Perceptions of governance in the animal welfare sector

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to gather information on perceptions of the current governance practices in shelters in South Africa and put forward recommendations to professionalise the sector at board or committee level. Through semi-structured interviews, this qualitative study sought out the views of 16 participants, both at board or committee and at operational levels, at companion animal shelters. The main findings indicate inconsistencies and flaws in the governance fabric in this sector, and point to the need for a coherent set of basic governance stan dards suitable for shelters. This study makes a contribution to the companion animal welfare sector by offering the first formal study into governance in this domain and provides a foundation from which future research can be leveraged.

Governance in banks using not-for-profit organisations to deliver their corporate social responsibility

“…Working in partnership with donor firms exposes NPOs to what happens 'upstream' in the donor firm in terms of its role as a strategic partner of CSR delivery and the CSR project planning. The NPO also becomes uniquely involved in the CSR delivery 'downstream' with the recipient communities in terms of implementation, monitoring and control (Van Dyk & Fourie 2015;Wells 2012). The NPO thus serves as a valuable bridging mechanism between the donor and the community (Penn, Thomas & Goldman 2019).…”

“…Governance of a JSE-listed firm, such as a retail bank, is affected by the JSE SRI requirements. Banks must therefore establish guiding frameworks of CSR policies and processes, together with recommendations for their application when embarking on CSR projects (Badewi 2016;Wells 2012). Governance thus becomes vital for establishing accountability at all levels of a CSR project, beginning from project initiation to project closure and aligning project objectives with the overall firm strategy (Project Management Institute [PMI] 2017).…”