Keeping people safe
Safeguarding
Every project we fund serves real people: families collecting water, children walking to a new masjid, a household moving into a new home. Their safety matters more than any build.
Our commitment
We expect everyone who works on an SDQA project, our own team and our delivery partners, to protect children and adults at risk from harm, abuse and exploitation. When safety and a project's timetable pull in different directions, safety comes first. Read our safeguarding policy.
Who this covers
- children and adults at risk in the communities where our projects are built
- anyone our team or partners meet while surveying, building, handing over or checking on a project
- people who appear in our photographs and videos
Photographs and stories
We use photographs to show you the work you've funded. Our partners ask adults before photographing them, and ask a parent or carer before photographing a child. If anyone says no, they're not photographed. We never publish a child's full name, or where a child or an adult at risk lives.
What we ask of our delivery partners
We ask every partner to:
- have a written safeguarding policy, or agree to work to ours
- have a code of conduct for staff and volunteers on site
- name a person on the ground who deals with concerns
- tell us about any concern linked to an SDQA project within 24 hours
- follow local law and refer concerns to local authorities where that's needed
- follow our approach to photographs set out above
How to report a concern
If someone is in immediate danger, contact the local emergency services first. In the UK, call 999.
Then tell us. Email support@sdqa.org.uk with "Safeguarding" in the subject line, or message us on WhatsApp on +44 7785 587 869. Your concern goes straight to Irfan, our co-founder and safeguarding lead. You don't need to be certain. If something worries you, tell us. You can report without giving your name.
What happens next
We'll acknowledge your concern within 1 working day and treat it in confidence, sharing it only with the people who need to know to keep someone safe.
We'll look into it with the delivery partner and, where the law or someone's safety needs it, with the local authorities or police. While a serious concern is looked into, we can pause funding to that partner.
We'll tell you what we can about the outcome, while protecting the people involved.
Someone in danger now?
Contact the local emergency services first. In the UK, call 999. Then tell us.
Report a concernIt goes straight to Irfan, our safeguarding lead. We acknowledge within 1 working day, and you can report without giving your name.