SOS Children’s Villages has made progress on its Safeguarding Action Plan since its launch in June 2021. The plan, available on our safeguarding info hub, aims to address key learnings of recent years, including those gained through our commissioning of the Independent Child Safeguarding Review.
The organization is releasing today an interim progress report that summarizes our progress particularly in eight prioritized actions:
- Support for those who have experienced abuse
- Create an Ombudsperson system
- Ensure a single Global Incident Management system
- Roll out a Protective Behaviors program to empower children and youth on safeguarding
- Update the Code of Conduct and other human resources initiatives
- Implement the Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and Abuse (PSHEA) regulation
- Provide extra financial and management support to high-risk countries
- Establish an Independent Special Commission
“My key focus is to improve the quality of child care across the federation,” said SOS Children’s Villages President Dereje Wordofa following the meeting of the International Senate in September. “We need to ensure the well-being of each child—and above all, I will do my utmost to secure the implementation of our child safeguarding action plan.”
With regard to the Independent Special Commission, more information on the members and its mandate can be found on a dedicated webpage on our international website. Updates of their progress will also be posted on the site.
The organization’s highest priority continues to be ensuring that we address any immediate risks to children and young people in our programs. In addition, we are making progress by putting in place the foundations required for consistent application of longer-term changes across the 137 countries and territories in which we operate. In many cases, the process involves establishing pilot programs in a small number of Member Associations, the learnings from which are fed back into the process of strengthening global standards and processes.
About SOS Children’s Villages
SOS Children's Villages, founded in 1949 by Hermann Gmeiner, is the world's largest non-governmental organization focused on supporting children and young people without parental care or who are at risk of losing it.
Child neglect, abuse and abandonment is everywhere. Families are at risk of separation. Locally led, we work in 137 countries and territories to strengthen families who are under pressure so that they can stay together. When this is not in a child or young person’s best interests, we provide quality care according to their unique needs. Together with partners, donors, communities, children, young people and families, we enable children to grow up with the bonds they need to develop and become their strongest selves. We speak up for each child’s rights and advocate for change so all children can grow up in a supportive environment.