Competency Frameworks

Accountable and effective organisations need engaged and well-managed employees and volunteers equipped with the right competencies and behaviours.

HPass’ Standards for the Assessment of Humanitarian Competencies define competencies as a set of behaviours a person must demonstrate, based on their knowledge, skills and experiences, to perform effectively in a given situation.

A competency framework is an established group of competencies needed to carry out specific roles. The Core Humanitarian Competency Framework (CHCF) is an example of a competency framework that articulates the competencies that are regarded as essential for all humanitarian workers if they are to perform in their roles and make a significant contribution to assisting people affected by humanitarian crises.

A competency based approach is a systematic way of using competency frameworks to inform the definition of successful performance of employees and volunteers to support workforce planning and organisation design, recruitment and selection, performance development, and professional learning and development.

Clear competency frameworks, based on common humanitarian needs and standards provide roadmaps for organisations to become more effective, but they are not enough. They must be backed by the knowledge, understanding and confidence to put them into practice.One of our goals at HPass is to help organisations put competency-based approaches into practice.

Supporting humanitarians to work effectively

The Core Humanitarian Competency Framework (CHCF) is a common set of core competencies that is designed as a standard guide for humanitarian and development organisations to strengthen the capacity of their workforces.

The CHCF is the result of a collaborative, inter-agency approach and is the only framework that outlines the professional competencies that are relevant for all those engaged in humanitarian action.

HPass partnered with the CHS Alliance to produce these resources for the Core Humanitarian Competency Framework. Find out more at chsalliance.org. The full set of resources are available here.