Transparency and accountability

Our commitment to transparency

At Dorcas, transparency and accountability are essential to achieving lasting impact for people affected by poverty, exclusion and crises. As a faith-based humanitarian and development organisation, we recognise that trust is earned through clear standards, responsible stewardship of resources, and openness about our decisions and results.

We therefore work with internationally recognised frameworks and independent verification mechanisms that strengthen the quality of our programmes, safeguard the people we serve, and provide assurance that our work is effective, ethical, and continuously improving.

Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS)

Dorcas is certified against the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS). The CHS is a globally recognised framework that sets out what communities affected by crisis can expect from humanitarian organisations, and includes elements like participation, needs-based action, feedback and complaints and continuous learning and improvement.

The CHS certification confirms our commitment to these high standards of quality and accountability towards communities affected by poverty, exclusion and crises. Dorcas has received the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) certification by Humanitarian Quality Assurance Initiative (HQAI).

ISO 9001 and Partos 9001

Dorcas has a quality management system that is certified with ISO 9001:2015, the international standard for quality management systems providing a framework for managing processes, risks and continuous improvement.

Additionally, Dorcas is certified against the Partos 9001:2015, which is a sector-specific application of ISO 9001:2015 for development and humanitarian organisations in the Netherlands. Together, these standards support Dorcas in working in a consistent, transparent and well-controlled manner.

ISO 9001 Quality System Certificate

ECHO Humanitarian Partnership Certificate

Dorcas holds the EU Humanitarian Partnership Certificate through which the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO) works with qualified humanitarian organisations.

The partnership certificate demonstrates that Dorcas meets high institutional standards and is capable of delivering accountable humanitarian assistance at scale.

CBF Recognition (Erkend Goed Doel)

The Central Bureau on Fundraising (CBF) is the independent regulator of charitable organisations in the Netherlands. Dorcas has CBF Recognition, confirming that the organisation meets strict requirements for good governance, financial management, integrity and transparency.

The recognition provides assurance that funds are raised and spent responsibly, that oversight is in place, and that the organisation is transparent about its objectives, activities, and results. Dorcas values the CBF framework as an important benchmark for public trust and accountability.

CBF Erkend Goed Doel Logo

Other standards

Dorcas also complies with several other international standards and frameworks:

  • The Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
  • The EU-CORD Quality Declaration.
  • The humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence.
  • The International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) standard for open data and transparency.
  • The guidelines for annual reporting for fundraising organisations (Richtlijn RJ 650) by the Raad voor de Jaarverslaggeving. Dorcas is audited annually, and the annual report is certified by a registered accountant.
  • The guidelines for financial management (Richtlijn Financieel Beheer) of Goede Doelen Nederland, the non-profit branch organisation in the Netherlands.
Privacy statement (PDF)

Open data and IATI

The work of Dorcas is guided by the principle of transparency and openness. Not just for our donors, but also to continuously improve our work as well as collaboration within the humanitarian and development sector.

Therefore Dorcas commits itself to the concept of Open Data regarding IATI. As part of this commitment Dorcas has decided to publish project data in an IATI-compliant way. The IATI standard is a framework for publishing information on development cooperation and humanitarian aid activities in a timely, comprehensive, forward-looking, structured, comparable and open manner.

Dorcas embraces the principle ‘Open, unless..’. Project information is only excluded from publication to IATI if it falls in one of the following categories:

  • Security
  • External relations
  • Privacy
  • Harmful for operations
  • Legal/contractual
  • Cost effectiveness

The Open Data Exclusion Policy applies to all project data published online using the IATI standard. This policy is therefore directed towards, and mandatory for all Dorcas staff engaged in publishing data. The Open Data Exclusion Policy will be made public through our website.

Dorcas is currently publishing all projects that are carried out by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have a budget of at least 250,000 euro, and have started after February 1st, 2016.

We are optimising our project systems so that we will be able to publish all our projects online eventually. Dorcas will continuously work to make our data as transparent and user-friendly as possible.