Social and organisational components
Existence of a group structure
- Is the group structured or organised in any way? Does this structure provide an acceptable level of cohesiveness to the group?
Ability to make joint decisions
- Does the group’s structure reflect particular interests or represent the whole group (extent of membership)? Are the main responsibilities carried out and decision-making done by only one or a few people? Are back-up systems in place for decision-making and responsibilities? To what degree is decision-making participatory? Does the group’s structure allow for: a) joint decision making and implementation, b) discussing issues together, c) sporadic, ineffective meetings, d) none of the above?
Security plans and procedures
- Are security rules and procedures in place? Is there a broad understanding and ownership of security procedures? Do people follow the security rules?
Security management outside of work (family and free time)
- How do defenders manage their time outside of work (family and free time)? Alcohol and drug use represent great vulnerabilities. Relationships can also result in vulnerabilities (as well as strengths)
Working conditions
- Are there proper work contracts for everyone? Is there access to emergency funds? Insurances?
Recruiting people
- Do you have proper procedures for recruiting personnel or collaborators or members?
Do you have a specific security approach for your occasional volunteers (such as students, for example) or visitors to your organization?
Working with people or with interface organizations
- Is your work done directly with people? Do you know these people well? Do you work with an organization as an interface for your work with people?
Taking care of witness or victims we work with
- Do we assess the risk of victims and witnesses, etc, when we are working on specific cases? Do we have specific security measures when we meet them or when they come to our office? If they receive threats, how do we react?
Neighbourhood and social surroundings
- Are defenders well socially integrated in the local area? Do some social groups see defenders´ work as good or harmful? Are defenders surrounded by potentially hostile people (neighbours as informers, for example)?
Mobilization capacity
- Are defenders able to mobilize people for public activities?