Standards

As well as making sure that our work adheres to minimum quality standards, we constantly seek to improve the quality of our work wherever and whenever we can. To do this, we have subscribed to the following national and international Codes and Standards of practice:

Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability:
www.corehumanitarianstandard.org
The Code of Conduct: Principles of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes:
www.ifrc.org
The Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response:
www.sphereproject.org
The VENRO transparency, leadership and accounting code of conduct:
www.venro.org
The twelve basic rules of humanitarian aid, as agreed by the the German Federal Foreign Office's Humanitarian Aid Coordinating Committee:
www.auswaertiges-amt.de

The nine principles of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability. — The nine principles of the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (© Core Humanitarian Standard 2015).

Quality control

In order to maintain the high level of quality that we are committed to in our work, regular quality control measures are essential. These include:

Regular project monitoring to assess the effect of our aid projects, allow us to ensure that they are working effectively and meeting their goals.
A robust financial controlling system to ensure the smooth running of our projects, which are all implemented according to the high standards of our public and institutional donors, who require high levels of cost transparency. Our ongoing controlling process ensures that budgets are adhered to, and that funds are used properly. There is an emphasis on the management of liquidity and financial coverage. We achieve this by using a double entry accounting system, on the one side assessed in accordance with the German Commercial Code, and on the other through a clear allocation of all transaction according to the projects and budget lines of our donors on the other.
In addition, our Internal Auditing department supervises all of our activity both at home and abroad, and ensures that it adheres to the relevant guidelines, and internal controlling and risk-management protocols.

01.08.2016

Interview: Quality and effectiveness

What is a “good” project? How do we measure the success of our projects, and make sure that they have the greatest possible positive effect on their target group? In this interview, Dr. Marie T. Benner, our Senior Health Advisor responsible for ensuring quality and effectiveness, discusses the challenges of consistently providing top-quality aid.