Islamic Charter of the Work of Goodness
- Clarity of Purpose
- Comprehensiveness in the Approach
- Complementarity in the Goal
- Transparency in the Mission
- Independent Decision-making
- Respect in Dealings
- Good Performance
A— Clarity of Purpose
Principle 1— To please the Creator
The Work of Goodness Organisation (WGO) shall disclose its faith-based purpose and that it considers the work of goodness a binding act of worship requiring sincerity and aiming at pleasing the Creator.
Principle 2— A mercy on the creatures
The mission and goal of the WGO shall be to serve with benevolence the creatures, which is the way to please the Creator. It shall set its objectives, strategies and activities to achieve its mission and realise its goal. The creatures, in this context, include human beings, animals and the inanimate.
Principle 3— No other goal than providing services
The WGO shall consider the public good and distance itself from any consideration of private profit be it material or moral.
B— Comprehensiveness in the Approach
Principle 4— Holistic vision
The WGO shall adopt a holistic approach to providing services to the creatures and shall consider their various basic needs as representing a comprehensive whole, necessary to be fulfilled for a decent life.
Principle 5—Positive neutrality
The WGO shall act with empathy and bear true witness against any observed violation of the rights of creatures; it shall not remain silent before such abuse for the sake of neutrality. In case the WGO cannot respond directly to the violation, it shall inform another specialised organisation.
Principle 6— Impartiality
The WGO shall refrain from practicing any form of discrimination and shall not select the beneficiaries on ethnical, religious, ideological or political grounds or any other identity consideration, but based only on their needs.
C— Complementarity in the Goal
Principle 7— Meet the basic needs
The WGO shall set priorities on the needs of the beneficiaries and focus primarily on meeting their basic needs for decent life, before moving to special and then to ameliorative requirements.
Principle 8— Capacity building
The WGO shall contribute locally in capacity building to the benefit of the organisations and the individuals, through the necessary education and training and by empowering them with the skills and tools required to become autonomous.
Principle 9— Sustainable development
The WGO shall prioritize its support to local initiatives and projects – once their effectiveness and feasibility are examined and demonstrated – which contribute to self-sufficiency and independence from aid, and shall not restrict its activity to providing short term basic needs.
D— Transparency in the Mission
Principle 10— State the domain of goodness
The WGO shall determine and make public the field of work and the type of activity it specialise in. It can cover more than one, in which case it shall separate the fields of work, which may conflict if carried out together, into departments independent from each other within the WGO.
Principle 11— State the source of funding
The WGO shall determine and make public its sources of funding and verify that they comply with the legal requirements, in particular the donations from private and public institutions. The work of goodness must not be funded but by clean sources.
Principle 12— State the beneficiaries
The WGO shall determine and make public its expenditures and verify that they comply with the declared field(s) of work and the type(s) of activity, and that the beneficiaries are not involved in any activity that is legally or morally reprehensible.
E— Independent Decision-making
Principle 13— Independence from the donor
The WGO shall preserve its independence from the donor and refuse any support conditioned by anything except the designation of the category of beneficiaries. It shall ensure that the donor does not interfere in its strategic planning and ground work.
Principle 14— Independence from the political & ideological authority
The WGO shall preserve its independence from any governmental agency, political organisation, doctrinal school, ideological current, or any other lobby, and shall not determine its activities and beneficiaries under their pressure.
Principle 15— Independence from the military and intelligence
The WGO shall preserve its independence from any security or military apparatus, and shall refuse any overt or covert partnership with them, particularly in conflict zones. It shall watch any likely infiltration by local or foreign intelligence agencies, by strict mechanisms of control, particularly in matters of employment of staff or recruitment of volunteers.
F— Respect in Dealings
Principle 16— Respect of the donor’s will
The WGO shall use the resources received according to the donor’s will and shall protect the donor’s identity when requested. Allocating the resources to a field different from that specified by the donor, when necessary, shall be conditioned by his/her prior authorisation. When possible, at receiving the donation, the donor shall be asked to specify several fields of expenditure classified by priority.
Principle 17— Respect of the recipient’s dignity
The WGO shall treat the beneficiaries as full human beings, whatever their conditions. It shall respect their dignity and avoid any act, word or attitude that may hurt it.
Principle 18— Respect of the cultural environment
The WGO shall endeavour to respect the local customs and norms and avoid transgressing them. It shall educate the expatriates on the cultural and religious values of the societies they are going to work in.
G— Good Performance
Principle 19— Cooperation with others
The WGO shall cooperate with other local, regional or international organisations, working in the same field or in another one, for the sake of joining forces, networking, concerting, and exchanging experiences and information. It will work in the spirit of stimulating competition for the good and not in that of unhealthy rivalry.
Principle 20— Use of local resources
The WGO shall resort to local human and material resources, when available, and shall prefer them to external resources of better quality, thus contributing to local development: capacity building and support of local products, lowering the costs of projects, and protecting the environment by avoiding wasteful transportation.
Principle 21— Best practices
The WGO shall promote professionalism, build and consolidate its internal capacities, adopt the established best practices in administration, finance and project management from planning to execution, develop internal procedures for quality assurance and accountability and submit to peer evaluation and to quality control and auditing by an external trustful, expert and independent authority.
Cordoba Foundation of Geneva
January 2011
بالعربية: ميثاق إسلامي للعمل الخيري
