Keeping Children Safe (KCS) was founded in 2001 by a group of humanitarian aid and development organizations.
It was founded in response to the realization that children were being exposed to exploitation and abuse by aid and development workers in emergency camps in West Africa and within their own organizations.
Its mission is to end child abuse in all organizations and its vision is that all children can grow up safe from abuse, exploitation and neglect.
What did the work entail?
The purpose of the research was to find gaps and geographic trends that could inform targeted advocacy and interventions to protect children from perpetrators of abuse.
The focus was on identifying national legislation that requires schools and childcare institutions to implement specific protection policies to prevent exploitation and abuse of children by their own staff, operations, activities or partners.
Following an initial meeting between BCLP and KCS in August 2023, KCS provided a briefing paper and template spreadsheet.
BCLP recruited a team of twenty BCLP lawyers and interns from its offices in London, Manchester and Dubai.
The team conducted research into all 201 countries in the world in seven weeks and incorporated their research results into a report with links to relevant legislation.
KCS has used this research to produce a report, making priority recommendations on how to better protect children in schools and childcare.
What was the impact?
The report was launched in November 2023 during the KCS online international conference on child protection in education and childcare.
The conference was attended by 1,532 people, including representatives from all over the world.
KCS continues to use the maps to provide targeted advocacy and technical support to governments around the world to make schools safer and protect vulnerable children.
KCS used the research to inform the following:
- targeted advocacy for the protection of children in schools across Latin America
- a collaboration with the Inter-American Children’s Institute in the field of child protection
- the development of guidance for states on the implementation of child protection
Sarah Blakemore, CEO of Keeping Children Safe, said: “Thank you so much for this incredibly useful work. We are hugely grateful to you and all the volunteers who worked on this.”
Sam Hewitt, senior associate at BCLP, said: “It was a pleasure to be involved in this large-scale research and to understand how KCS would use the results to inform a number of practical workstreams, including targeted advocacy.
“This issue has demonstrated the potential global reach and reach of pro bono work and it is very rewarding to know that it is being actively used to protect children.”