Safeguarding is about protecting human dignity, addressing power imbalances and supporting everyone to thrive. For Filipo Masaurua, Caritas Australia Safeguarding Lead, safeguarding means ensuring no one is placed at risk by the work of organisations designed to support them.

In this conversation, Filipo reflects on his lived experience across the Pacific region, why safeguarding must be embedded in everyday practice, and how Caritas Australia ensures safety, respect and compassion for all.

What motivates safeguarding work

For Filipo, safeguarding is fundamentally about keeping people safe. His motivation is driven by the urgency of ensuring that individuals and communities are not harmed through development or humanitarian work.

“It’s just really the need to keep people safe. The urgency to ensure that our children, our youths, our mothers, our sisters and our grandmothers are not endangered in any way…”

Safeguarding, he explains, is about always ensuring protection.

Why safeguarding matters for Caritas Australia

Safeguarding at Caritas Australia is not a passive requirement. It is an active, embedded part of how the organisation operates, especially when working with vulnerable communities.

Filipo connects this responsibility to Catholic Social Teaching and the moral values that guide Caritas Australia’s mission. You can explore our Catholic Social Teachings and how they guide our work here.

“This is not just about the law, this is not just about the policy, but this is really something that’s embedded within our organisation.”

He emphasises that safeguarding ensures the organisation does not become the cause of harm.

“The need, the urgency and the commitment to ensuring that we are not the reasons why people are in danger, or people are harmed.”

Safeguarding also shapes how staff engage with communities in everyday interactions.

“That they are not harmed in any way by the way that we speak, the way that we present ourselves, the way that we conduct ourselves.”

For Filipo, values such as human dignity, kindness, respect, love and compassion must be visible in both behaviour and decision-making.

Learning from lived experience in the Pacific

Filipo’s safeguarding work is deeply informed by his experience across the Pacific region. This includes Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati and Nauru. He has worked closely with women and communities facing high levels of violence and trauma. Learn more about our work across the Pacific here.

“I think for me it needs to be talked about. It needs to be discussed. Because if we don’t, we really are part of the problem rather than the solution.”

He also reflects on serious safeguarding failures he has witnessed in other organisations, particularly misuse of power.

“I’ve seen sexual favours being given in light of the work that we do in the Pacific region within different organisations.”

These experiences reinforce why safeguarding must be central to organisational culture, not treated as an optional add-on.

“If we don’t have safeguarding as a core part of an organisation, then we’re just telling those who that we work with that power is more important than anything else.”

Filipo describes this misuse of power as a direct denial of human dignity.

“We’re using our privilege to deny someone the right to live a life of human dignity.”

How Caritas Australia puts safeguarding into practice

Caritas Australia demonstrates its safeguarding commitment through clear policies, safe program design, strong accountability and survivor-centred support.

“The safety of those that we come in contact with, the safety of those that receive the support that we are giving, the safety of those that come into contact with us is paramount.”

Policies are not static. They are brought to life through training and programming, ensuring they are implemented in collaboration with partners and communities.

“The fact that they have policies is actually a sign that they are committed to doing, to ensuring that the do no harm principle becomes a reality.”

Filipo highlights the organisation’s approach to supporting survivors of sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment.

“They don’t just say we have policies to protect, but they also go out of their way to support the survivors through every stage.”

This includes accompaniment throughout the recovery process.

“They won’t just take you to the doctors and leave you there. They take you through the journey.”

At every stage, the survivor remains the priority.

“It’s not what’s in the best interest of the organisation, but what is in the best interest of the survivor.”

Sharing power and listening to communities

A key strength of Caritas Australia’s safeguarding approach is its commitment to partnership and shared decision-making.

“They allow partners to be part of the conversation.”

Filipo explains that safeguarding becomes stronger when communities have a voice in shaping decisions that affect them.

“It’s really about how to share the table.”

Sharing power helps address inequality and strengthens trust.

“The sharing of power is important in safeguarding because you want to mend the sort of gap.”

Why speaking up matters

An essential part of safeguarding is ensuring that people feel safe to raise concerns. Filipo stresses that speaking up is critical to preventing harm.

“You need to speak up. You need to speak up. Because if you don’t, remember this, you become part of the problem and not the solution.”

Safeguarding systems depend on accountability, transparency and the willingness of individuals to act when something is wrong. Click here to learn more about making a complaint.

Faith and safeguarding

Faith plays an important role in shaping how safeguarding is understood and practised.

Filipo points to core biblical teachings as a guide.

“Do unto others as you want done unto you. Love your neighbour as you love yourself.”

He is clear that harm can never be justified by culture or faith.

“Harming someone is not part of culture.”

He calls on faith-based organisations to engage genuinely with safeguarding, rather than treating it as a compliance exercise.

“Faith-based organisations being more involved, authentically involved, in safeguarding as opposed to using it as a tick in the box.”

Safeguarding as a core mission

For Filipo, safeguarding is not separate from Caritas Australia’s mission. It is central to how the organisation works, how it builds relationships with communities, and how it takes responsibility for the power it holds.

His reflections show that safeguarding operates at every level, from policies and accountability to accompaniment, listening and speaking up.

This commitment ensures that dignity, safety and respect are actively upheld in all that Caritas Australia does across Australia, the Pacific region and the wider world.