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Principles of Governance

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Category: Code of Ethics

Principle 1:

B4H  will maintain a participatory, cooperative and non-hierarchical governance model that includes input from staff, volunteers and beneficiaries.

 

Principle 2:

B4H  is committed to egalitarian internal governance principles of open meetings and decision-making made by consensus.

• All decisions in Board, staff or any other meeting are to be discussed through dialogue taking into account everyone's opinions and concerns.

• The goal of any dialogue should be to arrive at a holistic and well thought-out decision that takes into consideration everyone’s beliefs and opinions.

• All decisions are to be made by consensus of all those present with voting power

• If consensus cannot be reached and if a vote is deemed necessary, a 2/3rds vote will be required on all these decisions.

 

Principle 3:

All board meeting minutes are to be available to any board member or staff upon request.

III. B4H  Principles of Fair Aid B4H  is committed to the Principles of Fair Aid as outlined below. B4H  expects all the organizations and communities connected to B4H  to understand and also be committed to Fair Aid as the basis for ethical partnerships.

 

Principle 1:

In acknowledging communities' right to speak for themselves, B4H  will not determine a community's identity and/or issues but, rather, ask communities to define it for themselves.

 

Principle 2:

Communities should own their development.

  • Financial support for communities should not and will not compromise their autonomy.
  • B4H  is committed to people centered development using local participatory decision-making structures. This includes respecting the dignity, values, history, religion, and culture of the people and communities it assists.
  • B4H  rather than promoting dependency through its assistance will seek to foster the self-determination and self-reliance of communities.
  • B4H  will help democratize access to information.
  • Communities should be independent and should not be beholden to any government, political party or NGO.

 

Principle 3:

Fundraising shall not be donor driven

  • B4H  will not accept restricted grants from any government or government affiliated agency.
  • B4H  will only solicit unrestricted grants from private foundations. B4H  is committed to financial transparency towards its beneficiaries. This includes informing communities of fund-raising being done on their behalf or in their names.
  • All grants to B4H's beneficiaries will be used for any unrestricted purposes determined by the community and its representative structures so long as they deem to be 'child-related'.

 

Principle 4:

B4H  will support democratic and participatory approaches to improving the lives of South Africa's children.

  • B4H  supports local participatory and democratic decision-making structures which put communities in control of the development process. These structures can include neighborhood associations and committees, progressive social movements, shadow community governance structures and community assemblies.
  • These structures should:
    • Be highly participatory in nature
    • Be autonomous from outside control
    • Support efforts towards structural changes that advance social andeconomic equality
    • Not be affiliated with any political party
  • The projects supported by B4H  should be accountable to their communities through a regularized consultative process that involves the people in the decision-making of the organization.
  • All child-related projects should be open and transparent to its community.

 

IV.

B4H  Transparency and accountability

 

Principle 1:

B4H  commits to a fully transparent annual budget and annual report which will be available on its website and to anyone who requests it.

  • All of B4H's beneficiaries will be provided a copy of the annual budget once it has been completed.
  • All B4H's beneficiaries will be provided a copy of the annual report once it has been completed. The annual report will include a list of all major decisions made by the board of directors during that year.

 

Principle 2:

B4H  will be accountable for financial resources received from donors, members, other partner organizations and/or from self-generated activities.

 

Principle 3:

B4H  commits itself to adhere to professional standards of accountancy.

 

Principle 4:

B4H  commits to a policy of preventing conflict of interest in all financial dealings. No one in any way associated with B4H  will profit off of their connection to B4H.