New certification recognizes WHO commitment to high-quality humanitarian learning

Millions of people are affected by humanitarian crises each year. Access to high-quality learning programmes is essential to empower vulnerable communities and professionals involved in humanitarian action with the latest health knowledge to save lives.

Following the completion of an extensive independent quality review, the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE) has been recognized as an approved provider for humanitarian learning by achieving HPass certification.

Managed by the Humanitarian Leadership Academy and overseen by a Steering Committee of 11 organizations, HPass certification confirms that WHE has met the criteria for 8 quality standards based on internationally recognized best practices across the global humanitarian sector.

Becoming an HPass certified learning provider demonstrates a clear commitment to quality learning products and services, from the 190 OpenWHO.org online courses developed by WHO expert teams, to highly specialized blended training for leaders in health emergencies.

“We know learning saves lives — so we are thrilled that HPass has certified WHE learning activities for humanitarian action,” said Heini Utunen, Head of the WHE Learning and Capacity Development Unit. “We are proud to embody the best practices for humanitarian learning to protect the health of communities in crisis.”

Quality learning for the most vulnerable contexts

Humanitarian learning standards describe how learning providers can ensure that those involved in humanitarian action will have access to high-quality learning programmes that will allow them to work more effectively, contributing to professionalization across the humanitarian sector.

The evaluation of WHE’s learning programmes focused on 2 primary areas of learning activities: First, course production activities, including learning needs analysis, learning design and delivery, and learner assessment, were reviewed to ensure a systematic and sustainable approach to learning development. Second, the management of communication channels between administrators and learners were analyzed, as well as the evaluation of course efficacy and accountability for learning programmes, to ensure continuous support to learners and improvement to course offerings.

WHE was also evaluated on its commitment to ensuring key personnel roles are filled for managing the training process and its implementation of a safety and security policy for participants of in-person training.

Overall, WHE remains dedicated to delivering high-quality, effective training that is accessible to learners in even the most difficult health emergency settings — and becoming HPass certified is another step in this direction.