On September 27, the ten humanitarian aid volunteers of the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), headquartered in Fatima, Portugal, met to begin a group consultation on how the organization works with the nine commitments of the Essential Humanitarian Standard (EHS).
The Essential Humanitarian Standard refers to the quality and the responsibility that people and organizations involved in a humanitarian response should adopt to bring quality and to be effective in the care they provide for victims of crises and conflicts. The standard also provides metrics to enable accountability to communities and individuals affected by a humanitarian crisis.
The nine commitments of the EHS are taken on voluntarily by agencies that aspire to provide a greater quality of response to populations affected by crises, and are based on principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.
The meeting continued on October 6, 12 and 14, with the aim of generating reflexion on how pertinent and appropriate the commitments are. The conclusions come to by the group will be compiled in a pre-defined formula and sent to the Sphere Association, being one of the many elements that will contribute to the review of the EHS.
The humanitarian aid volunteer and enabler of the Sphere Humanitarian Standards, Ricardo Treno, explains that “the EHS must be brought up to date from time to time, seeking to adapt to the changes in contexts and crises; for this, organizations such as the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), the affected communities and individuals who participate in humanitarian responses, can give their opinion on the usefulness of the EHS in the quality of the response and the accountability.”
Ricardo Treno also highlights that “this updating process is very valid. It’s important for the EHS to adapt to new contexts, to continue to be something relevant in practice. This group of humanitarian aid volunteers is submitting their contribution to the review process, since all of them have had first-hand experience with these Commitments.”
Gabriel Cyrilo, a humanitarian aid volunteer who also participated in the meeting, comments: “I consider this process of internal consultation to be an opportunity for reflexion and maturing in relation to the EHS. To be a part of the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), a member institution of the Sphere Board and the Focal Point of Humanitarian Standards in Brazil and in Portugal, brings me that impulse of wanting to become more deeply engaged with the Commitments as a reference model in accountability and quality in a humanitarian response.”
