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Self Report 2017

The self-report on WHS Commitments below is organized according to the 24 transformations of the Agenda for Humanity. It is based on commitments pledged at the time of report submission. Click on the 'Expand' symbol to expand each section and read the reporting inputs by transformation.

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2B
Ensure full access to and protection of the humanitarian and medical missions

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • Islamic Relief calls on States to do more to protect humanitarian corridors and ensure the safety of local and international staff. Islamic Relief commits to support this by engaging constructively in intergovernmental processes to enhance the implementation and robust monitoring of International Humanitarian Law, in conformity with Resolution 2 of the 32nd International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent in 2015.


  • Policy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Islamic Relief commits to continue to actively promote humanitarian principles in programmes, building a common humanitarian discourse between religious and secular values and practice.
  • Advocacy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Islamic Relief commits to support the UN in its intention, stated in the Secretary General's Report, to ensure that counter-terrorism or counter-insurgency measures do not inhibit humanitarian action, or prevent funding for humanitarian operations. Islamic Relief will also support calls to provide for necessary exemptions to allow humanitarian organisations to engage in dialogue and coordinate with all parties to armed conflict in order to reach those in need and alleviate suffering.
  • Advocacy
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to ensure all populations in need receive rapid and unimpeded humanitarian assistance.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Islamic Relief made this commitment to ensure that humanitarian responses are aligned with a consistent and relevant theory of change.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief has the following achievements:
    - CHS roll out
    - Forced migration & Islam
    - Review of current institutional theory of change
    - Development of an orientation for staff as part of results based management procedures
    - Field assessment of the theory of change in action, Bangladesh and Somalia

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    Islamic Relief is assessing progress through feedback from presentations and interviews

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    - Accessible materials that can be easily translated into action planning

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑4A - Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

2D
Take concrete steps to improve compliance and accountability

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Over the next five years, Islamic Relief will roll out training on international humanitarian law with supporting Islamic theological teachings to staff. Islamic Relief will also seek to roll out such capacity building to local civil society partners within 10 countries where it has committed to build civil society capacity for disaster preparedness and resilience.
  • Training
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Islamic Relief commits to engage, wherever possible, with efforts to support NGOs and CBOs to better understand how to adhere to current legislation and due diligence requirements, including understanding application for special exemptions where these exist.
  • Operational
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Islamic Relief is a Call to Action partner - in the next five years Islamic Relief is committed to transform the way gender based violence is addressed in its humanitarian programs. Islamic Relief's goal is to develop faith literacy to promote women and girl's participation, leadership and empowerment in humanitarian settings.
  • Operational
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to promote and enhance respect for international humanitarian law, international human rights law, and refugee law, where applicable.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity
  • Implement a coordinated global approach to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in crisis contexts, including through the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies.
  • Uphold the Norms that Safeguard Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Islamic Relief made this commitment as it focuses on tackling the issue of SGBV in line with our Gender Justice Policy and GBV commitments. In particular it utilizes robust faith perspectives and mobilizes faith leaders to tackle and speak out against VAWG. Also, part of our commitment was to continue working with women and girls to empower them with knowledge and skills, as well as raising awareness on SGBV among communities and strengthening coordination of local stakeholders to support survivors.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief had the following achievements:
    1) Implemented projects in Yemen, Mali, Niger and Pakistan in relation to GBV with a strong protection aspect
    2) Yemen GBV toolkit for WASH produced with SIDA support and can be found on our website https://www.islamic-relief.org/publications/
    3) Participation in panels in relation to SGBV; for further information, see our website: https://irusa.org/women-deliver-conference/
    4) Working with faith leaders, women and men in Ethiopia to challenge VAWG, including IPV
    5) SGBV hotline and prevention through awareness raising in Lebanon

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    1) Monitoring and extracting lessons from implemented projects
    2) Continuing to raise SGBV issues across programmes.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Gender

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑The Inclusion Charter

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑3D - Empower and protect women and girls

3D
Empower and protect women and girls

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • In addition to its work on the Islamic responsibility to tackling climate change, Islamic Relief will support at least four additional joint declarations in support of gender justice and inclusivity, tackling poverty and inequality, and promoting sustainable economic growth by 2021.
  • Policy
  • Leave No One Behind
  • Islamic Relief commits to strengthening inclusive approach to programming by improving organisational capacity to meet the needs of all women, men, girls and boys of different ages and abilities through the introduction of mandatory training in the induction of all new program staff.
  • Capacity
  • Leave No One Behind

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Ensure that humanitarian programming is gender responsive.
  • Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Islamic Relief's key focus stems from its Gender Justice Policy and commitments to women's and girls' multidimensional empowerment and protection. Islamic Relief is dedicated to the 'Leave No One Behind agenda and to inclusive programming to ensure differing needs are considered through programming.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief's achievements include:
    1) Developing inclusive and sensitive marker for scoring programmes and offices with regards to inclusion (integrating exclusion concerns of gender, age, disability and child protection and conflict sensitivity
    2) Wide range of livelihoods programmes, including increasing financial and economic inclusion of women through Islamic micro-finance, in many regions, like for example in Kenya, Sudan, Pakistan, Bangladesh
    3) Development of women's entrepreneurship training manual for practitioners and communities including faith perspectives
    4) Continued efforts to providing educational opportunities to women and girls
    5) Supporting maternal health in Ethiopia and Mali

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    - Monitoring and evaluation reports, extracting lessons learnt.
    - Reviewing Gender Justice Policy commitments and plans.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Disability ☑ Gender ☑ Religious engagement

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Charter for Faith-based Humanitarian Action ☑ The Inclusion Charter

3G
Address other groups or minorities in crisis settings

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Islamic Relief Worldwide endorses the Charter on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action.
  • Policy
  • Leave No One Behind

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Aid must be appropriate and adapt to cater for vulnerable groups related to age, gender and abilities. This filter is often not adhered to resulting in communities that are put at further risk.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief achievements include:
    1) Core part of the Inclusion Charter
    2) Leading the mainstreaming of the age and disability minimum standards
    3) Developed a pilot integrated office and proposal scoring tool
    4) Submitted SIDA bids within their humanitarian framework which mainstreams inclusion across 6 countries
    5) Provided training to many HQ and country office staff
    6) Ensured regional strategy processes are sensitised to the challenge of inclusion

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑Disability ☑ Gender

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑The Inclusion Charter

4A
Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • In line with commitments as signatory to the Inclusion Charter, Islamic Relief commits to collect, fully disaggregated by sex, age and disability, and to utilise data for different population groups where possible in all humanitarian responses over the next five years.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • In the next five years, Islamic Relief will continue to ensure the drive to meet minimum standards in relation to child protection / safeguarding, gender and age & disability inclusion in all programming with particular focus on humanitarian action.
  • Policy
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Islamic Relief commits to continue building its internal capacity to carry out cash-based programming. As part of this commitment, by 2018, Islamic Relief expects to ensure that all of its cash-based programming will be in line with sectoral good practice and will increase the proportion of cash-based interventions within its humanitarian programming by 10%.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • Islamic Relief commits to ensuring it is accountable to communities and people affected by crisis. In this regard Islamic Relief is committed to the "Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability". Islamic Relief will identify best practise, learning and ensure continuous improvement. Islamic Relief staff and local partners'€™ capabilities will be built accordingly.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Islamic Relief remains committed to complementing the efforts of national disaster coordination bodies in countries where it has operations, taking part in ongoing joint preparedness planning to strengthen resilience from community to national level.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Islamic Relief shares the view that changes are required within the humanitarian system, and its own organisation, so that southern-based national actors can play an increased and more prominent role in humanitarian response. Islamic Relief has therefore endorsed and committed to the Charter for Change which commits it to review and adapt the way of working to ensure that it increases direct funding to local partner NGOs, increase transparency, and ensure that support does not undermine local capacity through its interventions.
  • Policy
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to reinforce national and local leadership and capacities in managing disaster and climate-related risks through strengthened preparedness and predictable response and recovery arrangements.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to increase investment in building community resilience as a critical first line of response, with the full and effective participation of women.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Commit to increase substantially and diversify global support and share of resources for humanitarian assistance aimed to address the differentiated needs of populations affected by humanitarian crises in fragile situations and complex emergencies, including increasing cash-based programming in situations where relevant.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Islamic Relief made the commitment to publish the amount of funding that is passed to NGO's in annual reports; to promote roles of local actors to media and public through communication messaging; to build capacity of national and local NGOs during ER; to link to Islamic Relief's strategic objectives around localisation. Islamic Relief is a signatory to the Charter for Change and aims to practically shift the way humanitarian system operates to enable national actors to increase and undertake a prominent role in HR. 'Localisation' is key to an effective humanitarian operation and Islamic Relief believes that local actors play a crucial role in ensuring a rapid, cost-effective and culturally appropriate delivery of humanitarian assistance.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief achievements include Strengthening Response Capacity and Institutional Development for Excellence (STRIDE), a two year project funded by Islamic Relief USA, that is contributing to Islamic Relief's global agenda of localisation by investing in preparedness and response capacities of local actors for improved humanitarian response. Under this project, local organizations are selected in four priority Asian countries (Nepal, Myanmar, Philippines and Cambodia) where Islamic Relief is either not present or possesses limited operational structure. Local organizations will be provided with financial support to build and strengthen their capacity in emergency preparedness and response.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    - Local organisation identification process has been initiated in Nepal and Islamic Relief plans to extend this to other countries too.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    Islamic Relief's next steps include: annual reports, website and project reports and evaluations.

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑People-centred approach

  • Specific initiatives

    ☑Charter for Change ☑ Grand Bargain

4B
Anticipate, do not wait, for crises

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Islamic Relief commits to improving inclusion of faith leaders and institutions within disaster risk reduction and response planning and delivery. Islamic Relief will actively engage faith leaders and institutions in all its humanitarian response operations.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Islamic Relief is committed to promoting and disseminating the Islamic Declaration on Climate change in at least 10 Muslim countries by 2021.
  • Policy
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need
  • Islamic Relief is committed to utilising approaches that integrate faith institutions, values and expertise in climate change adaptation and food security at community level, influencing DRR planning of relevant national governments in at least three of the countries where Islamic Relief works that are worst affected by climate change.
  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Islamic Relief is promoting and disseminating the Islamic Declaration on Climate change in at least 10 Muslim countries by 2021.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief achievements include:
    - Translation of Muslim Climate Change Declaration (English, French, Arabic, Turkish, Bahasa Indonesia, Kiswahili)
    - Meeting with IFEES
    - Selection of countries
    - Identification of partners
    - Integration of faith institutions, values and expertise in climate change adaptation and food security at the community level

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    Islamic Relief is assessing progress through notes of meetings; agreed TOR and plan with partners for launch of a 2017/18 campaign to support climate change work and raise awareness among supporters; cross organisational report on its climate change footprint to underpin the campaign.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    - Agreement on country approach, allies and contacts
    - Country based strategic plan
    - Declarations known and acted upon

4C
Deliver collective outcomes: transcend humanitarian-development divides

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility

  • Islamic Relief is committed to the development of a best practice guide for inclusion of faith and faith representatives in psychosocial provision when serving communities of a particular faith by 2017.


  • Operational
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

Core Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Core Responsibility
  • Commit to a new way of working that meets people's immediate humanitarian needs, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years through the achievement of collective outcomes. To achieve this, commit to the following: a) Anticipate, Do Not Wait: to invest in risk analysis and to incentivize early action in order to minimize the impact and frequency of known risks and hazards on people. b) Reinforce, Do Not Replace: to support and invest in local, national and regional leadership, capacity strengthening and response systems, avoiding duplicative international mechanisms wherever possible. c) Preserve and retain emergency capacity: to deliver predictable and flexible urgent and life-saving assistance and protection in accordance with humanitarian principles. d) Transcend Humanitarian-Development Divides: work together, toward collective outcomes that ensure humanitarian needs are met, while at the same time reducing risk and vulnerability over multiple years and based on the comparative advantage of a diverse range of actors. The primacy of humanitarian principles will continue to underpin humanitarian action.
  • Change People's Lives: From Delivering Aid to Ending Need

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Islamic Relief committed to the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) as it believes in high quality coherent and integrated interventions result in greater impact and better value for money.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief achievements include:
    1) Core staff and in house trainers trained on CHS
    2) CHS self assessment undertaken across 33 countries
    3) Regional strategy meetings sensitized to CHS principles
    4) M&E systems adapted to CHS approach

  • Cross cutting issues

    ☑People-centred approach

  • Other related Agenda for Humanity transformations

    ☑4A - Reinforce, do not replace, national and local systems

5A
Invest in local capacities

Individual Commitment

  • Commitment
  • Commitment Type
  • Core Responsibility
  • Islamic Relief will continue its efforts to work with the banking sector, financial institutions, regulators and other key stakeholders to ensure full cross-stakeholder engagement on the myriad of issues related to counter-terrorism financing that impede the delivery of aid.
  • Advocacy
  • Invest in Humanity

  • What led your organization to make the commitment?

    Many banks have suspended financial transfers by Ingo’s to particular countries due to:
    1) The Financial Action Task Force, established to tackle terrorist financing after the events of 9/11, promoting its assertion that the NGO sector is “particularly vulnerable” to financial abuse by terrorists
    2) Many troubled areas of the world where INGOs operate being considered particularly susceptible to terrorist activity due to proscribed groups operating within their borders
    Additionally, the harsher banking regulatory environment brought in following the banking sector’s previous ‘bad’ behaviour (laundering drugs money, dealing with sanctioned countries etc) has led many banks to “de-risk” from the NGO sector and particularly from Muslim organisations.

  • Achievements at a glance

    Islamic Relief regularly meets with its financial service providers in an environment of total transparency and has been able to foster trust and promote the importance of the whole sector. Significant charitable resources are being utilised by INGO’s to ensure that due diligence and vetting procedures are being employed. Islamic Relief is part of an international coalition of INGOs which has been able to influence FATF into retracting its previous contention that the NGO sector is “particularly vulnerable” to abuse by terrorists. At the national level Islamic Relief has been actively participating in a Home Office-led initiative seeking to establish a regular Working Group for NGOs consisting of key government departments and the banking sector, to examine the banking challenges faced by INGOs.

  • How is your organization assessing progress

    Progress to date has been very slow since:
    1) Despite previous lobbying; governments are only just waking up to the fact that a problem exists
    2) The actors (banks, regulators and governments) are resistant to change and extremely measured in their actions
    3) The very sensitive topic of counter-terrorism is at the heart of the current situation

  • Challenges faced in implementation

    - FATF’s assertion that the NPO sector is “particularly vulnerable” has been amended after many years, however this thinking is already established
    - Banks more likely to de-risk from sectors where they perceive the slightest risk
    - After much lobbying we have just reached the point where the government has expressed its desire to constitute a working group
    - Transfers of funds generally involves intermediary banks governed by disparate regulatory bodies.

    Most of the due diligence is carried out by the sending and beneficiary bank. The focus has shifted to correspondent banks to ensure equal responsibility for all in the chain.

  • Next step to advance implementation in 2017

    The NGO sector is at the mercy of the powerful banks and the strict regulatory regimes imposed by governments. Accordingly, there is no alternative but for Islamic Relief to act in concert with other organisations in the sector and to continue its lobbying at the national and international levels.

  • If you had one message for the annual report on what is most needed to advance the transformation 'Invest in local capacities', what would it be

    NGO's are generally despised by terrorists; as witnessed by the increasing numbers of aid workers killed in the line of duty. Governments and banks should recognise this valuable anti-terror aspect of the work of NGOs and do their utmost to facilitate the financial transactions of the sector.