This paper draws on insights and operational experiences
gained through the development and field-testing of
ActionAid’s publication Safety with Dignity: A Field Manual
for Integrating Community-based Protection across
Humanitarian Programs.1 Safety with Dignity seeks to
provide practical guidance for humanitarian field staff on
how to integrate a community-based protection approach
into programmes across diverse sectors and contexts. It
draws together key protection concepts, methods and
tools being used and developed by NGOs and other
humanitarian agencies into one user-friendly manual
designed to promote increased community engagement in
humanitarian programmes.2 The participatory protection
assessment and analysis tools outlined in the manual
encourage humanitarian actors to actively identify,
support and build upon the capacities of those at risk,
while engaging relevant state and international actors to
respond to threats and vulnerabilities in a complementary
manner. The manual follows the programme cycle so that
field staff can see how a community-based protection
approach can be systematically and practically applied to
all programming efforts.
