CHS Alliance improves the effectiveness and impact of assistance to people and communities vulnerable to risk and affected by disaster, conflict or poverty, by working with humanitarian and development actors on quality, accountability and people management initiatives. Formed in 2015 by the merger of HAP International and People In Aid, the Alliance brings together more than two decades of experience supporting the sector in applying standards and good practices. Creating a truly global enterprise, it already has a membership of more than 240 organisations that are headquartered in 55 capitals and operating in more than 160 countries worldwide.
The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS), which sets out Nine Commitments that the humanitarian sector can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of their assistance, is at the heart of CHS Alliance’s mission. CHS Alliance leads and facilitates the development, promotion and maintenance of the CHS, including by providing training and capacity building to its 240+ members and the wider sector.
CHS Alliance is underpinned by the overarching principle that the provision of assistance to crisis-affected and vulnerable people is more effective when organisations and their staff and volunteers are dedicated to driving quality and accountability. By applying the Core Humanitarian Standard, with its underlying principles and nine commitments, each organisation becomes accountable for the quality of its work to the people it aims to assist, and on whose behalf it is acting. The Alliance provides support to organisations and their staff to embed the CHS in their organisational systems, management practices and activities. The Alliance continues to link closely with the Sphere Project, Groupe URD and other quality and accountability initiatives on CHS issues.
The Alliance supports its members to advance their performance, credibility and reputation, both operationally and among the international community and donors through strengthening quality, accountability and people management in their activities and management practices. The Alliance's work benefits from the reputations and legacies and successful working practices of HAP International and People In Aid.
Their collective achievements illustrate how their joint experience supports the work of the Alliance, namely:
-An understanding of the sector’s needs in relation to the application and contextualisation of standards and good practice in quality, accountability, and people management
-Expertise in capacity strengthening and supporting, leading and influencing the sector to make changes to the way it thinks, plans and operates
-Knowing how to facilitate collaboration between members from across the regions and with diverse mandates, anticipating what members expect from a global alliance and how to effectively meet member capacity needs
From the moment of its launch in June 2015 as a Swiss Association, CHS Alliance has had a strategic staff presence in Geneva and London, and a governance board composed of representatives from leaders in the humanitarian and development sectors from across every region.
CHS Alliance is responsible for developing, maintaining and promoting the CHS Verification Scheme while the Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative, an independent auditing body, is responsible for implementing the external verification and certification component of the scheme.
