CIVIL SOCIETY: 44 PRACTICES
"The Smile of the Child" has supported more than 1,200,000 children and their families. Children victims of all forms of Violence, Children victims of Extinction, Children with health problems, Children who are or are threatened with poverty, have found a solution.
"The Smile of the Child" is a highly extroverted Organization that since its inception until today, has consistently pursued continuous dialogue with its stakeholders, who constitute a key pillar of its work.
With the strong belief that "The Smile of the Child" does not address to few people, but is the result of the joint coordinated effort and contribution of many different people and bodies, the Organization publishes its financial data and statistics on an annual basis, in compliance with its values for transparency and accountability.
The process of writing the Sustainability Report, gave us the opportunity to once again open a dialogue with interested parties and to highlight the essential issues for "The Smile of the Child", as perceived and evaluated from the involved parties.
By presenting the Sustainability Report, we reaffirm our faith and hope in Sustainable Development, seeking a better tomorrow for all of us and especially for Children.
The report is addressed to the whole society with a focus on the stakeholders of the Organization.
The interested parties are a key pillar of the Operation and consulting with them is an integral part of the strategy of the Organization, helping to respond in a better and more direct way to their needs.
Interested parties, as reflected in the Report are the following:
The project was completed within 6 months.
All data recorded refer to the year 2017.
The Sustainability Report of the Organization reflects the period of 01/01/2017 to 31/12/2017 and has been prepared in accordance with the core selection of the GRI Standards for the preparation of Sustainable Development Reports, taking into account the sectoral supplement for NGOs of the GRIG4 Guidelines. The aim of the publication is to inform interested parties on how to respond to their needs and expectations, as well as to make public our contribution to important sustainable development goals, within the framework of the United Nations Agenda 2020, including, but not limited to, objectives 3, 8 and 16. The previous Social Responsibility and Sustainability Report was published in 2011.
It is worth noting that "The Smile of the Child" is the only Organization in Greece, and among the few in the world, that has recognized the need and has proceeded to prepare and publish a Sustainability Report in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals as defined by the United Nations Organization.
In 2017, as reflected in the Report, "The Smile of the Child" nationwide supported holistically and absolutely free-of-charge 90.765 children and their families in the critical areas of Violence, Health, Disappearances and Poverty.
In detail;
All the above were implemented by the 478 employees of the Organization, 25 of different specialties, and with the support of 3.918 volunteers who contributed with 326.942 volunteer hours.
The Organization operates nationwide, but as reflected in the 2017 Report "The Smile of the Child" had a physical presence in 14 cities all over Greece. In specific;
The report was prepared with the decisive support of EY Greece, which undertook the project pro bono.
The participation of employees and volunteers in the project was crucial, as they actively participated both in the implementation of the Organization's actions in 2017 and in the prioritization of the substantive issues within the framework of the Report.
After having identified 22 aknowledged issues of sustainable development at Stage 1 (Identification), stage 2 followed for the prioritization of issues. (Hierarchy of Subjects), by conducting an electronic survey which addressed the Agency's stakeholders, including employees and volunteers. A special workshop followed to prioritize the effects of the issues, as to the importance of the effects on the parties concerned and the importance of their effects on sustainable development respectively.
The process of writing the report, gave the opportunity to open once again a dialogue with the interested parties and to highlight the essential issues for "The Smile of the Child", as perceived and evaluated by the different parties.
The nine most essential topics have confirmed the priorities that "The Smile of the Child" has already set and are the following:
The nine most crucial issues that emerged and the conclusion drawn from the process, strengthened the strategy that we follow and at the same time determined our next steps.
Ethics and integrity, ethical resource finding (fundraising), financial stability and responsible allocation and management of resources, were the three issues that got prioritized as most essential, perfectly aligned with the priorities we already had set.
Our actions, the essence of our work, the services we provide free of charge to every child and family in Greece in four critical areas to support children victims of Volence, children with Health problems, children going Missing and children living in or being threatened by Poverty, were similarly highlighted as equallu important issues.
However, it is worth noting that although the mission and operation of the Organization focuses mainly on the part of society and the protection and well-being of children, "The Smile of the Child" recognized the existing and possible environmental effects of its operation, although it does not systematically apply the Precautionary Principle, as defined by the United Nations and concerns the management of environmental risks. As can be seen from the results of the materiality analysis, environmental influences are not material issues of the industry, due to the nature of the activities and the operating model. In any case, "The smile of the child" considers the need to measure and evaluate ways to improve its environmental footprint.
Finally, the report also highlighted the work, actions and transparency of the Organization.
