Keeping Children Safe (KCS) was established in 2001 by a group of development and humanitarian aid charities.

It was established in response to the realization that children were being exploited and abused 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 grow up free from abuse, exploitation and neglect.

What did the work involve?

The purpose of the research was to find geographic gaps and trends to use as a basis for advocacy and targeted interventions to protect children from abusers.

The focus was on identifying national legislation that requires schools and childcare facilities to have specific safeguarding policies to prevent the exploitation and abuse of children by their own staff, activities, operations or partners.

After an initial meeting between BCLP and KCS in August 2023, KCS provided a briefing paper and template spreadsheet.

BCLP has recruited a team of 20 BCLP lawyers and trainees from its offices in London, Manchester and Dubai.

The team researched all 201 countries in the world over a seven-week period, entering their research findings into a report that included links to relevant legislation.

KCS used this research to produce a report, which sets out priority recommendations on how to better protect children in schools and childcare settings.

What was the impact?

The report was launched in November 2023 at the KCS International Online Conference on Child Protection in Education and Child Care.

The conference was attended by 1,532 people, including representatives from around the world.

KCS continues to use mapping to inform advocacy and technical support for governments globally to help make schools safer and protect vulnerable children.

KCS used the research to inform:

• targeted advocacy on child protection in Latin American schools
• a collaboration with the Inter-American Children’s Institute for child protection
• developing a guidance note for states on the implementation of child protection

Sarah Blakemore, Chief Executive of Keeping Children Safe said: “Thank you so much for this incredibly useful work. We are extremely 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 output to inform a range of practical work streams, including targeted advocacy.

“This matter has demonstrated the potential global reach and scale of pro bono work and it is very satisfying to know that it is being actively deployed to protect children.”