Core Humanitarian Standard

The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) provides a set of commitments that humanitarian organisations can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of their work.

As its full name suggests, the main focuses of the CHS are quality and accountability. It is made up of 9 commitments that centre around ensuring aid is appropriate and delivered in a way that does not negatively impact the communities or individuals it is intended to help.

The commitments, underpinned by the 4 core humanitarian principles (humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence), also concern the importance of organisations being accountable to those they serve.

To get certified against the CHS, an organisation must be assessed by external auditors who will determine to what extent it meets the 9 CHS commitments. 

Islamic Relief was first certified against the CHS in 2017 and recertified in 2021, 2023 and 2026. Our continued recertification reaffirms our accountability to the communities we serve and our commitment to transparency and ensuring our work is carried out to the highest standard.

Some aspects of the CHS values overlap with Islamic Relief’s own 5 values that guide everything we do: ikhlas (sincerity), ihsan (excellence), rahma (compassion), adl (social justice) and amana (custodianship).