Safeguarding Policy

Village Africa fundraises for projects run by its sister organisation, Vyaadahikana Village Africa Tanzania (“Vyaadahikana”), in Tanzania. Some of these projects are for the benefit of children and adults at risk, including the provision of an ambulance service and educational support (e.g. student sponsorship scheme, library and Saturday Club). Protecting people and safeguarding responsibilities are a priority for Village Africa.

Village Africa is committed to ensuring that everyone, including all children and adults at risk, involved in the projects it supports are kept safe from all forms of harm and ill-treatment.

‘Child’ means anyone under 18 years old.

‘Adult at risk’ means anyone over 18 years old who

has needs for care and support
is experiencing, or is at risk of, abuse or neglect
as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect himself/herself from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect.

An adult at risk of abuse may

have an illness affecting his/her mental or physical health
have a learning disability
suffer from drug or alcohol problems
be frail.

Everyone involved in the projects that Village Africa supports has a part to play in keeping everyone, including children and adults at risk safe. This policy applies to all persons associated with the delivery of the work supported by Village Africa, both during and outside normal working hours. This policy will apply in the event that it is more stringent than local legislation.

Directors, staff, volunteers, and partners will be made aware of this Safeguarding policy.

The policy will also be published on the charity’s website.

The policy will be reviewed by the Directors as necessary, always following a serious incident and at least once a year. The board will have a trustee with lead responsibility for safeguarding, overseeing the policy and ensuring that the procedures are being carried out.

Risk factors in Tanzania include

sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation
negligent treatment
physical, emotional or financial abuse
bullying or harassment
health and safety
recrimination after whistleblowing
abuse of position within Village Africa or Vyaadahikana
criminal exploitation
cyber abuse
modern day slavery
self-neglect
commercial exploitation
extremism and radicalisation
forced marriage
human trafficking
female genital mutilation
discrimination on any of the grounds in the Equality Act 2010
people may target the projects that Village Africa supports because these are in a developing country and include working with children
data breaches

Village Africa will ensure that:

Village Africa’s directors have a DBS check before they join the board.

Its directors, staff and volunteers who travel to Tanzania in connection with the projects it supports are briefed about the way they should behave towards everyone, including children and adults at risk. They will be provided with the Code of Conduct below and asked to agree it. They may also be required to agree a local Code of Conduct in Tanzania (by Vyaadahikana) and/or attend a visitors’ induction meeting.

Vyaadahikana is aware of this policy and adopts and maintains a suitable safeguarding policy and procedure (including the reporting and handling of safeguarding concerns/incidents), and promptly reports any incidents to Village Africa regarding the safeguarding of children or adults at risk. Vyaadahikana’s policy/procedure must include a commitment to including safeguarding in its staff induction meetings and in visitor and volunteer inductions meetings.

Vyaadahikana staff must ensure that consent from the parent or guardian is obtained when taking photos of children and the purpose for which the photo is to be used is clearly explained to them. Photos should be appropriate and respect the dignity of individuals. Photos shared with Village Africa will only be used for the purpose(s) for which they were taken.

Vyaadahikana will be asked to share its safeguarding policy with Village Africa on an annual basis and to provide an annual safeguarding report.

Village Africa will have the right to suspend or terminate its funding of Vyaadhikana’s projects if there are any serious concerns regarding safeguarding issues. The decision to suspend involvement with Vyaadahikana will rest with Village Africa’s Board of Directors.

Safeguarding is a standing item at Village Africa and Vyaadahikana Board meetings (at least once a year).

Village Africa and Vyaadahikana promotes a fair, open and positive culture so all involved feel able to report concerns, confident that they will be heard and responded to.

All directors, staff and volunteers who travel to Tanzania in connection with the projects Village Africa supports are required to:

Read Village Africa’s Safeguarding Policy and agree its Code of Conduct in advance of the visit. The Code of Conduct includes a statement that the person has been never been convicted of a criminal offence against children or adults at risk and there are no reasons why they should not have substantial, unsupervised, contact with children and adults at risk.

Dealing with complaints, allegations or concerns

Village Africa will take seriously any complaints, allegations or concerns made against directors, staff, volunteers or those connected with the projects it supports. All reports will be treated with discretion. Reports should be made to Caroline Johnston, Project Liaison Officer, at info@villageafrica.org.uk or to Village Africa’s chairman, at chairman@villageafrica.org.uk.

The response will be managed by one of Village Africa’s Directors, in conjunction with a sub-committee of Board members reporting to the full Board. The responsible Village Africa Director will liaise with the relevant authorities in the UK and Tanzania as appropriate.

Village Africa will

handle and record the incident or allegation in a secure and responsible way
where appropriate, investigate the incident fully, liaising, as appropriate, with Vyaadahikana
where possible/appropriate, act quickly to seek to stop or minimise any further harm or damage, including removing any Village Africa directors, staff or volunteers from the project(s) in Tanzania
promptly refer or report allegations or incidents, as appropriate, to relevant agencies (including local law enforcement agencies if the matter is of a criminal nature) and regulators in full. All incidents must be reported to the Charities Commission (rsi@charitycommission.gsi.gov.uk)
not tolerate retaliatory action against complainants, survivors or other witnesses
implement staff disciplinary procedures, which may include termination, where appropriate
suspend or terminate its relationship with Vyaadahikana where appropriate
be open and transparent and act with integrity
review what happened to understand how to stop it from happening again.

Village Africa will co-operate with any bona fide investigation resulting from any of the projects it supports. Legal constraints regarding the release of information concerning third parties (such as the UK’s Data Protection Act and other nations’ equivalents) will be observed; in these circumstances advice may be sought from appropriate sources.

In addition, reports can be made locally, in Tanzania, to the Director of Vyaadahikana.

Policy date: 14 June 2026