Our Contribution to Child Protection

Ensuring children and young people feel safe and protected is our primary concern. 

SOS Children’s Villages in Nigeria is committed to create a safe environment for programme participants. We have a zero tolerance and strongly condemns all forms of abuse on children, youth, adult programme participants and issues of fraud, corruption and other misuse of SOS Children’s Villages assets in all our programmes.
Every safeguarding concern or incident reported is taken seriously because the safety and welfare of programme participants always come first.  We would want to hear about your concern anonymously, if that makes you feel more comfortable. We treat each conversation with the utmost confidentiality.  Below are your reporting options.
-    Email: Safeguarding.concerns@sos-nigeria.org 
-    Phone: +2349042227771
-    Whatapp – +2349042227771 (send concern and follow the instruction)

The content of the web form will include the following
-    Name or anonymous
-    Phone number
-    Email address

Types of abuse (the definition of the various types can be in the form of a pop up when you hover around the title or when you click on it to reduce too many contents on the main page)

·    Physical abuse - Physical injury or mistreatment of a child such as hitting, slapping, shaking, pushing, biting, hair or ear pulling, acts of corporal punishment or other actions that cause physical pain and/or harm.( see our child and youth safeguarding policy)


·    Sexual abuse - The actual or threatened intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. Sexual abuse may be contact or non-contact, including acts online (see our child and youth safeguarding policy)


·    Emotional abuse - Behaviour, speech and actions such as bullying, intimidating, threatening, taunting, ridiculing, degrading, humiliating or creating a hostile or fearful environment that has a negative impact on a child’s self-perception and development. Emotional abuse can also be inflicted online. (see our child and youth safeguarding policy)


·    Neglect  - Inattention or omission to provide adequate supervision, nutrition, clothing or shelter, or violation of the child’s right to health, education and safety. This includes failure to provide adequate support to children impacted by abuse and neglect, failure to address peer-to-peer violence, and failure to respond to child and youth safeguarding concerns. (see our child and youth safeguarding policy)

·    Sexual Harassment, Exploitation and abuse (SHEA) - SHEA is any form of unwanted sexual behavior cause by misuse of power and can takes different forms which include sexual harassment, sexual exploitation, sexual coercion and sexual abuse (see our Sexual Misconduct Regulation)

·    Fraud and Corruption in the context of SOS Children’s Villages is defined as an act or acts involving the misuse of a person’s position or authority in order to further personal interests or the interests of another person or entity. This includes the abuse of power for personal financial and/or nonfinancial advantages. Examples include accepting bribes or “kickbacks”, disclosing confidential information, or misusing organizational resources (see our Anti-Fraud and Anti-Corruption regulation)
 

Our Advocacy work is promoted and guided by The Nigerian Child Rights Acts . In line with the guidelines, we draw on our wealth of experience to advocate for and protect the rights of children in Nigeria. 

 

We are guided by the provisions of the National Guideline for the Alternative Care of Children. The National Guideline for the Alternative Care of Children is also being implemented across multiple states in  Nigeria. SOS Children's Villages in Nigeria provided technical support for the development and review of the document. 

Advocacy for Children's Rights

We advocate for the fundamental entitlements that ensure the well-being, protection, and development of every child

We are guided by the provisions of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, which is the foundational principle that legitimizes the validity of Nigeria's legal system. 

Protection of Children’s Rights

We promote the best interest of the child as the primary consideration in all actions concerning children.