Safe Sport Africa

Safeguarding is the responsibility of organisations to make sure their staff, volunteers, operations and programmes do no harm to children or vulnerable adults, or expose them to harassment, abuse or exploitation. It is, however, increasingly becoming best practice to think about how we safeguard everyone in our organisations at all times, including protecting staff and volunteers from inappropriate behaviour such as bullying and harassment. 

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All sports organisations at every level should have in place policies and procedures designed to safeguard both children and vulnerable adults.  Policies and procedures should include:

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• A overall policy that is owned by the organisation's highest level of governance and by senior staff set in the context of the organisation's parent bodies safeguarding policies and existing local legislation. 

• Procedures for reporting and managing safeguarding concerns that set out how concerns can be safely reported and how cases will be managed.

• Measures aimed at identifying and managing risks to children and vulnerable adults

• Codes of behaviour that cover players, parents, coaches, staff, volunteers, and others who come into regular contact with children or vulnerable adults in sport.

• Procedures for the safe recruitment of staff and volunteers that reflect best practice and include local legal requirements.

• Training programmes that raise the awareness of all who work in sport of the importance of safeguarding and equip those with regular contact with children or vulnerable adults build their competence safeguard children or vulnerable adults in sport.

• Communication plans that ensure everyone in sport knows how to access information and support including sharing safeguarding information with partner organisations and the local community.

• Strategies to monitor and evaluate safeguarding policies and procedures and to apply learning gained from implementing safeguarding measures