VSO 2021-22 Annual Report

Risks
Mitigation Strategy
Compliance
Whilst we embed systems and
processes for full cost recovery on
grants, contracts and programmes,
there remains a risk that all costs
related to donor funded programmes
are not covered by donors. This
impacts negatively on our general
reserves and is not sustainable.
Key performance indicators have been developed and are being
monitored on an ongoing basis. These include a periodic review of
the percentage of unrestricted costs that are not recovered from
donors and overhead recovery as a percentage of total project costs.
Our portfolio of work, overall cost management and potential for
cost recovery will continue to be monitored.
Our business pursuit strategy to continuously nurture, cultivate and
maintain quality in our work will also continue to mitigate some on
the risks associated with cost recovery.
Operations and Implementation
With the introduction of new ways of
working in project implementation,
there is a risk that we fail to realise
the benefits of the changes due to
poor design and implementation. This
would impact on our ability to achieve
planned outcomes, impact and reach
and maintain the quality of our work.
We will continue to monitor the success of our new ways of working
in implementation through regular reviews.
More specifically, our global implementation team is:
• establishing an effective planning and management system,
• working on standardising monitoring and reporting processes, and,
• aligning core business processes across the organisation to
mitigate some of the risks associated with service quality, design
and implementation.
Operating model and governance
Our ability to grow, maintain financial
stability and deliver VfD programmes
at scale could weaken because of
national governance restrictions,
organisational design and failure to
adhere to our policies and values.
There is also a risk that a global event
such as the pandemic creates longterm
disruption that impedes our ability
to secure new income, deliver our
programme of work, and undermine
the well-being of VSO people.
We will continue to monitor the operating environments within
which we work on an ongoing basis, respond as necessary and try
to continue to deliver our portfolio of work with minimal disruption.
We are satisfied with how we have responded to the global
pandemic. This gives us confidence in our systems and our
approach. However, we will ensure that VSO learns lessons from
this and ensure that we are well prepared for any future shocks that
could destabilise its operations.
Reputation
VSO specific news coverage from a
significant incident or public / social
media or press scrutiny of charities
could lead to reputational damage
and compromise our leadership in
the sector.
We will continue to scan the horizon for areas that we think may lead
to reputational risk and put in place mitigating strategies as necessary.
Our investment in integrity systems and processes that are aligned
to our values will also reduce the likelihood of incidents that could
impact on our reputation. For example, we recently launched a
refreshed compliance training module on preventing criminal
practices, safeguarding, data protection and cyber security,
procurement and the VSO code of conduct. Training is mandatory
for all VSO people and will be repeated annually.
44 VSO Annual report