{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T05:16:00Z","timestamp":1788153360677,"version":"build-2803163510"},"update-to":[{"DOI":"10.3310\/nihropenres.14238.1","type":"new_version","label":"New version","source":"publisher","updated":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785974400000}}],"reference-count":11,"publisher":"National Institute for Health and Care Research","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1785974400000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000272","name":"National Institute for Health Research","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["NIHR134482"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["NIHR134482"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000272","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["openresearch.nihr.ac.uk"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["NIHR Open Res"],"abstract":"<ns3:p>Background Research projects have a responsibility to safeguard their staff and research participants by treating them with respect and dignity and protecting them from harm. This is especially important in international development partnerships where substantial imbalances in power relations, resources and research governance structures are common. Demands for evidence and sharing of good practice about how international research partnerships can enhance safeguarding cultures in partners\u2019 institutions are increasing. However, these partnerships are missing opportunities to amplify their projects\u2019 impact beyond the project team and research focus. Methods Our multi-national implementation research partnership is focused on patient-centred care for sickle cell disease in Africa and involves participatory approaches with community members and vulnerable patients. After establishing a project safeguarding plan and training, partners were keen to extend a safeguarding culture to their own institutions. We describe how our safeguarding trainers tailored the project\u2019s approach and resources to introduce the concept of safeguarding in their institutions and set up training in four diverse contexts in Ghana, Nigeria and Zambia. Results Lessons to apply to other research partnerships have been synthesised by comparing common factors which helped and hindered their efforts. These included jointly developing tools to identify safeguarding risks, using the projects\u2019 establishing safeguarding processes, flexibility in the use of training resources, supporting institutionally influential safeguarding trainers, engaging institutional leaders as safeguarding advocates, embedding safeguarding within institutional systems, and planning for sustainability. Conclusion Influencing institutional culture change to embed safeguarding approaches is a long process and is unlikely to be achieved within the lifetime of a short-term project. However, with careful planning and encouragement from research funders, the activities and resources within a research partnership can go well beyond simply delivering the primary research outputs. Even within 2\u20133\u00a0years they can be used to lever substantial impact on the safeguarding culture in partners\u2019 institutions.<\/ns3:p>","DOI":"10.3310\/nihropenres.14238.2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]],"date-time":"2026-08-06T07:19:10Z","timestamp":1786000750000},"page":"30","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3310\/nihropenres.crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Introducing a safeguarding culture in research institutions: a multi-national partnership"],"prefix":"10.3310","volume":"6","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1328-9117","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Daniel","family":"Ansong","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Ashanti Region Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5728-3633","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mabuchi","family":"Banda","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lusaka National Health Research Authority-Zambia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sepo","family":"Mwikisa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lusaka Lusaka Province University of Zambia University Teaching Hospital-Children's Hospital"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ijeoma","family":"Udeozo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Abuja Federal Capital Territory University of Abuja"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tara","family":"Tancred","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Capacity Research Liverpool England Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2393-4933","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Catherine","family":"Chunda Liyoka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Lusaka Lusaka Province University of Zambia University Teaching Hospital-Children's Hospital"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Alex","family":"Osei-Akoto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Kumasi Ashanti Region Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Obiageli","family":"Nnodu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Abuja Federal Capital Territory University of Abuja"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4508-6261","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Mkutumula","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Blantyre Southern Region Malawi-Liverpool-Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Programme"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5274-1463","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Susie","family":"Crossman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Capacity Research Liverpool England Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Justin","family":"Pulford","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Capacity Research Liverpool England Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0862-8199","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Imelda","family":"Bates","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Centre for Capacity Research Liverpool England Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"6221","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","article-title":"Safeguarding in international development research: Evidence review.","author":"D Orr","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref2","article-title":"Guidance on Safeguarding in International Development Research.","author":"A Balch","year":"2020"},{"key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2019-002253","article-title":"How to prevent and address safeguarding concerns in global health research programmes: practice, process and positionality in marginalised spaces.","volume":"5","author":"B Aktar","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMJ Glob Health."},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"18-41","DOI":"10.1177\/17470161221131494","article-title":"Safeguarding research staff \u201cin the field\u201d: a blind spot in ethics guidelines.","volume":"19","author":"L Kaplan","year":"2023","journal-title":"Research Ethics."},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"14","DOI":"10.1186\/1478-4505-9-14","article-title":"Indicators of sustainable capacity building for health research: analysis of four African case studies.","volume":"9","author":"I Bates","year":"2011","journal-title":"Health Res Policy Syst."},{"key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"119","DOI":"10.1186\/s12961-021-00769-z","article-title":"Fundamental challenges in assessing the impact of research infrastructure.","volume":"19","author":"S Zakaria","year":"2021","journal-title":"Health Research Policy and Systems."},{"key":"ref8","article-title":"Effective Research Capacity Strengthening: A Quick Guide for Funders.","year":"2023"},{"key":"ref9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"139","DOI":"10.12688\/wellcomeopenres.17721.1","article-title":"Consortium management structures, processes, and approaches: The DELTAS Africa example.","volume":"7","author":"N Tagoe","year":"2022","journal-title":"Wellcome Open Res."},{"key":"ref10","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2022-009472","article-title":"A framework for managing health research capacity strengthening consortia: addressing tensions and enhancing capacity outcomes.","volume":"7","author":"N Tagoe","year":"2022","journal-title":"BMJ Glob Health."},{"key":"ref11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"671-692","DOI":"10.1007\/s11948-018-0037-1","article-title":"Science, Technology and Innovation as Social Goods for Development: Rethinking Research Capacity Building from Sen's Capabilities Approach.","volume":"25","author":"M Mormina","year":"2019","journal-title":"Sci Eng Ethics."},{"key":"ref12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"e002212","DOI":"10.1136\/bmjgh-2019-002212","article-title":"External funding to strengthen capacity for research in low-income and middle-income countries: exigence, excellence and equity.","volume":"5","author":"D Maher","year":"2020","journal-title":"BMJ Glob Health."}],"container-title":["NIHR Open Research"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2\/xml","content-type":"application\/xml","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2\/pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2\/iparadigms","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,31]],"date-time":"2026-08-31T04:23:25Z","timestamp":1788150205000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"references-count":11,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3310\/nihropenres.14238.2","relation":{"has-version":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.3310\/nihropenres.14238.1","asserted-by":"subject"}],"has-review":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.3310\/nihropenres.15716.r41488","asserted-by":"subject"},{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.3310\/nihropenres.15716.r41488","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2633-4402"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2633-4402","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,6]]},"assertion":[{"value":"Indexed","URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2#article-reports","order":0,"name":"referee-status","label":"Referee status","group":{"name":"current-referee-status","label":"Current Referee Status"}},{"value":"10.3310\/nihropenres.15503.r40463, Lesong Conteh, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, 13 May 2026, version 1, 1 approved, 1 approved with reservations","URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v1#referee-response-40463","order":0,"name":"referee-response-40463","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"<b>Susie Crossman<\/b>; \n<i>Posted: 29 Jul 2026<\/i>; We would like to thank you for the time you have taken to carefully review our paper. Your helpful comments and suggestions, which we have incorporated, have significantly improved the paper. Responses to your specific suggestions are below. &nbsp;  We have clarified that the main focus of the paper is on safeguarding in the context of health research for development so we have drawn on references from both development and research literature. We have added a statement to explain that it is the research project (PACTS) that uses implementation research (i.e. not this safeguarding study). We have included a matrix comparing the enabling factors and barriers across the four sites as supplementary file 1. We have included a section outlining the limitations of self-reported findings and how this may have influenced the data capture and interpretation There are legal frameworks and policies (covering for example, child protection and various forms of discrimination as mentioned in the paper) in the partner countries. These include The Children\u2019s Code Act, 2022 (Zambia), Child's Rights Act 2003 (Nigeria) and Children's Act 1998 (Ghana). Anti-discrimination protections are included in the constitutions of Ghana (1992), Nigeria (1999) and Zambia (2016 amendment). &nbsp;However these frameworks only partially cover all the aspects and obligations concerning safeguarding. The lessons and principles we have outlined for safeguarding practice in international development research summarise the learning for all those involved in research partnerships. This learning is multi-directional irrespective of whether partners are from the global \u2018north\u2019 or \u2018south\u2019 and we have explained this in the text.","URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2#referee-comment-3613","order":1,"name":"referee-comment-3613","label":"Referee Comment","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"10.3310\/nihropenres.15716.r41488, Bintu Mansaray, University of Bristol, Bristol, 31 Aug 2026, version 2, indexed","URL":"https:\/\/openresearch.nihr.ac.uk\/articles\/6-30\/v2#referee-response-41488","order":2,"name":"referee-response-41488","label":"Referee Report","group":{"name":"article-reports","label":"Article Reports"}},{"value":"This project was funded by the NIHR (NIHR134482) using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK government. The funder had no role in the preparation of the manuscript. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.","order":3,"name":"grant-information","label":"Grant Information"},{"value":"This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.","order":0,"name":"copyright-info","label":"Copyright"}]}}