Introduction to Social Safeguards

Social Safeguards are vital for organisational resilience. They help conservation organisations to identify and assess the potential social risks that their conservation activities may pose to local people; and avoid, minimise or mitigate unavoidable negative impacts while maximising positive impacts. Social risks include, for example, designing activities that do not have peoples’ support due to limited stakeholder engagement; or causing unintended negative impacts on peoples’ livelihoods due to restrictions on access to natural resources. This webinar provides an overview of Social Safeguards. It will explain the link between Social Safeguards and organisational resilience; talk about the common tools that can help us apply Social Safeguards in conservation projects; and discuss issues and challenges around the practical development of Social Safeguards.

Sérgio Rosendo is technical specialist on Social Safeguards at FFI’s Social Equity & Rights (SER) team, based at FFI’s Cambridge office. He works alongside a wider team who provide support to FFI’s regional teams and partners in the application of Social Safeguards. Sergio’s role includes the development of policies, guidance and training on Social Safeguards. He is also the focal person for Portuguese and Spanish speaking countries on issues related to social rights & equity.