Importance

Why HAP promotes certification

HAP promotes certification because it is the most effective way to help members achieve and demonstrate their commitment to accountability and quality management.

It is a system for independent verification against industry recognized standards, which benefits all humanitarian stakeholders:

Benefits for disaster survivors

HAP certification shows an agency’s commitment to using its power responsibly. It enables survivors to compare the services promised to the services delivered and to give feedback as necessary.

Ultimately, agencies that meet HAP’s exacting benchmarks in humanitarian accountability and quality management should deliver a better quality of service than agencies with less developed accountability practices.

Benefits for humanitarian agencies

The entire HAP certification process is designed to facilitate improvements in service delivery and quality management:

The baseline analysis and audit capture knowledge on good practices and show agencies how their services could be improved
A successful audit and certification signals to other stakeholder (donors, national government and beneficiaries) that the agency meets identifiable standards in its work. For smaller local or national agencies, this can be an equalizing factor in competing with larger agencies for institutional funding and access to people in emergencies.
After certification, HAP helps agencies to see how their good practices could be strengthened and developed.

Benefits for humanitarian donors

Accountability has been a concern to institutional donors at least since the Rwanda crisis of 1994 and is increasingly important to private donors. The HAP Standard and certification system allows donors to compare agencies on their performance with regard to accountability and quality assurance.

Host governments

Finally, HAP certification allows governments to make informed choices when deciding to work with particular agencies in humanitarian crisis. The HAP Standard and certification process are also external and objective, meaning they can facilitate discussions between governments and agencies during missions.