Overview

Girl Guides Australia (GGA) is committed to being Australia’s leading organisation for girls and young women in leadership and personal development.

As an organisation with a mission to empower girls and young women to discover their potential as leaders of their world, Girl Guiding in Australia (GGiA) is committed to fostering a child safe and child friendly culture where children and young people are safe, respected and protected.

The foundations of the GGA Child Safe Child Friendly Policy are the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations as agreed to by the Council of Australian Governments in February 2019 and the requirements of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS). Being a Child Safe Child Friendly Community is one of the strategic foundations of GGA.

GGA, together with the State Girl Guide Organisations (SGGOs), recognise that the long-standing reputation and effectiveness of GGiA is dependent on the behaviours and attitudes of the people who make up the Girl Guiding movement in Australia.

GGiA acknowledges the significant role risk culture plays in keeping children and young people safe. Guiding worldwide focuses on giving girls and young women a voice and an opportunity to build lifelong friendships and networks. These two core elements encourage those in Girl Guiding to speak up for themselves and others, an essential part of creating a child safe culture.

Risk management expectations of all Adults in Guiding and all risk associated with organisational functions and activities must be managed systematically. This includes managing risks both internal and external to GGiA in the same systematic way.

The benefits of embedding risk management at all levels within GGiA are:

• creation of a positive organisational risk culture
• effective management of adverse events that impact on our purpose and objectives
• ability to make informed decisions regarding management of potential negative effects of risk
• improved planning and performance management processes, enabling us to focus on core business service delivery and implement business improvements
• ability to direct resources to risks of greatest significance or impact; and
• greater organisational efficiencies through avoiding ‘surprises.

Risk management is an iterative process consisting of steps which, when undertaken in sequence, enable continual improvement in decision making.

Purpose

The Risk Management Framework (RMF) is a core governance element for Girl Guiding in Australia (GGiA). This document outlines the RMF to appropriately identify, assess, measure and manage the material risks associated with the operation of GGiA. As such it is the reference document for all in Girl Guiding in Australia.

“Risk management is not a stand-alone activity that is separate from the main activities and processes of the organisation. Risk Management is part of the responsibility of management and an integral part of all organisational processes, including strategic planning and all project and change management processes”

Australian/New Zealand Standard ISO 31000:2018 – Risk Management

The RMF is aligned with ISO 31000 Risk Management – Guidelines (2018) and GGA’s Child Safe Child Friendly Framework to present a single, comprehensive framework for effectively managing risk at national, state and local levels.

Specifically, this RMF:

• includes the GGA Risk Management Policy that incorporates our commitment to risk management and the key tasks necessary to achieve these commitments
• describes GGiA’s commitment to a positive risk culture
• enunciates GGiA’s Risk Appetite
• outlines the GGA Risk Management Strategy which includes practical guidance to undertake a risk assessment; and
• summarises key roles and responsibilities for Risk Management within GGiA.