Writing the policies in Arabic first

Finance policy templates in the Movement have overwhelmingly been written in English and translated afterwards. Societies across MENA kept reporting the same problem: the Arabic read correctly but described a procurement process nobody in the country ran.

The regional team stopped translating and started drafting.

Procurement, cash handling, delegation of authority, payroll and fixed assets were written in Arabic by the Centre's MENA specialists and reviewed against COSO. Only then were they rendered into English, as a reference version rather than a source.

Where the two versions differ, the Arabic governs. That sentence is doing a lot of work.

The set is in the library and is now the starting point for Build engagements across the region.