Care is built into our survival, it won’t be sat in a Safeguarding Policy

By Shameem Sadiq-Tang, Safeguarding Advisor, Funder Safeguarding Collaborative

Last month, the Funder Safeguarding Collaborative (FSC) hosted a special session at our funder peer learning circle – a space where we bring together members to share learning and explore the practical challenges of championing safeguarding.  

We did something different than normal and handed over the space to four lived experience-led organisations (LEOs) as part of a ‘LEO Takeover’ to mark the launch of our latest Essential Guide, ‘Safeguarding when funding Lived Experience-Led Organisations’.  

The session was a facilitated conversation between some of the lived experience-led organisations who supported the development of the Guide – Disability Rights UK, SEEN for Equity, Velos Youth, and National Survivors User Network (NSUN). It was their space to let funders in FSC’s membership hear directly about the safeguarding challenges for their organisations, and reflect on how funders can shape their own practice to ensure that it is genuinely centred in care and safety for people in lived experience-led groups and organisations.  

Here are some of the things that LEOs said funders should consider/do differently: 

• “The traditional funding landscape has impacted our ability to invest in formalising safeguarding systems and structures”: Lived experience-led organisations need flexible and long-term funding to invest in care and safety, and in ways that resonates for their people in the context of their needs and their environments.  

• “…we are often treated as inherently “risky”, with safeguarding approaches sometimes so risk-averse they become paternalistic and undermines our agency”: Lived experience-led organisations aren’t inherently riskier, but the risks they face may look different because of the lived experience nature of their people, their mission, and their environment.  As one funder said: “It is not that user-led organisations pose more risk, but that the structures around them and the nature of their organisation makes risk a factor…We must not exacerbate a misplaced narrative because they are user-led”.  

• “Burnout is real for our organisations because of the impact of changing human rights and increases in short term funding.  A compliance culture just increases the risk of burnout”: While funders may wish to seek assurance about the safety of work they support, funders should take a more relational approach and trust lived-experience-led organisations to know what is best for their people and communities, and support them in ways that is welcomed and valued.  

• “Assess our practice, not just paperwork – don’t judge LEOs solely by their safeguarding policy”: Funders must seek to understand how safety is practised day to day, and not only what is written in a policy. 

• “If a LEO brings a safeguarding issue to you, it is an act of trust”: Funders should reciprocate that trust by working with lived experience-led organisations to think about the support and collaboration they want, rather than jumping to conclusions about whether they are ‘safe’ or not.  

A huge thank you to the LEO representatives who shared their insights, experiences and practical advice at the session.  The ‘LEO Takeover’ was facilitated by Rebecca from the Funding Justice Collective at Disability Rights UK and with Hasnaa from SEEN for Equity, Azania from National Survivors User Network (NSUN), and Mustafa from Velos Youth. 

Download the guide in full HERE.