CHS revision workshop held in Bangladesh

CHS Alliance secretariat based in Switzerland and COAST Foundation in Bangladesh jointly organised a workshop regarding the revision of The Core Humanitarian Quality and Accountability Standard (CHS) at Lakeshore hotel in the capital.

CHS is a standard 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 organisations to improve their aid work. 

At the workshop, humanitarian actors call for more accountability through updating and applying the Core Humanitarian Standard to strengthen its standard and ensure it remains relevant in a changing humanitarian landscape, reads a press release.

There are a number of humanitarian standards, participants raised the need for harmonised action to simply understand and user-friendly application. 

Priority should be given to using local resources and reporting systems, they added.

They also opined that, aid cut is a global challenge and we need to be better prepared and more resilient to future crises by applying the CHS commitments. 

Aid response should also be managed with competent, well managed and respectful staff and volunteers, they opined.

The chief guest of the CHS revision workshop was Md Mizanur Rahman, Director General, Department of Disaster Management, Ministry of Disaster management and Relief and the special guests were Aleyda Valdes, Humanitarian Affairs Advisor, UN Resident Coordinator's Office, Bangladesh and Trude Strand, Director, Policy Impact and Advocacy of the CHS Alliance and chaired by disaster expert Nayeem Gawher Wahra, the Member Secretary Disaster Forum and vice-chair of COAST Foundation. 

The event was moderated by Rezaul Karim Chowdhury, Executive Director of COAST Foundation, with Bonaventure Gbetoho SOKPOH, Senior Advisor on CHS Alliance and Outreach of CHS Alliance presenting the keynote.