- Introduction
HALO has 6 values and 3 standards that all staff are expected to follow. All leaders must ensure that their international and national staff (and indeed beneficiary communities) understand our Values and Standards; it is a leadership responsibility as well as an employee’s individual duty to ensure that they are always applied.
- Values
HALO’s values are the principles and characteristics we expect our people to uphold and display. The overarching guidance is to always seek to identify and do the right thing.
a. Moral courage - to do the right thing (that which stops, prevents, or denies any opportunity for wrongdoing), whatever the conditions, or pressures. Physical courage – putting yourself in harm’s way to protect/ support others - is implicit and there are
circumstances where it could be required.
b. Discipline – to put the cause before self-interest; getting the job done thoroughly and to the highest of standards, whatever the temptations, or reasons not to.
c. Integrity – to uphold the right moral and ethical standards. This includes honesty, reliability, consistency and judgement and it includes speaking up for what we believe in.
d. Respect for others – to treat others as you would expect to be treated (whatever their race, gender, or sexual orientation); understanding and considering the needs and expectations of others and respecting their opinions and feelings, even if you don’t agree.
e. Loyalty - loyalty to each other, the whole team and to HALO’s purpose and ethos; loyalty transforms groups of diverse and disparate individuals into a cohesive and effective whole and it is therefore central to our organisational success.
f. Selfless commitment - putting the needs, safety and security of others (and of the organisation) before your own.
- Standards
HALO’s standards provide the framework within which our values are applied. Our behaviour must be:
a. Lawful - We must comply with the standards expected of us by our own SOPs, by donors, the Charity Commission, UK/ US/ EU law and the laws of host-Countries. Where a host-Country has laws which are different to UK/ US/ EU, we must ensure that we uphold the laws which correspond to our values, while respecting (and without compromising our relationship with) the host-Country. We must operate within the spirit, as well as the letter
of the law – where there is ambiguity we must have the integrity to comply as is intended, rather than choosing to manoeuvre around legislation.
b. Appropriate - We must behave as we would wish others to behave towards us – in a decent, respectful, consistent and considerate way. Where circumstances require robust leadership it must be provided (and accepted), but ‘appropriate’ includes having the professional and personal fortitude to call out behaviour which is not.
c. Professional - Professionalism defines HALO’s reputation. It is underpinned by our values and standards and involves the highest levels of competence and safety and the relentless pursuit of excellence, whether conceptual technical, or procedural. The agile application of lessons-learned is an essential component of professionalism.
