ICSI SAS – 16 Social Audit Standard on promoting welfare of migrants and displaced persons
Applicability and Scope
This Social Audit (‘the Standard’) is applicable to the Social Auditor as defined under sub-Regulation (f) of Regulation 292A of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018 conducting the Social Audit of the Social Enterprise as defined under sub-Regulation (h) of Regulation 292A of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.. This Standard deals with procedures, responsibilities and duties of the Auditor with respect to the Social Audit being conducted by him/ her of the Social Enterprises engaged in the activities prescribed under sub-regulation 2(a)(xvi) of Regulation 292E of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2018.
Objective
ICSI Social Audit Standard – 16 (ICSI SAS-16) aims to aid the Social Auditors with necessary instructions or guidelines for the effective Social Audit of Social Enterprises engaged in the field of “promoting welfare of migrants and displaced persons”. Social Auditor shall follow the minimum criteria as specified in this proposed Social Audit Standard issued by the ICSI.
Effective Date
This Social Audit Standard will be in force with effect from –/–/20–.
Social Audit Process and Documentation
Social Auditor shall conduct the Social Audit in accordance with the procedures/ mandates established and notified by the ICSI from time to time. Social Auditors shall perform their functions that provide sufficient and adequate evidence to support Social Audit. Social Auditor can acquire evidence for the effectiveness of Social Audit through inspection, observation, inquiry, consultation, interview, questionnaire, analytical
procedures and/or other research techniques or any other acceptable methods as he/she deems fit. The procedures to be followed are as under:
I. Define Social Audit objectives and planning Social Audit;
II. Intimation to the Management of the Social Enterprise about the Audit Plan;
III. Identification of Stakeholders and consultation;
IV. Visit to/inspection of the area where project/activity was implemented;
V. Collection of data, Analysis and assessment;
VI. Reporting.
I. Define Social Audit objectives and planning Social Audit
The Social Auditor shall define the object and scope of the Social Audit prior to conducting Social Audit. It is always better to have a proper plan prior to Social Audit and it includes nature, timing and extent of the procedures and standards to be followed while conducting Social Audit. The Social Auditor should also analyse the report, recommendations of the previous Social Audit, if any, and review the corrective actions taken by the Social Enterprise with respect to the recommendations suggested in the previous Social Audit Report. This is the first stage of Social Audit process.
II. Intimation to the Management of the Social Enterprise about the Audit Plan
It is expected that the Social Auditor should intimate the audit plan to the Management of the Social Enterprise so they can have the necessary documents and materials ready and available for the Auditor.
III. Identification of Stakeholders and Consultation
The key stakeholders who can be involved in the Social Audit process include project beneficiaries, migrant workers and displaced persons, Self Help Groups working for such persons, employers, recruitment agencies, officials of the local bodies, Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), media, etc. The consultation must be done with the stakeholders to extract accurate and needed information.
IV. Visit to / inspection of the area where project / activity was implemented
The Social Auditor must make it a point to visit / inspect the location and this will also give him / her better opportunities both for collection of data and consultation with the stakeholders.
V. Collection of data, analysis and assessment
This activity involves identifying key issues that need to be cross checked in the Social Audit as well as how information and data pertaining to the activity undertaken by the Social Enterprise will be collected. Moreover, in Social Audit process, two types of data are crucial. Primary data collected from stakeholders and community members, followed by Secondary data collected from various other sources. Gathering secondary information is very important in the process of Social Audit. Secondary data are inevitable for making Social Audit reports. Information required for preparing Social Audit Reports may not be available in single point but may be in different records in different forms.
Social Auditor shall collect the relevant information through any of the following methods:
- Documents and records
- Statistical data on migrant workers
- Govt policies in this regard
- Data on employers of migrant workers
- Questionnaires and surveys
- Interviews
- Observations
- Published data from authorized sources
Evaluation should be based on certain criteria and suggestive list of such criteria is provided hereinafter. However, the list is inclusive and not exhaustive and the Social Auditor must exercise his own discretion and judgement on case to case basis. Also, the feedback from stakeholders should be considered while preparing the Social Audit Report
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Particulars |
| A. Promoting welfare of migrants and displaced persons | |
| 1 | Awareness programmes conducted for the migrant workers and displace persons related to health care, personal hygiene, etc. |
| 2 | Workshops/ Awareness programmes/ health care camps, vaccination drive conducted for migrant workers and their family. |
| 3 | Initiatives taken for reducing social tensions between host communities and migrant workers/displaced persons. |
| 4 | Initiatives taken for ensuring migrant workers and displaced persons are getting the same universal human rights and fundamental freedoms available to the local/ host communities. |
| 5 | Initiatives taken for ensuring equal access to health care services, including health promotion, disease prevention, treatment and care, as well as financial protection. |
| 6 | Initiatives taken for the development, strengthening, implementation and monitoring of new or existing rights-based social protection schemes or mechanisms that enhance access or extend coverage to migrant workers (e.g. providing access to health care, income security, etc.) and displaced persons. |
| 7 | Initiatives taken for the establishment of a knowledge base (including statistics) on social security for migrant workers to support evidence-based policymaking and capacity building. |
| 8 | Assistance given for the costing and financing of social protection schemes and reforms (e.g. fiscal space analyses), including those related to the extension of social protection to migrant workers and their families and displaced persons. |
| 9 | Assistance given for getting the migrant workers registered in various government welfare schemes launched for them. |
| 10 | Workshops conducted for the employers of the migrant workers to treat them equally and avail all the welfare facilities introduced by the central/state/local government. |
| 11 | Assistance given for the displaced persons to reach their home and/ or find job for their living. |
| 12 | Initiatives taken for giving free legal aid to migrant workers and displaced persons in case of any need. |
| 13 | Assistance given for inclusion in national health insurance schemes, facilitating access to social protection schemes, etc. |
| 14 | Initiatives for promoting capacity development for social workers on issues related to migrant workers and displaced persons to provide better assistance to them. |
| 15 | Coordination with local actors/ local bodies, which develop packages and integration strategies for migrant workers and displaced persons. |
| 16 | Initiatives taken to get the complaints of migrants and displaced persons registered with government department/ authorities and effective redressal of the same. |
| 17 | Transport facilities provided to migrant and displaced persons to help them reach their homes. |
| 18 | Alternative employment opportunities provided. |
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19 |
Health check-up camps organised for general check-up of the health of migrant workers and their families. |
Reporting
The Social Audit Report shall include information about the objective set out at the beginning of the Social Audit, methodologies adopted, observations, findings and recommendations if any. The Social Auditor shall also identify the challenges faced in implementation of the projects / activities and suggest areas for improvement based on observation, interview and feedback received from stakeholders. The Social Auditor shall also list out the limitations of the audit process which might include inability to identify all stakeholders, non-availability of proper response from stakeholders and so on and point out the extent to which such limitations impact the Audit Report. The Report of Social Audit shall be as per the format notified by the ICSI from time to time.
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