São Paulo – Non-governmental organisation (NGO) Parceiros Voluntários, headquartered in Rio Grande do Sul, should complete a project to help the third sector in its accounting in October. It should be taken to other countries. The project started being implemented by the organisation at the request of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the object is to develop a methodology to contribute for organisations in civil society to have greater transparency in their finances and activities.
The project is developed by the NGO from Rio Grande do Sul in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)’s Multilateral Investment Fund (MIN) and is sponsored by Petrobras. "Public and private investment in third sector organisations may be used better if these organisations make clearer presentations as to what they do with the funds,” said the manager of the training area at Parceiros Voluntários, Maria Inês Andreotti. The project also counts on an enquiry network, with companies, institutes and even the Public Defender, who all give their opinions for the development of the methodology.
The work began in late 2008 and, up to now, according to the document disclosed by the organisation, includes guidelines like the need for organisations to provide easy access to their information and promote how they are managed, the importance of independent audits, of detailed presentation of tax breaks and to have a board of directors, among other measures. The adoption of the PDCA cycle is also recommended. This management tool includes planning, doing, checking and acting on results and implementing corrective measures.
The methodology has been and is being tested alongside the third sector in Rio Grande do Sul. The process involves 76 organisations in the civil society in 21 cities. They live training in the area and implemented the method in their daily operations. The idea is, after the project is completed, to transfer it to other states and countries. For this purpose, however, according to Maria Inês, a new project will have to be formulated and funds will have to be sought to make it come true. The current project received funds of US$ 800,000, half from the IDB/MIN. The other half was provided by the NGO, which received sponsorship from Brazilian oil giant Petrobras.
Partners and volunteers
NGO Parceiros Voluntários was established in 1997 by Maria Elena Pereira Johannpeter, the wife of the chairman of the board of governors of Gerdau Group, Jorge Gerdau Johannpeter. The organisation was established with the objective of developing volunteer culture in Rio Grande do Sul and bringing people who want to develop volunteer work together, alongside social organisations that need these human resources.
Parceiros Voluntários works on several areas, with natural people, companies, youths in schools and with its own organisations in the third sector. The work involves the search for volunteers, generation of awareness among them and their transfer to social work. When a person shows interest in being a volunteer, for example, before sending that person to an organisation, the NGO generates awareness about the continuation this operation must involve, if such responsibility is taken on.
Operation in the area ended up causing Parceiros Voluntários to notice the need for professionalization of the third sector. “Organisations in the civil society themselves are not prepared to receive these volunteers,” said Maria Inês. From this perception, the NGO then also started operating in other fronts, like transparency in accounting.
Parceiros Voluntários has around 30 fixed professionals, as well as 80 volunteers. The NGO is headquartered in Porto Alegre, but has units, in partnership with trade associations and chambers of industry and trade, in 82 cities in Rio Grande do Sul.
Service
NGO Parceiros Voluntários
Site: www.parceirosvoluntarios.org.br
Telephone: (+55 51) 2101-9797
*Translated by Mark Ament
