international SEAH standards

Those of you who completed the first introductory course will remember that we discussed how important it was for organisations to develop their safeguarding policies and procedures based on the international safeguarding standards you have just been reading. The course provided several checklists and activities to support learners in thinking about not only what should be in the policy but also how it would be applied in the work your organisation was involved in.

There are many instances where organisations have failed in their duty to prevent and respond appropriately to harm to people the organisation has contact with (namely staff, associated personnel, children and vulnerable adults). These international safeguarding standards have therefore come about to support organisations to implement safeguarding measures wherever they may be operating, and whatever their context.