The Joint Standards Initiative global stakeholder consultation report

The common starting point for many of the quality and accountability initiatives was “The Code of Conduct
for The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief” (the Code),
which in turn has its roots in International Humanitarian Law and humanitarian principles.
The genesis can be traced back to 1991, when the French Red Cross proposed a Code of Conduct. The
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Steering Committee
for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) took this idea and developed it into the current Code of Conduct,
published in 1994, which today has become the guiding framework for the humanitarian sector. However,
the Code does not include any compliance mechanisms.
The 1994 Rwandan genocide highlighted the accountability deficit in humanitarian assistance and the 1996
Joint Evaluation of Emergency Assistance to Rwanda included numerous recommendations around further
promoting the Code of Conduct, improving staff management, learning and including the voice of affected
people. These recommendations were taken up as the starting point for the three standards initiatives
involved in the JSI.
People In Aid emerged as a result of a specific research project on the management and support of staff
during the Rwanda crisis. After 1995, 12 agencies led a sector-wide collaboration and consultation from
which the People In Aid Code of Good Practice was published in 1997. People In Aid became a registered
charity in 2000 and the Code was revised and became the Code of Good Practice in 2003.
Rooted in efforts to gather best practice in disaster relief work dating back to 1995, the Sphere Project was
officially launched by a group of NGOs and the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in July 1997. Its goal
was to develop a set of universal minimum standards in core areas of humanitarian response, resulting in
the Sphere Handbook. After a trial edition in 1998, the first handbook was published in 2000 with revised
editions published in 2004 and again in 2011. As well as minimum standards the handbook includes the
Humanitarian Charter.
The HAP International story is more complex. After the Rwanda evaluation, the British Red Cross suggested
the idea of a humanitarian ombudsman. The idea gained international traction, along with concerns about its
feasibility. The Humanitarian Accountability Project was established with three field trials in Sierra Leone,
Afghanistan and Cambodia. The report on these trials recommended an international self-regulatory body
focused on affected populations. This prompted a move from the idea of an ombudsman to a quality and
accountability membership organisation. The HAP Standard, a quality assurance system against which
humanitarian organisations can self-regulate, was published in 2007 and revised in 2010.
The three initiatives were thus developed in parallel, whilst developing their own distinctive characteristics
(human resources, technical standards and the humanitarian charter and beneficiary accountability). While
a clear identity was important, there was also a lot of overlap in membership and constituency.