Safeguarding

We are working to ensure organisations are equipped to prevent sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment across the international development sector.

Our commitment to prevent sexual exploitation in the sector

We recognise that in some cases the sector has fallen short in terms of safeguarding and let down the vulnerable people we work with. Bond’s members have been working to improve their safeguarding policies and practices, building on the best examples from the aid and UK domestic sector. Our commitment to change in safeguarding pulls this work together and demonstrates how the NGO sector is driving forwards consistency and leadership on safeguarding so we all reach the same standards and work together to protect people from sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

See our 12 commitments and 34 related actions to drive change in safeguarding.

Progress and actions

Bond convened four cross-sector working groups to take practical steps towards the commitments in four areas:

  • Accountability to people we work with
  • Organisational culture
  • The employment cycle and safer recruitment practice
  • Reports and complaints mechanisms

The working groups have collaborated on a series of projects and developed guidance to improve safeguarding practices across these themes. You can find out more about the groups’ progress and the outputs they’ve delivered. If you’re a Bond member, you can join our safeguarding workin group, and online space to share ideas, resources and good practice around safeguarding issues in our members’ area.

Safeguarding and Covid-19

Incidents of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment can increase during emergencies or pandemics, such as the current Covid-19 outbreak, so organisations must ensure they’re aware of the increased risks and how to mitigate those to prevent harm.

We have collated and are signposting to a number of useful resources on safeguarding and PSEA in the context of Covid-19 on our coronavirus resource pages.

Guidance and training

We’ve gathered background information, guidance and resources, training opportunities and information on regulators’ requirements to support members in driving up safeguarding standards across their organisations.

We run two training courses: Good safeguarding practice and Managing safeguarding investigations. Contact us about Safeguarding governance for boards of trustees – a bespoke workshop delivered in-house for your organisation.