In this section we look at the importance of safeguarding children and adults with disabilities and explore the importance of including them and their carers when developing safeguarding measures to prevent harm.
NARRATOR: Children with disabilities are more likely to experience harm than other children. They are more likely to live in poverty, more likely to be institutionalised, and more likely to experience discrimination. They are four times more likely
to suffer abuse and three times more likely to be victims of sexual violence. All children, including children with disabilities, have the right to be protected from this abuse. And as practitioners, the responsibility is on us. We need to take
extra precaution to protect them. We need to make safeguarding a priority. We need to raise awareness of the specific and increased risk children with disabilities face, by asking them about their own experiences and take action accordingly.
Children with disabilities have the right to report the harm they experience. We need to create accessible reporting mechanisms that children of disabilities can use and ensure that all incidences concerning them are reported. And finally, we need
to respond to every incident, communicating the response to the child in an accessible and sensitive way. We must and can do better to ensure our work protects all children.
Watch the video above by Able Child Africa on promoting disability-inclusive safeguarding guidelines. This may provide you with some ideas for the activities that follow.
How to prevent harm to people with disabilities
People with disabilities also have a right to be protected from harm as well as a right to participate, and organisations who have contact with them must ensure this.
It is widely recognised that this group is more at risk from abuse and exploitation, so we must identify this risk and prevent harm from occurring.
Activity 3.3 Why are people with disabilities even more at risk?
(Allow 15 minutes)
The table below has a list of some of the reasons why people with disabilities are even more at risk of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. For each reason try and think of one or more mitigating measures that would prevent harm
from occurring and write your responses in the second column. If you are aware of additional reasons, you can add them below.
People with disabilities – blank template
Here is a writable version of the template shown below. You can type into this PDF form and then save it and/or print it.
The table below has some suggestions of mitigation actions – you may have been able to think of many other strategies for mitigation. Here is a PDF version of this table
If you want to learn more about safeguarding and disability, follow the links below.
Case study – people with sight and hearing difficulties
Sense International is an international NGO working with people with sight and hearing difficulties.
Their work includes early identification of children who need support, helping the development of suitable school and home-based education, and offering vocational training. As well as campaigning for change, Sense International also works to strengthen
local organisations and groups to support people with ‘deafblindness’ a combination of vision and hearing impairments, also described as multi-sensory impairment (MSI).
In Kenya, Sense International received a grant to implement a three-year disability inclusion project entitled Learning for all:
inclusive education for learners with complex disabilities with the aim of
improving developmental outcomes for children with complex disabilities in two
rural counties.
The organisation has a full range of safeguarding procedures and policies in place, but because of their work with this particular group of beneficiaries they have had to consider how to promote them to make them meaningful and enhance prevention.
To do this they have used social media, local radio stations and accessible safeguarding awareness materials. They have also developed a video for parents of children with complex disabilities to help them try to create a safe environment for when their
children have contact with agency workers.
EDWIN OSUNDWA: Dear parents, this video has been put together to help increase understanding on safeguarding. I believe that by the end of this video, you will have a better appreciation of what safeguarding is and how it’s important
to the children and young adults that we work with.
MUTHAMI MUTIE: At Sense International Kenya, safeguarding is about ensuring the safety and wellbeing of everyone with whom we work with. It involves recognising the type of harm that would happen within our operating environment, then
putting in strategies to stop this from happening. Harm can happen in many ways. It could be sexual abuse, it could be physical abuse, it could be emotional abuse, it could also be a neglect, can come in the form of exploitation.
Harm can happen in different locations, such as at home, at school, in the community and health facility. And at Sense International Kenya, we recognise that fact.
EDWIN OSUNDWA: Safeguarding policies first and foremost help organisations to actually put across a statement about what they stand for on the question of safeguarding. The second thing is that when you have policy, you have a uniform
understanding of what the organisation draws from as it actually implements safeguarding measures.
MUTHAMI MUTIE: By ‘do not harm’ principle at Sense International, we’ve made sure that the people that you work with and for are not harming in any way. Secondly, in terms of our programmes, that the way we design our programmes, the
way we implement our programmes or monitor our programmes, they do not cause any harm to our beneficiaries. Our operations, for example, the way we communicate does not cause any harm to the people that we are communicating with.
The fourth area is around accountability where at Sense International Kenya, we ensure that we monitor and review our safeguarding measures.
EDWIN OSUNDWA: We have developed a mechanism, a system of reporting, which ensures that there is confidentiality right from the time the complaint is launched, which ensures that there is a review in place to ensure that the complaint
is addressed in a timely manner.
MUTHAMI MUTIE: We encourage everyone and anyone to report any safeguarding concerns that you have as a result of our work, our operations, our staff and associates through the channels that we’ve established. Those includes an email
address, a telephone line that you can SMS, that you can call, that you can WhatsApp. We are committed to ensure that those reports once received, are well-handled according to our existing safeguarding systems and policies in
place. And we will follow them through and address them and give you feedback on the outcome of our findings.
Activity 3.4 Creating a more secure environment
Watch the video above.
Think about how your organisation could learn to be more inclusive in safeguarding and record your response in your learning journal.
The use of video is another way of trying to ensure that beneficiaries are aware of safeguarding issues and empowering them to report concerns. In this instance the target group are the parents of children with disabilities which is
one way of trying to create a more secure environment for the children. The use of sign language can also make such messages more accessible.
Everyone supporting with disabilities needs to understand their requirements. Sharing information among all these parties, including their families where appropriate, might be necessary to have a full understanding of the impacts of
the disability
Organisations might also learn to be more inclusive in safeguarding by taking a sample of their programme risk registers and reviewing the identified safeguarding risks for vulnerable groups. Where they are falling short remedial action
should be taken. It is necessary to keep risk registers and other policies up to date and to make sure they are actionable and effective.
How did you assess the inclusivity of your own organisations approach to safeguarding?
Promoting safeguarding with caregivers
Having watched the video in the previous section, you will have learnt that Sense International in Kenya communicated the importance of safeguarding to parents of children with sensory difficulties to help create a protective environment.
They did this by uploading a safeguarding video onto Android tablets. The parents from each county were trained on how to use the Android devices, how to access the video, the importance of the video and how to take care of the devices. They were encouraged
to watch at home together with their children with complex disabilities and other family members.
The agency opted to use video technology rather than more traditional ways such as print because:
Parents and others can watch the video at their own pace and in a more relaxed environment at home.
They are easily accessible to all parents, most of whom have low literacy levels.
Others in the family can also watch them, thus ensuring a child with complex disabilities receives care from all members of the family.
It is more cost effective and environmentally friendly compared to printed materials.
In addition, telephone interviews were conducted with a sample of 12 parents to try to evaluate whether or not the information about safeguarding had been understood. It is important to try and evaluate whether our strategies are proving successful.
MUTHAMI MUTIE: My name is Muthami Mutie. I’m the safeguarding focal point person for Sense International, Kenya. And my role is to champion safeguarding practices and support implementation of policies and practices at country level
here in Kenya.
Children with complex disabilities such as deaf blindness, which is combined visual and hearing impairment, are among the most marginalised and vulnerable in society even among the population of people with disabilities. It is very
important that children with complex disabilities are supported to move around, to learn, to communicate, and to gain basic education. This need for support exposes them to safeguarding risks including abuse or even harm. In this
Covid-19 era, children with complex disabilities are highly vulnerable because of their high need dependency.
Through our inclusive education project, we have demonstrated that children with complex disabilities can learn in school with the support of learning support assistance who are providing education support in a mainstream school. We’ve
also ensured that children with complex disabilities can acquire school preparedness skills for later inclusion in schools by the support of trained parents.
As an organisation, we’ve established safeguarding feedback mechanisms where we regularly capture the voices of our beneficiaries in project design, implementation, and evaluation. We do so using focus group discussions, home visits,
and during this Covid pandemic time to using telephone interviews. So, we use that information to come up with videos that are designed to give information on a wide range of issues, including safeguarding. We loaded these videos
into Android devices, some of which are solar charged, and trained parents on how to assess them and how to use them. These videos clearly explain what is safeguarding, shows our commitment to safeguarding as an organisation, how
to report any safeguarding concerns, or our response mechanisms to any cases that are reported.
We’ve gone ahead even to establish reporting mechanisms, including telephone lines where a beneficiary can call, text or even WhatsApp. All in-country staff are also fully involved in the design of projects, where we identify specific
projects safeguarding risks and come up with mitigation strategies that respond to the needs of our beneficiaries that also fit in our contexts, and ensuring that these safeguarding activities are well budgeted for.
As for all new concepts, definitely takes time, effort, and investment for it to be accepted and embraced. Safeguarding also requires that. So, we are constantly ensuring we put in the time, the resources to support all our partners
to have strong safeguarding systems. A number of our partners are basically community based. They are small organisations, and you are finding that they are poorly resourced to implement safeguarding practices and policies. In
terms of opportunities, Sense International, Kenya, we work well with government and other agencies as key partners and collaborators in our projects. We have worked with them over the years to ensure that children with complex
disabilities are basically safe in schools.
We have developed a comprehensive safeguarding checklist that we use to identify safeguarding practices, to identify gaps, and develop joint action plans with our partners. In that way, we will be confident that any interaction our
partners have with beneficiaries that it is safe way. Now we use these action plans that are developed jointly to support our partners to develop or to strengthen their safeguarding systems and policies. Not only that, but going
to the extent of training of such personnel in safeguarding. For example, we recently trained our partners in schools, called Learning Support Assistance in Safeguarding, to the point that one parent say, I feel safe when I leave
my son in the hands of his assigned learning support assistants in school.
Activity 3.5 The safeguarding work of Sense International
Watch the video above in which Muthami Mutie, the safeguarding focal point for Sense International Kenya, talks about the safeguarding work of this agency.
As you watch, note in your journal what your organisation could learn from these examples of practice.
Every organisation will be at a different stage in ensuring all their safeguarding policies and practices are fully inclusive. If you are still in the process of developing these then hopefully these examples will have prompted some
ideas. As Muthami points out in the last video, it is important to think about not just your own organisation but also the partners that you work with.
Prevention checklist
Able Child Africa has devised a tool to challenge shifting attitudes and practices when working with children with disabilities.
This ‘prevention checklist’ could be used to audit your organisational safeguarding policies and procedures in order to promote more disability-inclusive child safeguarding.
Activity 3.6 Prevention checklist
(Allow 15 minutes)
Review the checklist below and discuss with others in your organisation how you might use this tool to review policy and practice.
The list could be used as a guide or a tool to measure a partner's capacity to implement safeguarding measures. There is also the possibility that it could have wider reach if it was adapted for other vulnerable groups. The checklist
could be used to audit organisational safeguarding policies and procedures both internally and externally.
Budgeting to ensure safety measures are implemented is an important point. It is often forgotten or thought about too late to make it meaningful.
