Developing Survivor-Focused Community-Based Complaints Mechanisms for Safeguarding

Safeguards are a vital part of all development and humanitarian programs and are key to managing risks, ensuring that interventions do no harm, and that outcomes are sustainable. They are also important in ensuring quality, accountability, and transparency, and in enhancing organizational reputation, legitimacy, and effectiveness. The Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) seeks to implement policies that are ethical, values-driven, and align with our beliefs and objectives. In an effort to strengthen internal policies to protect AKF’s staff and the communities in which it works, AKF has developed a Global Safeguarding Manual that provides a framework for all AKF units. Moving forward, AKF aims to build on, contextualize, and standardize existing best practices and develop a robust approach to ensure the safety of AKF’s staff and beneficiaries.