This year, we were delighted to walk SOS Children’s Villages Somalia through our Level 1 Certification process. It was nice seeing how they have a good framework in place to help them prioritise the wellbeing of children at every step on the work they do.
SOS Children’s Villages Somalia has a primary focus of supporting children who have lost parental care or are at risk of losing it. Given that their staff, volunteers and associates frequently interact with children, they pursued KCS Certification to ensure that children are not subjected to further harm and that the organisation’s child safeguarding measures, policies, and practices are effective and provide a safe environment for all children.
As KCS went through the certification process, we helped them identify areas of improvement. As a result, the organisation has enhanced training programs focused on positive discipline and child safeguarding, aiming to end corporal punishment and create a safe school environment for children. They also implemented mandatory child safeguarding training to deepen the knowledge and capabilities of their staff, volunteers and suppliers. Finally, they worked on strengthening accountability measures by clarifying roles, responsibilities and accountability frameworks to ensure the consistent implementation of safeguarding practices across all levels of the organisation.
After achieving the certification, the organisation’s National Communication and Branding Officer told KCS: ‘As a child-focused organisation, we are committed to protecting the rights, safety, dignity, and wellbeing of children while upholding the highest standards of safeguarding accountability.’