Call for revising CHS standard in aid sector
Staff Reporter :
Speakers at a workshop on Monday suggested revising the standard of the Core Humanitarian Quality and Accountability Standard (CHS) developed by and for the humanitarian sector to improve the quality and accountability of aid.
Since its launch in December 2014, the CHS has been used by hundreds of organizations to improve their aid work. Now the revision of the standard is ongoing across the globe.
As a part of the initiative, the CHS Alliance Secretariat based in Switzerland and COAST Foundation in Bangladesh jointly organised the workshop at a city hotel in the capital on Monday.
The speakers said to strengthen the standard and ensure it remains relevant in a changing humanitarian landscape, humanitarian actors call for more accountability through updating and applying the Core Humanitarian Standard in aid sector, so that the rights and dignity of people and communities in situation of crisis and vulnerability can be ensured.
There are number of humanitarian standards, participants raised the need for harmonised action to simply understanding and user-friendly application.
Priority should be given to using local resources and reporting system, they added.
They also opined that, aid cut is a global challenge and we need to be better prepared and more resilient to future crisis by applying the CHS commitments.
Aid response should also be managed with competent, well managed and respectful staff and volunteers, they opined.
Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Executive Director of COAST Foundation, moderated the event while Bonaventure Gbetoho SOKPOH, Senior Advisor on CHS Alliance and Outreach of CHS Alliance, presented the keynote.
Chaired by disaster expert Nayeem Gawher Wahra, member secretary of the Disaster Forum and vice-chair of COAST Foundation, Mizanur Rahman, Director General of Department of Disaster Management, attended the programme as chief guest.
Among others, Aleyda Valdes, Humanitarian Affairs Advisor of UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, Bangladesh and Trude Strand, Director (Policy Impact and Advocacy) of the CHS Alliance, MA Halim from BDRCS, Disaster expert Abdul Latif, Moyen U Ahmed from Islamic Relief and Shafiqur Rahman from USAID also spoke at the event.
Mizanur Rahman said Bangladesh has made a remarkable progress in all contexts including in humanitarian response.
The government is very favourable to the NGOs in development and together we become champion in disaster response.
The loss of livelihoods has been reduced significantly.
The Core Humanitarian Standard will help us more to strengthen our aid work, he added.
Bonaventure Gbetoho SOKPOH stressed that the main objective of the CHS revision is to make sure when we revise the Standard it remains relevant in the context.
Aleyda Valdes calls for the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and independence in humanitarian response.
She also pressed ensuring of gender balancing and accountability to affected population so that communities are meaningfully included in the decision-making process that affects them.
Trude Strand highlighted the significant importance of quality and accountability in aid system.
The CHS is based on humanitarian principles and put people at the centre of response.
Nayeem Gawher Wahra stressed the wording in the standing order of the government and CHS should be similar.
Government should recognise the CHS and the Standard should be made user friendly for the people and communities in situations of crisis and vulnerability.
