Accountability

 

Accountability and Transparency

Promoting Transparency

As part of its commitment to transparent reporting and information-sharing World Vision UK has become one of the first Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) to publish information to the International Aid Transparency Initiative Registry (IATI), In addition, we also regularly publish updates and reports on our website.


IATI

In line with the Department for International Development’s (DFID’s) commitment to aid transparency, the UK Government has introduced a new Aid Transparency Guarantee, to ensure UK aid is fully transparent to citizens in both the UK and recipient countries. The UK Aid Transparency Guarantee is part of an international commitment by donors and aid organisations that makes up the international aid transparency initiative (IATI). As a recipient of funding from the UK Government through our Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) with DFID, World Vision UK is also committed this initiative.

You can download our implementation plan to become fully compliant with IATI from this website and out more about our programme information for our DFID PPA funding stream on the IATI website or in the programme data sheet.


 

Accountability

 

Unpacking Accountability

In addition to World Vision UK’s transparency work, the organisation is also committed to being fully accountable to the   children and communities with whom we work, as well as to our donors and supporters, and our peers within the aid sector.

 

Accountability to children and communities

By supporting National Offices in the countries where we work, we can ensure accountability is fully integrated into all programmes and processes including: programme design documents, programme implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. In order to do this, World Vision has a Programme Accountability Framework. Using this framework, World Vision UK is helping to integrate accountability minimum standards into several of the programmes it supports in both the development and humanitarian sector. The four components are information provision, consulting with communities, promoting participation and collecting and acting on feedback and complaints.


World Vision UK is signed up to the following Accountability Codes which guide how programmes are implemented:

 

The Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief seeks to guard the standard of behaviour of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) like World Vision. Read more The 10 clauses include core principles such as impartiality and independence of NGOs, the right to receive and to give humanitarian assistance), the importance of aid agencies remaining politically neutral, encouraging affected communities to help with the management of relief aid and being accountable to both those we seek to assist and those who give us resources to do so.

 

Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP)

World Vision is a member of HAP which is an organisation established to promote accountability to people affected by humanitarian crises. To do this, HAP developed a series of Principles of Accountability which were developed as a condition of HAP membership.

 

People in Aid

World Vision UK is a People in Aid member and is Verified Compliant with the People In Aid Code. This is the highest level of certification and organisations seen displaying the logo can be seen as leaders in HR and people management. This Quality Mark is awarded to organisations that successfully implement the People In Aid Code by providing the assurance that reliable management and information systems are in place through an independent external social audit.

 

DEC accountability framework (DECAF)

 

World Vision is a member of the Disasters and Emergencies Committee (DEC). The DEC brings together 14 of the leading UK aid agencies to finance relief for people affected by major disasters in poorer countries.

The DECAF Promotes continual improvement in the quality of humanitarian work by holding members to account for delivering individual disaster responses, encourages examination of ways of working across all humanitarian work and to strengthen the systems which underpin members’ ability to consistently deliver the effective responses that disaster survivors need. Members assess themselves against the DEC Accountability Priorities to identify areas of strength and weakness as well as make commitments to improve. Self-assessments are subject to peer challenge and external validation to ensure the processes are robust. Members learn from each other and also ensure their systems are scrutinised externally.

 

Open Information Policy


The programme information uploaded to the IATI registry is guided by the World Vision UK open information policy which states that all stakeholders and interested parties can request information from World Vision UK and will receive a response within 40 days. The policy also ensures that a certain level of information will be proactively made available on World Vision UK’s website and there is a clear system for providing feedback or complaints. If the information sought is not readily available in World Vision publications or on our website, requests for information can be emailed to info@worldvision.org.uk. If information requested is not available or a request is denied, we will contact you to explain why. 


In summary, the policy states the following:

 

• We will share information about our activities and operations openly unless there are legal or other compelling reasons for withholding it.

 

• We will pro-actively publish a range of information in print and/or on-line.

 

However we will not provide the following information to the public:

 

Private: We will not disclose any information that we consider to be, by its nature, private to the individual(s) concerned. Private information includes personal data and sensitive personal data (within the meaning of the Data Protection Act 1998) held by World Vision  about any persons, whether employees, volunteers, supporters, sponsored children, families or any other individuals with whom World Vision communicates.

Confidential: Information that in our view is confidential for legal, commercial, management or contractual reasons will under no circumstances be disclosed.

Legally protected: We will not disclose any information that we are prohibited from disclosing as a matter of law, by virtue of any legislation that applies to World Vision in any of the countries in which it operates.

• Relevant to safety and security: For reasons of the safety and security of all of the individuals with whom we work, we will not disclose any information that, in our view, if disclosed could endanger the safety and security of any individual or jeopardise World Vision’s ability to operate in a particular country or location.

Legal, Financial and other advice: To protect our business interests, we will not disclose any information provided to World Vision by its legal, financial or other advisors for any reason, including the terms and conditions of any contracts entered into with those advisors.

Internal communications, processes and administrative details: To protect the integrity of our business processes it is essential to encourage the free flow of ideas and information internally.  We will not disclose: internal communications or documents; documents relating to internal investigations, audits and review findings which are aimed at improving the performance of the organisation; information relating to internal World Vision administration or operating systems which have no direct effect outside the organisation.

• Information that is not considered to be in the best interest of the business to be shared: Our primary aim is to improve well-being for children living in poverty. If we believe that there is any risk whatsoever that sharing certain information could jeopardise this aim, we will not disclose that information.

 

 

World Vision UK’s Programme Partnership Arrangement (PPA) with DFID


Programme Partnership Arrangements are one of the UK government’s main funding mechanisms to leading international development charities. The PPA provides World Vision UK with strategic funding, which gives us flexibility to spend in the best way to meet jointly agreed objectives.


Our current PPA, worth almost £12 million over three years, aims to strengthen formal and informal child protection systems while also improving maternal health and reducing child mortality in line with the Millennium Development Goals. It focuses on countries and groups where there has been least progress to date.


Progress during the first year of World Vision UK’s current PPA is described within the Annual Review for the period April, 2011 to March, 2012.


Additional programme documentation outlining the focus of World Vision's UK PPA funded programmes and the MOU between World Vision UK and DFID can be found below.

PDF filePPA MoU between DFID and World Vision 2011-2014

PDF filePPA Programme Data 120213

PDF fileWorld Vision UK General PPA Proposal 29.10.10

PDF fileWorld Vision UK PPA Annual Review 2011-2012

PDF fileWorld Vision UK PPA Logical Framework (2011-14)

 

Feedback & Complaints

 

World Vision UK welcomes feedback and complaints on its operations and the information provided. Please send any feedback to info@worldvision.org.uk. Acknowledgement and response to the feedback will be given.

Please download a full version of the WVUK open information policy