SECURITY MANAGEMENT

War Child works in countries and regions affected by conflict or categorised by general instability. The resulting threats to the safety of our staff and beneficiaries require continuous monitoring of the security situation and adaptation to changes in the context, sometimes at short notice.

Our ongoing efforts to develop and implement robust security procedures were boosted in 2016 with the recruitment of a full-time security advisor. This enabled us to put in place improved registration, briefing and training procedures for all people travelling to programme countries on behalf of War Child.

Security trainings at head office are now mandatory for everyone travelling to programme countries. This contributes to our move towards becoming an expert network organisation and also serves to strengthen ties between head office and our countries of operation.

Within our programme countries 2016 also saw the development of an enhanced security plan for our Burundi office in response to continued instability inside the country. This process saw enhanced training for in-country staff and security assessments undertaken at key field locations.

A review of the security plan for our operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) was undertaken which saw staff in the field receive enhanced training. We also undertook an audit and assessment of existing security plans for our operations inside the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt).