The Child Safeguarding sub-group (CSG subgroup) of the ACFID Child Rights Community of Practice has long identified the need to draw on the collective experience of ACFID members and in-country partners to better understand – how do we test or measure the effectiveness of our child safeguarding policy and measures?

This ACFID-commissioned research is an opportunity for consolidating the experience of over 10 years on promoting child safeguarding practices, and leverage this learning to inform future sectoral strategies and practice on safeguarding more broadly. As Australian NGOs develop and implement the prevention of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (PSEAH) policies, there is clear value in jointly reflecting on what has worked well for similar work in the past, and what needs to be done differently this time around.

How can you contribute?

Take the survey here.

Please allow 30-60 minutes to complete the survey. This survey is completely confidential. We don’t ask for your name or organisation and we won’t share any individual responses or raw data.

Please click here if you’re interested in attending a Zoom focus group session

Our ideal survey participants are the child safeguarding focal points in organisations, people who are involved in strengthening safeguarding within their organisations and programs, HR, Communications staff and others who have played a part in developing and implementing safeguarding strategies within business domains, as well as in-country partners.

Anyone who fills in the survey has the option to receive a direct copy of the research report and learnings that stem from the survey. A PDF of the survey questions can be viewed here.

What will we learn?

ACFID will release a report and communicate the findings with its membership. The report will:

1. Map the diverse organisational approaches to implementing child safeguarding policies and how these have evolved over time to strengthen practice in child safeguarding within ACFID’s membership and in country partners.
2. Understand what strategies increase effectiveness in child safeguarding practice and why?
3. Identify the key enablers and barriers as identified by organisations in child safeguarding and how these can inform organisational strategies for PSEAH practice.
4. Document how organisations have adapted their safeguarding practices during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic and what are the key learnings for the future.

These findings will be made available early in 2022.\

If you have any feedback or questions, please contact the ACFID Code team at [email protected].