The Charity Commission has four clear expectations of trustees:
- Provide a safe and trusted environment. Safeguarding involves a duty of care to everyone who comes into contact with your charity, not just vulnerable beneficiaries like children and young people.
- Set an organisational culture that prioritises safeguarding, so it is safe for people to report incidents and concerns in the knowledge they will be dealt with appropriately.
- Have adequate safeguarding policies, procedures and measures to protect people and make sure these are made public, reviewed regularly and kept up to date.
- Handle incidents as they arise. Report them to the relevant authorities including the police and the Charity Commission. Learn from these mistakes and put in place the relevant mechanisms to stop them happening again.
The Butterfly Tree has always considered Child Protection and Safeguarding as a priority. We do everything in our power to ensure that the children and vulnerable people, we support, are safe.
Our volunteers in Zambia comprise up of experienced local people, most of them have been with us since the founding of The Butterfly Tree in 2006. The orphan sponsorship programme is managed by one of our local trustees, a former sponsored orphan. The welfare of orphans and vulnerable children is paramount. The peer education programme for HIV prevention is organised by former sponsored orphans, who have received extensive training in coaching and mentoring.
Most of our UK volunteers help with administration and fundraising only, and do not work directly with children in Zambia. Any that do visit Zambia, and other volunteers, including international ones, must produce a DBS certificate or the equivalent certification from their country. Volunteers must be dedicated to helping the cause, take the experience seriously, and not use this opportunity as a holiday.
To access the latest version of our policies, updated on 1st June 2026, please click on the links below:
Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy – June 2026
In addition to the Child Protection and Safeguarding Policy The Butterfly Tree has the following policies in place: