Annex 1

Summary of Phase II

1.0              Objective:

To disseminate and implement the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards widely within the international humanitarian system and to encourage their adoption and practice by relief agencies and their donors.

1.1    Specific Goals

Goal 1, dissemination of information about the Humanitarian Charter and the Minimum Standards developed in Phase I, throughout aid agencies, governments, and research/academic institutions:

Dissemination was primarily carried out through five channels: the distribution of the handbook, the elaboration of the website, an e-mail newsletter, a nine-minute introductory video and numerous presentations.

 

Handbook distribution

·         Sent out 5000 preliminary copies free to thousands of practitioners around the world.

·         Published the revised (first final edition) handbook in English, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. Contracted Oxfam Publications to sell and distribute all language versions of the handbook. During re-prints, an index was added.

·         Developed and instituted a joint promotion plan for the handbook with Oxfam Publishing that includes outreach to humanitarian journals for review, to academic institutions, to key journalists, and to humanitarian and disaster management “think-tanks”.

Website

·         Launched an independent website in December 1998. This website (www.sphereproject.org) replaced the one that had been part of the IFRC’s webpage. By creating a separate site, the Project emphasized its independence from any one institution. Since its inception, the site has been promoted in Sphere presentations, in various humanitarian journals and newsletters and, of course, in the Project’s own literature. The number of hits to the site has grown every month: in the first month, there were 114 hits, and 10 months later, the monthly number had increased to 10,656 and at the close of Phase II, hits exceeded 30,000. The website carries English, French, Portuguese and Spanish-language versions of the handbook text as well as the Project’s newsletters, training materials, case studies, commissioned studies and annual reports.

E-mail newsletter:

·        Started a quarterly e-mail newsletter. Seven editions of the newsletter have been distributed to over 1500 individuals. Many recipients of the newsletter subsequently pass it on to field staff so that effective distribution is closer to 2000. A guest column was added (available in the last two newsletters) to provide space for debate and discussion.

Introductory video

·        Produced a nine-minute video that profiles the Project. The video is free and available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Over 1500 copies were distributed during Phase II.

Presentations

·        Presented at over 200 humanitarian meetings, conferences, academic institutions, training programs, UN  and NGO headquarter offices. Highlights include:

­        Presented Project to UN agencies in NY (UNDP, OCHA and EMOPS of UNICEF). UNHCR (Geneva) purchased and subsequently distributed 300 handbooks to branch offices worldwide with letter from the Assistant High Commissioner endorsing Sphere and recommending its use in programme planning for all HCR staff.

­        The International Conference of the Red Cross/Red Crescent approved Plan of Action (2000- 2003) include a statement endorsing minimum standards such as those represented by the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards.

­        The governments of Turkey, India and Zambia (Ministry of Health, Relief Commissioners, and the Vice President’s office respectively) are looking to use Sphere to review and refine national disaster preparedness and response plans. The Ministry of Health (Turkey) has completed translation of handbook into Turkish under a World Bank grant.

Goal 2, trial the applicability of the Minimum Standards across a range of operational environments:

Field studies were conducted over a wide range of conditions and contexts so as to ascertain whether the Minimum Standards of the Sphere Project were relevant, and that the indicators were appropriate. It was hoped that this survey would provide a more detailed knowledge of the problems and opportunities that arise as humanitarian agencies move towards using universal norms. While the office received some very useful responses, there were too few to provide meaningful data. The response rate was reduced by the Kosovo emergency, which naturally superceded agencies’ prior commitment to the Sphere field studies. 

Anecdotally, it appeared that the concept of universal standards was welcome and that the indicators were helpful. However, in some contexts (Angola, Sudan), the lack of access to populations in danger and the restrictive funding environment made it difficult to comment upon the application of the handbook. In India, the indicators for shelter were seen to be too high as victims of floods used whatever non-submerged land was available.

In preparation of the publication of the first final edition, the Sphere Management Committee and some technical staff held two meetings (May and September 1999), to review existing comments on the Minimum Standards, analyze feedback from the field studies, review the debate, and refine the handbook.

Goal 3, reviewing and integrating the cross-cutting issues of gender and protection into the Humanitarian Charter and the Minimum Standards:

During Year 1 of Phase II, the Project undertook two formal reviews of the preliminary handbook..

The gender review of the Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response addressed critical issues related to gender that had not been sufficiently covered in the initial Sphere document.  Among those key issues were: (1) a lack of acknowledgment of the need for gender equity in accessing humanitarian services and programs in emergency situations; (2) a lack of attention to the specific issues of physical safety faced by women and adolescent girls; and (3) a lack of emphasis on the equal participation of women and men of the affected population in decision-making with regard to humanitarian interventions. The Sphere Management Committee incorporated the following recommendations:

Ÿ         The particular concerns of women and girls in emergency response be highlighted in the introduction of each sector. 

Ÿ         Indicators were developed to explicitly reflect women’s participation in a decision-making and ensure equal access to, and appropriateness of, humanitarian services and programmes for all members of the affected community. 

Ÿ         A form for the reporting of incidences of sexual violence was also added to the appendices of the health services chapter.

The protection review of the Sphere Project: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response was based on a distinction between protection activities, whose primary purpose is to counter the type of threat that human acts or policies can pose to the fundamental well-being of individuals and groups; and the protection implications of relief activities, which may make people more or less vulnerable to these threats. The review concentrated on the latter. The question whether and how NGOs can most effectively engage in protection activities is beyond the scope of the Sphere project, which is not addressing protection activities per se. However, the Humanitarian Charter recognizes that humanitarian assistance activities, whose primary purpose is to provide for basic needs, can also have positive or negative protection implications - by reason of the context in which they are conducted, the way in which they are carried out, and their content. [1]   It acknowledges the obligation of humanitarian agencies to minimize any such adverse effects of their interventions so far as they can, while stressing the duty of states and warring parties to respect the humanitarian nature of such interventions. [2]

The review was mainly concerned with the protection implications of providing relief assistance, as defined in the standards as they were drafted in the preliminary edition of Sphere. It assumed that there are potentially both positive and negative implications for protection of providing assistance in certain forms and in certain ways. The review concentrated on the need to minimize or eliminate the potential negative effects of humanitarian interventions - that is, anything that makes people more vulnerable to the threats described above. It also made recommendations for strengthening the links between the minimum standards and the principles set out in the Charter.

Goal 4, developing and promoting training on the Sphere Standards:

The training programme was developed and implementation begun to ensure widest possible awareness of the standards, to promote participation of aid agency personnel, to allow for the refinement of the technical content, and to assist agencies in moving towards a position where they can fulfill the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards. The initial activities consisted of:

·        Organised an advisory group to help think through both content and form of the training programme and the materials.

·        Conducted a field trip to Angola to observe first-hand the potential relevance of a training programme in a difficult environment.

·        Developed training material that reflects the practical application of Sphere in the field and that follows the program cycle (for example: Using the Sphere handbook for Assessments, Analysis and Program Planning).

·        Started to test the modules in inter-agency, field-based workshops

In addition to numerous half and one-day seminars, the project conducted interagency workshops in the following locations: Sri Lanka, India, Canada, USA, Kosovo, Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, El Salvador, Sarajevo, Germany, Ireland, Mozambique, and England.  Workshop participation averages 40 with representation from senior operational managers of NGOs, donor representatives, UN agencies and frequently, local government offices. (Reports and evaluations on workshops are available on the website.)

Sphere interagency workshops are free and take place in cities where there is a concentration of humanitarian actors (primarily but not exclusively field-based). Each workshop is hosted by an NGO that invites the participants and provides the logistical and administrative support. The Sphere Project provides the facilitators, basic funding and the workshop content.

The workshops are designed to be a highly practical examination of the issues, opportunities and applications of the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards. They are intended to provide an opportunity to reflect on the quality and accountability of the humanitarian system at the local level. Additionally, they may launch a process that works toward the adoption of Sphere using methods appropriate for the local context.

Specifically, the workshop participants explore the concerns and issues surrounding the application of the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards and use the Sphere handbook in common applications such as disaster assessments, problem analysis, programme planning, monitoring or preparedness. 

The modules are:

·         1 – Introduction to Sphere

·         2 – the Humanitarian Charter in Detail

·         3 – Sphere and the Project Cycle

·         4 – Sphere and Disaster Preparedness

The project conducted  a Training of Trainers for 35 participants in Geneva in May 2000. Many participants form this workshop subsequently facilitated Sphere workshops within their pilot agencies or as independents consultants.

Pilot Program

Linked to the training programme and as part of the strategy of adoption of the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards, a number of agencies have signed up to pilot the systematic incorporation of the standards in their agencies’ policy and practice.  This effort not only test the document, but also is used as a way of gaining more detailed knowledge of the common problems and opportunities that arise as humanitarian agencies move towards compliance with universal norms. The pilot list consists of 6 NGOs from North America, 5 from Europe, and 8 from the Southern Hemisphere.

The pilot agencies are working to build up ownership and identify links to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards HC/MS) within their agencies. Most agencies are doing this is by analysing how Sphere resonates with internal policies and practice. Links are being drawn between the HC/MS and existing perspectives e.g. “justice lens”, “civil society lens”. In one African agency, Sphere is felt to be a tool that will enhance health standards they are already using and will help in negotiating minimum standards in proposals to donors.

The implementation program includes the following components:

• Internal training and dissemination
• Programme practice
• Tools and Sphere
• Monitoring and evaluation
• Human Resource practice

Pilot Agencies

ADRA

Africa Humanitarian Action

CARE

Caritas India

CHA

Christian Council of Burundi

Comisión Cristiana del Desarrollo

Cordaid

CRS

International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

International Rescue Committee

Lutheran World Federation

Mercy Corps

Okutiuka (Angola)

Oxfam

Sarvodaya (Sri Lanka)

Save the Children UK

World Vision International

A Lessons Learned report on the implementation efforts by the pilots was completed at the close of Phase II and is available on the website. A pilot agency workshop is planned for the early part of Phase III. At the workshop, pilot agencies will debate the conclusions of the Lessons Learned paper and clarify their work for the future.

                                               

Goal 5, develop mechanisms for the handling of complaints:

The researcher was hired and the work complete. The study, Increasing Accountability, is available on the website and has been sent to Management Committee members, donors and interested parties.

END