Safeguarding Policy

Women's Light Foundation is committed to ensuring that no person is harmed as a result of contact with our organisation, our personnel or our programmes. Safeguarding is the responsibility of every person acting in our name, not of a designated officer alone.

We recognise that our work brings adults into sustained contact with people in positions of vulnerability — survivors of violence, children, displaced people, and women in acute economic hardship. That contact carries risk, and this policy exists to manage it.

This policy covers harm of any kind arising from our activities, including physical, sexual, emotional and financial harm, neglect, exploitation, and harm arising from poorly designed programming. It applies to community members, programme participants, staff, volunteers, interns and visitors.

1. Screening — reference and background checks proportionate to the role, with enhanced checks for roles involving contact with children or survivors of violence.
2. Briefing — every person is briefed on safeguarding, PSEA and the code of conduct before they begin work with communities, and signs acknowledgement.
3. Supervision — every volunteer and staff member has a named supervisor. Untrained personnel are not placed alone with vulnerable people.
4. Programme design — risk of harm is assessed at design stage under the Do No Harm principle, with participants, before activities begin.
5. Information handling — personal data about programme participants is collected only where necessary, stored securely and never published in identifiable form.
6. Communications — we do not photograph or name individuals without informed consent, and never in a way that could expose a survivor.

Personnel are not expected to investigate or to reach conclusions. They are expected to notice and report. Indicators that warrant a report include unexplained injury, marked behavioural change, disclosure by the person or a third party, a colleague behaving inappropriately or breaching boundaries, or a programme practice that appears to be putting someone at risk.

All concerns are reported through the Community Accountability and Reporting Mechanism or directly to the President. Reports may be anonymous. The immediate safety and support needs of the person affected are addressed first, through referral to medical, psychosocial and legal services where appropriate.

Investigation is conducted by someone independent of the subject and their line management. Retaliation against a person reporting in good faith is a disciplinary offence.

• The Bureau holds overall responsibility for safeguarding and reviews reported cases in aggregate.
• The President is the designated safeguarding lead.
• Managers ensure their teams are briefed, supervised and supported to report.
• Every individual is responsible for their own conduct and for reporting concerns about others.

Partners must maintain safeguarding arrangements of equivalent standard. Safeguarding capacity is assessed before a partnership begins, and failure to act on a credible concern is grounds for termination.