Corporate report

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Progress Report on Safeguarding Against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH) in the International Aid Sector 2020 to 2021

Published 2 December 2021

A summary of work led or supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office between October 2020 and October 2021 to improve global standards and performance on safeguarding against sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment in the international aid sector.

1. Overview

Donors, alongside 7 other groups, made commitments at the Safeguarding Summit in 2018 intended to bring about 4 strategic shifts to prevent and better respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) in the international development sector. This report updates on progress that the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has made against the 22 donor commitments since our October 2020 progress update. Annex A summarises progress across all UK Government Departments who spend ODA (Official Development Assistance) in implementing the UK safeguarding strategy for the aid sector published in September 2020.

Highlights of FCDO’s work on safeguarding against SEAH over the past year, include:

• firmly embedding tackling SEAH into FCDO’s policies and procedures following the merger of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development;
• continuing to drive change and increased capability across the domestic and international aid sector, including via the UK’s G7 Presidency; and
• funding programmes and building alliances to identify perpetrators and provide improved support to survivors and victims.

FCDO has either completed, or is acting on, all 22 of the donor summit commitments, while also going beyond them as we seize other opportunities to strengthen safeguarding in the aid sector. A list of the donor summit commitments is provided in Annex B. Throughout the report actions described are linked to specific summit commitments for ease of reference and when a commitment number is mentioned in brackets it is referring to that number commitment as set out in Annex B. Despite the reduction in the UK’s ODA budget in 2021, funding for core FCDO work on SEAH has continued and spending is expected to be higher in the 12 months to April 2022 compared to the previous 12 months.

COVID-19 slowed delivery of some work such as ensuring survivor-centred approaches, building a new international framework for SEAH data management and driving cultural change. COVID-19 has also produced new risks which we continue to work to mitigate, including linked to COVID-19 vaccine roll-out. Hundreds of new safeguarding incidents were reported to FCDO in the past year and we suspect that many more have not been reported, both of which underline the extent of the remaining challenge and the need for a continued focus on safeguarding against SEAH across all international development work and also other areas of FCDO’s work.

FCDO’s work on safeguarding has remained subject to considerable scrutiny, for example by the UK Parliament’s International Development Select Committee and the Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI). We welcome these opportunities to learn and make further improvements which also contribute to accountability and transparency for FCDO’s work on safeguarding.

2. Strategic Shift 1: Ensure support for survivors, victims and whistle-blowers; enhance accountability and transparency; strengthen reporting; and tackle impunity

FCDO is committed to taking a survivor-centred approach. This means putting the victims’ or survivors’ needs at the centre of our thinking, based on principles of safety, confidentiality, respect and non-discrimination. We will keep working to ensure any individual feels able to speak up and challenge abuses of power.

Progress highlights

The FCDO’s Programme Operating Framework was agreed and internal guidance is clear that beneficiary engagement, particularly at the design stage of a programme, is an important component of safeguarding. This includes a section on safeguarding with a focus on beneficiary feedback and accountability to affected populations (commitment 1). FCDO started funding a project through the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) Alliance and the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response to improve data and reporting on SEAH. Phase 1 is close to completion (commitment 2). FCDO has continued to support employment cycle initiatives (commitment 3). Project Soteria has moved to implementation phase. In the past year the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme has seen increases of around:

• one third in the number of participating organisations
• three hundred percent in sharing of information
• one hundred percent in hires rejected due to the scheme

Work continues to design a pilot Aid Work Registration Scheme building on last year’s legal review. We chaired a Criminal Records Working Group to improve access to existing criminal records checks and explore ways to improve the system.

Several hundred SEAH safeguarding concerns were reported to FCDO showing confidence in our reporting system and that action will be taken. FCDO published data on cases in our annual report as we did last year (commitment 4). We have provided extensive training to FCDO staff on case management, updated our Standard Operating Procedures for case handling and started to convene a regular meeting of donors focusing on reporting and investigations. We have worked with the United Nations (UN) to strengthen information sharing about cases while continuing to prioritise confidentiality and the safety of individuals.

FCDO announced in March 2021 a new programme to support victims and survivors. We have become the largest donor to the UN Trust Fund to support victims of SEA and are now helping increase the capacity of the Office of the Victims’ Rights Advocate (commitment 5). We are also supporting an independent charity Loop to develop and pilot a new, accessible digital platform to safely receive and appropriately handle reports of SEAH. We continue to convene an Independent Reference Group which includes survivors of SEAH and survivor representatives to act as a sounding board for our work (commitment 5). The review of lessons from ombudsman schemes was completed in 2018. Over the past year FCDO has been supporting the development of an Investigator Qualification Training Scheme to strengthen standards of investigations across the aid sector. FCDO is also working with the CHS Alliance to develop guidance on whistleblowing and is part of a Steering Committee for a project designed to close the accountability gap for survivors of SEAH (commitment 6).

3. Strategic Shift 2: Incentivise cultural change through strong leadership, organisational accountability and better human resource processes

The causes of SEAH are rooted in power imbalances, including inequality and discrimination resulting from gender, disability, sexual orientation, poverty, race and ethnicity, among other factors. We must tackle underlying inequalities within our organisations and the communities in which we work. At FCDO, this starts with setting the tone from the top and ensuring staff understand that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility.

Progress highlights

FCDO continues to have a nominated Safeguarding Champion on its Executive Committee (commitment 7) and progress on safeguarding is regularly tracked and discussed at senior level including at the Management Board (commitment 8). The past year also saw:

• quarterly meetings of a cross-departmental Safeguarding Delivery Board chaired by the Safeguarding Champion
• creation of a Tackling Sexual Harassment Implementation Group with an ambitious work plan
• an FCDO-wide Safeguarding Week; an introduction of mandatory training for all staff
• regular messaging from senior management

Externally, we funded a digital safeguarding culture tool produced by Bond.

Other steps taken to promote equality and inclusion in FCDO (commitments 9 and 10) include:

• finalisation of an FCDO Inclusion Framework
• provision of gender pay gap statistics
• initiatives to encourage women to be in more senior leadership roles
• FCDO signing up to the Business in the Community (BITC) Race at Work Charter on day 1 of the new organisation

FCDO is also supporting wider work to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals and address the power imbalances and inequalities that cause SEAH in the communities we work with. For example, through the work of the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Girls’ Education and the provision of significant financing for girls’ education; through the work of FCDO’s Special Envoy for Gender Equality; and through funding programmes to address gender-based violence including the ‘What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale’ programme, and the UN Trust fund to End Violence Against Women.

We continued to use our governance position and to work with other shareholders/donors to drive change and accountability in multilaterals, including the UN and International Financial Institutions. We helped coordinate joint donor asks of the UN and continued to push for progress in areas such as implementation of the Joint Inspection Unit’s recommendations. We started regular dialogue with the World Bank (commitments 11 and 12).

We provided detailed inputs to the process which saw agreement from MOPAN (the Multilateral Organisation Performance Network Association) to include SEAH indicators in their multilateral assessments from 2021 (commitment 13).

4. Strategic Shift 3: Adopt minimum standards, and ensure we and our partners meet them

FCDO works with organisations across the aid sector, including other donors, the UN, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), private sector and others, to align approaches, share lessons, and ensure that our partners adhere to internationally agreed minimum standards on SEAH^{[footnote 1]}.

Progress highlights

The September 2020 UK Safeguarding strategy requires all organisations receiving UK ODA to have robust measures in place. FCDO chairs a group for all signatories to support the implementation of UK Safeguarding Strategy (commitment 14).

FCDO is committed to meeting high standards. FCDO adheres to the IASC-Minimum Operating Standards, IASC Six Core Principles Relating to SEA, and SEA elements of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (commitment 14).

We have continued to fund HQAI (the Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative) the body that certifies if organisations meet CHS standards. We have worked with the CHS Alliance to help promote and disseminate their Index on Preventing SEAH including via a new toolkit and handbook.

We have ensured that the funding agreement documents for FCDO are explicit that we expect partners to also meet these standards and have embedded them in policies and procedures of FCDO. We were also instrumental in developing donor aligned language for agreement with multilaterals which has now been agreed with the UN (commitment 15).

Safeguarding remains one of FCDO’s risk categories and is embedded into FCDO’s new risk approach and Programme Operating Framework (commitment 16).

The UK adheres to the 2019 Development Assistance Committee’s (DAC) recommendation on ending SEAH and supports implementation of the DAC Action Plan (commitment 17). We have continued to co-chair the related reference group and participate at senior level in DAC-organised events.

5. Strategic Shift 4: Strengthen organisational capacity and capability across the international aid sector, including building the capability of implementing partners to meet the minimum standards

Safeguarding remains a priority for FCDO. We want to raise safeguarding capability across the sector to ensure that our partners take all reasonable steps to tackle SEAH. We continue to improve our own policies and procedures, and will facilitate the sharing of lessons and guidance with others, including via the Resource and Support Hub which we fund.

Progress highlights

We have ensured strong core oversight and management systems on SEAH in the new FCDO. We have taken steps to boost staff capability over the past year (commitment 18 and 20) including:

• the introduction of mandatory training for all FCDO staff
• expansion of a Safeguarding Champions Network; running a Safeguarding Week in July 2021
• launching a Shared Advisory Capability Statement (SACS) in July 2021 designed to help technical advisers manage safeguarding risk
• issuing guidance on COVID-19 and risks connected to vaccine roll-out; and providing enhanced support to selected in-country teams

We have also invested staff time and programme resources to improve the capability of our delivery partners and the international development sector as a whole. This includes the Safeguarding Resource and Support Hub (commitment 19) which is now also operational in French, Arabic and Swahili and with new country hubs under development in the Middle East and Asia, in addition to those in Africa.

Other global initiatives funded by FCDO this year include disability inclusion safeguarding guidance and an Advanced Safeguarding Leadership Training run by the Open University and to which over 1,300 individuals have signed up so far.

FCDO has also used its aid budget to build capacity at country level. For example, we have financed the PSEA (Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) inter-agency coordinator in Bangladesh who provides support on preventing and responding to SEAH in the Rohingya refugee operation in Bangladesh. The same goes for specific sector support which has included funding to Bond (the UK NGO platform) and British Expertise International to enhance capability building among UK private sector organisations. FCDO staff have participated in multiple seminars and learning events involving thousands of participants across a wide range of sectors.

In terms of commitments 21 and 22 (which focus on maintaining momentum) FCDO has continued to engage extensively with external partners to help maintain momentum. We have chaired quarterly meetings of the Cross-Sector Safeguarding Steering Group and coordinated their latest annual report. We continue to chair the donor Safeguarding Technical Working Group. We proposed and secured agreement to SEAH language in G7 Ministerial and Leaders’ Communiqués.

6. Challenges, lessons and next steps

Areas that feel particularly challenging relate to ensuring high quality investigations and support to survivors, particularly with continued COVID-19 restrictions; ensuring that beneficiary community voices are heard and taken into account when designing and delivering programmes; and driving long-term cultural change within organisations and societies more broadly.

COVID-19 continued to pose challenges including delays to some of our initiatives at a time of heightened risk. FCDO and partners adapted accordingly and managed to make valuable progress regardless. We will continue to adapt as needed and to push for SEAH thinking to be fully factored into COVID-19 vaccine-roll out. COVID-19’s impact on public finances meant that the UK had to reduce its aid budget over the last year. Despite those pressures, we managed to continue with our central safeguarding programmes. FCDO has also been working to mitigate potential SEAH risks associated with early closure of programmes.

Incidents which have come to light over the past year show challenges remain and the importance of a continued focus on the agenda across the sector and ensuring organisations take a zero-tolerance approach. FCDO has responded robustly to incidents reported to us and played a leading role in seeking a coordinated response to high-profile cases such as in the World Health Organisation.

In the year ahead we will continue to implement the 2020 UK safeguarding strategy. This includes continuing to strengthen FCDO’s approach and internal capacity to deliver, while also working closely alongside others in the UK Government to ensure lessons are shared and a consistent approach is taken.

We will continue with work on the more challenging areas mentioned earlier in this section, including on investigations, support to survivors and data. We will press ahead with the employment cycle initiatives and the programmes to build external capability, including expanding the Resource and Support Hub and the Advanced Safeguarding Leadership Training.

We will continue to convene key stakeholder groups to ensure momentum is maintained and lessons are shared. We will study and respond to the recommendations from the ICAI review on safeguarding in the humanitarian sector which is due to be published in early 2022.

Annex A – Progress with implementing the UK Strategy: Safeguarding against SEAH within the aid sector

This framework provides headline results indicators to track implementation and overall direction of travel as ODA spending departments implement the 3 pillars of the September 2020 UK Strategy. It uses a BRAG^{[footnote 2]} rating against the strategy’s high-level monitoring framework and gives examples. While individual ODA-spending departments are accountable for their own spend, and responsible for tracking detailed progress against relevant commitments made in the Strategy and for reporting, as appropriate, to their own internal and external accountability bodies, the indicators below have been selected to provide a high-level summary of progress. The page reference for each commitment from the strategy is given in the first column.

Pillar 1: Delivering Sector-wide change including support to survivors and greater accountability

Safeguarding Strategy Commitment	Results Indicator	Action status	Progress	Example
1.1 Provide global leadership P.7	i. Continuing to convene donor Technical Working Group and the Cross Sector Safeguarding Steering Group (CSSG) quarterly and publishing annual progress reports.	Action is on track	All indicators achieved	FCDO continued to convene those groups and the CSSG report is expected to be published by December.
1.2 The UK will put measures in place to make it much more difficult for perpetrators to escape justice, make it easier for organisations to have confidence in those they recruit and allow communities to have confidence in the people sent to help them P.8	ii. Three Employment cycle programmes operational	Action mainly on track with some minor issues	Work continuing with good progress on 2 and slower progress on one.	Over one hundred organisations have now signed up to the Misconduct Disclosure Scheme funded by FCDO and which has prevented over 75 people who posed a potential safeguarding risk from being employed. Project Soteria with Interpol is now fully operational following a successful inception phase. Work to design the pilot of the Aid Worker Registration Scheme has continued.
1.3 The UK has endorsed international minimum standards on SEAH and supporting organisations to verify adherence to the IASC on PSEA and/or the CHS P.8. We will work with other donors to agree alignment with these standards and ensure adherence through our respective funding agreements and due diligence assurance arrangements.	iii. All our funding agreements reflect the agreed donor language	Action mainly on track with some minor issues	Some good progress in the past year, notably in agreeing aligned language with the UN	FCDO worked closely with other donors and the UN to agree SEAH language for use in funding agreements.
1.4 Survivors and victims will be responded to with respect, confidentiality, safety and non-discrimination P.4	iv. Departments can point to examples/evidence of procedures and anonymised cases if asked	Action mainly on track with some minor issues	Work continuing with good progress made	In the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) the central reporting of safeguarding allegations is kept within a password protected document and is only discussed with safeguarding leads. Outside this, all information is anonymised, such as when reporting to DHSC’s programme boards.
1.5 Hold ourselves to account for delivering this Strategy through transparent reporting in our Annual Reports, scrutiny from the UK’s Independent Commission on Aid Impact and relevant committees of the UK Parliament, internal management and board oversight, and periodic public reporting against the 2018 London Safeguarding Summit commitments P.13	v. Include text on safeguarding as part of annual report to Parliament/public on ODA activities	Action is on track	All indicators met.	See recent FCDO report

Pillar 2: Delivering organisational change within UK aid spending departments

Safeguarding Strategy Commitment	Results Indicator	Action status	Progress	Example
2.1 We will ensure that all departments have a clear staff code of conduct in place, making it explicit what behaviour is expected of staff P.8	vi. Codes of conduct explicitly prohibits ODA staff from paying for sex in every ODA spending department	Action mainly on track with some minor issues	Work continuing with good progress made.	The Home Office (HO) prohibit staff from soliciting services of a sexual nature whilst working for ODA funded projects abroad. Staff are also asked to refrain from any conduct of a sexual nature that implies an abuse of their power and influence by virtue of their position. This is a requirement set out in individual contracts for staff travelling overseas. HO Human Resources (HR) staff advised this should be specifically stated in contracts. The HO ODA team are working towards developing a more co-ordinated approach with HR colleagues going forward.
2.2 Well-signposted reporting mechanisms for staff to raise concerns and robust procedures for handling them P.9	vii. Whistle-blowing and reporting and complaints mechanisms are in place, proactively advertised and reporting figures show they are used.	Action is on track	All indicators achieved.	The Ministry of Defence has established well sign-posted reporting mechanisms in place for raising concerns including whistle-blowing and internal complaints processes.
2.3 All departments will have a named safeguarding lead to set the tone from the top, including regular messaging out to staff about the importance of the agenda and at least annual discussion at Board level P.8-9	viii. Named safeguarding Champion in all departmental Senior Leadership teams ix. Annual Board discussion on Safeguarding against SEAH	Action mainly on track with some minor issues	Work continuing with good progress made in some departments.	A Director-level member of FCDO’s Executive Committee is the named safeguarding champion and the FCDO Management Board has a deep dive on safeguarding against SEAH at least once a year.
2.4 Risk Management processes prioritise prevention and response to SEAH	x. Department level risk management framework for ODA spending includes SEAH	Action mainly on track with some minor issues	Work continuing with good progress made	DHSC takes an active approach to prevention of safeguarding and ensuring appropriate and timely action to any safeguarding allegations. Safeguarding is tracked as a risk across our ODA spending portfolio, included within risk registers, and discussed at ODA programme boards.

Pillar 3: Delivering programmatic change across UK Aid programmes

Safeguarding Strategy Commitment	Results Indicator	Action status	Progress	Example
3.1 Applying the Due Diligence Assessment: The Due Diligence Assessment of all UK Aid partners has been strengthened and their performance on safeguarding against sexual exploitation abuse and sexual harassment will continue to be assessed in 6 areas to ensure they meet the standards we require P.11	xi. Due Diligence assessments of partner organisations includes thorough assessment of the UK’s 6 SEAH standards, and this is universally conducted for all partners prior to entering into a funding agreement	Action is on track	All indicators achieved	Home Office (HO) funded programmes have been regularly assessed against the 6 SEAH standards. The HO’s lead safeguarding expert has made funded programmes aware that partner organisations should embody these standards. The expert and HO ODA team have conducted 1-1’s with partner organisations to assess their level of commitment to safeguarding and produced a report that assessed funded programmes level of capability with regards to safeguarding. Funded programmes have been made aware that in future, organisations they fund should adhere to the UK’s 6 SEAH standards.
3.2 The UK will continue to mainstream safeguarding against sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment throughout our programme cycle, using tendering processes, design phases, risk assessments and risk management, regular reporting, routine monitoring and evaluations to assess the implementation of safeguarding standards at the delivery level p.11	xii. Number of cases of SEAH reported through ODA programming is internally reported to an internal governance board at least annually and patterns and challenges are discussed, and processes refined to address concerns within the programme management cycle.	Action is on track	All indicators achieved	FCDO report case numbers to each Board meeting with discussion of patterns at least annually.
3.3 Provide resourcing to partners where needed to ensure that their programmes and delivery chains prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment in a victim and survivor-centred way p.12	i. Departments can point to examples of requests made and approved	Action is on track	Achieved.	The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) International Climate Finance (ICF) team developed safeguarding guidance for delivery partners to help them ensure safeguarding principles are adhered to. In other cases, BEIS’ ICF team have actively supported delivery partners in developing their own safeguarding policies by sharing best practice from other partners with them.

Annex B - The donor commitments from the 2018 London Safeguarding Summit which this document is reporting against

Strategic Shift 1: Ensure support for survivors, victims and whistle-blowers; enhance accountability and transparency; strengthen reporting; and tackle impunity.

1. Wherever possible actively include beneficiaries in the design, implementation and refinement of programmes and improved complaints and feedback mechanisms that will empower individuals to come forward with the confidence that they will be heard, that their concerns will be fairly pursued, that feedback will be provided to them as soon as possible and that their safety will be of the utmost concern.
2. Clearly communicate requirements and best-practice guidance for the reporting of incidents, and work towards aligned reporting practices and the sharing of information. Considerations of confidentiality, the protection of relevant individuals, and relevant legislation will be central to this work.
3. Review, and where necessary, renew efforts within and between aid agencies and across governments and the wider international system, to avoid the hiring and recirculation of perpetrators in the aid sector, and to hold them to account, including by helping to bring them to justice, when appropriate, all in line with due process and relevant legal obligations.
4. Ensure that relevant information about allegations, confirmed cases, prevention measures and response activities, are an integral part of reporting mechanisms, which for some donors will include annual public statements. The confidentiality of information and the safety of individuals will be paramount.
5. Adopt a victim/survivor-centred approach to help victims and survivors to access tangible and practical help to recover from the effects of abuse, exploitation and harassment, for example, by supporting the work of the United Nations’ (UN) Office of the Victims’ Rights Advocate (OVRA) and the UN Victims Support Trust Fund.
6. Review best practice and lessons from ombudsman schemes to explore the potential to improve systems of complaints mechanisms, referral pathways and independent accountability.

Strategic Shift 2: Incentivise cultural change through strong leadership, organisational accountability and better human resource processes.

7. Have one or more named senior-level champion(s) accountable for work on sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, while stressing that the responsibility for safeguarding rests with all individuals in an organisation.

8. Encourage at least annual discussion at the Board or equivalent level in all organisations of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment and how the organisation is addressing them.

9. Encourage the recruitment and career development of women at the senior management level and throughout organisations to send a clear signal about the importance of gender balance and a diverse and inclusive workforce.

10. Review, and where necessary, strengthen recruitment and referencing processes to build workplace cultures of respect and accountability, and so help prevention.

11. For members of the UN Secretary General’s Circle of Leadership and signatories to the Voluntary Compact, encourage other Member States to join this collective statement of intent, and encourage a review of progress within the next 12 months.

12. Encourage delivery of the UN Secretary-General’s 2017 Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse strategy through joint donor messaging that recognises the need for related action plans with clear deliverables and milestones from each relevant UN organisation. Encourage the International Financial Institutions to deliver on the collective and individual commitments they have made, and ensure the monitoring of implementation.

13. Those members of the donor group who participate in the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network (MOPAN) will support and advance the discussion on enhancing assessment in relation to sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment to help the improved effectiveness of multilateral organisations.

Strategic Shift 3: Adopt minimum standards, and ensure we and our partners meet them.

14. Demonstrate adherence to one or both sets of international minimum standards related to preventing sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA), namely the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Minimum Operating Standards on PSEA, and/or the PSEA elements of The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability. In the longer term, we will look to review and strengthen measures for verification of that adherence, and how the standards could also cover sexual harassment.

15. Review, and where necessary, strengthen formal funding templates and due diligence tools to reflect those standards, and include clear and specific language on sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, including common definitions. This also includes reviewing, and, where necessary, strengthening, language for our funding partners which requires them to apply the same minimum standards in their sub-granting and contracting requirements for downstream partners.

16. Review and, if necessary, revise project monitoring arrangements (e.g. frequency, scope and indicators), to ensure a stronger focus on sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment issues.

17. Support the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) to formulate a new DAC instrument that in 2019 will set standards on preventing and managing the risks of sexual exploitation and abuse in development cooperation, and drive donor accountability in meeting them.

Strategic Shift 4: Strengthen organisational capacity and capability across the international aid sector, including building the capability of implementing partners to meet the minimum standards.

18. Review and if necessary strengthen core oversight and management systems for tackling sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, and use victim/survivor-centred responses.

19. Explore options for a Resource and Support Hub to develop and communicate the evidence base, best practices and guidance on tackling sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment, with a focus on providing support to smaller organisations.

20. Provide guidance and minimum training requirements for relevant staff on the prevention of and response to, sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment.

Next steps

21. Each of us commits to taking action on the above through our own systems, processes and stakeholders, as consistent with relevant domestic and international law, and taking into consideration relevant existing structures and operating models. It is up to each of us to decide which measures are the most urgent and how we will communicate progress to our stakeholders.

22. We will meet no later than 12 months from now to assess progress, while continuing to liaise regularly to keep up the pace of progress and share lessons on this vital issue.

1. Core Humanitarian Standard and Interagency Standing Committee (IASC) Minimum Operating Standards for PSEA. ↩

2. BLUE: Action is complete; RED: Action not on track with major issues; AMBER: Action mainly on track with some minor issues; GREEN: Action is on track ↩