Interview: TinTua (EN)

Tin Tua was one of the first local organisations to benefit from a CHS certification passporting arrangement facilitated by an international NGO. Yves OUOBA, Executive Director of TinTua, accepted to share his experience.

Tin Tua was one of the first local organisations to benefit from a CHS certification passporting arrangement facilitated by an international NGO. What does this entail?

Tin Tua achieved its CHS certification in 2026, following a benchmarking exercise in 2025. This was far more than a procedural formality; it sparked a profound institutional transformation. At its core, the process became a powerful lever to continuously question and refine our own practices. Our ultimate aim was twofold: to ensure the highest level of accountability to the communities we serve, while providing undeniable assurances of quality to our donors. As a national organisation, this certification demonstrates that our local roots are perfectly aligned with the most stringent international standards for aid quality.

Prior to certification, Tin Tua was frequently subjected to duplicate due diligence procedures by partners, whether international NGOs or United Nations agencies. These repetitive assessments placed a significant administrative burden on our team. On occasion, we faced questionnaires with over 200 questions, requiring multiple team members to dedicate several days to completion, detracting from our field operations.

Following our CHS certification, CORDAID agreed to implement a passporting mechanism in our favour. In practical terms, this meant they recognised our CHS certification as sufficient evidence of the robustness and quality of our institutional systems, thereby waiving the need for a new, comprehensive due diligence process.

This approach allowed us to avoid redundant evaluations and dedicate more time to implementing our programmes. Beyond the practical benefits, it represents a strong endorsement of the capabilities of local organisations and their compliance with international standards for quality and accountability.

What does this passporting mean for you in terms of efficiency and recognition?

Passporting first and foremost delivers significant efficiency gains. Achieving CHS certification demands substantial investments in time, human resources, and financial means. Through this mechanism, we avoid duplicative assessments, enabling us to reallocate our efforts where they matter most: directly supporting communities, maximising the impact and relevance of our programmes.

In terms of recognition, this marks a major step forward in aid localisation. Passporting acknowledges that national organisations possess governance, management, and accountability systems capable of meeting international standards. It dismantles the stereotype that compliance with such standards is the exclusive domain of international actors. This strengthens our position as a credible strategic partner while highlighting the expertise we have built over more than thirty-five years.

Can you describe other donors in your region adopting similar practices?

Passporting remains a relatively recent and uncommon practice in our operating context. CORDAID is our primary partner that has concretely accepted our CHS certification in place of new institutional due diligence. The Sahel Regional Fund (SRF) has also expressed interest in this approach of recognising existing mechanisms.

Additionally, we have informed all our technical and financial partners of our CHS certification. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with several partners acknowledging Tin Tua’s efforts to strengthen its systems for quality, accountability, and management.

We hope this certification will be increasingly considered during future partnership renewals or negotiations with international NGOs, UN agencies, and other donors, to reduce redundant evaluations and promote mutual recognition of existing compliance mechanisms.

What do you expect from funders and partners in the future?

Looking ahead, we expect funders and partners to increasingly recognise the investments made by local organisations to strengthen their governance, management, quality, and accountability systems. When an organisation achieves a recognised certification like CHS, this effort should be valued and translated into administrative simplification. We call for the systematic deployment of mutual recognition mechanisms, such as passporting, to end the redundant evaluations that fragment our resources.

More broadly, we hope that relationships between local organisations, international NGOs, and donors will continue evolving toward equitable partnerships based on verified trust and shared accountability. National organisations should not be viewed merely as implementers, but as strategic actors capable of contributing to the design, implementation, and evaluation of interventions.

Finally, we believe that the efforts local organisations make to meet international standards deserve greater recognition and encouragement, as they directly enhance the quality, transparency, and impact of aid delivered to communities.

Mr. OUOBA, we thank you for this interview.