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Dear Colleagues and Friends,

We are pleased to reconnect with you on the ongoing work we are doing with the Core Humanitarian Competencies Framework (CHCF). As you may recall, the CHS Alliance concluded a review of the CHCF late last year. Many of you participated in the consultation process and provided valuable feedback and suggestions. We wish to once again thank you for your important contributions.

Back then we promised that we will update you on the subsequent progress on the findings of the review, and how the CHS Alliance plans to take them forward.

This is where we’d like to introduce ourselves, Gemma Prescott and Uma Narayanan. Gemma is the CHS Alliance’s new CHCF Project Manager, and Uma is the Expert Consultant for the upcoming implementation phase. Samantha Wakefield, People Management and HR Lead, and Balint Hudecz from the Communications team will support us. We will communicate all relevant news and information on the revised CHCF through this blog.

A lot has happened since September 2016 when the review of the CHCF was concluded. In a nutshell, the overall findings of the review suggest that the core competencies framework is still highly relevant for the humanitarian sector and fit for purpose. Feedback from stakeholders – including yourselves! – have unanimously validated the key competency domains and behavioural competencies in the original CHCF. This is most heartening to all of us. We now know with certainty that the CHCF remains a relevant and indispensable guide to identifying and developing competencies in the humanitarian sector in general, in the organisations we work, and most importantly, for our professional development.

While there was a consensus among users and stakeholders for the continued use of the CHCF with minimal changes, there were also suggestions that minor refinements be made to the framework, including to the important dissemination and communication, and implementation aspects of the framework.

The CHS Alliance is currently in the process of adopting those refinements which have been found to be useful, while retaining the essential features of the CHCF. We expect the approved revised framework to be published by end of March 2017. So watch this space!

We’re very excited to announce that there is a huge effort and commitment by the CHS Alliance and its partners to implement the findings of the CHCF review in a systematic and structured manner that would be of benefit to organisations, managers and supervisors and staff of humanitarian organisations. Firstly, financial support has been made available through collaboration between the CHS Alliance and Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP) and Humanitarian Leadership Academy (HLA) for the next seven months.

In recent months we have already received numerous requests seeking advice on the use of the CHCF. We do sincerely apologise for the delay in commencing the dissemination and promotion aspects of the framework. Nevertheless, we hope you understand it takes time to agree on a consolidated and strategic plan of action to move forward as resources need to be put in place. Now that the resources are secured, we are confident we’ll be able to move forward at an accelerated pace.

As a team, we are highly motivated and passionate to actively support the implementation of the revised CHCF. You can expect the following initiatives in the coming months:

• Briefing package that includes a video to introduce the framework and explain how to use the framework
• A ‘How to’ Guide which would serve as a reference material to assist users, new and experienced as well in CHCF application
• Training modules on CHCF to sensitise HR managers and line managers

Moving forward, CHS Alliance and Talent Development Project are also planning to identify a few organisations and academia who would be willing to pilot test the framework for the next seven months. The main reason for this is to determine a clear baseline and measure the changes in a more systematic and structured manner. We’ll share more details soon.

All in all, the focus in the coming months would be to sensitise all users on ways of implementing the CHCF, and address the gaps among stakeholders that emerged during the consultation and review process of the framework.

On behalf of the CHS Alliance, we thank you all sincerely for your continued interest in the framework.

We look forward to your continued contributions in the days and weeks ahead.

Warmest Regards,

Gemma, Uma and the rest of the team