Mercy Corps Commitments to Action Progress Report

27 January 2022

Report highlights completion of 15 out of 23 commitments, continued progress strengthening governance, policies and safeguarding systems

Mercy Corps today released its fourth report detailing progress delivering on commitments to action made by the organization in February 2020. The list of commitments followed an independent, external review examining Mercy Corps’ handling of reports of sexual abuse by Mercy Corps’ late co-founder brought to the organization’s attention in 2018. 

“We’ve completed the majority of our commitments to action and we continue to focus not only on fulfilling the remaining commitments, but on the ongoing work to build and sustain a culture of integrity and strengthen governance, policies, and our safeguarding systems. Through our work to provide support to millions of people every year, we often encounter communities at their greatest moments of need. We must hold ourselves and our partners to the highest standard of conduct to ensure we live up to our values and the trust that communities place in us,” says Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, Chief Executive Officer of Mercy Corps.

Mercy Corps has now completed 15 out of 23 commitments to action, including:

  • Completion of an external investigation into the extent of abuse and Mercy Corps’ handling of information related to the abuse in the 1990s, published in May 2021. 
  • Hiring a Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer overseeing a restructured, standalone Ethics and Compliance Department unifying all safeguarding and investigations functions.
  • Improved safeguarding and community accountability systems, with safeguarding support roles and community accountability reporting mechanism (CARM) focal points across all countries where Mercy Corps operates. Mercy Corps countries report 92% of CARM standards, rolled out in 2021, are being met. Mercy Corps released its third annual Global Safeguarding Report in November 2021.
  • Strengthened Board governance, oversight, and accountability, including standing up a Joint Ethics and Safeguarding Board committee, a complete governance review, and establishing and codifying term limits for Board Directors. Mercy Corps welcomed five new Board Directors in Fall 2021, bringing the total of new Directors to 14 since January 2020, and has committed to new Board diversity goals

Mercy Corps continues making progress on the remaining commitments and in 2022 will conduct a comprehensive external review of safeguarding policies to ensure they are consistent with global best practices, followed by bi-annual policy reviews. This year senior leadership teams and new Board Directors will also continue undergoing tailored Safeguarding and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) trainings. 

A complete summary of Mercy Corps’ response to details of abuse by co-founder Ellsworth Culver, including the organization’s commitments to action, can be found on the Mercy Corps website here.