FACT Board Members

 

Board Chairperson’s Statement

 Governance
Our governance system has continued to grow from strength to strength
throughout the year premised on critical fundamental values of
governance. Key to this has been regular and systematic holding of key
strategic meetings, ensuring that Board Members attend and partake in
the governance proceedings. Setting an environment which allows for
innovation, accountability and reporting on risks and threats likely to affect
the organisation has been one other strategy employed through activation
of the whistle-blowing platform which is linked directly to an external
person, the Board Chairman. Other developments linked to governance have
been a consolidation of recruitment/engagement of technically competent
and experienced Board Members to run and supervise the strategic organisation
Board Management sub committees of finance, human resource and
programs.

Financial systems
This year witnessed the full activation of the internal audit system.
The Internal auditor has been contracted to provide the Board and
Management independent oversight into FACT finances and systems on a
quarterly basis. Consequently, the 2017 audit, just like the other 30 audits.
that came before it, came out unmodified. This new development has
significantly improved and strengthened FACT stewardship of resources.
We now pride ourselves of a 3-decade old unmodified audit trail. Over
and above ensuring that funds from donors are safe, we as the Board have
continued to work tirelessly as shepherdess of donor funds, remaining fully
anchored to serve and ensure that resources allocated and accessed by us
are directed for the purpose of serving and supporting the needs of the
community and the nation at large. We remain vigilant being aware that
FACT has become a huge repository of donor funds.

Finance, Programs and Human Resource
We are aware of the growing risks associated with more staff, more projects
and more resources. FACT has gone ahead to cement the function of the
human resource, Finance and program subcommittees to supervise and
overlook the key deliverables and inputs of FACT, that is, staff, donor funds and programs. As a result of this, FACT has excelled in the areas of finance management and programing. Issues of risks related to human resources have been attended to. Policies have improved to respond to staff work and staff welfare.

Risk management practices.
The year witnessed intensified and systematic risk management practices.
largely driven by internal auditing and employment of grant and compliance
staff within the organisation. This has resulted in improved control systems
commensurate with a growing organisation and huge ballooning resource
base ranging from finances, physical assets and human resources.
Diversification of resource base was another focus for the period under
review. However, our success was limited due to a number of external
challenges and shortfalls.

Sustainability approach
Sustainability focus remains anchored on physical asset building coupled with
increased donor and stakeholder engagement and risk mitigation. We hope
this will go a long way in retaining current funders while at the same time
attracting new funders who have an affinity for risk averse investment. A risk
management policy and tools have been put in place as a way of minimising
the risks. We look forward to yet another year of innovation, consolidation
and stewardship of FACT assets.

All in all, we remain grateful to our funders who have made it possible
to expand to new areas of TB and other diseases, reach out to more than
140 000 OVC, advocate for the rights of Key Populations (KPs) and other
vulnerable groups. We also have managed to train, and capacity build local
organizations in various areas of financial management, OVC programing,
advocacy, data visualization, livelihoods, health and HIV. Nationally, more
than 50 000 people were screened for TB in 2017 and ten Community Based
Organizations (CBOs) plus three national organizations, were supported
through direct sub granting and capacity building. This has gone a long way
in contributing improving health and social outcomes of Zimbabwe.

Thank you!
Mr. Willard Kuwana (Board Chairperson)