Islamic Relief Worldwide has been recertified against the most rigorous global standard for the quality of our programming.
The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) promotes equitable and collaborative relations between communities and organisations, like Islamic Relief, that work to support them.
During the recertification process, 5 of Islamic Relief’s country offices – Indonesia, Jordan, Niger, Pakistan and Sudan – were reviewed, along with our international headquarters in Birmingham, UK. Auditors spoke to staff at all locations as well as members of the communities we serve in Jordan.
The audit found that Islamic Relief works closely with local and national authorities to provide services effectively and in a timely manner to those in need, including during emergencies. We were also found to have robust complaints and feedback systems that were well known by the communities we work with.
Islamic Relief scored highly against all of the CHS’s 9 Commitments and only 3 minor Corrective Action Requests were made against 106 measurable components. No major infringements were found.
“We’re extremely proud to be recertified by the CHS, the humanitarian sector’s global benchmark for programme quality and accountability,” Iftikhar Shaheen, CEO of Islamic Relief Worldwide, says.
“This rigorous audit is a testament to the impact of our work and the trust we have built up with communities, partners, donors and regulators over 40 years. We will continue to live these values and strive for excellence and improvement in our work every single day.”
The global gold standard
Islamic Relief is one of only 6 UK-based NGOs to have been certified against the coveted CHS, and to date we are the only UK-based Muslim faith-inspired charity to hold the certification.
Many governments and institutional donors increasingly recognise the CHS as the established framework for quality and accountability and a core part of their due diligence checks. Governments such as Germany, the UK, Sweden, Ireland and Denmark now require or formally request organisations to adopt CHS standards, while others such as Canada, Austria and Switzerland acknowledge the CHS as part of their decision making.
“We recognise CHS certification as the gold standard. Why? It’s widely recognised, measurable and independently assessed.” – UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO)
Working together with local communities
Among the audit’s findings was that Islamic Relief ensures its work is coordinated with, and complementary, to locally led and community-based actions and those of other relevant stakeholders.
The audit also found that individuals Islamic Relief supports are aware of different complaints channels, including complaints and suggestion boxes, a hotline number, emails and face to face feedback.
They say channels are highly visible and well explained by Islamic Relief teams, including Safeguarding Focal Points, at project sites. They report that they feel safe to feedback and complain to Islamic Relief and that they trust that we will listen to and [investigate] their complaint.
Maintaining and strengthening our commitments to the communities we serve
Islamic Relief will ensure we continue to meet the CHS commitments by maintaining capacities, policies, processes and systems that ensure the needs and dignity of vulnerable communities and individuals are our top priority.
For us, this means listening to the feedback of the people we serve, involving them in decision-making at all stages of our programmes and working in collaboration with local authorities while building the capacity of local NGOs.
Islamic Relief will find the root causes of the minor Corrective Action Requests identified during the most recent audit, as well as identify any additional observations made, and develop action points to address these while reporting on the progress through annual maintenance audits.
Islamic Relief was first certified against the CHS in 2017, and we have been successfully recertified ever since.
