Safeguarding

Health Equity Matters is committed to ensuring that all people who engage with our work are treated with dignity, respect and safety.

Safeguarding is central to our ‘do no harm’ approach and includes preventing and responding to child abuse, exploitation, sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment. We recognise that our programs often work with communities that experience stigma, discrimination and structural vulnerability, and we take our responsibility to protect participants, staff and partners seriously. 

Our safeguarding framework includes clear policies and codes of conduct, robust recruitment and screening processes, mandatory safeguarding training, and confidential mechanisms for reporting concerns or incidents. We work closely with implementing partners to ensure safeguarding standards are understood and applied across all program activities. 

Importantly, safeguarding is not only about compliance. It is about fostering a culture of accountability and respect in which people feel safe to raise concerns and confident that those concerns will be addressed appropriately. We prioritise a victim-survivor-centred approach that protects the safety, dignity and wellbeing of those affected and ensures that incidents are managed in a transparent and responsible manner.