Christopher Finucane
European Interagency Security Forum
Overview: NGO security management is most effective when carried out in a systematic way. To do this, processes are applied in a logical order, to achieve desired conditions and outputs. For many NGOs, the security management system’s primary purpose is to produce the conditions for an aid mission to be implemented within an acceptable risk tolerance in a given operating context.
A security management system (SMS) audit is an evidence-based review of the system’s structure and functions and a test of the system’s purpose.
Auditing provides managers and their staff with essential information from which to identify system strengths and weaknesses, allowing resources to be focused where most needed. The audit process also serves as a tool for NGOs to conduct due diligence of their internal management processes and determine if the security management system is fit for purpose.
