Christian relief and development agency World Vision UK has announced that it has retained its status with the prestigious ‘Investors in People’ (IIP) award.

|TOP|The organisation, which employs many staff from Milton Keynes and surrounding areas, gained accreditation six years ago and was recently reassessed for the award.

The reassessment process involved a review of organisational policy documents and a series of interviews with World Vision staff from different departments, report World Vision.

The final IIP report commended World Vision on a number of areas of best practice, including the performance development system and staff training days. It also noted that the organisational culture had improved significantly over the last 12 months and that as an agency, there were more people development opportunities than ever before.

Charles Badenoch, World Vision’s Chief Executive said, “This is great news for our organisation. We want to continue on our journey of becoming an employer of choice and this award highlights that we are heading in the right direction.”

Charles continued, “We are extremely encouraged by the IIP inspector’s comments and celebrate this fine achievement.

“We know how important it is to keep developing our commitment to people and to keep investing in their development. This means we can make a greater impact on poverty, along with our partners throughout the world.”

Also this year for the fourth year running World Vision has designed a huge Alternative Christmas Card, aimed at churches, offices and schools. The initiative allows people to write a personal seasonal greeting and looks to save money on not buying Christmas cards this year – hoping to collect this extra amount for various projects.

The extra funds will be used to enable the charity to work with many of the world’s poorest children, their families and communities.

‘The giant Christmas Card is a brilliant idea because it allows people in churches to celebrate Christmas together by sending all the money they save on individual Christmas cards to a good cause. We get a very happy Christmas and they get a Happy New Year,’ said Church Relations Manager, Alistair Metcalfe.