Help a child>Standards and policies

Standards and policies

Help a Child is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity and quality in all its programs. Because of that, we have extensive procedures and policies in place.

Integrity

We expect everyone who represents Help a Child to comply with international law and to uphold the highest standards of integrity. Our integrity policy, aligned with the Six Core Principles Relating to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (IASC), includes our Code of Conduct (annex 1), our Child Safeguarding Policy (annex 2) and procedures on anti-fraud and corruption (annex 3), feedback, complaints and whistleblowing (annex 4) as well as regulations for confidential counselling (annex 5).

Help a Child Integrity Policy
Annex 1: Code of Conduct
Annex 2: Child Safeguarding Policy
Annex 3: Anti Fraud and Corruption Policy
Annex 4: Feedback, Complaints & Whistleblowing Procedure
Annex 5: Confidential Counselling Scheme

Child Safeguarding

Help a Child is committed to protecting children from harm and abuse. Our Child Safeguarding Policy, which is part of our Integrity Policy, describes our procedures to minimize risks and how to respond to child protection concerns in our organization. Within our Disaster Response Program, Help a Child has employed protection experts to carry out proper protection management, contextualize policies and to increase support for child protection within the project communities.

Child Safeguarding Policy – Help a Child

Help a Child declares to adhere to the internationally recognized child safeguarding standards, set out by Keeping Children Safe, to ensure that our organization does no harm through its activities, staff, partners, or volunteers. In 2021, Help a Child became a full member of the Keeping Children Safe Network.

Humanitarian Standards

Our organization adheres to the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Help a Child is a signatory of the ICRC Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief.

Help a Child aligns its work to the nine commitments of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), and is since 2024 certified against the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability by the independent auditing body HQAI. Our certification objectively demonstrates that we comply with the requirements of the CHS. It means that we put affected children and populations at the center of our programmes, include their feedback and opinion in our work and create programmes based on the needs of people.

The process to achieve certification has been very helpful, building on our culture of learning and continuous improvement in the way we respond to humanitarian and development challenges. Help a Child now has a clearer understanding of where systems, policies and practices are strong and effective, and where further improvement is needed. We received the certification after a thorough process where the auditors from HQAI – the certification body – performed a desk study, made a field visit and interviewed more than 35 people, ranging from management at head office to local staff, as well as people from the communities we work with. The CHS certification assures that Help a Child is compliant with the Commitments of the CHS and lives up to the standards expected from us. Read more about the audit

Financial Compliance

Help a Child complies with several requirements of tax authorities in both the Netherlands and countries where we have registered offices. In the Netherlands, we comply with ANBI, Erkend Goed Doel and with the accounting principles for charities in the Netherlands (RJ650). Our quality management system complies with the norm of ISO 9001:2018 which is audited by an external auditor. Also, see tab ‘Our Quality Management’.

Help a Child has several policies and procedures to manage its finances. This includes an anti-fraud and -corruption policy (part of our Integrity Policy), a procurement policy and a finance manual. The financial statements of each office are audited by an external auditor on an annual basis.

Safety & Security

Working in our field of expertise, especially in certain areas in the world, comes with risks towards our staff and our programs. Our policy describes our main safety and security principles, as well as the responsibilities of staff in various roles to contribute to a safe and secure international working environment.

Safety and Security Policy – Help a Child

Our quality management

CHS certified

Help a Child aligns its work to the nine commitments of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), and is since 2024 certified against the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability by the independent auditing body HQAI. Our certification objectively demonstrates that we comply with the requirements of the CHS. It means that we put affected children and populations at the center of our programmes, include their feedback and opinion in our work and create programmes based on the needs of people.

ECHO Certificate

Help a Child holds the EU Humanitarian Partnership Certificate 2021-2027, declaring that Help a Child is found eligible and suitable to be awarded EU funding for the implementation of humanitarian aid actions on the basis of the terms of reference issued by the Commission.

PBO

Help a Child is qualified as a Public Benefit Organization (ANBI in Dutch). An organization can only be a PBO if its organization’s efforts are almost entirely committed to the public benefit. PBOs are offered a number of tax advantages: a PBO does not pay Dutch inheritance tax or gift tax on inheritances, a PBO does not pay Dutch gift tax on gifts that the organization awards to the public benefit, and natural and legal persons who donate to a PBO can deduct their gifts from their Dutch income tax or corporate income tax.

ISO Certificate

Help a Child has a quality management system that is certified with ISO 9001:2015. This confirms that our quality management is fit for the purpose. We are also proud to have been awarded the additional Partos 9001:2015 standard certification. The Partos standard concerns the use of the quality system geared particularly to the development sector. ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization.

CBF-Erkend Goed Doel

Help a Child is recognized as a charity by the Central Bureau on Fundraising (CBF). This means that you can trust that the organization has been closely reviewed on generally accepted standards for charities in the Netherlands. These standards refer to subjects like governance, board remuneration, reporting on achieved results and finances, and the quality of its systems and procedures.