The Core Humanitarian Standard Alliance, known as the CHS Alliance, is a network of
non-governmental organization
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
s working in
humanitarian aid
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and ...
.
The focus of the CHS Alliance is the ''Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability.''
History and mandate
The CHS Alliance was founded in June 2015 by the merger of
HAP International and
People In Aid
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
.
It is a coalition of humanitarian and international development organizations that works to strengthen accountability in the sector.
Activities
One of its core mandates of the CHS Alliance is to apply and promote the
Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability
The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) sets out nine commitments for humanitarian and development actors to measure and improve the quality and effectiveness of their assistance. The CHS places communities and people aff ...
(CHS), which was developed HAP International,
People In Aid
A person ( : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of propert ...
, and (later) Groupe URD.
The CHS now forms part of the
Sphere Handbook on minimum standards in humanitarian response.
The Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative was created in 2015 to audit compliance with the CHS.
The CHS Alliance published the Protection from Sexual Exploitation Index and handbook and works with
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom. Equivalent to other countries' ministries of foreign affairs, it was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign ...
to create whistleblowing guidance.
In 2021 the CHS Alliance was critical of the use of non disclosure agreements in the aid sector.
Criticisms
Sandrine Tiller of
Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF; pronounced ), also known as Doctors Without Borders, is a humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) or charity of French origin known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases. M ...
described the standards that the CHS Alliance promote as too simplistic and generic.
That criticism was rejected by Simon Eccleshall of the
who said that the simplicity was intentional, considering the wide range of potential users of the standard.
Further reading
German first-aid Alliance
References
Humanitarian aid organizations in Europe
Charities based in Switzerland
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