Diakonia is a member of HAP, the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership. As a member, Diakonia is committed to meeting the highest standards of accountability and quality management in our humanitarian work.

International and widely recognised

The HAP Standard in Humanitarian Accountability and Quality Management is the most widely recognised humanitarian programme management norm for achieving the best possible humanitarian outcomes for all stakeholders.

HAP's quality assurance scheme is supported by all leading humanitarian donors including AusAID, Danida, DFID, IrishAid, Netherlands MFA, Norwegian MFA and SIDA.

Respect and the needs of the survivors' are fundamental

Rooted in extensive research and consultation, the HAP Standard sets affordable, realistic and results-critical benchmarks for ensuring that it is the needs of disaster survivors that drive humanitarian action.

People affected by disasters have limited options and little power over their access to assistance and protection. Diakonia and our partner organisations therefore have an ethical responsibility to respect the dignity of victims and to do our utmost to ensure that their assistance programmes are of the best possible quality.

Diakonia and our partners always respect and involve the men and women affected by the crisis. Other important things to take into consideration are the local capacities and constraints, as well as the long term perspective on the efforts that Diakonia, our partners and the people affected involve in.

Constant work to increase quality and effectiveness

As a HAP-member, Diakonia is obliged to continuously improve our performance through verification and reporting systems.

Diakonia strives to manage its humanitarian work well. Thanks to that we can evaluate and learn from experiences made and use our resources even more efficiently and transparently.

Self-regulatory body of the humanitarian sector Established in 2003, HAP International is the humanitarian sector's first international self-regulatory body. To HAP:s web site

Amin in Sri Lanka was affected by the tsunami but is now back working as a fisherman again. Diakonia has worked in Sri Lanka for more than 35 years and we and our partners were well prepared to meet the humanitarian needs after the tsunami. Photo: Markus Marcetic

What does Diakonia do when disasters strike?  In order to succeed with an effective disaster relief, knowledge of the area is essential. That is why we only intermediate relief through already existing partners that have capacity to work with this. Our partners know what is needed and they lead the work together with the people affected by the disaster. Read more about Diakonia's work when disasters strike See where Diakonia have partner organisations