Accountability and transparency

At Sightsavers, we strongly believe we need to be accountable to our supporters, donors and partners if we are to maintain their trust and support.

We aim to perform to the highest standards, and we aim to be as transparent as possible over how we operate, how we spend the money we raise, and how we perform as an organisation.

We work in complex environments and with a diverse group of organisations, therefore we understand we cannot get things right all the time. We want to make sure it’s easy to raise a complaint, and encourage those with complaints to contact us so we can try to resolve the issue. We are committed to doing so in an appropriate, fair and timely way.

Sightsavers has a clearly articulated strategy that drives everything we do.

It’s important that we understand how we’re performing against our goals, so we’ve summarised our strategy into a one-page strategy map. By tracking performance against our objectives, we’re able to assess whether we are working effectively and efficiently, and whether our programmes are having the impact we are expecting.

We collect data on our performance either annually or every six months, using our SIM Card dashboard. Any issues are discussed by management at all levels so changes can be made, ensuring our performance is under constant review.

Sightsavers is committed to operating transparently and ensuring it is accountable to supporters, donors, partners and beneficiaries.

We’ve been a member of industry body Accountable Now since 2011, which requires us to publish a report each year to reflect on our performance across a range of accountability standards. This report is reviewed by Accountable Now, which provides an assessment and suggestions for improvement.

We use this process to learn and improve: the independent feedback helps us to focus on areas that require improvement. Both the report and assessment are published on the Accountable Now website: read our latest report.

Our environmental impact: Sightsavers is committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. Our environmental policy and new carbon reduction plan outline the commitments we will make to achieve this target. We also ensure our UK office’s environmental management system complies with the international standard. View our latest ISO14001 certification.

As part of our commitment to transparency, Sightsavers publishes data on programme finances through the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI).

In 2012 we signed up to the International Aid Transparency Initiative, which aims to make information on aid spending more accessible. We have agreed to regularly publish details of our programme activity expenditure, including quarterly data showing how much money we distribute to partners for programme activity. We continue to look for ways to improve the quantity and quality of data we provide. Read Sightsavers’ data on the IATI Registry

The way the data is presented in the IATI Registry is technical and hard to understand. The same data is presented in a more accessible way in two other online tools: Sightsavers on d-Portal  and the FCDO Development Tracker.