Safe and welcoming

Australian

• Play Well: Australia’s Sport Participation Strategy, developed by the Australian sport sector, led by the Australian Sports Commission, (2023). This strategy highlights the importance of ensuring that Australia sport is safer, more welcoming, inclusive and fun.

International

• International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport, opens in a new tab, United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), (2015). The International Charter of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sport is a rights-based reference that orients and supports policy- and decision-making in sport. It promotes inclusive access to sport by all without any form of discrimination. It sets ethical and quality standards for all actors designing, implementing and evaluating sport programmes and policies. Highlights that "concerted action and co-operation between stakeholders at all levels is the prerequisite for protecting the integrity and potential benefits of physical education, physical activity and sport from discrimination, racism, homophobia, bullying, doping, manipulation, excessive training of children, sexual exploitation, trafficking, as well as violence."

Australian

• Fair Play Code, opens in a new tab, Sport and Recreation Victoria, (accessed 3 March 2026). Restoring sportsmanship, integrity and respect in sport. The Fair Play Code outlines the standards of behaviour expected by everyone involved in sport in Victoria.

International

• The Global Foundations of Safe Sport Practice, opens in a new tab, Safe Sport International, (accessed 26 February 2026). SSI develops and maintains the international principles, safeguards, and competency frameworks that guide organisations toward safer, more accountable sport systems across every context.
• International Safeguards for Adults in Sport, opens in a new tab, Safe Sport International, (accessed 26 February 2026). The need to safeguard individuals in sport is not exclusive to children but should be afforded to all that participate. Launched by Safe Sport International in September 2023, the International Safeguards for Adults in Sport can support transitions into safer, more inclusive sporting environments for all.
• Human Rights Playbook, opens in a new tab, The Centre for Sport and Human Rights, (2024). A suite of guidance documents designed to help sport bodies and event organisers implement human rights due diligence.

Australian

• Safeguarding in Sport Continuous Improvement Program (SISCIP), opens in a new tab, Sport Integrity Australia, (accessed 25 February 2026). Helps Australian sporting organisations build safer sporting environments.
• Start to Talk, opens in a new tab, Play by the Rules, (accessed 25 February 2026). A national campaign which aims to encourage parents and sporting organisations to discuss how they can work together to create a child safe environment.
• Member Protection Information Officers, opens in a new tab, Play by the Rules, (accessed 25 February 2026). Member Protection Information Officers (MPIOs) are an integral part of all levels of Australian sport, especially grassroots sport. MPIOs are there to listen to issues raised by members of any sport before triaging and referring them to the right place to find a resolution. The MPIO is responsible for providing information about a person's rights, responsibilities and options to an individual making a complaint or raising a concern, as well as information support during the process.

Australian

• Safeguarding, opens in a new tab, Sport Integrity Australia, (accessed 25 February 2026). Safeguarding in sport involves protecting children, young people and adults from abuse. Though our national safeguarding policies, resources and education we help sporting organisations and individuals to provide safe, supportive and friendly sporting environments.
• Common Issues, opens in a new tab, Play by the Rules, (accessed 25 February 2026). Tips sheets, guidance and resources, developed in partnership with experts in integrity and community sport, to help navigate challenging issues in your club or association. Some resources include: Sideline behaviour; Community child safe sport; Child safe principles, legislation and resources; Child abuse disclosures; Child safety; Online abuse; Bullying; Taking and sharing images in sport; and more.
• True Sport, opens in a new tab, Sport West, (accessed 3 March 2026). Provides education and resources for athletes, coaches and organisations, promoting fair play and fostering positive environments in sport across WA. Initiatives cover a broad range of issues including Child safeguarding, Mental health and wellbeing, Sideline behaviour, Respectful relationships, and Cultural education.
• Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Australian Sports Commission, (accessed 25 February 2026). To promote more inclusive sport practices in our community, the ASC has developed a variety of easy-to-use tools and resources to help sports and clubs understand, recognise and celebrate inclusion and diversity. Including anti-racism and understanding diverse communities and intersectionality.
• Sport Integrity Toolkit, opens in a new tab, NT Department of People, Sport and Culture, (accessed 3 March 2026). contains important information, resources and links to assist athletes, coaches, parents, officials, administrators, clubs, regional sporting associations and NT Peak Sporting Bodies (PSBs).
• Course: Activate Masterclass, opens in a new tab, Embrace Collective, (accessed 26 February 2026). Hosted by former Olympic swimmer Libby Trickett and featuring sports lovers from around Australia, the Activate Masterclass gives players, parents and administrators practical, evidence-based advice for creating a welcoming and inclusive sporting culture at your club.
• Activate Sports, opens in a new tab, Embrace Collective, (accessed 26 February 2026). Provides resources to help sporting clubs and organisations that work with young people to support the development of better body image in community sport. By making sporting environments more supportive, welcoming and inclusive for young people, they are more likely to keep playing the sport they love for longer.
  • Activate Dance Recommendations, opens in a new tab, Embrace Collective, (202?). Utilise these evidence-based recommendations to create an Embrace Space at your dance school or studio that can support young people to move their bodies because it’s fun and it feels good – and to stay in dance for longer.
  • Activate Playbook, opens in a new tab, Embrace Collective, (202?). Breaks down four key actions to help clubs foster build better body image, especially for children and young people.

International

• Human Rights Playbook, opens in a new tab, Centre for Sport and Human Rights, (2024). A suite of guidance documents designed to help sport bodies and event organisers implement human rights due diligence.
• The Global Foundations of Safe Sport Practice, opens in a new tab, Safe Sport International, (accessed 26 February 2026). SSI develops and maintains the international principles, safeguards, and competency frameworks that guide organisations toward safer, more accountable sport systems across every context.
• i-Protect Courses, opens in a new tab, Safe Sport International, (accessed 26 February 2026). Free online training for individuals and clubs at all levels.
• Safeguarding in Sport, opens in a new tab, Open University, (accessed 4 March 2026). A series of three online courses for everyone involved in sport. They have been designed to increase your understanding of safeguarding, why it is important, and how you can develop safeguarding in your own sport. Safeguarding is about everyone, and it applies to everyone, whatever your role in sport.

• Keeping children and young people with disability safe, opens in a new tab, Play by the Rules, (13 March 2026). Play by the Rules is pleased to share three videos developed by the National Office for Child Safety (the National Office) about safety for children and young people with disability which support clubs to create and maintain child safe sporting environments.
• Disability, Safety & Sport, opens in a new tab, Stephanie Dixon, Danielle Peers, Elisabeth Walker-Young, et al., SIRC, (18 February 2026). There is a lot of focus on safe(r) sport recently and, for the most part, suggested solutions have tended to be “one size fits all.” But there are many kinds of sporting harms disabled people face that are different from non-disabled athletes. This brief article (and our full report) tries to address the massive gap in research and practice related to safety concerns for disabled people in sport.
• New research shows councils hold the key to ending abuse in kids’ sport, opens in a new tab, Monash University, (4 December 2025). New research from Monash University raises questions about the effectiveness of current approaches to stopping abuse and discrimination in children’s sport, and highlights how local councils could play a pivotal role in protecting children from harm.
• What parents and youth athletes can do to protect against abuse in sport, opens in a new tab, Fanny Kuhlin, Jessica Lee, Natalie Barker-Ruchti, Steven Rynne, The Conversation, (3 June 2025). While sport can have many wonderful benefits for young people, it can also have a dark side, one where abuse can flourish, leading to serious psychological and physical harm. How can parents ensure their children are safe?
• The 3 changes Australian sport must make after Volleyball Australia’s shocking abuse report, opens in a new tab, Natalie Galea, Mary Woessner, Victoria Roberts, The Conversation, (31 July 2024). The Paris Olympics has commenced with much excitement as fans soak in athletic achievements, medal counts and inspiring stories of success and triumph. While we celebrate these accomplishments, we must also consider the price paid for these medals. Not the cost in terms of money – the human cost. The physical and psychological toll of what athletes must endure in sport environments.
• Football’s referee crisis: we asked thousands of refs about the abuse and violence that’s driving them out of the game, opens in a new tab, Tom Webb, Harjit Sekhon, The Conversation, (13 June 2024). One of the two English referees at this year’s Euros, Michael Oliver, was subjected to particularly shocking abuse, including death threats, after awarding a last-minute penalty in a Champions League quarter-final in April 2018. And it wasn’t only him: Oliver’s wife Lucy, also a referee, was sent abusive text messages after her mobile phone number was posted on social media.
• Sports federations urged to do more to safeguard athletes, opens in a new tab, Marcus Hoy, Play the Game, (23 February 2024). A session at Play the Game 2024 outlined several problems when it comes to protecting athletes. Research shows that many athletes do not report cases of sextortion and inappropriate behaviour because they believe nothing will be done, and Global Athletes called IOC safeguarding processes inadequate.
• Less than half of Australian children who experience violence in sport tell an adult, world-first study finds, opens in a new tab, Natasha May, The Guardian, (23 October 2023). Normalisation of violence in sport, like ‘tough love’ coaching, has discouraged children from speaking up, experts say.
• “I feel (un)safe when…”: What athletes have to say about high performance culture, opens in a new tab, Eric MacIntosh, Shannon Kerwin, Alison Doherty, SIRCuit, (25 July 2022). In this article, researchers present their findings about Canadian high performance athletes’ perspectives on safe and unsafe sport environments, as well as recommendations for changes. Athletes identified coach behaviour, teammate or fellow athlete behaviour, lack of resources and an inattentive sport system as key factors contributing to unsafe sporting environments. Implementing initiatives to target these issues can support the shift to a safer sport environment (for example, requiring coaches to undertake self-awareness and self-regulation training that promote safe coach behaviour).

• Hear me play: Youth perceptions of safety in sport - 2025 survey results, opens in a new tab, Sport Integrity Australia, (2026). This first report from the Youth Perceptions of Safety in Sport Study shares the findings from the 2025 annual survey, completed by more than 1,000 young people aged 12 to 18 from across Australia.
  • 93% felt safe in sport always or most of the time.
  • 12% of those who had previously engaged in non-playing roles in sport had stopped because they experienced abuse/lack of respect by athletes, coaches, parents, or spectators.
  • 27% reported witnessing bullying in their sport, and around 10% reported feeling bullied as a reason for dropping out of a sport.
  • 92% said they would be willing to report inappropriate behaviour to someone they trusted, most frequently a parent or coach.
• Positive Behaviours in Sport Snapshot 2025, opens in a new tab, Sport Integrity Australia, (2025). A snapshot of results from the first 12 months of the Positive Behaviours in Sport Study that is being conducted over a period of five years between 2024-2028 to seek thoughts and feedback from coaches and participants/athletes around what they think about the fairness and safety of sport in Australia and provide insight into the current level of knowledge Australians have in relation to sport integrity issues.
  • 88% of athletes and 87% of coaches felt Australian sport was safe and fair for everyone.
  • 44% of athletes and 60% of coaches were confident of locating their sport’s integrity policies.
  • In the previous 12 months, participants were more likely to report witnessing poor behaviour than experiencing it. Athletes most reported experiencing body shaming (7%) and verbal abuse (7%), while coaches reported experiencing more verbal abuse (17%) and bullying (11%).
  • Compared to the average for all athletes, national and international level athletes were more likely to report having a coach aggressively yell at them (36% v 21% avg) and/or belittle, humiliate, threaten or frighten them (26% v 10% avg).
• A world of sport free from racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, opens in a new tab, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, (2025). Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 54/25, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights outlines progress made in the implementation of that resolution, providing information on measures taken by States, sports associations and federations and other stakeholders against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance in and through sports. The High Commissioner presents recommendations on achieving a world of sport free from those scourges.
• The Players' Pulse: The RLPA's Annual Player Survey & Findings Report, opens in a new tab, Rugby League Players Association, (2025). Over 800 NRL and NRLW players completed the RLPA’s annual member survey during the 2025 seasons. The Players’ Pulse survey involved over 100 questions on a range of topics from workplace environments and sponsorship deals to social media and racism. Some key findings relating to experiences of abuse and harm from athlete respondents included:
  • 13% of men's and 9% of women's players experienced targeted abuse; with 7% of men's and 5% of women's experienced racism.
  • The primary channel where abuse occurred was social media, over 80% for both men and women. For male players 63% also experienced abuse from fans at games, but this was significantly lower for female players (9%).
  • 38% of male players, and 28% of female felt pressured to continue to train with concussion symptoms.
  • In 2025, both competitions recorded a C rating for psychological safety, cultural safety was rated around a C level for the NRLW and B for NRL. While this indicates that most players do feel generally safe in their environments, it also means that fewer than 75% feel this support at a consistently high level.
• SAFER (Support & Awareness for Female fans in European football through Research, prevention, and remedy) - A Handbook on Project Outcomes and Good Practice Recommendations, opens in a new tab, Football Supporters Europe, (2025). This report delineates the findings of the SAFER project, the first systematic, mixed-methods investigation into GBV within European football fandom. The research integrates quantitative data from 884 survey respondents across nine countries with qualitative insights from in-depth interviews with fans and experts. The objective is to move beyond mere quantification to elucidate the mechanisms and experiences of violence, thereby providing an evidence base for the development of effective preventative and remedial interventions.
• More than a game: what do children and young people think about sport?, opens in a new tab South Australian Commissioner for Children and Young People, Project report No.31, (June 2022). The aim of this report is to bring children and young people’s voices to the fore in a way that will support change being made to the cultural conditions and infrastructure that currently surround sport and physical activity in South Australia. Doing so will encourage greater and ongoing participation from children and young people because they will have had input into what services and infrastructure needs to be delivered and where.

• Coach-Perpetrated Interpersonal Violence: Witnessing, Perceived Harmfulness and the Role of Coaching Motivational Climate, opens in a new tab, Stiliani “Ani” Chroni, Mary Hassandra, Helena Verhelle, et al., European Journal of Sport Science, Volume 26(1), e70113, (2026). Coach-perpetrated interpersonal violence can pose significant risks to athletes' development as well as psychological, physical and social well-being worldwide. This study examined the perceived harmfulness of witnessed coach-perpetrated interpersonal violence behaviours in the North Mediterranean region, alongside any associations with coaching climates (empowering and disempowering). Data were collected from 494 active coaches across Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal through an online questionnaire where they reported witnessing and perceived harm of psychological, physical, instrumental and sexual violence, as well as their coaching climates. The analysis showed psychological violence as the most frequently witnessed form and physical violence being perceived as the most harmful one. An empowering coaching climate, characterised by autonomy support and positive reinforcement, correlated positively with higher perceived harm, especially for psychological and instrumental violence. Conversely, a disempowering climate, marked by control and punitive behaviours, correlated with lower perceived harm. Gender, coach education and professional status were found to influence coaches' perceptions, highlighting that cultural and structural complexities have a role towards interpersonal violence tolerance. The study underscores the critical need for culturally tailored safe sport initiatives, mandatory training of coaches in safe coaching behaviours and practices and proactive safeguarding measures to mitigate interpersonal violence across diverse sporting contexts. Culturally informed interventions need to challenge the normalisation of violence in coaching and encourage empowering climates that place athletes in the centre and prioritise their welfare.
• Implementing an organizational trauma-informed approach: an urgent priority to protect the well-being of all members in sport from the top down, opens in a new tab, Jenny McMahon, Kerry R. McGannon, Chris Zehntner, et al., Sport, Education and Society, (June 2025). Athletes have been central to safe sport agendas and contemporary abuse prevention initiatives. Despite these initiatives, abuse continues to occur across sports and levels, with athletes not the only sport members to be experiencing abuse and its effects. As witnessing or experiencing abuse and/or neglect has been shown to influence the life course causing long-term health impacts such as trauma, a serious abuse legacy may result for many sport members. One way to address the abuse legacy and promote healing/recovery is to be trauma-informed. Yet, such research and initiatives centring on this are in their infancy and limited in application and scope. In this paper, we provide a critical commentary arguing that an organizational trauma-informed approach should be implemented by sporting organizations worldwide to better support all members experiencing the impacts of abuse due to their sport involvement. Our commentary builds on the premise that various sports members (e.g. sport administration workers, coaches, athletes and officials) are experiencing abuse and potentially trauma as a consequence. We show these abuse impacts and trauma using composite vignettes, media examples and sport literature. Another focal point of our commentary centres on what an organizational trauma-informed approach involves and why it is necessary to support safer sport participation for all sports members. These recommendations build on, and extend, recent calls for all participants in sport to be protected and the need to support abuse victims.
• International Olympic Committee consensus-driven guidelines for athlete mental health support at sporting events, opens in a new tab, Mountjoy M, Sloan S, Ali-Zada M, et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 59(21), pp.1459-1470, (2025). This paper aims to provide consensus-driven, evidence-based recommendations to guide such a development and implementation. An 8-stage process based on the RAND-UCLA Appropriateness Method was adopted to collate and synthesise the available literature on this topic, to identify gaps in the scientific evidence and to enlist expert experience from a multidisciplinary expert panel to fill these gaps. Within such a process, the existing scientific literature was explored while experts (including athletes) were consulted to reach consensus on the recommendations. Accordingly, a robust pre-event plan is required to ensure the successful implementation of a comprehensive mental health programme during sport events, focussing on promotion, prevention, treatment and recovery. During sporting events, according to the defined pre-event plan, various activities targeting athletes, coaches, the entourage, officials or fans should be implemented: for example, educational programmes to decrease stigma, raise awareness and support help-seeking, a mental fitness area for decompression and relaxation, inperson mental health services provided by qualified mental health professionals with sport-specific as well as trauma-informed and violence-informed skills and mental health surveillance in parallel with the existing injury and illness surveillance programmes. Post event, a thorough evaluation of the implemented activities should be conducted while surveillance data should be analysed to identify areas requiring future targeted intervention(s). Also, particular attention should be given to postevent mental health support including the use of decompression interventions to support adjustment, emotional processing and reintegration.
• Athlete Mental Health and Wellbeing During the Transition into Elite Sport: Strategies to Prepare the System, opens in a new tab, Vita Pilkington, Simon Rice, Lisa Olive, et al., Sports Medicine, Volume 10, article number 24, (2024). The transition into elite-level sport can expose young athletes to risk factors for mental ill-health, including increased performance expectations, stressors associated with becoming increasingly public figures, and changes in lifestyle demands, such as diet, training loads and sleep. Successful integration into elite-level sport requires athletes to quickly adapt to these newfound challenges and the norms and culture of the new sport setting, while developing relationships with teammates, coaches, and support staff. Despite these demands, the mental health experiences of athletes transitioning into elite-level sport have been largely neglected in sport psychology literature. In this article, we offer a preliminary framework for supporting athletes’ mental health during the transition into elite-level sport. This framework is based on holistic, developmental, and ecological perspectives. Key recommendations include preparing athletes for the challenges they are likely to face throughout their athletic careers, highlighting athletes’ competence earlier in their careers, developing supportive relationships in the sport setting, and fostering psychologically safe sporting cultures. Supporting mental health from earlier in the athletic career is likely to promote athletes’ overall wellbeing, support enjoyment and retention in sport, and encourage help-seeking.
• IOC consensus statement: interpersonal violence and safeguarding in sport, opens in a new tab, Tuakli-Wosornu YA, Burrows K, Fasting K, et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, Volume 58(22), pp.1322-1344, (2024). This evidence review and consensus process elucidated the characterisation and complexity of IV and safeguarding in sport and demonstrates that a whole-of-system approach is needed to fully comprehend and prevent IV. Sport settings that emphasise mutual care, are athlete centred, promote healthy relationships, embed trauma- and violence-informed care principles, integrate diverse perspectives and measure IV prevention and response effectiveness will exemplify safe sport. A shared responsibility between all within the sports ecosystem is required to advance effective safeguarding through future research, policy and practice.
• Safeguarding strategies in athletes with intellectual disabilities: A narrative review, opens in a new tab, George Raum, Kuntal Chowdhary, Olivia A. Glotfelty-Scheuering, et al., PM&R, Volume 16(4), pp.374-383, (2024). Compared to their non-disabled peers, athletes with disabilities are at an increased risk of interpersonal violence in sport. Athletes with intellectual disabilities specifically may face compounded risk due to impaired communication and social challenges. Despite the inherent risk of interpersonal violence in athletes with intellectual disabilities, there is a paucity of literature focused on safeguarding strategies in this population, and no global consensus prevention guidelines exist. The goal of this review was to synthesize the literature on interpersonal violence in athletes with intellectual disabilities and propose an evidence-informed safeguarding framework. Future research and practice should emphasize tailored training on appropriate athlete-protection strategies and ways to recognize and respond to suspicions of abuse in this population. Given the benefits of sports participation for persons with intellectual disabilities, implementation of fit-for-purpose safeguarding strategies would help address any elevated risk of interpersonal violence. Formal monitoring and evaluation of these initiatives can help minimize interpersonal violence.
• The Safe Sport Allies bystander training: developing a multi-layered program for youth sport participants and their coaches to prevent harassment and abuse in local sport clubs, opens in a new tab, Karolien Adriaens, Helena Verhelle, Gjalt-Jorn Ygram Peters, et al., Frontiers in Psychology, Volume 15, (2024). Harassment and abuse represent a pervasive and critical problem in sport with far-reaching consequences. Survivors’ testimonials underscore the profound and enduring impact of these experiences at individual, interpersonal, organizational and community level. Many of their stories reveal painful inaction from responsible adults in the sport organization, aggravating the harm. Other contributing factors to the harm inflicted include a culture of silence, lack of knowledge and understanding of what constitutes abuse, unawareness of reporting and supporting mechanisms, and fear of potential consequences. While effective bystander interventions have been developed outside the sport context, particularly targeting students in higher education, such initiatives have yet to be extensively adapted and assessed within the sport context. To address this gap, the Safe Sport Allies Erasmus+ collaborative partnership relied on the intervention mapping approach as a guiding framework to systematically develop a bystander training program (i.e., Safe Sport Allies) to train youth sport participants and youth sport coaches to act as effective bystanders. The current paper describes the comprehensive development process and provides an overview of implementation and evaluation possibilities. Throughout the paper, it is explained how each step of the Intervention Mapping approach shaped the Safe Sport Allies bystander training program. The program development, and the developed plans for implementation and evaluation are presented, shedding light on challenges encountered. The bystander training program developed in this paper and the implementation and evaluation plans can serve as an outline to build future interventions within this critical domain of safeguarding in sport.
• What would you do? Developing, implementing and evaluating a coach bystander intervention to prevent sexual violence in youth sports clubs, opens in a new tab, Helena Verhelle, Tine Vertommen, Karolien Adriaens, et al., Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Volume 36(5), pp.809-830, (2024). With current estimates of up to one in three children experiencing some form of sexual violence in sports, the need for effective measures to prevent sexual violence in sports is high. Survivors’ narratives of sexual violence in sports uncover the lack of (adequate) bystander action and the urgent need for stakeholder education to effectively prevent sexual violence in youth sports. This study presents the “All Aboard” educational program, targeting youth sports coaches in Flanders (Belgium). The program aimed to stimulate the intentions of youth coaches to engage in positive bystander behavior to adequately detect, assess, and respond to signs of sexual violence toward young athletes. After two pilot studies, this program was implemented in nine Flemish sports clubs. Coaches’ readiness to change, intentions and attitudes, perceived norms, and perceived behavioral control were measured before and after they participated in the program using the “And what would you do?” questionnaire, constructed according to the Reasoned Action Approach. After the program, positive change was found in coaches’ intentions to be a positive bystander, e.g., they acknowledged the value of being a positive bystander, felt more comfortable being a positive bystander and believed that doing so would improve the situation. This article is one of the first to report on an evidence-based intervention program to prevent sexual violence in sports by fostering positive attitudes toward positive bystander behaviors by coaches. Opportunities and challenges of implementing education to prevent sexual violence in local sports clubs are discussed.
• Building a System to Safeguard Children in Sport: The Eight CHILDREN Pillars, opens in a new tab, Rhind, D. J. A., Kay, T., Hills, L., et al., Journal of Sport and Social Issues, Volume 41(2), pp.151-171, (2017). In October 2014, the International Safeguards for Children in Sport were launched. These Safeguards were developed, implemented, and evaluated based on a pilot process which took place over the preceding 2 years. Throughout this piloting phase, a range of qualitative techniques were employed to capture the experiences of people within 32 of the organizations that were working toward the International Safeguards. The participant organizations varied based on their geographical focus (e.g., local, national, and international) as well as their mission (e.g., participation, competition, and sport for development). Based on a thematic analysis, eight key pillars were identified on which systems which safeguard children can be built. These are known as the CHILDREN pillars: Cultural sensitivity, Holistic, Incentives, Leadership, Dynamic, Resources, Engagement, and Networks. Illustrative examples are provided and the future directions of this project will be discussed.