Regrettably, for all the good work that nonprofits do around the world, they have not been exempt from issues of abuse and sexual misconduct in the work place and towards beneficiaries. The last two years have brought to light many scandalous acts of sex misconduct and abuse that were perpetrated by humanitarian aid workers.
At a recent summit held by DFID (the UK’s aid agency), the issues were addressed in a series of papers and resolutions that provided guidance for international humanitarian aid agencies to follow. (See a summary at the link below).
In the #metoo era nonprofit auditors should also consider how to gain better assurance over such sensitive culture areas. They can bring all nonprofit work to a standstill.
Some questions. How is your audit function dealing with the topic? Can guidance provided by DFID and other agencies be useful for auditors, perhaps to establish an assurance baseline? Do we need more guidance from donor agencies, management and boards? Should auditors ignore such risks all together? If not involved in the assurance/checking work in this area, are those that are charged in your organization providing robust assurance?
My view is that auditors definitely need to engage management on the topic? Query how management is measuring the implementation of such guidances and of other countermeasures against sex abuse and misconduct. Auditors should follow up to ensure management has lived up to established standards and goals in the next years.
The scandalous nature of such issues, debases the work of all actors in the humanitarian sector. DFID’s call for collaboration amongst all agencies is to my mind vital to snuff out those involved in the misconduct and abuse and to address the cultures that look the other way.
See the below article that summarize the conference outcomes.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/safeguarding-summit-2018-hosts-outcome-summa
Nonprofit Auditor 