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HPass - Strengthening the Humanitarian sector

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According to the 2018 Global Humanitarian Assistance report, over 201 million people in 134 countries worldwide were estimated to be in need of humanitarian assistance in 2017. 

The humanitarian sector is facing crises of increasing complexity and severity and the need for expertise has never been greater. As the aid sector has grown exponentially over the past two decades, so has the number of aid workers. In a sector supported by a rapidly expanding and diverse global workforce, finding experienced candidates and building capacity through quality learning has become more vital than ever.

HPass is a multi-stakeholder initiative that is working towards a world where humanitarians and the people they serve benefit from greater access to quality humanitarian learning and professional recognition.

With HPass, any humanitarian, whether they are a volunteer or an experienced field worker, can access a platform to share both their field experience and academic qualifications using digital credentials based on the Open Badge standard. Individuals can become a member by signing up for a free account via the HPass digital platform, which will allow them to showcase their certifications, competencies, learning, and experience.

HPass will also be accessible by humanitarian employers and volunteer organisations, who will be able to search for individuals by their skills and experience, increasing the speed and efficiency of recruitment during an emergency or to meet ongoing operational needs.

Participants in a RedR UK training course in Bangladesh
Participants in a RedR UK training course in Bangladesh

Learning provider standards

Part of the initiative has been developing global standards for humanitarian learning and assessment providers, to increase quality and ensure consistency across the sector and give people confidence in their ability to help communities who are vulnerable to or affected by crises. This has been led by Bioforce Institute, RedR UK and Pearson, with funding and support from the  Humanitarian Leadership Academy.

RedR UK has led on the development of the learning provider standards, coordinating a global drafting process involving many people and organisations. RedR India is now exploring the learning provider standards as an early adopter, along with twenty other organisations outside the RedR network. RedR UK is now exploring the digital credentialing platform.

The learning provider standards offer relevant criteria to measure the quality of learning provision. They have been designed for use by organisations, companies, departments and institutes who provide learning services to anyone involved in humanitarian action. Providers can use them as a basis for checking their performance and to guide improvements.

Learning providers that meet HPass standards are contributing to the overall commitment that people involved in humanitarian action will have access to quality learning programmes that will allow them to work more effectively.

HPass is designed to foster the recognition of learning, skills and experience of humanitarians everywhere.
HPass is designed to foster the recognition of learning, skills and experience of humanitarians everywhere.

Testing the standards

A group of early adopters are now piloting the standards, including local, national and international NGOs, learning and assessment providers for humanitarian action, and academic institutions.

The piloting phase will run until September 2018 and will compare user experiences across location and types of organisation, feeding into the final platform design. The piloting process will also identify the criteria by which services are offered to organisations for free or at a cost (all services offered through the HPass platform will be free for individuals). 

The HPass platform will be publicly available from 2019. Plans to gradually scale up access will be published in advance.

In the meantime, thanks to a global, collaborative effort we are very pleased to share the pilot draft of the learning provider standards from the HPass website.

Our Partners

Pearson Education is an education organisation that helps charities to have a social impact through learning.

Humanitarian Leadership Academy is a global learning initiative set up to facilitate partnerships and collaborative opportunities to enable people to prepare and respond to crises in their own countries. 

Bioforce Institute is a non-profit organisation that provides training, support and accredited certification to national and international crisis response stakeholders, both individuals and organisations.  

                                  

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