You suspect a colleague of exploitation or of taking money from beneficiaries

Protection from sexual exploitation and abuse, PSEA, and zero tolerance for fraud are conditions of every donor grant. One unreported case can suspend a whole organisation, so every candidate, from driver to country director, is asked this question. Sexual exploitation is any exchange of aid, money, a job or a service for sex, including a “relationship” with a beneficiary; the power gap makes consent impossible. Fraud is asking beneficiaries for a share of their cash, a registration fee or “transport money”, or diverting items. Both have the same two rules: zero tolerance and mandatory reporting.

1. 1Safety first. If someone is in immediate danger, make them safe: medical care, a protection referral, a private place to talk. Tell the person it is not their fault and that aid is free. Do not promise an outcome you do not control.
2. 2Report the same day through the official channel: the PSEA focal point, the safeguarding hotline or email, the complaints and feedback mechanism, or the country director if your manager is involved. In writing, facts only: who, what, when, where, what you saw or were told. Suspicion is enough to report; certainty is the investigation's job.
3. 3Do not investigate, do not confront the colleague, do not tell the team, and do not question the survivor for details. Confidentiality protects the survivor and the case; a tipped-off colleague destroys evidence and threatens witnesses.
4. 4Cooperate with the investigation, keep your own dated notes, and keep the survivor's identity to the fewest people possible. Retaliation against anyone who reports is itself misconduct.
5. 5Prevent it every day: tell communities that aid is free and how to complain, never collect money from beneficiaries for any reason, never meet a beneficiary alone for a “private” talk, and follow the code of conduct you signed.