Accountability

First and foremost, we need to ensure maximum accountability towards our partners and our donors. Having trusted partners in the countries we work in is the fundamental precondition for doing our work. Having access to funds and trusted dialogue with donors enables us to deliver on our commitments towards partners.

To ensure we can deliver on the promise of accountability, that both our partners and our donors have ways of holding us to account, requires several key mechanisms, detailed below.

Partnership approach

At the heart of our work is our partnership approach. It details how we engage in partnerships with independent media, journalists and rights-based organisations in the countries we work in. It defines the parameters for our partnerships and guides our staff in how to go about the relationship with partners. See our Partnership Policy here.

Partnership survey

As of 2021, IMS conducts an annual partnership survey every other year which asks our global portfolio of partners to share anonymously with us how satisfied they are with the partnership we have. This includes questions related to the quality of our capacity development, our financial and administrative procedures, as well as a section that seeks to get a better sense of emerging priorities of partners. We share the results of the survey every other year. Find the most recent results below:

• 2020 partnership survey results
• 2024 partnership survey results

Code of ethics

IMS’ code of ethics is a key institutional document which sets out how we expect IMS staff and board members to behave. The document is available here.

Conflict of interest and procurement

With the financial resources and power IMS has, comes a critical responsibility to ensure that decisions on funding or procurement are made with sufficient due diligence and transparency in the process. This is what our procurement guidelines seek to ensure. Our conflict of interest policy is also an important document, which works to ensure that IMS colleagues and our Board are aware of how to spot potential conflicts and how to mitigate them.

Reporting misconduct

IMS has a hotline that is open to anyone who would like to make a complaint about our work. Visit our Reporting Misconduct page or read our whistleblower policy. You can report matters anonymously by setting up an anonymous account with a service like ProtonMail, for example. Reports are received by IMS’ HR Department and processed in accordance with a standard procedure.

In addition to the above, IMS’ work is guided by our financial management handbook and a number of other policies and procedures. They are available upon request from info@mediasupport.org.