8 - Child Safeguarding

Children are among the most vulnerable populations in humanitarian crises, facing heightened risks of abuse, exploitation, neglect, and violence. This course is designed to equip humanitarian workers, local responders, and professionals engaged in emergency response with essential knowledge and practical strategies to ensure children's safety and well-being in humanitarian settings.

Participants will explore the core principles of child safeguarding, including proactive risk mitigation, recognizing safeguarding concerns, and appropriate reporting mechanisms. The course emphasizes the importance of accountability, guiding learners through reporting procedures and the role of oversight bodies like the Office of Internal Audit and Investigations (OIAI).

Additionally, the course addresses barriers to child safeguarding, such as resource constraints, cultural challenges, and gaps in policy enforcement, and provides practical solutions to strengthen child protection measures.

The course follows a microlearning approach, offering bite-sized lessons (15–20 minutes each) that make it easy to grasp complex human rights concepts. Interactive activities, case studies, and scenario-based exercises provide opportunities for active learning. There are no graded assessments—participants can engage, explore, and retry activities as often as needed to deepen their understanding.

To learn more about the efficacy of online learning and online learning at NextGenU.org please see “A Novel Integration of Online and Flipped Classroom Instructional Models in Public Health Higher Education,” (2014), BMC Medical Education, “Building Public Health Capacity through Online Global Learning,” (2018), Open Praxis, or on NextGenU.org’s publication page.

There are four micro-lessons to complete, which include:

1. What is Child Safeguarding?
2. Identifying Child Safeguarding Concerns
3. Reporting Child Safeguarding Concerns
4. Barriers to Keeping Children Safe

Each micro-lesson takes approximately 15-20 minutes and includes interactive activities and questions to reinforce key concepts. These activities are ungraded and designed to support active learning—participants can attempt them as many times as needed.

At the end of the course, participants must pass a scenario-based quiz that applies their learning to real-world humanitarian challenges. Upon successful completion, participants will earn a badge.

Once you’ve passed the final exam, you will receive a badge from NextGenU.org and our course’s co-sponsoring organizations. We keep your personal information confidential, never sell any of your information, and only use anonymized data for research purposes. Also, we are happy to report your testing information and share your work with anyone (your school, employer, etc.) at your request.

Engaging with this Course:

You can enroll in this course or  browse this course for free for personal enrichment; there are no requirements.

To obtain a badge, a learner must successfully complete:

• All the reading requirements
• All quizzes and pass with a 70% with unlimited attempts
• All activities
• The final exam
• The self and course evaluation forms

NextGenU.org is happy to provide your institution with

• A link to and description of the course training so that they can see all its components, including the cosponsoring universities and other professional organization cosponsors;
• Your grade on the final exam;
• Your work products (e.g., case study activities), and any other required or optional shared materials that you produce and authorize to share with them; 
• Your evaluations -- course and self-assessments;
• A copy of your badge, along with the co-sponsoring universities and other organizations listed.

Next Steps

• Take the short knowledge pre-test. It allows us to assess various aspects of the course itself.
• Complete the registration form.
• Begin the course with Lesson 1: What is Child Safeguarding?
• In each lesson, read the description, complete all required readings and any required activity, and take the corresponding quizzes.

Disclaimer: This content is designed to enhance your study; we cannot guarantee that the successful completion of these materials will enable you to work in your place of residence as regulations vary by location. If you plan to practice using your new knowledge, to ensure safety and compliance with your local laws, you must successfully complete a program of study approved by the government and relevant local regulatory agencies in your place of practice. 

NextGenU.org does not directly confer academic degrees or guarantee that learning institutions will accept NextGenU.org coursework for credit.