Safeguarding & Responsible Storytelling

1. Our commitment

Nurtiva aims to create activities, partnerships, communications and public stories that respect the safety, dignity, privacy and agency of the people involved. Safeguarding is not only about responding after harm occurs. It also means designing participation so that foreseeable harm is less likely to happen.

2. Who this commitment applies to

This commitment is intended to guide Nurtiva’s founders, volunteers, contributors, photographers, storytellers, project collaborators and partner organisations when they are acting on behalf of Nurtiva or creating material for Nurtiva channels.

3. Children and young people

• The best interests and safety of a child should come before publicity, convenience or content needs.
• Participation should be age appropriate, understandable and voluntary within the limits of the activity.
• Where appropriate, Nurtiva will seek informed permission from a parent, guardian or other person authorised to provide consent, as well as the child’s own agreement where they are able to give it meaningfully.
• A child should not be pressured to appear in an image, video, interview or public story.
• Information that could expose a child to avoidable risk should not be published merely because it makes a story more detailed or emotional.
• Programme specific safeguarding procedures should be used for activities involving children rather than relying only on general website consent.

4. Consent for photography, video and stories

Where a person is recognisable or their personal story is being shared, Nurtiva aims to explain what is being created, where it may appear, why it is being used and what participation means before asking for consent.

Consent should be specific enough to be meaningful. Agreement to participate in a project does not automatically mean agreement to appear in public communications.

Where reasonably possible, people should be able to ask Nurtiva to stop future use of their identifiable story or image. Removing material that has already been copied, shared or published by independent third parties may not always be possible.

5. Dignified representation

• Show people as participants with knowledge, choices and agency, not only as recipients of help.
• Do not stage hardship, distress or vulnerability for a stronger image.
• Do not ask someone to repeat a painful experience simply to make a story more dramatic.
• Avoid language or imagery that humiliates, stereotypes, sensationalises or reduces a person to a problem.
• Use context so that images and stories do not create a misleading impression about a person, community or project.
• Do not use poverty, illness, disability, age or another personal circumstance as a visual device without a clear and respectful reason.

6. Truthful project storytelling

• Do not present a proposed activity or target as an achieved result.
• Do not use an image from one project, community or event to imply that it shows another.
• Do not materially alter an image in a way that changes the factual context of what happened.
• Keep captions and project descriptions accurate about place, stage and activity where those details are relevant and safe to share.
• When an image is an illustration or creative reconstruction rather than documentary evidence, make that clear when context requires it.

7. Privacy and identifying information

Not every story needs a full name, exact location or detailed personal history. Nurtiva will aim to share only the identifying information needed for the purpose of the story and will use additional caution where a person could face stigma, retaliation, exploitation or another foreseeable risk.

Personal information collected through the website is also covered by our Privacy Policy.

8. Respect during activities

Anyone representing Nurtiva should aim to maintain appropriate boundaries, avoid intimidation, harassment and discrimination, and treat concerns seriously. People should not be asked to exchange money, gifts, favours, personal access or private contact for the opportunity to participate in Nurtiva activities.

9. Partners and contributors

Where another organisation, photographer, volunteer or contributor works with Nurtiva, we expect them to respect the same core principles of safety, consent, dignity, truthful representation and appropriate information handling. More detailed safeguarding requirements may be agreed for specific programmes or partnerships.

10. Raising a concern

If you are worried about conduct connected to Nurtiva, the treatment of a participant, the use of an image or story, or another safeguarding issue, please use our Contact page and clearly state that your message is a safeguarding concern.

We aim to handle concerns sensitively and share information only with people who need it for an appropriate response. We cannot promise absolute confidentiality where information must be shared to protect someone, comply with law or respond responsibly to a serious concern.

If someone is in immediate danger, the appropriate local emergency, protection or law enforcement service should be contacted rather than waiting for a website response.

11. Learning and review

This is a public commitment and will continue to develop into more detailed internal safeguarding procedures as Nurtiva grows. We will review it when programmes, partnerships, staffing or legal responsibilities materially change.