National Relief Charities
National Relief Charities

Code of Conduct Applies to Disaster Relief

National Relief Charities signs the voluntary Code of Conduct followed by the American Red Cross and NGOs in Disaster Relief. NRC believes the NGO principles apply for most organizations that provide material aid or disaster relief.

Code of Conduct Applies to Disaster Relief
Sherman, TX, June 26, 2009 --(PR.com)-- “Code of Conduct Applies to Disaster Relief Charities”

Nonprofits and other NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that deliver material aid and disaster response greatly benefit by adhering to a set of established standards. The standards set out by the International Code of Conduct for NGOs in Disaster Relief include standards for governmental independence, effectiveness, and impact. This is a voluntary code developed by the American Red Cross and other entities – and enforced only by the will of the organization accepting it.

National Relief Charities (NRC) is one of many nonprofits that has signed to voluntarily work by this code. NRC works on America’s Indian reservations and finds that the NGO code closely mirrors the NRC Way that has guided their reservation work for years. The NRC Way is about honesty, dignity, and respect for the people being served. It is also about real partnership in planning and delivering services, identifying the true needs of the community, supporting local determination as to what will happen in partners’ communities, and involving the recipients in the service delivery. Bringing in the right goods and services in the right way makes all the difference. The partners and their communities are supported, as are the partners’ initiatives that are already underway.

These principles are important for NRC, which serves reservations right here in this country. The reservations are as culturally different as any nation and, for that reason, NRC sees that international standards apply. In fact, NRC believes the NGO principles apply for most organizations that provide material aid or disaster relief.

Examples of the NGO standards are that the people and services come first, everyone in the community is served, aid is given without a religious or political agenda, local custom and culture are respected, the partners are involved in shaping the content and form of the relief, the relief given addresses the immediate disaster as well as basic needs, accountability for the goods donated and received is paramount, and portrayals of those involved in the relief are true and accurate portrayals rather than victimizations. For more information on the NGO code, visit www.gdrc.org/ngo/codesofconduct/ifrc-codeconduct.html. For more about the NRC Way, visit
www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=howwework.

National Relief Charities is a nonprofit dedicated to quality of life for American Indians living on remote, poverty-stricken reservations. NRC is supported by a strong network of reservation partners. We work on over 75 reservations year-round in 12 states. For more information, see www.nrcprograms.org.

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National Relief Charities
Helen Oliff
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