Social Development Direct are market leaders in providing safeguarding technical services.
We have experience working with diverse clients, from development finance institutions and private sector companies to UN agencies and NGOs, universities, foundations and government bodies.
We are committed to helping organisations prevent and respond to exploitation, abuse, harassment and all forms of harm.
We are proud that the flagship Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub is part of our portfolio of work.
Safeguarding is about keeping staff, contractors, partners, clients and community members safe in humanitarian, development and peace settings. It means putting in place policies and procedures across organisations to prevent and respond to staff misconduct including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment or other harms such as bullying.
Uneven power dynamics - like those seen in the development and humanitarian aid sector, and in private sector supply chains – increase the risk of harm and exploitation. The more vulnerable staff and community members are, the more likely they are to be exploited, abused, harassed, or otherwise harmed. When organisations’ safeguarding measures fall short and misconduct occurs, projects, relationships and already made gains can be jeopardised and community tensions can increase.
Our dedicated team of global safeguarding professionals ensure that our clients receive the highest level of technical advice and support. We start our work from wherever our client is on their safeguarding journey. We take the time to understand the organisation so we can provide support that is contextually relevant, responds to real needs and leads to success in safeguarding. We offer an explicitly intersectional feminist approach to safeguarding – in particular on the intersections of gender, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (SOGIE), and disability.
We can support you with:
Safeguarding policies, procedures, models and systems
Safeguarding knowledge building, including with tools, guidelines, training, and coaching on safeguarding.
Research and learning on what works in different contexts and for different organisations.
Incident case handling and investigation advice.
Monitoring, evaluation and learning of safeguarding efforts.
Safeguarding audits and self-assessment support. Click here to read more about our Safeguarding Framework for Organisations.
Mainstreaming safeguarding into existing or new programmes, consortia and sectors in development, humanitarian and peacekeeping settings.
Our thematic areas include:
Safeguarding against Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (SEAH)
Child safeguarding
Bullying and (non-sexual) harassment
Safeguarding in humanitarian contexts
Integrating safeguarding into high-risk projects
Digital safeguarding
Case handling and investigations
Safe research, monitoring and evaluation
We also conduct a lot of work to support organisations with their internal safeguarding policies and procedures. The outputs of these are often confidential. Here are a few examples of projects we’ve worked on recently:
Developed a global policy and Standard Operating Procedures on safeguarding for a bilateral donor.
Conducted an evaluation of a large international organisation’s safeguarding practices within human resources.
Conducted an audit of the safeguarding systems in place across different organisations working within a consortium in Ghana. Following the audit, we provided a range of technical tools and a series of trainings for consortia members on the core gaps identified in the audit.
Supported a bilateral donor’s head office to roll out safeguarding policy and procedures in country offices. We delivered a number of central guidance products including and supported three country offices with using of a diagnostic tool and develop an action plan and delivered training including on case management.
Provided technical advice to mainstream safeguarding into a range of large development programmes, including evaluations and climate programmes.
If you would like to hear more about our work on Safeguarding (SG), please reach out to Anna Gawn, Head of Safeguarding Portfolio, anna.gawn@sddirect.org.uk.
The note lists practices under policy, prevention, response and reporting and provides additional points to consider in the application of global standards on safeguarding against sexual exploitation abuse and harassment (SEAH).
This note clarifies the differences and similarities between Sexual Exploitation Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) and Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
This report presents a review of what existing evidence tells us about Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harrassment (SEAH) in the aid sector, and aims to provide a nuanced understanding of the evidence gap.
A series of 5 free online training modules for non-safeguarding professionals. The modules use scenario-based learning and cover a full range of safeguarding topics.
Andrea is a Principal Consultant in the safeguarding team at SDDirect.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and CDC Group Plc jointly commissioned SDDirect to develop guidance for the private sector on addressing gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH). The Good Practice Note (GPN) provides the private sector with guidance on identifying, mitigating and remedying GBVH risks. It will serve as a comprehensive resource for two main audiences: investors and companies. The GPN provides practical guidance on how to better prevent and respond to GBVH.
The FCDO Girls’ Education Challenge (GEC) was launched in 2012 as a 12-year commitment to reach the most marginalised girls in the world. Working across 41 projects delivered by over 30 implementing partners in 17 countries, the GEC is the largest global fund dedicated to girls’ education. The GEC has radically reformed its approach to safeguarding over the last three years, in line with the UK government’s new safeguarding policies, launched in 2018.
SDDirect and our partners support smaller, local civil society organisations (CSOs) in developing countries who deliver international aid to strengthen their safeguarding policy and practice against sexual exploitation and abuse, and sexual harassment (SEAH). The RSH ensures that CSOs delivering aid have access to the tools, guidance, support and training they need to ensure that they do no harm. The programme has a free online platform, user friendly and accessible to all.
