Help must be done well!One of the guiding principles of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta

At the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta, we are committed to delivering our work at the highest possible standard. We strive to ensure that our interventions do not cause further harm to already vulnerable communities, and that assistance is provided in the most appropriate and effective way. This requires continuous improvement, attention, and compliance. Since 2016, we have integrated voluntary quality assurance elements into our international humanitarian and development programmes, including the application of the Sphere standards and adherence to the commitments of the CHS Alliance throughout the entire project cycle.

We place strong emphasis on understanding and respecting cultural and contextual differences across our diverse areas of operation, from Asia to Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa to the United Kingdom. Our approach is always needs-based: we seek solutions to real needs, rather than matching problems to available funding.

In line with this, our international programmes are guided by the following key commitments:

  • We carry out our work in accordance with the Fundamental Humanitarian Principles recognised by OCHA and the United Nations, as well as the codes of conduct developed by CHS and IFRC, which are integrated into all our programmes.
  • Every programme is preceded by a planning phase based on the principles of community development.
  • All our programmes are built on the needs of the intended beneficiary groups.
  • Our responses are appropriate and relevant, meaning they are grounded in local needs.
  • Our interventions are effective and timely, ensuring that we provide support where and when it is truly needed (immediately, if necessary).
  • We deliver all our programmes locally, strengthening local capacities so that our partners are better prepared to respond to future challenges affecting their communities.
  • All our programmes are implemented in line with the Code of Conduct of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta; we welcome feedback and actively address complaints.
  • Our programmes are implemented within humanitarian clusters, ensuring that crisis-affected communities receive coordinated and complementary support from both local and international actors.
  • We consider our work knowledge-based: both local and Maltese staff are qualified professionals with relevant expertise, continuously learning and improving to provide better support to the communities we serve.
  • In all our programmes, local and Maltese staff operate in accordance with appropriate safety regulations and with the necessary support.

The Hungarian Sphere Centre

The Sphere Project was launched in 1997 by leading humanitarian and development organisations with the aim of establishing a coherent and universally applicable quality assurance framework. It defines a set of minimum standards and practical guidelines that can be applied in real-life humanitarian contexts, helping organisations with diverse operational practices to work together based on shared principles and norms.

As a result of this initiative, the Sphere Handbook was first published in 2000, providing clear and actionable guidance for practitioners in the field. An expanded second edition followed in 2011, with contributions from Dániel Solymári, a staff member of the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta (HCSOM). Over time, the initiative has grown into a global network.

HCSOM joined the Sphere network in 2015, and in the following year established the Hungarian Sphere focal office at its headquarters, serving as the national contact point. In 2017, HCSOM participated in the first Global Forum, where discussions extended beyond Sphere principles to include the prevention of persecution based on religion.

Humanitarian Minimum Standards

In 2019, the Hungarian Charity Service of the Order of Malta (HCSOM) became a member of the CHS Alliance, making it the only organisation from Hungary within this leading global network for humanitarian quality assurance. HCSOM has integrated the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) — a framework consisting of nine key commitments — into its operations and applies it across its international projects to enhance the quality and effectiveness of its work.

The CHS places crisis-affected people and communities at the centre of humanitarian action. It defines what principled, accountable and high-quality humanitarian assistance should look like, providing a voluntary yet measurable standard.

The CHS was developed through a global consultative process, aiming to harmonise and synthesise existing humanitarian norms.

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