COAST Foundation is pleased to announce that it has been accredited for ensuring quality and accountability in its humanitarian and development works by the Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative – HQAI (www.hqai.org), following a four-year Core Humanitarian Standard—CHS (www.corehumanitarianstandard.org) certification process. HQAI is an independent third-party auditing agency headquartered in Geneva that certifies humanitarian and development organizations (including NGOs and UN agencies). As a certification agency, it is also accredited against ISO 17065.
COAST always wanted to put the community people at the center of everything it does, tried to bring quality in its services, ensure accountability–especially to the community and people affected by crisis and implement programs with their participation. Therefore, to know the base on these, the organization underwent formal CHS certification in 2017. Before CHS, it was HAP (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership) certified.
COAST has always sought to place the people of the community at the center of all it does, trying to enhance the quality of its services, maintain accountability—particularly to the community and people impacted by crisis—and introduce programs with their input. As a result, the organization underwent a formal CHS certification process in 2017 to achieve a deeper understanding of these. Earlier it was certified by HAP (Humanitarian Accountability Partnership) before CHS. HAP has been merged in CHS Alliance (www.chsallience.org).
Except during this pandemic, HQAI deploys qualified professional auditors who visit the field, speak with stakeholders, examine documents, and then send a report to HQAI management, who then review and issue a certificate. They have a four-year certification audit period that includes an initial audit, an annual maintenance audit, a midterm audit, and a second maintenance audit etc. It began in 2017, and the certificate is valid until December 2021. Please see different HQAI audit reports in this link on the HQAI website. Please note that COAST has been qualified to receive a subsidy from HQAI in respect of the audit fee. Please click here for the Letter of Certification.
