Summary: This launch event is aimed at chief
executives, other senior managers or
trustees within international charities
that have responsibility for setting
policy in areas relating to good
governance and corporate
responsibility. It will also be of
interest to programme managers,
staff, policy advisers or other
specialists that have a particular role
in relation to child protection. International relief and development agencies are now more than
ever concerned about child protection in their work. No agency is
immune from the issue and how organisations develop measures
to protect children is a matter of increasing scrutiny. Although
some work is currently being undertaken to ensure that child
protection frameworks and practices are in place, there is an
urgent need to develop a common understanding of child
protection issues and develop good practice across the diverse
and complex areas in which our agencies work.
In 2002 a group of relief and development agencies began
working together on these issues with the National Society for
Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in order to share
experience and knowledge and identify a common approach to
child protection – a set of common standards.
These child protection standards are a unique attempt to ensure
that international agencies can begin to develop practice that
safeguards children from abuse and exploitation, often in
situations where they are most at risk. They are not intended to
be prescriptive but to provide a helpful basis for discussion and
determining local standards and how they will be measured and
achieved.
Owner: Christian Aid, Every Child, NSPCC, People In Aid, Save the Children, Tearfund