Â鶹ÊÓƵ

As part of its annual work plan, the Office of Internal Audit conducted an audit of humanitarian access management practices in Â鶹ÊÓƵ, covering the period from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023. In 2006, Â鶹ÊÓƵ developed the ¡®Note on Humanitarian Access and Its Implications for Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯, recognizing that rapid and unimpeded access to the affected population is a fundamental prerequisite for principled humanitarian assistance. Since then, Â鶹ÊÓƵ has continuously evolved its approach to implementing access management practices across the organization. However, humanitarian access is often limited by factors such as physical constraints and more complex conflict, insecurity or bureaucratic impediments, which can reduce the ability of Â鶹ÊÓƵ to deliver assistance effectively and without interference. The audit assessed the extent to which Â鶹ÊÓƵ has established effective processes across the organization to identify and manage humanitarian access challenges to minimize risks and enhance operational effectiveness. Based on the results of the audit, the Office of Internal Audit reached an overall conclusion of major improvement needed.

As part of its annual work plan, the Office of Internal Audit conducted an audit of school meals management in Â鶹ÊÓƵ. The audit assessed the extent to which management has established governance, risk management and internal controls for effective school meals activities. The period covered was 1 January 2023 to 31 March 2024. Where necessary, transactions and events pertaining to other periods were also reviewed. The scope included three focus areas: (i) Â鶹ÊÓƵ¡¯s support to the transition to national school meals programme, (ii) controls over cash transferred to institutions; and (iii) fund and resource management. Based on the results of the audit, the Office of Internal Audit reached an overall conclusion of some improvement needed.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ has had a strong programmatic focus on gender for decades. In 2020 it provided additional resources for disability inclusion in response to the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy. In 2022, as a result of an expanding focus on diversity, and with the approval of the three-year Investing in People Critical Corporate Initiative, Â鶹ÊÓƵ created a DEI Unit in the Workplace and Management Department, with a team of two employees. This team worked on expanding diversity dimensions beyond gender, including disability inclusion, anti-racism and LGBTIQ+ inclusion. The audit assessed the extent to which Â鶹ÊÓƵ has established processes to promote diversity, achieve equity and create an inclusive workplace culture for its employees. It focused on work undertaken on four dimensions of diversity ¨C gender, disability inclusion, anti-racism and LGBTIQ+ ¨C because these were areas where the DEI Unit had begun its work. The DEI Unit has the overall responsibility for inclusion for all Â鶹ÊÓƵ employees throughout the employee life cycle. The Gender, Protection and Inclusion Unit within the Programme Policy and Guidance Division is responsible for programmatic aspects and coordinates disability inclusion and gender, adding to the complexity of organizational arrangements to manage DEI issues. Based on the results of the audit, the Office of Internal Audit reached an overall conclusion of Major improvement needed,