VII. Conclusion

This study highlighted key learnings and examples of good practice within the aid sector on how organisations can meet their duty of care towards staff from a safety and security risk management perspective. The study went on to present a duty of care maturity model framework based on Swiss legal duty of care obligations. Using this duty of care maturity model framework and insights from the research, the cinfo-led working group of the Swiss Security Network supporting this study finalised the development of a duty of care maturity model matrix.

The matrix was also shared with HR professionals and legal advisors to ensure that the maturity model meets all legal requirements for Switzerland, besides being well-integrated into overall organisational strategies. The matrix was designed for organisations wishing to improve their safety and security risk management-related duty of care processes to assess their organisation’s maturity against key duty of care processes. Organisations are encouraged to view these processes in light of examples and learnings presented in this document to further understand how safety and security-related duty of care processes can be developed in practice.

This study is part of an ongoing process by the Swiss Security Network@cinfo to improve understanding of Swiss legal duty of care obligations and what these obligations mean in practice for Swiss NGOs. It is the first step in this project, and there are plans in place to extend the scope of this framework in the near future. At this stage, the maturity matrix will be used within the community to assess where they stand and where they have gaps when it comes to their duty of care obligations.