Opinion: A ‘just culture’ will help aid orgs prevent sex abuse scandals

In recent years, development NGOs have reenergized their efforts to safeguard children and vulnerable adults they work with from abuse and sexual exploitation. Many NGOs have adopted zero-tolerance policies for harassment, abuse, and exploitation. But safeguarding scandals continue, and even strenuous efforts to abide by Core Humanitarian Standards haven’t been effective in stopping them.

For humanitarian organizations that may be “new” to the struggles of safeguarding participants and staff, there are lessons on organizational culture that can be gleaned from the efforts of other sectors to address safety: domestic child welfare systems, hospitals, and space exploration.

In the 1986 Challenger space shuttle disaster, “o-rings” that were known to be a problem failed and caused the shuttle to explode. A safety review found that lower-level engineering staff knew the o-rings became stiff at lower temperatures and had cautioned about launching the shuttle if the weather was cold. Middle management overruled the decision and no one else spoke up, leaving launch control unaware of the risks of a cold-weather countdown. Sociologist Diane Vaughn has argued that the problem was a cultural one. As known risks were ignored, staff became complacent to the point that they actually believed there was no risk. “Normalized deviance” is the term that has been used to describe such a culture.