Working with the Charity Commission to enhance safeguarding

In January, CISV International notified the Charity Commission after Trustees became aware that prior safeguarding concerns had not been reported to them in a timely fashion.  This understandably triggered a formal review by the Charity Commission that has since appointed an Interim Manager to take on legal responsibility for safeguarding matters while the review is underway.  CISV International welcomes the inquiry and the Interim Manager, Emma Moody, who, amongst other priorities, will help the charity to enforce its safeguarding policies and procedures across all its 62 National Associations globally.  

The safety and welfare of our participants is our greatest priority and this is why we will be working with Emma to assess whether imminent programmes can proceed while we build organisational safeguarding resilience in our governance and ways of working. Naturally, we are hopeful that all programmes will be able to operate as planned, but there may be some changes needed in some Associations and this will be communicated to families as soon as possible. Parents should rest assured that we will only run programmes where we know we can do so in a fully compliant manner. 

It is important to stress that this process is a specific and temporary measure focused on safeguarding to strengthen how we operate for the long term and to ensure consistent safeguarding procedure compliance across all the countries we operate.  

We have communicated with all our 62 Associations to explain what will be required of them as this inquiry continues and Emma makes her recommendations. Together, we are committed to doing everything humanly possible to ensure our global operation embraces this opportunity to improve and move forwards.  In the spirit of our charity, we will approach this with openness, collaboration, and shared responsibility so that it not only helps us navigate the present, but also helps us build a stronger CISV for the future. 

Tanya Perez Echeverria, Secretary General, CISV International said, “While we are very grateful to the Charity Commission and to Emma for their support in helping us enhance our safeguarding globally. We are confident that, through this collaboration, we will not only address current challenges but emerge as a stronger, more consistent organisation, with safeguarding embedded more clearly across all 62 countries. At the same time, we are also very sorry to the families we serve for any uncertainty and disruption that this process may cause to our programmes over the coming months. I ask parents to stay in contact with their National Association and we will keep them updated every step of the way. In the meantime, thank you for your understanding, patience and cooperation.”

For media inquiries, please contact international@cisv.org