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Sphere E-mail Newsletter No. 1 - May 1999 (a quarterly publication) Welcome to the first issue of the Sphere Project e-mail newsletter. The aim of this newsletter is to inform people about the work of the project and to encourage discussion related to the use and implications of using standards and indicators in disaster response. Table of Contents 1. History of the Project 2. Current work
3. Upcoming activities a. Training plan 4. Feedback |
| 1. History of the Project In mid-1997, a group of humanitarian agencies launched the Sphere Project. This activity was undertaken out of concern that a massively increased demand for humanitarian relief world-wide was in danger of outstripping the response capacity of the humanitarian system and could lead to inconsistent quality in relief efforts. The Sphere Project is an international, interagency effort. It employed a co-operative, collaborative process to develop a Humanitarian Charter for persons affected by disaster and an associated set of Minimum Standards in essential areas of humanitarian response. The areas are Water & Sanitation, Nutrition, Shelter & Site Planning, Food Aid, and Health Services. The Sphere Project is a joint effort of non-governmental organisations led by InterAction (a coalition of over 150 US-based non-profits) and the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response, an alliance for voluntary action (care international, caritas internationalis, international federation of red cross and red crescent societies, international save the children alliance, the lutheran world federation, médecins sans frontieres international, oxfam international and world council of churches) and supported by VOICE, ICRC, and ICVA. UN agencies participated at the technical level and many donor governments provided funding. The preliminary edition of the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards was printed in December, 1998 and to date over 4,500 handbooks have been distributed world-wide. Through the Sphere Management Committee membership, southern partners contributed to ongoing reviews of the text as well as participated in the various field-based sector meetings that took place during Phase I of the project. 2. Current Work A. Field reviews: the Sphere Standards have been developed to be as applicable as possible to all disaster situations where humanitarian assistance is required. As part of the process of refining the standards, a period of review of the standards in the field was deemed critical. The field review period is February 1999 to mid-September 1999. During this time, NGOs working in a wide variety of operational environments (e.g. floods in Bangladesh, Hurricane Mitch in Central America, earthquakes in Iran, complex emergencies in Kosovo, Southern Sudan, DRC and Angola, etc.), will respond to the following questions: Are these Standards relevant to the situation you face? Will the Standards help you in your assessment and response to humanitarian needs? Are you actually implementing the standards, and, if not, why not? Are there any standards which are inappropriate for cultural or other reasons? The findings of these field reviews will be analysed in order that the Sphere Management Committee can critically review the Standards from this perspective. B. Website: in January 1999, the Project launched its website which makes available the entire text of the handbook (available in French, Spanish and English), the Phase II proposal and other items of interest. (www.sphereproject.org) C. Donor status: in addition to receiving support from the member agencies of the Sphere Management Committee, the project is the recipient of funds from over 10 donor governments and ECHO. D. UN Agencies: Secretary General Kofi Annan has praised SCHR and InterAction members for work on the Sphere Project. "...the contribution from NGOs will indeed enhance the capacity of the international community towards an effective and co-ordinated response in emergencies." Many UN technical staff contributed to the development of the handbook through their participation in the sector groups. Now, the project is working with ISC, UNHCR, OCHA, UNICEF's Office of Emergency Programs, UNDP's Emergency Response Division, WHO, WFP and UNFPA to disseminate information about Sphere throughout the UN system. Work is also being conducted to ensure that the Sphere Standards and the various UN emergency handbooks and technical manuals complement and parallel each other as much as possible. E. Presentation: the website offers a downloadable PowerPoint presentation. In addition, brochures in limited quantity (in Spanish, French and English) are available from the Sphere office. 3. Upcoming Activities A. Training Manager The Training Manager will begin in mid- May. He will be responsible for managing the presentation and training campaign. While the Sphere Project does not have the mandate or the resources to be an operational agency, we do see the value of providing specific and targeted training during Phase II. This will take the following form: 1. Suggesting that NGOs who want to implement the Sphere standards identify and develop individual organisational workplans. This could include the introduction of the Sphere Standards into orientation manuals, human resource departments, annual workplans, country and regional meetings and other agency-specific mechanisms of dissemination. Suggested guidelines for this will be available by July 1999. 2. Preparing and making presentations to NGOs on the background of the project, the unique process of consolidation and consensus in developing the standards and indicators, and the opportunities and risks associated with using universal minimum standards in program planning. 3. Preparing and conducting sector-specfic training. Envisaged are half-day training that, through the use of quizzes, brief case studies and checklists, assist field staff in using the Sphere Standards and indicators in program design, monitoring and evaluation. The Training Manager will be supported by sectoral specialists from each field site. In addition, there will be instances (for example, a particularly large region such as the Great Lakes or the Horn of Africa), when additional trainers will be utilised. This cohort will be developed out of training networks, such as the UK-based RedR, that are already familiar with Sphere and who use it within their own training courses. Recognising that our own small team cannot possibly address all the potential training demands for Sphere, we will ensure that the training material is available at our website, and designed so that trainers and NGOs can access and adapt it for their own use. 4. Prepare donor-specifc training. This is something that ECHO and USAID has expressed interest in and would focus on the ways in which the Sphere Minimum Standards could be used by donor field staff in conducting evaluations. 5. Additionally, and as is useful, training material for academic use will be developed. To date, the Sphere Standards are included in the curricula of various school of public health, tropical medicine, and disaster management including Columbia, Tufts, Harvard, Tulane and the University of Wisconsin in the United States and the Cranfield Disaster Management Centre and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in UK. B. Registration & Complaint-handling: the Sphere Project will formulate a formal process for NGOs to register their commitment to the Humanitarian Charter and the Minimum Standards. The project will also explore protocols for the handling of complaints within a consultative, peer-process framework. The focus of this work is to try and assist humanitarian organisations and networks to be more accountable, as the Sphere Project has no intention to act as an international inspectorate. The Registration and Complaint-handling Manager will look to identify the complaint-handling processes already established in other fora, and to determine what system or systems would provide added value to SCHR, InterAction and other agencies registered to working with the Sphere standards. 4. Feedback: the Sphere Project welcomes comments, questions, and suggestions regarding the Humanitarian Charter, the Minimum Standards and the key indicators. Postal Address: Tel: (4122) 7304501 E-mail: sphere@ifrc.org |
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