Our Standards & Commitments
The international frameworks our programmes are designed and delivered against, and what each one obliges us to do.
Women's Light Foundation commits to designing and delivering all programmes in alignment with internationally recognised frameworks. These are not aspirations listed for credibility. Each one carries specific obligations that shape how our staff and volunteers are permitted to work, and each applies to our partners as a condition of working with us.
Rights frameworks
CEDAW
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women — the global bill of rights for women. It frames our position that the barriers facing Cameroonian women are matters of rights rather than welfare.
Convention on the Rights of the Child
Guarantees every child's right to education, protection and development. It governs our education and child protection programming, including the requirement that a child's best interests determine decisions affecting them.
The Maputo Protocol
The African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa — the continental instrument on women's rights, and the framework most directly applicable to advocacy with Cameroonian and regional bodies.
Programme quality standards
IASC Guidelines on Gender-Based Violence
Sets the standard for GBV programming, built on survivor-centred principles: confidentiality, safety, respect and non-discrimination. In practice it means the survivor decides what happens next, and that pressuring someone to report or disclosing their situation without consent is a breach rather than a judgement call.
SPHERE Humanitarian Standards
Governs the quality and accountability of our WASH programming, including minimum standards for water quantity and quality, and for the siting and safety of sanitation facilities.
Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS)
Adopted as a guiding framework across all our work. It sets nine commitments on quality and accountability, including that communities receive assistance appropriate to their needs, know what to expect, have access to complaints mechanisms, and are not harmed by the assistance offered.
Conduct and safeguarding
PSEA
Our policy on the Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse is mandatory for all staff, volunteers and partners without exception. Every person is briefed before working with communities, and it is a condition of engagement rather than a guideline. Breaches are treated as grounds for removal.
Do No Harm
Applied across all community engagement and programming. It obliges us to assess, with participants, whether an intervention could expose someone to greater risk before we proceed.
Development goals
Programmes are designed against, and reported against, seven UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 13 (Climate Action) and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions).
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