Child Helpline International

Governance

Governance

Our current governance structure consists of the following

  • Assembly of Child Helplines: 168 child helpline members in 141 countries and territories worldwide, as at May 2022.

  • Supervisory Board. Our Supervisory Board is comprised of five Regional Representatives selected from our Member organisations, and five appointed members, including the Board Chair, the Secretary and the Treasurer of the Supervisory Board. A Supervisory Committee, comprising several of the Board members, meets with the Management Board on a more regular basis.

  • Management Board. As the leaders of the Child Helpline International team (see below), the role of our Management Board includes:

      • Conducting our daily activities in accordance with our strategic plan (which covers a period of three years), our annual plan and our budget;
      • Acting in accordance with the expenditure guidelines and budget as approved by the Supervisory Board;
      • Reporting to the Supervisory Board on a bi-annual basis; and
      • Providing the Supervisory Board with the information it needs to carry out its duties in a timely manner.

  • Child Helpline International Team. We serve the needs of the network. Led by the Management Board, the team is responsible for implementing the strategy and policies adopted by the Assembly of Child Helplines and the Supervisory Board. The team also facilitates the activities of the network, such as peer exchanges, knowledge exchange, monitoring of standards and international and regional advocacy efforts.

  • Working groups, taskforces, advisory councils and special advisors. Historically, our Management Board has relied greatly upon work and advice from Regional Representatives and their deputies participating in taskforces and working groups. Depending on the subject and the kind of advice requested by the Management Board, these taskforces or working groups can be comprised of participants with general child helpline expertise or with expertise on a specific subject related to child helplines. Additionally, our Management Board and  Supervisory Board are able to jointly appoint Advisory Councils. The function of an Advisory Council is to assist and advise the Management Board and Supervisory Board, when requested, by providing relevant advice and making proposals to the Management Board. Members of the Advisory Councils are appointed on a volunteer basis and are unpaid.
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  • Youth Advisory Council. Our Youth Advisory Council is an empowering collective of young individuals from all over the world. They speak on behalf of their peers and we make sure we listen to them. Together we strive towards a better future for children and youth.

Accountability Statement

We are committed to making Child Helpline International an effective and powerful organization that is determined to give a voice to children and young people worldwide.

 

ANBI
Public Benefit Institution (ANBI)

The Inspector of Taxes has classified Stichting Child Helpline International Foundation as a Charity under their Algemeen Nut Beogende Instelling (ANBI) – public benefit organization – rulings and as referred to in Article 24, paragraph 4 of the Succession Act 1956.

As an ANBI, Stichting Child Helpline International Foundation are exempt from paying tax on inheritances and donations that the foundation receives in the context of the public interest.

 

Governance of Child Helpline International

The philosophy of our bottom-up and participatory network, is reflected in our governance structure where the highest mandated power is the Assembly of Child Helplines; our members themselves. The Assembly of Child Helplines comes together every three years, or whenever a resolution of such a meeting is necessary or if this is considered desirable by the Management Board or by one or more member child helplines.

The Assembly of Child Helplines nominates the Regional Representatives as members of the Supervisory Board, as well as their Deputy Regional Representatives, and it ratifies Child Helpline International’s strategy for three-year periods.

The terms and conditions of our governance are laid down in the Statutes of Child Helpline International and in the Bylaws of our Supervisory Board (available upon request).

Accountability

Accountability is at the core of Child Helpline International. We have a strong network ownership and membership representation in our governance mechanisms ensures that our child helpline members’ interest comes first. In addition to our commitment to the network, our governance structure demonstrates to our partners and other stakeholders that we are transparent and accountable organization and that there can be a partnership of trust.

We always work to our best ability to ensure that this accountability is at core of our commitment to the network, stakeholders and partners. Occasionally a stakeholder may feel we have fallen short of our commitment. Therefore, a stakeholder can make a complaint and can do so through our complaint procedure on our website.

 

Efficiency and Sustainability

To be an efficient and sustainable organization one must have stringent financial management and be efficient with the financial resources.

 

Financial Management        

One the critical duties of the Management Board is overseeing the day to day management of Child Helpline International funds. There a number of necessary authorizations to be obtained before funds can be transferred. One such authorization is where the Treasurer with the Executive Director must authorize all expenditure over €10,000.

Expenditure reports are requested and checked from all Child Helpline International partners undertaking activities funded by Child Helpline International. Receipts are a mandatory requirement before any funds are transferred. Occasionally, it is necessary to pre-finance an activity and this is only done upon approval of the Executive Director and upon provision of a detailed budget and international details from the Child Helpline International partner. In addition, Child Helpline International collects boarding passes, travel tickets and attendance sheets, which is a good practice and is obligated for the reporting of projects funded by the European Union.

Additionally, Child Helpline International is obliged to comply with internationally recognized accounting guidelines for the charities in the Netherlands; these are RJ650 auditing framework and the Code Wijffels. Child Helpline International is annually audited by independent auditor Deloitte. Our annual reports can be requested or downloaded from www.childhelplineinternational.org .

 

Effectiveness and efficiency of spending

Child Helpline International has adopted numerous strategies and procedures to guide the effective and efficient spending of funds. On an organizational level Child Helpline International’s three-yearly Strategic Plan forms our main guiding document, outlining our organizational ambitions for this period. In addition to the Strategic Plan, annual plans are developed to set the yearly objectives for each department.

We have a time-writing system which monitors how staff time is spent, and we correlate this to our objectives and allocated budgets. This system guides us on how efficiently we use our time on our activities. It also allows us to evaluate do we use our time effectively.

Thus, our monitoring and evaluation processes are designed to monitor whether we meet our organizational objectives, identified project outcomes and reaches the anticipated quality in service delivery. Continuous reflection on our work is important to find success factors and incorporate lessons learnt, which will lead to a greater impact within the work that we are doing.

The Annual Plan reflects the objectives of the Strategic Plan, the organization’s responsibility in terms of programme delivery for specific funding bodies, the findings of internal and external evaluations and consultations, and last but not least Child Helpline International’s core responsibility of responding to the identified needs by our member organizations.

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