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Conflict, displacement and humanitarian crises can expose people to increased risks of violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect, exclusion and other forms of harm.
Wings of Aid & Peace (WAP) seeks to place protection, dignity and safety at the centre of its humanitarian action by integrating protection considerations across programmes and, where appropriate, supporting dedicated protection activities based on identified needs, technical capacity and safe referral arrangements.
Humanitarian assistance should help people without exposing them to additional harm.
People affected by crisis may experience different protection risks depending on their circumstances, environment and access to services and support.
Protection therefore requires more than responding after harm has occurred.
It also requires humanitarian organizations to understand risks, design safer programmes, reduce barriers to assistance, protect confidentiality, listen to communities and ensure that people can safely raise concerns.
WAP's Protection programme provides a framework for integrating these responsibilities across humanitarian action and, where appropriate, developing dedicated protection interventions according to assessed needs, technical capacity, available resources and approved programme design.
An overview of WAP's programme activities, organizational developments, and financial summary for 2025.
WAP teams continue to work closely with local partners to deliver assistance to affected communities. Further…
WAP seeks to approach protection through a combination of risk awareness, community participation, safe programming, appropriate referral and organizational accountability.
Our approach is guided by several priorities.
Protection is not limited to projects labelled as Protection.
WAP seeks to integrate relevant protection considerations across its humanitarian programmes.
This means asking practical questions throughout programme design and implementation:
Protection mainstreaming helps ensure that humanitarian assistance considers not only what is delivered, but also how it is delivered.
Depending on assessed needs, technical expertise, available resources, referral capacity and approved project design, WAP's Protection programme may include or support appropriate activities such as:
Communities possess important knowledge about local risks, coping strategies, social relationships and available sources of support.
WAP seeks to engage communities appropriately in understanding protection concerns and identifying locally relevant approaches.
Community participation may include:
Community-based protection should not transfer responsibilities for managing serious protection cases to people who lack the appropriate training, authority or support.
People affected by the same crisis may experience different risks and barriers.
Age, disability, displacement, family circumstances, social conditions and other contextual factors may influence how people access humanitarian assistance.
WAP seeks to identify actual barriers through assessment and consultation rather than assuming vulnerability based solely on group identity.
Where appropriate, programme design should seek to reduce barriers and support equitable, safe and dignified access.
Children can face heightened protection risks during conflict, displacement and humanitarian emergencies.
Where WAP programmes involve children, safeguarding and child-protection considerations should be integrated throughout programme design and implementation.
Depending on technical capacity and approved programme design, WAP may support appropriate preventive, awareness, community-based or referral activities related to child protection.
Specialized child-protection case management, assessment or other professional services should be undertaken only where appropriate technical expertise, procedures, supervision and referral systems are in place.
Humanitarian personnel may encounter people who require services beyond the organization's competence or programme mandate.
Where appropriate services and referral arrangements exist, WAP may support safe referral to qualified actors.
Referral processes should consider:
WAP should never promise that another service provider will accept a referral or provide a particular outcome unless this has been confirmed.
Safeguarding concerns the responsibility of WAP to prevent and respond appropriately to harm associated with its people, programmes and organizational activities.
WAP seeks to maintain safeguarding measures appropriate to its operations, including relevant standards of conduct, reporting channels, confidentiality and organizational response arrangements.
Safeguarding responsibilities apply across WAP programmes and are not limited to the Protection programme.
Sexual exploitation and abuse by humanitarian personnel represent serious abuses of power and are incompatible with humanitarian responsibility.
WAP seeks to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse associated with its personnel and activities and to provide appropriate channels through which concerns can be safely reported.
PSEA responsibilities should be integrated into relevant:
Reports involving sexual exploitation or abuse should be handled through appropriately restricted, confidential and survivor-centred processes.
People affected by humanitarian programmes should be able to ask questions, provide feedback, make complaints and report serious concerns without fear of retaliation.
WAP seeks to provide appropriate reporting options according to the nature and sensitivity of the issue.
A general programme complaint is not the same as a safeguarding or protection disclosure.
Sensitive reports require appropriately restricted handling and should not pass through ordinary public workflows where confidentiality could be compromised.
Protection information may be highly sensitive.
Collecting unnecessary information can itself create risk.
WAP seeks to apply principles of data minimization, confidentiality and appropriate access when handling protection-related information.
Programme teams should consider:
Sensitive case information should never be published through public website systems, stories, photographs or programme reports in identifiable form without an appropriate lawful and ethical basis.
Protection considerations should be integrated across relevant WAP programme areas.
Protection is therefore an organizational responsibility rather than the responsibility of one programme team alone.
Humanitarian programmes operate within existing social relationships and conflict dynamics.
Decisions about targeting, resources, locations or partnerships can unintentionally affect tensions within communities.
WAP seeks to apply relevant conflict-sensitive and Do No Harm considerations when designing and implementing programmes.
This includes understanding context, listening to communities and reviewing whether programme decisions could unintentionally increase exclusion, tension or risk.
Some protection activities require advanced technical expertise, formal procedures and specialized supervision.
These may include areas such as complex case management, specialized legal assistance, clinical services or other professional interventions.
WAP should provide such services directly only where the organization has the required mandate, qualified personnel, procedures, supervision and quality-assurance arrangements.
Where specialized needs fall outside WAP's capacity, appropriate coordination and safe referral should be considered.
Recognizing organizational limits is part of responsible protection practice.
Protection responses may require coordination among communities, humanitarian organizations, specialized service providers and relevant institutions.
WAP seeks appropriate coordination where it can improve understanding of risks, strengthen referrals, avoid duplication and improve programme quality.
Partnerships involving sensitive protection responsibilities should receive appropriate due diligence and technical review.
Only approved partnerships should be publicly associated with WAP.
Target populations for dedicated Protection projects should be determined through appropriate assessment and project criteria.
Protection programming should consider the nature and severity of identified risks, barriers to assistance, available services and WAP's technical capacity.
People should not be publicly labelled or categorized in ways that expose them to stigma, discrimination or additional risk.
Protection is not an additional feature of humanitarian action. It is part of the responsibility that comes with providing assistance. WAP seeks to understand how its decisions affect people, reduce avoidable risks, create safer opportunities for communities to speak and participate, protect sensitive information and recognize when specialized expertise is required. Our aim is humanitarian action that supports people while respecting their dignity, safety and agency.
