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, 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.
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 be increased.
Our dedicated team of global safeguarding professionals ensure that you receive the highest level of technical advice and support. We start our work from wherever your organisation is on their safeguarding journey. We take the time to understand you and your 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
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
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.
This report gives an overview of the situation for people accused of witchcraft, good practice in responding to accusations of witchcraft, and relevant international and regional conventions. It is primarily focussed on Ghana and sub-Saharan Africa but also includes some global evidence to address evidence gaps or provide more examples of good practice.
During a previous international development assignment in a fragile and conflict-affected country (before I joined Social Development Direct), I was evacuated and lost my job because I am a queer woman. Someone had found out about my relationship with my partner and sent a letter threatening to report us both to the national government. They had sent the letter to my partner’s Country Director and demanded that her contract was terminated.
Victoria leads the Business Development and Communications Team at SDDirect and is responsible for guiding the sustainable growth of our organisation.
With a background in humanitarianism and social development, Hanna provides technical and research expertise to SDDirect’s Gender-Based Violence and Safeguarding portfolios.
Jenny manages business development opportunities for SDDirect across a range of clients and portfolios, working closely with technical team members to ensure the submission of high-quality proposals, and fostering partne
Emma is Associate Director of Programmes at SDDirect. Working as part of the executive management team, Emma provides leadership and oversight on all corporate support services across the business.
Danielle joined SDDirect’s technical team in 2019, and works as the Head of Portfolio for Equal Education and Principal Consultant in Safeguarding.
Ann leads SDDirect’s work on safeguarding which includes work on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), child safe
Developed as part of our work for the Girls' Education Challenge (GEC),this tool provides example questions for monitoring visits with a focus on policy and compliance.
Developed as part of our work for the Girls' Education Challenge (GEC), this tool provides example questions for monitoring visits and example focus group questions. The questions focus on culture, enabling environment and implementation.
