Vastare Foundation – Stop Child Abuse in Congo is a non-profit organization that aims to improve the lives of children and young mothers who have suffered from the violence and poverty in eastern Congo. The organization was founded in 2016 by Alain Mubigalo, a native of Congo, and Frederique van Deursen, a Dutch activist. They were later joined by Alwin van der Wolff and Caroline Verhoef, who serve as the treasurer and secretary of the foundation.

Good Governance

The governing structure of our local organization is transparent and conform to relevant laws. We seek to follow the principles of best practices in governance.

We have :

• A governing body which supervises and evaluates the executive director and oversees program and budgetary matters. It defines overall strategy, consistent with the organization’s mission, ensure that resources are used efficiently and appropriately, that performance is measured, that financial integrity is assured, and that social commitment is maintained.
• Written procedures determining the appointment, responsibilities, and terms of members of the governing body, and preventing, as well as managing conflicts of interest.
• A regular general meeting with the authority to appoint and replace members of the governing body.

Professional Management

We manage our organizations in a professional and effective manner. Our policies and procedures seek to promote excellence in all respects.

• Financial Controls: internal financial control procedures ensure that all funds are used effectively and minimize the risk of funds being misused. We follow principles of best practices in financial management.
• Evaluation: we seek to improve our effectiveness on an ongoing basis. We have defined evaluation procedures for our boards, staff, programs, and projects based on mutual accountability.
• Partners: our organizational integrity includes ensuring that our partners also meet the highest standards of honesty and accountability, and that they take all steps to ensure that they have no dealings with organizations, or persons involved in illegal or unethical practices.
• Human Resources: our performance and success reflect the quality of our staff and volunteers and management practices, and we are committed to investing in human resource development.
  Remuneration and benefits should strike a balance between public expectations of nonprofit organizations and the need to attract and retain the staff that we need to fulfill our mission. Our human resources policies seek to conform fully with relevant international and national labor regulations, in addition to applying the best voluntary sector practices in terms of employee and volunteer rights and safety, health and hygiene at work and work/life balance. Human resources policies include procedures for evaluating the performance of all staff on a regular basis.
• Bribery and Corruption: human resources policies specifically prohibit acts of bribery or corruption by staff or other persons working for, or on behalf of, the organization.
• Whistle-blowers: staff members are encouraged to draw management’s attention to activities that may not comply with the law or our mission and commitments.

Our policies and regulations

As a small organization, we’re aware of how difficult it is to formalize policies and procedures. So we’re committed to sharing our policies for your use and will update the policies provided here on an ongoing basis. Feel free to use them and contextualize them for your organizational needs.