Tearfund achieves KCS certification
Following an extensive and rigorous audit of safeguarding measures by Keeping Children Safe (KCS), Tearfund has become the latest organisation to receive KCS’s coveted Level 1 Certification.
Tearfund describes itself as a ‘Christian charity passionate about ending poverty.‘ According to its 2018/19 Annual Report, the United Kingdom-based organisation reached 1.2 million people through its disaster response and 2.5 million people through its community development work. ‘Tearfund’s call over the last 50 years has remained constant: to follow our biblical mandate to see people lifted out of material and spiritual poverty.‘
Safeguarding, according to the faith-based organisation’s safeguarding adviser, Stephen O. Boyo, ‘informs every aspect of Tearfund’s work.’ Tearfund considers safeguarding to be ‘key to the successful delivery of its programs and projects in communities around the world.‘
As a result, the relief and development agency has set up an exemplary and comprehensive global safeguarding framework.
‘We chose KCS Level 1 Certification,’ said Boyo, ‘because it offers a robust quality assurance framework that provides organisations like ours with the tools needed to thoroughly self-assess and evaluate the quality and impact of our safeguarding systems and processes, helping us to identify areas for improvement. We found the certification process to be very comprehensive and positively challenging as it enabled us to thoroughly evaluate our systems and processes, measure progress to date, reflect on practice and identify gaps, challenges, and solutions. Our KCS consultant supported us throughout the process, and we found their recommendations valuable. We are pleased to have successfully achieved the certification.’
The certification process involved self-assessments based on KCS’s International Child Safeguarding Standards, interviews with key staff around the world, and analyses of all child safeguarding documentation. The process covered Tearfund locations around the world, from the UK to Asia (Bangladesh, Myanmar, India, Nepal, Pakistan), Middle East (Iraq, Jordan), Latin America and the Caribbean (Haiti, Colombia, Brazil) as well as Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Nigeria, and Mali).
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