On 17 October 2009 the Rev Pauline Walker, CMS Africa Regional Adviser, Sudan, wrote to the Trustees of CMS expressing concerns over the allocation of funds that had been donated for work in Sudan and the possible consequences for the ongoing work and relationships of CMS in that area.
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Current CMS work in Sudan (PDF - 45KB)A Grievance Appeals Panel of three CMS Trustees spent over six months looking in to the allegations and interviewed or corresponded with as many of the people concerned as possible.
The panel found that no funds were misappropriated or spent outside their legal restrictions. The panel also found that there were no financial irregularities or inappropriate actions by any CMS staff, concluding, “All funds given to CMS work in Sudan went to what may rightly be considered ‘CMS work in Sudan’.”
“Unfortunately we’ve had an all-too-human breakdown in effective communication which has led to this grievance arising,” said the Rev Canon Tim Dakin, executive director of CMS. “As the panel has acknowledged, circumstances including an office move, organisational restructuring and not least the difficult context of working in post-war Sudan all contributed to that breakdown.”
CMS would go on seeking to learn and to improve its systems, he said, so that there was a clear mutual understanding between CMS and partners on the ground about shared priorities and ways of working. CMS remains committed to ongoing work in Sudan alongside CMS Africa.