In collaboration with the Société Générale de Surveillance (SGS), the Asia-Pacific Support Centre of the World Scout Bureau successfully underwent the NGO Benchmarking Standard in December 2021 earning an overall and outstanding rating of 96.1. This is the first time the Regional Support Centre carried out an externally facilitated benchmarking and assessment of its management practices and operations.
The Benchmarking Standard serves as a reference of international Best Practices to those concerned by accountability issues in nonprofit institutions. It requires NGOs to develop, maintain and enforce policies and practices that conform to best management practices and to demonstrate to any stakeholders that the NGO’s policies and procedures are in conformity with international best practices.
Apart from this, the NSO Benchmarking complies with the 26th APR Scout Conference resolution 10/18 (Manila) that partly states, “The Conference, recognising that the Asia-Pacific Region is the largest region in World Scouting, and is well-positioned to demonstrate the best practice in governance, both to its different National Scout Organizations and other Scout Regions, recommends that – The Asia-Pacific Regional Scout Committee to complete an externally facilitated GSAT Review which should cover the following GSAT dimensions: D02 – Governance Framework, D-04 Integrity Management and D10 – Continuous Improvement.”
With representatives from SGS, the thorough assessment took place virtually on 7-10 December 2021 with the participation of key regional staff focusing on 12 dimensions. A week later, SGS sent to Asia-Pacific Regional Director, Mr Jose Rizal C Pangilinan, the result in each dimension: Governance Framework (100%), Governing Body (95.8%), Strategic Framework (96.7%), Integrity Management (95.2%), Communication, Advocacy and Public Image (100%), Human Resources (88.9%), Resources Generation and Allocation (100%), Financial Controls (100%), Operations and Service Provision: Planning (93.3%), Operations and Service Provision: Implementation (100%), Outcome’s Measurement and Evaluation (88.9%), and Continuous Improvement (94.4%).
Also present during the assessment process were observers from the World Scout Bureau Global Support Centre and Regional Scout Committee Vice Chairman Mr Hiroshi Shimada.
Conclusively, APSC received the NGO Benchmarking Certificate as well as the approval guideline and mark. The mark shows that such assessment has been performed by a strictly independent third-party on the basis of international best practices.
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