Core humanitarian standard on quality and accountability: Updated guidance notes and indicators 2018

The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) was launched in December 2014. It was a direct result of the 2012 Joint Standards Initiative (JSI) in which the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International, People In Aid and the Sphere Project joined forces to seek greater coherence for users of humanitarian standards. The JSI consulted more than 2,000 humanitarian workers in head offices, regions and disaster-prone countries. The feedback highlighted the need for the harmonisation of standards, with communities and people affected by crisis at the centre and humanitarian principles as the foundation.

The content of the original edition of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (Commitments, Criteria, Key actions and Organisational responsibilities) remains unchanged. The 2015 Guidance notes and indicators have been updated where relevant and the overall structure has been maintained.

The main changes are the following:

• The Performance indicators have been lightly edited and four new performance indicators added in Commitments 4, 6, 8 and 9.

• The Guidance notes have been updated. Some elements have been reformulated as actions to support the Key actions and Organisational responsibilities more directly and to make the information easier and quicker to reference for operational staff.

• The Guiding Questions for monitoring Key actions and Organisational responsibilities have been updated.