Child safeguarding in community programmes
How to keep children safe in community programmes: the four child safeguarding standards, safe recruitment, behaviour rules, reporting and risk assessment.
Short answer
Child safeguarding is an organisation's responsibility to make sure its staff, operations and programmes do no harm to children, and to report concerns about children's safety in the communities where it works. Use four standards: a policy, trained people, safe procedures, and accountability. Assess risks in every activity, recruit carefully and offer safe reporting routes.
Key points
- Child safeguarding is about harm that your staff, operations and programmes could cause.
- Four standards: Policy, People, Procedures, Accountability.
- Assess child safety risks in every programme, whatever its focus.
- Recruit with safeguarding questions and reference checks.
- Offer several reporting routes, and do not read silence as safety.
What is child safeguarding?
Keeping Children Safe, the international child safeguarding network, describes child safeguarding as the responsibility that organisations have to make sure their staff, operations and programmes do no harm to children, that is, that they do not expose children to the risk of harm and abuse. It adds that any concerns the organisation has about children's safety in the communities where it works must be reported to the appropriate authorities.
The CHS Alliance PSEAH handbook defines a child as any individual under 18, regardless of local definitions of adulthood. Child safeguarding is different from child protection, which prevents and responds to violence, exploitation and abuse in a wider sense. See our article on safeguarding basics for the wider picture.
What are the four standards?
The Keeping Children Safe International Child Safeguarding Standards cover four areas.
| Standard | What it asks |
|---|---|
| Policy | A policy, approved by the management body, that applies to all staff and associates and reflects children's rights |
| People | Clear responsibilities, safe recruitment, written guidelines on behaviour, and guidance for engaging partners, communities and children |
| Procedures | Local mapping of services, risk assessments, integration into existing systems and a locally appropriate reporting and response process |
| Accountability | Regular monitoring, reporting of progress and lessons, and review of policies, with external evaluation every three years |
You can use the table as a self-assessment: write "yes", "partly" or "no" for each line, with evidence.
How do I assess risk in community programmes?
KCS says all projects must be designed to minimise risk of harm to the children they contact or affect, directly or indirectly, whatever the focus of the work. Organisations must determine their context, risk assess all proposed programmes, adapt programmes to make them safer and include additional safety strategies during implementation.
A simple risk review for each activity:
- List contact points. Where do staff, volunteers or contractors meet children: classes, child-friendly spaces, distributions, transport, photography?
- Spot the risks. Look for unsupervised contact, private spaces, informal gifts, online messages, and photographs.
- Add controls. Use two adults, open spaces, sign-in rules, no private contact and consent for images.
- Assign owners and check them at monitoring visits.
- Record and review each quarter, with child safeguarding in your wider risk register. See risk register.
Good practice is to be prepared not to implement a programme where safeguarding risks have not been assessed and minimised, or where inherent risks to children are unacceptable.
How do I recruit safely?
KCS gives practical steps. Outline your commitment to child safeguarding at the earliest stage, in adverts, interviews and contracts. Include the safeguarding responsibility in job descriptions. Ask about safeguarding at every interview, including questions about attitudes and values on child protection, and take references, verifying referees. Make job offers for roles with access to children depend on suitable references and, where possible, criminal record checks. Consider probation periods.
In Myanmar, formal records may not always be available. Use several references, community knowledge where appropriate, and a strong code of conduct. Do not treat checks as a substitute for supervision and training.
What should the behaviour rules say?
KCS says there should be written guidelines on appropriate and inappropriate behaviour of adults towards children, and of children towards other children. Keep the rules short and concrete:
- Do not be alone with a child in a private space.
- Do not give gifts or favours to individual children.
- Do not use physical punishment or humiliating language.
- Do not take or share photos without informed consent from the child and a parent or guardian.
- Do not contact children privately online.
- Report any concern immediately.
Brief every staff member, volunteer and contractor, and have them sign after the briefing.
How can children and communities report concerns?
KCS notes that reporting procedures should include reports made by children and communities, and lists mechanisms used: trusted child safety officers, complaints boxes, helplines and community-based child protection mechanisms. It warns that anonymous complaints are hard to follow up and may put children at further risk. It also says that a lack of reports is more likely to mean policies and procedures are not working well than that abuse is not happening.
Choose at least two routes, explain them in child-friendly language, and test with children and parents. Pair this with your complaints and feedback system.
How do I handle a concern?
Stop any ongoing risk, ensure the child's safety, report to your focal point, keep information confidential, and refer to local child protection services as appropriate. Take advice on local law and donor rules, since duties differ. Do not question the child beyond what is needed to keep them safe.
How EMPO can help
EMPO is a reliable, Myanmar-based training and consultancy provider and one of the country's leading names in practical NGO training, with 1,200+ people trained and 15 partner organisations. We help teams build policies and skills, online over Zoom or in person across Myanmar, in English and Burmese. See our services or contact us.
Sources
- The International Child Safeguarding Standards — Keeping Children Safe
- International Child Safeguarding Standards (full text) — Keeping Children Safe, 2024
- PSEAH Implementation Quick Reference Handbook — CHS Alliance, 2020
Questions people ask
Who counts as a child?
The CHS Alliance PSEAH handbook defines a child as any person under 18, whatever the local age of adulthood.
Do we need to report abuse that happens in the community, not caused by us?
The Keeping Children Safe standards say the organisation still has a responsibility to report suspected or actual abuse it learns of, to the formal authorities or, where they are weak or corrupt, to organisations able to deal with it. Take local advice first so reporting does not put children at more risk.
Are anonymous complaint boxes enough?
Not alone. Keeping Children Safe notes anonymous complaints are hard to follow up and may put children at further risk. Offer several options, such as a trusted focal person, a helpline and a community mechanism.