Azari Foundation
Programme success cannot come at the expense of safety or dignity.
Azari Foundation treats safeguarding as a core programme responsibility, particularly where work involves children, young people, patients or adults who may be at heightened risk.
Design for foreseeable risk
Programme design should consider who may be vulnerable, where contact occurs, who has access to participants, what data is collected and how concerns can be raised.
Safeguarding cannot be postponed until an incident occurs.
Partners need clear responsibilities
Where delivery is carried out by partners, safeguarding expectations, reporting routes and escalation responsibilities should be defined.
Due diligence should consider whether the partner has the capability to meet those responsibilities.
Consent and photography
Images and stories involving participants require appropriate consent and should not expose people to unnecessary risk, stigma or loss of dignity.
Children and vulnerable people require particular care.
Respond to concerns
Reports should be received through appropriate channels, recorded securely and escalated according to seriousness.
Immediate safety needs take priority over reputational considerations.
Learn from incidents
Safeguarding review should identify not only individual failures but also programme or system conditions that allowed risk to persist.
Corrective action should be documented and followed through.