Wherever we work in the world, we all have a responsibility to ensure that both staff and those we work with are treated with dignity and respect. As we are an organisation that works with some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, safeguarding is of the highest priority to us - harassment and inappropriate behavior of any kind is completely unacceptable.
Tim Wainwright, Chief Executive, WaterAid UK

At WaterAid we are committed to the safeguarding and wellbeing of all individuals, including the people in communities in which we work, staff, volunteers, contractors, and partners. Any form of abuse is not tolerated. Everything that we do at WaterAid is guided by our values:

Respect
We treat everyone with dignity and respect and champion the rights and contribution of all to achieve a fairer world.

Accountability
We are accountable to those whose lives we hope to see transformed, to those we work with and to those who support us.

Courage
We are bold and inspiring in our actions and words, and uncompromising in our determination to pursue our mission.

Collaboration
We work with others to maximize our impact, respecting diversity and difference in the pursuit of common goals.

Innovation
We are creative and agile, always learning, and prepared to take risks to accelerate change.

Integrity
We act with honesty and conviction and our actions are consistent with openness, equality and human rights.

Working on behalf of WaterAid often means holding a position of trust. All those representing WaterAid are expected to always be aware of the responsibility that comes with this trust and never misuse it. All representatives of WaterAid, including staff, volunteers, external contractors and partners are required to commit to our Global Code of Conduct, which sets out our high standards of expected conduct, and details what will happen if they are not met.

All WaterAid representatives are expected to be aware of, and understand, our Global Standard on Child Safeguarding and commit to ensuring that we do no harm to those most vulnerable members of society.

We operate clear global reporting procedures in respect of safeguarding and child protection, as well as providing an independent confidential whistleblowing service available to staff and partners, which reinforces our internal reporting procedures.

We work in collaboration with many partners throughout the world, and we are committed to ensuring that those with whom we partner meet our minimum safeguarding and child protection standards.

Read our policies and procedures:

Contact us:

Global Head of Safeguarding: Leigh Heale

Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +44 (0) 207 793 4947 or +44 7966 999892

Or email another member of the safeguarding team: [email protected]

Read previous statements on safeguarding at WaterAid: