On July 29 – August 1, our team in the Middle East & North Africa Regional Centre delivered Safeguarding training in Gaziantep, Türkiye. It was conducted in Turkish with the support of a local facilitator and in cooperation with Save the Children Türkiye Country Office. Over the four days, the training covered essential safeguarding topics such as policy development, risk assessments, awareness raising, and reporting mechanisms.
It was an incredible experience working with dedicated professionals to enhance our safeguarding practices. We engaged in practical activities like creating and critiquing safeguarding policies, designing reporting systems, and developing outreach plans for different audiences.
21 people, representing 19 local NGOs and two governmental agencies, attended the training. The participants shared positive feedback, underlining its importance for various types of organisations and practitioners working in healthcare and education.
I think this training is very important, especially for teachers, as bullying can trigger physical and psychological effects on children’s health, and teachers should be able to identify such cases.
I will share this information with my colleagues and network, as I discovered how important it is to understand the other dimensions that safeguarding can do. I am a nutritionist, and I work with children. We usually go to a medical test to figure out what is wrong, but now I know it could be something related to emotional or psychological abuse that may lead to nutrition issues.
The participants and facilitators also highlighted using a VR application to simulate receiving a safeguarding concern. The Safeguarding VR training tool from the Humanitarian Leadership Academy (developed in collaboration with BODYSWAPS®) was utilised to create an immersive experience for addressing safeguarding concerns and incidents and to practice writing an investigation Terms of Reference (ToR) for the case. The participants found this aspect of the training both unique and highly beneficial.
You can access the Safeguarding VR training on Kaya.
