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Just before January ends, I would like to take the chance to wish everyone a successful, inspiring and healthy 2020. While the year may not have started with the world news we would have liked, I hope this message finds you full of energy and commitment, ready to face the challenges we are united in tackling.

In this regard, I would like to thank all our CHS Alliance members and partners for their efforts to make aid work better and apply the CHS. Whether through verification to show how we are meeting CHS commitments, or via individual practices that improve our daily work, we all know things can – and must – be better.

Looking ahead to 2020, we now need to work together to escalate this momentum. Here are some of the areas I look forward to working with you on:

Verification – CHS Alliance members are committed to CHS verification, as part of the push for sector-wide learning and adaption. In March, the CHS Alliance Board will be asked to approve an updated CHS Alliance Verification Scheme and accompanying Verification Guide. Both are designed to support our members in their verification journey.

Recognition of CHS verification – Many of you have emphasised to us that donors need to show greater recognition of CHS verification. We are now working on a review to clarify what donors currently consider in terms of verification and where we can lobby harder.

Humanitarian Accountability Report – We also are getting underway with the 2020 edition of the Humanitarian Accountability Report. This state-of-the-sector report will provide an overview of how much progress we are making on our CHS commitments. In the upcoming weeks we will ask many of you for case studies to build up a picture of our collective work. We also welcome ideas for opinion pieces on the topic.

What can we learn in humanitarian operations? – This is a piece I’m very excited about. We need to understand how the CHS is actually making a difference where it matters most – at the operational level. We have a number of approaches to studying this area, and in 2020 we will conduct a series of reviews to see how we can analyse the subject more systematically.

Convening our membership – Last year we held two fantastic CHS Exchange learning events in Amman and Bangkok. I’m thrilled to announce the next CHS Exchange will be held this September in Kenya; look out for a save the date coming soon.  But there’s no need to wait until September to learn from each other. We now have several Communities of Practice (CoPs) set up for CHS Alliance members to share knowledge, challenges and innovations on these themes:

• Verification, with Adrien Muratet
• Accountability to Affected People, with Jules Frost
• PSEAH, with Jules Frost
• People Management, with Gozel Baltaeva

Please email the CoP facilitators through the links provided if you would like to know more about the group or wish to join.

We at the CHS Alliance look forward to 2020, working side by side with you – our members and partners – to make aid work better for the people we serve.