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Save the Children Helps Set New Standard
Westport, CT (July 18, 2005) –
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Save the Children is among five leading children’s charities that are helping raise the bar of accountability for nonprofits by inviting a third-party audit of their compliance with established governance and standards for sponsorship programs.
The five organizations – Save the Children, Children International, Christian Children’s Fund, Plan USA and World Vision -- are all members of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international development and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations. All five agencies have now been certified.
In 1998, the five agencies developed guidelines for their specific work in child sponsorship programs, and InterAction adopted these guidelines as part of its Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) Standards. The agencies then launched a pilot certification initiative, using a private, independent accrediting agency, Social Accountability International (SAI), an agency best known for its SA8000 labor standards audits around the world.
SAI managed and assured the quality of certification of each agency’s compliance with InterAction’s standards through an external, third party audit. The certification audits were part of a comprehensive learning process which included site visits, both at these agencies’ respective U.S. headquarters and at a sampling of field offices in other countries.
“Sponsorship is one of the foundations upon which Save the Children builds its community education and health programs and improves individual children’s lives,” said Save the Children President and CEO Charles MacCormack. “This certification is further evidence that our programs are helping poor communities around the world bring lasting change to children in need.”
MacCormack noted that Save the Children’s sponsorship programs are based on the idea that a hand up is far more effective than a handout. “Instead of giving money directly to children, we create community-based solutions that provide vital health, education and social support services to children in need, including sponsored children.”
The certification audits were conducted by two members of the SAI auditing pool, Cal Safety Compliance Corporation of Los Angeles and Intertek Testing Services of New Jersey. According to SAI, to the best of anyone’s knowledge, this is the first time a group of international NGOs has undergone accredited certification of compliance to a set of standards by a third party.
SAI is an international, multi-stakeholder accreditation, training and standards organization, which since 1997 has been focused, primarily through the SA8000 standard, on delivering a robust, sustainable ethical sourcing system. “Without reinventing the wheel, these tools have been useful in delivering and structuring this pilot certification of NGO compliance with accepted standards for the delivery of vital resources children in need,” said Eileen Kaufman, SAI Executive Director.
The sponsorship certification audits were launched in October 2004 and all five agencies were certified on July 6, 2005 by a multi-stakeholder certification review panel.
In 1992, InterAction members developed and adopted the Private Voluntary Organization (PVO) Standards, containing key requirements for good governance and reliable service delivery. Since then, annual self-certification of adherence to the standards has been a requirement of membership. InterAction remains among the very few standards-based networks of NGOs.
