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Learner Journal
Learner Journal
At the end of your journal there is additional space for you to set
out your next steps for continuing your safeguarding journey.
Contents
Module 1: Safeguarding: what is it?.........................................................4
Module 2: Safeguarding communities at risk..........................................7
Module 3: How do safeguarding issues arise?.........................................9
Module 4: Mythbusting: true or false?...................................................11
Module 5: How can you help?.................................................................13
Module 6: Be ready to report..................................................................15
Planning your next actions......................................................................17
Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Module 1:
Safeguarding: what is it?
In this module, your learning outcomes are to,
This module explores what safeguarding is, including different types of harm, and groups that are
particularly at-risk of harm in the humanitarian and development sectors.
What is safeguarding?
Safeguarding is putting in place appropriate policies, procedures and practices to ensure that
our staff, partners and programmes do no harm to the people we support. It includes protection from
sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), and protection of vulnerable adults, children and people with
diverse genders, sexualities and bodies.
Key message: "If you see it, if you hear it, if you suspect it, report it”
Activity 1
In this activity you read a series of articles about abuse – some of it in the form of sexual
exploitation.
Take a few moments to record your thoughts and ideas about these articles.
Have you read any other articles on this subject? What common themes do you recall?
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
News article headlines about abuse in the humanitarian and development sectors:
Activity 2
In this activity you are encouraged to capture any reflections.
We have already heard a lot about safeguarding. How could our staff and/or programmes harm children or other
vulnerable groups? Take a moment to write your thoughts here.
What is abuse?
Abuse consists of anything that individuals, institutions or processes do (or fail to do) that
directly or indirectly harm children or adults, or damages their prospect of a safe and healthy
development.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Activity 3
In this activity you identified who you think is most at risk from staff and programs in the
humanitarian and development sectors.
The four circles show those who are most at risk of harm from staff and programmes in these
sectors. How does this compare to the four categories you selected? If there are any differences, can
you think of any reasons why?
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Reflections
In the Reflections section, you are encouraged to record any more thoughts and learning here based
on what you have learnt, read and discussed in Module 1. This can include reflections on how the
course content applies to your specific role, context and experience; any questions you might have;
and any facts or key points that you want to remember or share.
Summary
In this module, our learning outcomes were to:
We recognised that:
safeguarding is especially important in our sector because of the difficult contexts and
vulnerable populations we work with
children, people with disabilities, at risk adults and people receiving assistance are
particularly at-risk
there are five non-negotiables of conduct for all NGO workers and people working with us.
These are:
1. Do not subject a child or adult to sexual, emotional or physical harm, exploitation or abuse.
2. Do not exchange goods, money, favours or services for sex.
3. Do not have sexual contact with a person receiving assistance.
4. Do consistently promote effective safeguarding in your work
5. Do report any concerns you may have. If in doubt – report.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Module 2: Safeguarding
communities at risk
In this module, you look at safeguarding communities at risk. Your learning outcomes are to:
In this module you look at examples of how abuse can happen in the humanitarian and development
sectors. You identify the seven stages of grooming, and hear examples of what children have said
about exploitation and abuse. You also read about different steps organisations can take to create a
safer environment and minimise risks to vulnerable children and adults.
What is a perpetrator?
A perpetrator is any person who carries out a harmful act that affects others.
Key message: "If you see it, if you hear it, if you suspect it, report it!”
Activity 1
In this activity you arranged the seven stages of grooming in chronological order.
What is grooming?
Grooming is when someone builds a relationship, using trust and an emotional connection with a
child or person, so that they can manipulate, exploit and abuse them.
The diagram below shows the order in which grooming can happen, although it can happen at
different paces and skip stages.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Activity 2
In this activity you heard from non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers in different regions
who report safeguarding cases.
Drawing on what you have learned about grooming and its impact on children, take a few moments
to suggest three ways your organisation can minimise risk to vulnerable children and adults.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
1.
2.
3.
To minimise risk, your responsibilities in safeguarding include your own conduct, and reporting any
concerns you have.
Reflections
In the Reflections section, you are encouraged to record any more thoughts and learning here based
on what you have learnt, read and discussed in Module 2. This can include reflections on how the
course content applies to your specific role, context and experience; any questions you might have;
and any facts or key points that you want to remember or share.
Summary
In this module we considered safeguarding communities at risk. Our learning outcomes were to:
We looked at safeguarding examples from different regions with testimony from children around
the world about why they don’t report their concerns. Some reasons included barriers the children
face in communicating, threats from the perpetrator to prevent reporting, and the dependency of the
victim or their family on the perpetrator to provide for some of their basic needs
We considered ways our organisations can ensure a safer environment for the communities we
serve, including through thorough background checks for new staff, ensuring all staff are trained in
the prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, and providing training for children so that they
know their rights.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
• understand the importance of safeguarding for the humanitarian and development sectors
This module introduces some ways that safeguarding issues could arise. You explore different
scenarios drawn from the many different contexts that the humanitarian and development sectors
cover. You also consider how vulnerability to abuse can increase under different risk factors, such as
age, gender, living with a disability, and other characteristics.
Key message: "If you see it, if you hear it, if you suspect it, report it!”
Activity 1
In this activity you are prompted to reflect on why you think sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA),
and other harms are thought to be so widespread in the humanitarian and development sector.
Activity 2
In this activity you decided whether there were any safeguarding concerns in a series of scenarios.
Activity 3
In this activity you looked at how certain factors increase vulnerability.
In your experience, are there any other factors that increase vulnerability, particularly in the
humanitarian and development sectors? Please list them here:
Reflections
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
In the Reflections section, you are encouraged to record any more thoughts and learning here based
on what you have learnt, read and discussed in Module 3. This can include reflections on how the
course content applies to your specific role, context and experience; any questions you might have;
and any facts or key points that you want to remember or share.
Summary
In this module we looked at how safeguarding issues arise. Our learning outcomes were to:
Power imbalances between communities receiving aid and the NGO workers delivering aid
The difficulty survivors may feel or face in talking about what has happened
We explored scenarios to better identity safeguarding concerns, including based on what you hear
and what you observe.
In recognising safeguarding concerns, we also learnt that vulnerability increases with the addition of
risk factors – particularly for women, children, transgender and non-binary people, and those living
with disabilities.
Remember: if you see or hear of abuse – or merely suspect it – you should report it.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Module 4:
Mythbusting: true or false?
In this module your learning outcomes are to:
In this module, you heard some of the myths that can prevent safeguarding concerns being
recognised and acted on. Myths are stories, beliefs or ideas that are commonly held, heard or
repeated, but are not based on fact.
Key message: "If you see it, if you hear it, if you suspect it, report it!”
Activity 1
In this activity you read different statements and decided whether they are true or false.
Sexual abuse can be the child’s fault, because of the way False – sexual abuse is never the
they dress and behave. child’s fault.
Sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) is always rape. False – SEA includes rape but can
be other types of sexual
exploitation or abuse.
There are no people of diverse genders, sexualities and False – there are people diverse
bodies (or LGBTIQ+ people) in this camp, so we don’t need genders, sexualities and bodies (or
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Choose one of the myths from Activity 1 in the table above that surprised or shocked you, saying
how you feel about it, and how you can challenge this myth in your everyday work. You might
think about this myth within your own context and draw on your personal experience.
Now create an action plan of up to three points that you can commit to, reflect upon, or do to
combat one of the myths that shocked or surprised you:
1.
2.
3.
Share your plans for combatting myths around safeguarding with colleagues. You may want to ask
for input and advice to strengthen your plan.
Reflections
In the Reflections section, you are encouraged to record any more thoughts and learning here based
on what you have learnt, read and discussed in Module 4. This can include reflections on how the
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
course content applies to your specific role, context and experience; any questions you might have;
and any facts or key points that you want to remember or share.
Summary
In this module your learning outcomes were to:
We learnt that:
exploitation, abuse and harm can take many forms
some common myths about safeguarding are not true
My key message from this module is about making a personal commitment to safeguarding. This
includes upholding the non-negotiables of conduct, and reporting any situations that might be of
safeguarding concern.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Module 5:
How can you help?
In this module, you learn about what you can do to help. Your learning outcomes are to:
know what to do if you observe or hear testimony or rumour about an NGO worker causing
harm, exploitation or abuse
act and report safeguarding concerns
This module looks at how you can help safeguard affected communities. You identify reasons that
colleagues may not report safeguarding concerns, the effects of not reporting, and potential
responses to a colleague’s concerns about reporting.
Key message: "If you see it, if you hear it, if you suspect it, report it!”
Activity 1
In this activity you think about why you or your colleagues might not report any safeguarding
concerns.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Activity 2
In this activity you matched a colleague’s concern about reporting with the best response you could
offer them as to why they should report.
Responses you can offer to a colleague who has a concern about reporting:
Concern Response
I’m not sure if anything actually happened Just report what you saw or heard because it
might be important
I don’t have all the facts You don’t need all the facts. Trust your
instincts
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
The organisation won’t do anything and will NGOs should never prioritise reputation over
cover it up because of bad publicity safety
I’m worried I will make it worse for the woman The survivor will continue to be harmed and
– she has been through enough the perpetrator could go on to harm others
I don’t have a way of communicating with the If you can’t communicate with the survivor that
person who is suspected of being abused doesn’t mean their voices shouldn’t be heard
The child doesn’t know what is happening to If any child reports something, you must report
them anyway, so it doesn’t matter it
I don’t want to make a fuss it looked or sounded wrong, it probably is
wrong, and you won’t be making a fuss
I need the survivor’s permission to report. You don’t need a child’s permission. A
Safeguarding Advisor can help you here.
You can also identify or ask your safeguarding officer and/or colleagues what alternate reporting
escalation/whistleblowing routes that exist outside of the organisation, in your country of operation.
Specific examples of these include the Charity Commission for those registered in the UK.
Activity 3
In this activity you matched a colleague’s concern about reporting with the best response you could
offer them as to why they should report.
What appropriate responses can you give to your colleagues who might not report safeguarding
concerns, particularly addressing the reasons you have identified in Module 5, Activity 1 of this
journal?
Reflections
In the Reflections section, you are encouraged to record any more thoughts and learning here based
on what you have learnt, read and discussed in Module 5. This can include reflections on how the
course content applies to your specific role, context and experience; any questions you might have;
and any facts or key points that you want to remember or share.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Summary
Know what to do if you observe or hear testimony or rumour about an NGO worker causing
harm, exploitation or abuse
Act and report safeguarding concerns
Looking into the effects of not reporting, including the serious risk that the survivor and
others could continue to be exploited or abused.
My key message from this module is to remember, if you see or hear of abuse – or merely suspect it
– you should report it.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Module 6:
Be ready to report
In this module, you learn how to be ready to report any safeguarding concerns. Your learning
outcomes are to:
Know what to do if you observe or hear testimony or rumour about an NGO worker causing
harm, exploitation or abuse
Act and report safeguarding concerns
This module introduces you to the details of your safeguarding reporting responsibility.
Key message: "If you see it, if you hear it, if you suspect it, report it!”
Activity 1
In this activity you imagined you were a Safeguarding Officer. You selected responses to give to
someone telling you about a safeguarding issue. The Safeguarding Officer should listen and treat
the person reporting with care and empathy.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Reflections
In the Reflections section, you are encouraged to record any more thoughts and learning here based
on what you have learnt, read and discussed in Module 6. This can include reflections on how the
course content applies to your specific role, context and experience; any questions you might have;
and any facts or key points that you want to remember or share.
Summary
In this module, our learning outcomes were to:
Know what to do if you observe or hear testimony or rumour about an NGO worker causing
harm, exploitation or abuse
Act and report safeguarding concerns
We explored:
Why it is important to report all safeguarding concerns, and learnt that you don’t need to
have all the facts before reporting.
Remember: Your responsibility is to report your concern to your Safeguarding Officer, which you
should do as soon as possible in any cases of concern.
My key message again is that if you see or hear of any safeguarding concerns, report it.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Activity 1
How will you translate what you have learned in the Safeguarding Essentials course into positive
action in safeguarding?
Complete the table below based on the guidance in the box below.
Write three or four points that describe what you most want to remember from this course in your
workplace, or any actions you will take as a result of this course.
e.g. I want to remember that my main responsibility is to report any safeguarding concerns I have to my
safeguarding officer.
1.
2.
3.
Activity 2
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
What do you want to learn more about to continue your safeguarding journey? Complete the table
below based on the guidance in the boxes below.
Write three or four points from the course Note down any ideas for how to fulfil that
that you want to learn more about. learning.
www.kayaconnect.org
1.
2.
3.
4.
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Safeguarding Essentials Learner Journal
Review the table you just completed. Are there topics that you want to learn more about, but
you are not sure where to start? Ask a colleague for advice, or post a question asking for ideas
on the Humanitarian Leadership Academy’s Facebook page.
This Learner Journal forms part of the Humanitarian Leadership Academy’s Safeguarding
Essentials course. This course can be accessed at www.kayaconnect.org.
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