Risk awareness within an organisation

Each member of an organization is responsible for managing a section of risk that helps the organization to achieve its goals and mission. It is therefore critical that everyone in an organization is aware of the risk in carrying out his or her duties or responsibilities in order for him/her to contribute towards the risk management process. An organization with high risk awareness among staff is highly likely to achieve its goals and mission than one with low level of risk awareness. Creating risk awareness among staff at the Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture (RUFORUM) Secretariat is essential for the organization to achieve its aims. The success of risk management process in an organization is not based on the risk manager but based on the risk culture adopted by the head of the organization and how the entire staff regard risk. The RUFORUM Secretariat has a risk management framework policy in place to help it manage the risk it faces in a systematic way. The Secretariat having the policy in place does not guarantee that it has an effective risk management in place especially if staff do not understand or know about this policy and therefore do not apply them in managing the risk they face in carrying out their duties. Each member of staff must be aware that the risk he/she faces could have a negative impact on the organization and must take steps to mitigate these risks. In order for a staff to take measures to mitigate the likelihood of occurrence of a risk she/he must first be aware that risk exist before s/he can put control measures in place to mitigate against the possibility of the risk occurring and continuously monitor the risk possibility to ensure that it is within acceptable level. Small Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with limited resource face challenges in creating risk awareness among their staff. This paper provide a framework on how RUFORUM Secretariat can develop risk awareness culture among staff through a positive risk culture.