The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) began a project in 2001 to develop a Toolkit for Accreditation Programs, to assist accreditation providers, funding agencies, intergovernmental organizations, and individual countries considering the development of a national health care accreditation program.  Generous support for the project was provided by the World Bank, and Dr. Charles D Shaw served as principal investigator and author of this publication. With the Bank’s permission to use the material, ISQua prepared this Toolkit to optimize its publication as an online resource in the public domain.   The toolkit discusses priority issues for consideration when beginning an accreditation program, including policy issues, functions of a national accreditation agency, management of the accreditation process, and resource requirements.