Safeguarding Policy

This policy sets out Laudes Foundation’s key principles and approach to safeguarding Children and Adults at risk who may be affected by Laudes Foundation’s work.

Why do we have this policy?
Unless individuals feel safe and are treated well, with dignity and respect, it is impossible for them to realise their full potential or to fully benefit from the economic opportunities and development activities intended for them. To facilitate this, Laudes Foundation undertakes a coordinated approach to preventing harm to children and adults at risk. It also advocates the safety and welfare of Children and Adults at risk as a priority in its dealings with all stakeholders.

In recognition of this, the objectives of this policy are:

To ensure partner organisations are committed to safeguarding Children and Adults at risk and that their policies, procedures and behaviours reflect this commitment.
To prevent harm, abuse, and exploitation of Children and Adults at risk who come in contact with Laudes Foundation’s employees or programmes delivered directly or through partners.
To ensure Laudes Foundation Stakeholders are aware of Laudes Foundation’s commitment to safeguarding and their individual responsibility to uphold that commitment.

Scope
This policy applies to all Laudes Foundation Stakeholders (Employees of Laudes Foundation, any other individuals who fulfill a formal role in a team, board, investment or advisory committee, or other governance body of Laudes Foundation, and interns).

Partner organisations are not expected to follow this policy. However, they are encouraged to develop their own safeguarding measures tailored to their organisation and context. For more information, please refer to the section in this policy titled “Expectations of partner organisations.”

Related policies/procedures

Ombudspersons: Laudes Foundation has engaged three external ombudspersons, who are independent from Laudes Foundation as an organisation and will treat any reports they receive confidentially. Laudes Foundation stakeholders and can contact the ombudspersons as set out in the Whistleblowing Policy.

I. Key principles underpinning Laudes Foundation’s approach to Safeguarding

Laudes Foundation is committed to preventing harm to children and adults at risk and has a zero-tolerance approach to any form of harm to Children and Adults at risk.
The best interests of Children and Adults at risk shall be central to all decisions and actions relating to safeguarding.
All Children and Adults at risk shall be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, religion, physical, mental or other disability, social, civic or health status, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic disadvantages, indigenous status, or migration status.
Confidentiality shall be maintained at all process stages when dealing with safeguarding concerns. Information relating to the concern and subsequent case management will be shared on a need-to-know basis only, and the information will be kept secure at all times.
To strengthen our ability to provide a safe and protective environment in all work areas, all employees are appropriately vetted before they begin working at Laudes Foundation.

II. Laudes Foundation’s approach to safeguarding

Awareness and prevention

Laudes Foundation commits to ensuring all existing employees and new joiners are aware of Laudes Foundation’s commitment to safeguarding and their individual responsibilities to uphold that commitment. To ensure the effective implementation of the Policy, Laudes Foundation commits to ensuring employees receive training, support, and resources.
Laudes Foundation commits to collaborating and supporting partner organisations to ensure adequate safeguarding frameworks are in place. By signing a grant agreement with Laudes Foundation, the partner organisation confirms – in so far, its work involves work with Children or Adults at Risk – its commitment to (i) safeguard children and/or adults at risk its work involves, and (ii) have and comply with an appropriate safeguarding policy. These commitments will be the basis for programmatic staff to engage partners on safeguarding periodically throughout the grant cycle.
Laudes Foundation expects all employees to follow the standards of behaviour set out in the applicable organisational Code of Ethics at all times, including during partner organisations’ visits and events. Anyone in breach of the Code of Ethics may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal or termination of employment or other arrangements with Laudes Foundation.
Laudes Foundation shall designate safeguarding officers to coordinate the implementation of this policy, including:
- Ensuring that partner organisations’ risk level is assessed by programmatic employees and recorded on the database.
- Ensuring programmatic employees carry out partner organisations’ Safeguarding Assessment diligently.
- Managing any safeguarding concern reported to Laudes Foundation.
- Ensuring all safeguarding support to partner organisations through consultants is successfully concluded.
- Ensuring Laudes Foundation’s policies and procedures are periodically updated and aligned with recommended best practice.

Reporting

Laudes Foundation is committed to ensuring a culture of openness and accountability where individuals at partner organisations and other stakeholders feel confident and comfortable raising safeguarding incidents without fear of reprisal and knowing that matters will be investigated appropriately and confidentially.
To uphold that commitment, Laudes Foundation recognises that safeguarding incidents may be reported by various persons, and it therefore has appropriate reporting mechanisms in place for each:
- Individuals at partner organisations: individuals working at partner organisations who wish to report safeguarding incidents can report directly to programmatic staff at Laudes Foundation.
- Other stakeholders and/or anonymous reporting: stakeholders who do not have a direct relationship with a Laudes Foundation Stakeholder and/or wish to report safeguarding incidents anonymously can report via the Laudes whistleblowing e-mail address.

Responding and investigating

All Safeguarding incidents reported through any of the above three reporting channels will ultimately be received by Safeguarding Officers, who will coordinate the response to the safeguarding incident with support from Laudes Foundation Incident Management Coordinator.
Laudes Foundation shall take all reported safeguarding concerns and incidents seriously and shall not retaliate against anyone who reports such concerns or incidents.

If a safeguarding report involves a Laudes Foundation Stakeholder, Laudes Foundation will respond promptly, ensuring that a confidential and impartial process and appropriate action will be taken based on the findings, including possible disciplinary measures. The safety of those affected and the integrity of the process will be Laudes Foundation’s priority.

III. Expectations of partner organisations

Laudes Foundation expects all partner organisations to implement our Minimum Safeguarding Standards. Such standards provide a benchmark to assess current and potential partners' safeguarding policies and procedures. Programmatic staff is responsible for ensuring that partners are aware of the Minimum Safeguarding Standards and adhere to them or similar standards.
When gaps in partner organisations’ safeguarding frameworks are identified (or in their absence), Laudes Foundation shall facilitate and support their capacity strengthening to help them ameliorate (or develop, as applicable) and implement safeguarding policies and procedures. This can include support through financial resources and/or technical advisory from seasoned safeguarding consultants, to ensure adequate safeguards are in place.
Laudes Foundation expects all partner organisations to observe what is explained under the subsection titled “Responding and investigating” plus the following:
- Laudes Foundation requires all partners to inform them of any serious safeguarding incident immediately.
- Laudes Foundation expects all partner organisations to investigate and document each case and the corresponding actions taken, keeping this information safe and confidential and fully informing Laudes Foundation on the outcome of the process in a timely manner.
- Report serious concerns to local authorities according to local legislation.
- Report the outcome of the investigation to relevant external bodies such as Charity Commission (UK) or equivalent in other geographies.
- If Laudes Foundation has concerns over partners’ investigative procedures, it may commission an independent investigation.

Laudes Foundation can decide at its discretion to discontinue its engagement with a partner organisation if it does not adequately address safeguarding and protection issues.

IV. How it works
Laudes Foundation has developed internal Safeguarding Work instructions that describe in more detail the procedures in place and what measures are taken by Laudes Foundation to ensure that the organisation complies with this policy. Laudes Foundation employees worldwide and instructed people on behalf of Laudes Foundation are obliged to bind the obligations towards the partners of Laudes Foundation and to check compliance with such obligations. The Safeguarding Work Instructions further describe the safeguarding requirements required of third parties Laudes Foundation engages with, including partners and consultants.

Definitions

Safeguarding: Laudes Foundation understands safeguarding to mean promoting and protecting people’s health, well-being, and human rights, and enabling them to live free of harm, exploitation, and abuse. A safeguarding approach entails identifying and minimising the risk of harm to staff at partner organisations as well as children and adults at risk they encounter through their activities. Thus, safeguarding means taking all reasonable steps to prevent harm that arises from coming into contact with our employees, representatives, partner organisations, and their community members in the delivery of programmes.

Finally, safeguarding includes taking steps to protect staff at partner organisations, children and adults at risk, from harm by responding appropriately when harm does occur.

Adults at risk: persons over the age of 18 who, for any reason (for example their age, gender, ethnicity, religion, physical, mental or other disability, social, civic or health status, sexual orientation, gender identity, economic disadvantages, indigenous status, or migration status) may be more likely to be adversely affected by a Laudes Foundation funded project, or may be unable to protect themselves from significant harm or exploitation.
Children: persons under the age of 18, irrespective of the age of adulthood in the country where they live;
Safeguarding incident: means an allegation or conviction against a partner stakeholder (e.g., a member of the community served, a member of staff, a trustee, an intern, or a volunteer) relating to actual or threatened harm to the community served, staff, volunteers, or others who meet the partner through its work, including incidents of historic abuse that become known to the partner during the grant agreement.

Serious safeguarding incident: is defined as a safeguarding incident that constitutes a criminal offence under applicable law, such as (but not limited to) incidents of sexual exploitation or child abuse. Provided with the consent of the victim, a serious incident must be reported to the relevant programmatic staff as well as to local authorities (such as the police) by Laudes Foundation or the partner organisation.

In addition, please familiarise yourself with the definitions of abuse, exploitation, and neglect, among others, in the Annex.

Annex: Safeguarding definitions

Child abuse or maltreatment: comprises all forms of physical and/or emotional ill-treatment, sexual abuse, neglect or negligent treatment or commercial or other exploitation, resulting in actual or potential harm to the child’s health, survival, development or dignity in the context of a relationship of responsibility, trust or power.
Adults at risk abuse or maltreatment: any violations of an individual’s human and civil rights by any other person or persons, and may be physical or sexual, may involve people taking money without permission or under false pretences or not looking after someone properly. It may include poor care practices, bullying or humiliation, or not allowing contact with friends and family. Abuse often involves criminal acts.
Physical abuse: of a child or an adult at risk is that which results in actual or potential physical harm from an interaction or lack of an interaction, which is reasonably within the control of a parent or person in a position of responsibility, power or trust. There may be single or repeated incidents, including religious and cultural practices, like female genital mutilation.
Emotional abuse: includes the failure to provide a developmentally appropriate, supportive environment, including the availability of a primary attachment figure, so that the child or adult at risk can develop a stable and full range of emotional and social competencies commensurate with her or his personal potentials and in the context of the society in which the person dwells. There may also be acts towards the child or adult at risk that cause or have a high probability of causing harm to the person’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. These acts must be reasonably within the control of the parent or person in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power. Acts include restriction of movement, patterns of belittling, denigrating, scapegoating, threatening, scaring, discriminating, ridiculing or other non-physical forms of hostile or rejecting treatment. This definition includes online behaviour.
Bullying: the use of force, threat, or coercion to abuse, intimidate, or aggressively dominate others. The behaviour is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perception, by the bully or others, of an imbalance of social or physical power, distinguishing bullying from conflict.
Neglect: the failure to provide for the development of the child or adult at risk in all spheres: health, education, emotional development, nutrition, shelter, and safe living conditions, in the context of resources reasonably available to the family or caretakers and causes or has a high probability of causing harm to the adult at risk’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development. This includes failing to properly supervise and protect children from harm as much as feasible.
Sexual harassment: bullying or coercion of a sexual nature and the unwelcome or inappropriate promise of rewards in exchange for sexual favours. Sexual harassment includes a range of actions from mild transgressions to sexual abuse or assault.
Sexual abuse: is the involvement of a child or adult at risk in sexual activity that they do not fully comprehend, are unable to give informed consent to, or for which the person is not developmentally prepared and cannot give consent, or that violates the laws or social taboos of society. Sexual abuse is evidenced by this activity between a child or an adult at risk and an adult or another child/adult at risk who, by age or development, is in a relationship of responsibility, trust or power, the activity being intended to gratify or satisfy the needs of the other person. This may include, but is not limited to:
- The inducement or coercion to engage in any unlawful sexual activity.
- The exploitative use in prostitution or other unlawful sexual practices.
- The exploitative use in pornographic performances and materials.
Commercial or other exploitation: refers to the use of the child or adult at risk in work or other activities for the benefit of others. This includes, but is not limited to, labour and prostitution. These activities are to the detriment of the child or adult at risk’s physical or mental health, education, or spiritual, moral or social-emotional development.

Laudes Foundation also recognises that safeguarding incidents can occur online. This includes the effects of establishing an emotional connection with e.g. children to lower their inhibitions with the objective of sexual abuse (“sexual grooming”) and non-physical forms of coercion to extort sexual favours from the victim (“sextortion”).