Anti-Corruption & Asset Protection

SOS Children's Villages does not tolerate corruption in any form at any level of our global federation.

With a total income of 1.6 billion euros and approximately 2.5 million  programme participants worldwide, we are unwavering in our commitment to prevent and eradicate corruption in our programmes and operations. Operating in more than 130 countries, our federation implements and maintains robust systems and processes to systematically minimize the risk of corruption across all organizational levels.

The fight against corruption is a top priority at SOS Children’s Villages, as it ensures that every action taken is in the best interest of the children, young people and families in our programmes. By not tolerating corruption in our activities and operations, donors can be assured that funds received are used for their intended purpose, contributing to the care and development of children without parental care or at risk of losing it, worldwide.

At SOS Children’s Villages, we aim to prevent and fight corruption by promoting integrity and strengthening trust across all levels of the federation. Putting people at the centre of our anti-corruption agenda is essential for us.

Thomas Tschiggerl, Head of Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection

Our core values are an essential foundation of the Code of Conduct, which we require all employees to sign and acknowledge. The Code aims to uphold and promote the highest standards of ethical and professional conduct among all employees.

Our commitment is to foster a culture of integrity and trust that is anchored at all levels of the federation. This is promoted and supported by our Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection Team in the General Secretariat of SOS Children’s Villages.

We continuously work to strengthen our work to prevent corruption by following a risk-based approach. Our anti-corruption approach requires the proactive implementation, maintenance, and continuous enhancement of a corruption risk management system tailored to the organization's needs. The aim is to prevent corruption, promote integrity, and strengthen trust worldwide.

Prevention measures include:

  • Corruption risk management
  • Training and awareness raising
  • Policies, regulations, and procedures
  • Internal control systems
  • Advocacy and communication
  • Monitoring and evaluation

All individuals working with or on behalf of SOS Children’s Villages in any capacity are expected to actively detect and report corrupt practices and are actively encouraged to do so as outlined in our  Code of Conduct. For this purpose, we support several reporting channels, including anonymous ones.

SOS Children’s Villages is committed to protecting those who report incidents of corruption. We also respect the wish to remain anonymous. Whistle-blowers can report and not disclose their identity. We protect those who speak up and report allegations of misconduct in good faith against retaliation.

All allegations, regardless of reporting channel, whistle-blower identity, or alleged corrupt activity, are subject to equal standards, consistently applied processes, and proper investigations. SOS Children’s Villages always responds to identified cases of corruption. This includes reasonable legal and other steps to recover lost funds and property.

We constantly monitor and evaluate our anti-corruption efforts to ensure effectiveness, desired impacts and continuously adapt to changes and improve over time.

To confirm our commitment, we published our first Annual Corruption Case Report in 2016, outlining statistics concerning reported corruption cases within the SOS Children’s Villages federation. Please find the yearly publications under the following links: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020. In 2024, we will resume the publication of the Annual Corruption Cases Report.

Reporting corruption incidents

There are several ways to report a concern or suspected misconduct:

Email: misconduct@sos-kd.org (maintained by the Incident Management Team in the International Office)

Letter by post: SOS Children's Villages International

Anti-Corruption and Asset Protection Department

Brigittenauer Lände 50

1200 Wien

Austria

 

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