Community of Practice on Due Diligence Reform

Background
Activities
Events
Mailing list
Due Diligence Initiatives
Resources

About the Community of Practice on Due Diligence

Background

There is growing recognition across the humanitarian sector that current due diligence processes are complex, repetitive, and burdensome – often hindering localisation efforts. Many international NGOs (INGOs) and donors have made due diligence reform a priority, piloting new approaches to streamline assessments. These efforts include harmonised tools, mutual recognition or ‘passporting’ of assessments, registration systems, and donor-led pre-registration platforms like the UN’s One Partner Platform.

Beyond harmonisation, there is also momentum to make due diligence less compliance-heavy and more focused on strengthening partner capacity. Some initiatives seek to shift risk distribution along the partnership chain, reducing the disproportionate burden on local NGOs.

While the widespread interest in due diligence reform has led to significant benefits, fragmented efforts risk duplication and inefficiency. Without coordination, lessons from pilots may not be shared, and potential tensions between different approaches may go unaddressed – while passporting, simplification, and risk sharing are all worthy goals, progress in one area may limit progress in others. Additionally, the disconnect between country-level pilots and global-level decision-making presents a barrier to system-wide reform.

Our vision

This Community of Practice (CoP) brings together humanitarian actors who are piloting or exploring due diligence reform. By sharing knowledge and experiences, we can avoid duplication, foster collaboration, and build on past efforts. Our community will:

  • Serve as a learning hub – mapping existing initiatives, sharing tools, and facilitating knowledge exchange.
  • Develop shared frameworks – including common terminology and technical agreements.
  • Drive collective advocacy – highlighting the need for due diligence reform to support an effective, localised humanitarian response.

This informal Community of Practice (CoP) is hosted by ICVA, with an INGO co-chair currently held by Concern Worldwide / Alliance2015. A Steering Committee, initially comprising ACT Alliance, Save the Children UK, DRC, HQAI, Première Urgence Internationale, Start Network, and the Humanitarian NGO Platform in Ukraine provides strategic guidance.

Together, we aim to streamline due diligence processes, making them more efficient, equitable, and fit for purpose—ultimately strengthening the humanitarian system as a whole.

You can learn more in the Terms of Reference of the Due Diligence CoP.

Activities

Practitioners Exchange

Explore collaboration with other due diligence reform practitioners.

  • Quarterly meetings
  • Small groups of practitioners working on due diligence reform initiatives
  • Safe space for free and open discussion, sharing challenges and explore collaboration

Webinars

Enrich our growing community of practice.

  • Members of the Community of Practice and members from the sector
  • Forum to move forward the debate and generate wider understanding of current efforts in due diligence reform through the sector

Join us

To join the mailing list of the Community of Practice on Due Diligence and be kept informed, please click the link to the right based on your language preference (English, French).

Join the mailing list
Rejoindre la liste de distribution

Events

Steering Committee Meetings

  • Wednesday 28 May 2025, 11:00am-12:00pm CET
  • Thursday 26 June 2025, 2:00-3:00 pm CET
  • Thursday 28 August 2025, 3:00-4:00pm CET
  • Monday 10 November 2025, 4:00-5:00pm CET
  • Monday 8 December 2025, 3:00-5:00pm CET

Due Diligence Practitioners Meetings

  • Wednesday 4 June 2025, 3:00-4:30pm CET
  • Wednesday 3 September 2025, 3:00-5:00pm CET

Public Webinars

  • Wednesday 19 February 2025, 1:00-2:30pm CET

Members

Steering Group

A steering group meets on an ad-hoc basis throughout the year to make decisions and recommendations about next steps for the Community of Practice. Current members are:

  • ACT Alliance, Ruth Watson
  • Concern Worldwide/Alliance 2015 (co-chair), Alison Heron
  • Danish Refugee Council, Romain Sztark
  • HQAI, Marie Chiche
  • Humanitarian NGO Platform in Ukraine, Oleksandra Buglak
  • ICVA (co-chair), Elise Baudot and Manon Glaser
  • Terre des Hommes, Martin Gallard
  • Start Network, Mariela Montiel

Due Diligence Practitioners

Section under construction.

Alliance2015

  • Organisations: Concern Worldwide; PIN; ACTED; CESVI; Ayuda en Accion; Helvetas; WeltHungerHilfe
  • Type: Multi NGO Alliance
  • Focus: Data sharing
  • Location: Global
  • Contact: Alison Heron (alison.heron@concern.net) and Antonia Potter Prentice (Antonia.PP@alliance2015.org)

To support the Alliance 2015 (A2015) impact goal on Equitable Civil Society Partnerships and in response to global commitments on localisation, the Alliance2015 Network launched the Due Diligence Passporting Project.


The DD Passporting Project aims to ease this burden of complex and often duplicative due diligence processes by developing a DD Passporting Procedure, enabling A2015 members to exchange partner assessments. This aim is to reduce burden on partners and country teams, reduce duplication, promote responsible and inclusive collaboration, and allow partners to focus more on delivering impactful programmes.

Charter for Change Due Diligence Passporting Tool

Due diligence processes are intended to ensure accountability and are an important part of risk management. However, they are often designed for larger INGOs and can be duplicative, complex, and poorly suited to the contexts in which local and national organisations operate. These organisations are frequently required to complete
similar assessments for multiple international actors. This creates a significant administrative burden that diverts time and resources from programme delivery and limits the space for more equitable and collaborative partnerships.


In response to calls from local and national partners to reduce such duplication, the Charter for Change (C4C) Due Diligence Passporting Initiative was developed by seven C4C signatories to address these challenges and foster more equitable partnerships. It aims to reduce duplication and promote mutual accountability by creating a practical
mechanism for sharing due diligence information. This is achieved without compromising the commitment to responsible stewardship of resources or accountability to affected and at-risk communities.

The C4C Due Diligence Passporting Tool is open-source and available for use by anybody in the sector.  After a 2024 pilot, in mid-2025 this initiative moved into a new phase of actual wider use beyond a pilot, and the steering group was expanded to more national network members. INGOs, donors, and other actors committed to localisation can support this shift by adopting the approach and the related tool, aligning their due diligence processes where feasible, and participating in future pilots and live passporting. Others have started engaging with the tool, but any organisations can request a briefing or express interest in participating by contacting any of the (I)NGOs currently most directly engaged in the C4C Due Diligence Passporting initiative.

Core Humanitarian Standard

The Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on Quality and Accountability is a globally recognized framework that sets out nine commitments to ensure that organisations support people and communities affected by crisis and vulnerability in ways that respect their rights and dignity and promote their primary role in finding solutions to the crises they face. The CHS Alliance, a global network of humanitarian and development organizations, is dedicated to promoting and implementing the CHS by supporting organizations to become more accountable to affected populations and to manage their people and safeguarding commitments effectively. The CHS Verification Scheme, managed by the CHS Alliance provides organizations with structured processes—including self-assessment, independent verification, and certification—to demonstrate and improve their compliance with the CHS.

Due Diligence Passporting Ukraine

Action Against Hunger (ACF) in Ukraine is conducting Due Diligence Assessment (DDA) Passporting.
 
The DDA Passporting practice allows ACF Ukraine to accept DDAs conducted by other INGOs, UN agencies, or donors, provided certain criteria are met.

To qualify for this simplified process, a local partner must: have completed a full DDA with a recognized INGO, UN agency, or donor within the last two years, and have received or currently be receiving €50,000 or more in funding from that organization.
In such cases, rather than repeating the full assessment, we review the existing documentation, request clarifications where necessary, and collect key policies from the partner for archiving. The process is designed to be efficient and low-burden for the local partner, and in most cases, it can be completed through a short email exchange, without the need for numerous meetings or lengthy procedures.

Though this initiative currently operates at mission level only, we see it as a meaningful step toward greater collaboration and reduced duplication in the sector — and a reminder that change often starts from within.

Initiative for the pooling of resources related to local partnerships

Six INGOs (Tdh Lausanne, ACF, SIF, PUI, Solidarités and MDM) will contribute to advancing the localization agenda by sharing certain practices, with the aim of reducing the demands placed on local, national, and international organizations (L/N/I), or enabling better support for them when necessary, and overall improving the efficiency of partnerships for both L/N/I organizations and other stakeholders. Specific objectives of the initiative include:

To identify other potential opportunities for collaboration, such as delivering training sessions to L/N/I partners, etc.

To promote mutual recognition of the Parties’ due diligence (DD) and capacity assessment formats.

LOCAL Project

  • Organisations: DRC, HQAI, SPONG
  • Type: Multi-country
  • Focus: Passporting and data sharing
  • Contact: Romain Sztark (romain.sztark@drc.ngo)

The LOCAL project aimed to transform how local and national actors (L/NAs) accessed international funding by easing one of their greatest barriers – compliance burden. By developing the first-ever Due Diligence Assessment (DDA) passporting online tool, DRC WAAM and its partners pioneered a digital solution that streamlines due diligence processes, enabling L/NAs to engage more fully in humanitarian responses.

The LOCAL project is centered on collaboration, transparency, and digital transformation:

  • Trust-building – Engaged both assessors and assessed parties to ensure mutual recognition of due diligence efforts.
  • Mapping compliance processes – Created a shared database to identify overlaps, synergies, and critical gaps.
  • Tool development – DRC HQ Digital & IT Projects Unit designed a beta version of an online passporting platform. This allowed DRC to own, operate, and maintain the tool internally, increasing its sustainability.
  • Pilot testing – The tool was tested using CHS audit data from 10 national NGOs through the LOCAL project.
  • Iterative feedback – Testing outcomes fed into refining the tool and ensuring it meets the sector’s needs.
  • Capacity building – Implemented activities to help L/NAs meet Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS) compliance.

This project is lead by DRC, in partnership with SPONG and HQAI.

Standardized Capacity Assessment Tool

To address challenges faced by national NGOs the Somali NGO Forum developed a harmonized Standardized Partnership Assessment Tool (SPAT) aimed at streamlining the
capacity assessment process by unifying criteria used by INGOs.


The tool aims to create a more equitable and efficient approach to humanitarian assistance in Somalia,though the complexities ofthe localization agenda remain.

Self-Assessment Questionnaire (Organisational Capacity)

MatchLocal is a non-profit social impact organisation based in Berlin that supports locally-led organisations in fragile contexts across Sub-Sahara Africa and the Middle East through targeted organisational development and peer learning formats. As part of our localisation approach, we have developed a Self-Assessment Questionnaire that goes beyond basic eligibility or compliance criteria.

The tool enables local NGOs to reflect critically on their own institutional structures, strategies and capacities, supporting them define development priorities from their own perspective. Additionally, we have embedded indicators that capture not only formal capabilities but also explore underlying drivers of long-term engagement, such as motivation, team resilience, and community commitment.
 
By assessing both technical capacity and deeper organisational intent, the tool helps identify and strengthen actors that are not just fundable but locally rooted and mission-driven. This contributes to more meaningful localisation, addressing risks such as brain drain, short-termism and externally imposed project logic, while supporting the emergence of resilient, self-directed ecosystems within humanitarian assistance.
 
We are constantly testing and refining the tool in collaboration with a growing network of local organisations in different contexts and regions to ensure that it is context-sensitive, practically useful and trusted by the actors it is designed for.

Yemen Nexus Initiative

Launched in August 2021, the Yemen Nexus Initiative aims to promote the humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus approach in Yemen. The initiative enhances collaboration across sectors such as food security, health, WASH, and climate change to strengthen peacebuilding and resilience. Phase I focused on building the capacity of local organizations, creating a Nexus Strategy and Action Plan, and conducting service mapping. Through nationwide consultations and training sessions involving NGOs, INGOs, UN agencies, community leaders, and government entities, YNI supports inclusive, conflict-sensitive programming. Future phases will focus on resource mobilization and piloting integrated nexus programs.

3P Framework (Project, Partner, Patron)

The 3P Framework redefines risk management in the third sector by empowering Partners and Patrons (funders) to evaluate their risk positionality and engage in transparent, trust-based risk-sharing discussions. One result of this effort is the reduction in upfront due diligence required by Patrons, thereby reducing the compliance burden on Partners. By establishing a common vocabulary and dynamic alignment process, the 3P Framework enables delivery Partners, Patrons, and the Projects they jointly implement to navigate uncertainty collaboratively and build resilient, trust-based, long-term partnerships. Through continuous adaptation and open dialogue, the 3P Framework fosters a more equitable, effective, and sustainable approach to risk management, ultimately driving systemic, positive change in the third sector.

Resource Library

Resources from CoP Members

Due Diligence CoP Documentation

Contact

To hear more about the Community of Practice, please contact: Elise Baudot, ICVA (elise.baudot@icvanetwork.org), Manon Glaser, ICVA (manon.glaser@icvanetwork.org) and Alison Heron, Concern Worldwide / Alliance2015 (alison.heron@concern.net).