Save the Children International is governed by its board of trustees. The board focuses on specific areas of the organisation via its sub-committees, being:
- Audit & Finance Committee
- Governance Committee
- Member Engagement Committee
- Programme Oversight Committee.
Save the Children International has a global assurance function, which has an independent reporting line into the Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee, and which carries out internal audits in accordance with the definition from the Institute of Internal Auditors: ‘Internal auditing is an independent, objective assurance and consulting activity designed to add value and improve the organisation’s operations. It helps the organisation accomplish its objectives by bringing a systematic, disciplined approach to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes.’
Save the Children International takes risk management seriously on an operational level, and has systems, processes and resources allocated to ensure risks are captured, evaluated and acted on in an appropriate manner. The Save the Children International risk register is shared with members and discussed with the board on an annual basis, and at each (quarterly) Audit and Finance Committee.
Save the Children International is also governed by a comprehensive set of policies and procedures. The policies include those on Code of Ethics, Child safeguarding, Whistleblowing and Fraud – ensuring that staff are aware of our fundamental values and principles, as well as allowing for the confidential and transparent reporting of issues which might otherwise remain undetected.
Save the Children International has a compliance function at the centre, which looks at many aspects of compliance internally, including scanning partners and other relationships to ensure we avoid working with terrorist or other blacklisted organisations.
