This blog from Geert de Jong, Manager Expertise & Development at Help a Child, was previously published on the CHS Alliance website.
CHS Alliance member Help a Child has undergone a remarkable transformation by embracing verifying against the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS). To mark their transition from Independent Verification to Certification, we hear from Geert de Jonge, Manager Expertise and Development at Help a Child, on how their commitment to quality and accountability has significantly enhanced the organisation’s impact for the people they support.
“The process to achieve certification against the CHS has been very helpful. We now have a clearer understanding of where systems, policies and practices are strong and effective and where further improvement is needed. The detailed, incisive audit report has helped us to improve. The entire process was an excellent opportunity to put the CHS at the forefront of the entire organisation and realign our activities and procedures accordingly. The CHS motivates us to walk the extra mile when it comes to meeting the highest quality standards.”
A community youth group with new climate smart stoves, supported by Help a Child partners in 2023. Credit: Serrah Galos/ Help a Child
The most important pillar of our strategic plan is achieving higher quality and impact. Our reason for existence is to provide a future for children in need. We do our utmost to accomplish this, and quality is our driving force. Now, by achieving CHS Certification through HQAI, we show the world that we take our commitment seriously. Being able to show that we meet this standard motivates us to continue to live up to our foundational ambition. The yearly maintenance audit of certification also gives us an extra external drive to make it a continuous priority.
As a member of the Dutch Relief Alliance, we are mandated to take part in CHS Certification, and thoroughly welcome this encouragement to meet our commitments. In fact, we think all donors should look at how they can use the CHS to support those they fund to improve accountability for the ‘end user’ – those we help.
Verifying against the CHS has instilled a culture of continuous improvement within Help a Child. By adhering to the nine commitments of the CHS, the organisation ensures its programmes are relevant, timely and effective. This structured approach has led to a more transparent and accountable operational framework, which is crucial for maintaining trust with stakeholders and people affected by crisis.
Here are the key improvements we’ve made:
• Community-Based Feedback: While Help a Child has long valued participation and feedback, after we started verifying against the CHS we organised meetings with community representatives to co-design feedback and complaint mechanisms. Each project subsequently chose its own mix of feedback channels, such as suggestion boxes, community meetings and hotlines. One exciting example of this was a child-led feedback mechanism in South Sudan, allowing children to actively express their feedback and complaints. This initiative provided valuable insights into how children perceive our projects and offered guidance on further improvements.
• Knowledge Management: In 2018, during a synthesis evaluation of all our projects, we realised that just creating high-quality policy documents is not enough. It is all about ensuring we reach the hearts and minds of our field staff so that they understand and live by our philosophy. We introduced all kinds of training, information exchange, and e-learning. For example, we began a Community of Practice for all staff and partners to share learnings on priority topics like Early Childhood Development, Child Protection and Disaster Response.
• Disaster Risk Reduction: Up to 2019, we were organised in silos: one silo for development programmes and one silo for disaster response. As an important discourse, Triple Nexus came up in our sector, and CHS pushed us to connect development with disaster response. This resulted in more attention to Disaster Risk Reduction in our development programmes and more sustainability and empowerment approaches in disaster response.
• Partnership Management: Supported by the CHS process, we have improved equal partner relationships and become more transparent in our relationships with our implementing partners. We created new Memoranda of Collaborations with partners, emphasizing more the equality in the relationship and our vision on partnership. We also started a Community of Practice with the CEOs of our partners to discuss strategic topics, ensuring decisions are taken together.
• Communication with communities: during the external audit in 2023, we realised we need to improve on the intensity and quality of our communication to affected people, explaining who Help a Child is as the donor behind our implementing partners and what integrity means to us.
As a result of all these changes, Help a Child has seen a notable improvement in our relationships with the communities we support. The CHS commitments emphasise accountability to affected people, ensuring that their needs and feedback are central to the organisation’s operations. Taking this participatory approach has led to more inclusive and responsive programmes, ultimately resulting in better outcomes for the communities served.
After several years of using the CHS to improve our work, it was great to get confirmation from the CHS audit report that the communities we help feel “…that Help a Child and its partners take the time to understand what the community has and does not have and to identify the most vulnerable.”
Member of a community youth group supported by Help a Child partners in 2023. Credit: Serrah Galos/Help a Child
Achieving CHS certification has also boosted donor confidence in Help a Child. As a relatively small NGO, the CHS opened up new avenues for further funding by larger donors, enabling us to provide more impact for more children in need. We expect and encourage more and more donors to adopt the CHS standard and, by doing so, increase the level of CHS compliance – meaning every group helping potentially vulnerable people are meeting those fundamental commitments. We want to work in this world.
Overall, Help a Child’s journey with CHS Alliance and verifying against the CHS has been transformative. The organisation has not only improved our internal processes but most significantly changed the power dynamics between us and those we serve. Through our commitment to CHS verification, we will continue to build trust, foster empowerment and deliver sustainable solutions to those in need.
BUTERERE – 36-year-old mother of four, Nadine HAKIZIMANA tucked her children in bed and zoned out hoping to wake up refreshed the following day. While resting beside her husband, the rain began to pour. It was a silent, peaceful night but as time went by, heavy rains and winds surrounded her home to the point that none of the parents could remain asleep.
Fortunately, for Nadine and her husband, the children were awake as well. The alarming sound of homes tumbling down in Buterere shook the Hakizimana family and they then decided to escape from their house into the streets. The streets of Buterere 2 A were flooded with waves. Nadine while struggling to find safe grounds for her children looked back at her 1 bedroom house. She thought of important house items, cooking utensils, legal documents and equipments to retrieve but as she processed this in her mind, a huge wave took down her home. Devastated but without time for sadness, she kept on going with her husband and children towards safer grounds.
The morning after, Nadine and thousands of other IDPs made their way to ECOFO Mobile, searching for temporary shelter. On this ground, they endured longer nights whilst in desperate need of food and shelter. Nadine and her husband would exchange roles searching for casual work during the day while waiting for relief support.
Nadine searched for families and cooperatives in need of manual laborers to farm or sell rice and vegetables. Prior to being homeless, she earned between 1000 and 3000 Burundian Francs (USD 0.5 to USD 1.6) on a good day. However, she was not always as lucky so there more days without earnings nor able to support her family. On a monthly basis, she did not earn enough to save, often what she earned, she used to reimburse debts. She dreamed to do more than this; however, the situation became worse without a home.
The weeks after that, the Help a Child team conducted field missions in Buterere to provide emergency shelter and NFI Kits for 149 IDP households most affected by heavy rains and floods. Among these, HAKIZIMANA Nadine arrived with her husband and their children at the Buterere administration office in desperate need for support to find shelter. After waiting in line for about half a day, she heard her name.
It was the perfect Easter gift for Nadine to open the door of her new home. She unpacked jerry cans, blankets, kitchen utensils, washing powder, soaps, loincloths and clothes entering her new home. The children were thrilled, her husband gave her a tight hug and together they prayed thanking God for the support received.
Although her family’s situation hasn’t completely changed, Nadine is hopeful that God is able to take care of her family. The same God who rescued them from the floods, the same God who replaced lost house items, the same God that provided their families with a new home. While recognizing the support received, Nadine however makes an appeal for Help a Child and other well-wishers to further support IDPs in Buterere by improving their socio economic situation through vocational training and business development projects.
To put this into perspective: Buterere has not changed. Its inhabitants have limited access to medical care. Houses still standing have become even more expensive after the floods due to their scarcity so IDP families are once again struggling to cover rent fees. Children have restricted access to quality formal education and life skills development programs in the community. These poor livelihood conditions have resulted in an increasing number of street children, child laborers, people with fragile mental health, prostitution as well as illegal substance abuse by youth within a few weeks after the intervention.
Prohibited entry commercial activities such as livestock breeding and farming in urban areas continue to increase the pool of the unemployed workforce in Buterere. Poor local infrastructure expose the already vulnerable people to preventable natural disasters. The boarders that facilitate trade between Burundi, Rwanda and DRC are closed. There are flight and shipping restrictions limiting exports and imports of products; so this is not the right time to engage businesses in corporate social responsibility events.
Nevertheless, for what it’s worth, someone believes there better days are ahead. “We know that God loves us and we believe that one day our daily struggles will be a testimony and message of hope for others,” Nadine concludes.
About Buterere Buterere is a town in Bujumbura best known as a dumpsite and hosting ground for diverse groups of internally displaced persons (IDPs). In total, Buterere plays host to a population of 72,534 people grouped in 12,760 households as of December 2019. On a seasonal basis, this population faces heavy rains, torrent winds and floods that often result in the people of Buterere being displaced until the end of the rainy season. This has occurred so often in recent years that local authorities have requested for families to relocate. However, each request has fallen on thorny grounds. Buterere is well known for its large population of unemployed people and street children. Most adults, youth and children in this community try to make ends meet through casual work, family labor and begging in the streets.
