Building the Sphere network from the bottom up

In Amman, humanitarian practitioners from countries in the Middle East and North Africa region shared their experience in what it means to use Sphere.

By Christine Knudsen, Sphere Project Director

I continue to be deeply impressed each time I get to meet one of our colleagues, working in their own country and region, within their own organisation and communities, to be a voice for quality and accountability, seeking real improvements in the way humanitarian assistance is delivered.

Meeting with the on one day, from Pakistan on another, Turkey or Nepal, has been deeply inspiring to me. I have not only learned about the common challenges they face in the field, but also how each one is adapting the Sphere standards to their own context and operational needs. This kind of on-the-ground creativity is exciting and something I hope we can not only support but also help expand in the future.

Just a few weeks ago in Amman, we had a group of Sphere practitioners from 11 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region sharing their experience in what it means to use Sphere with national and local authorities, with communities, with the formal cluster system, and even in training children and youth on humanitarian response!

More than one-third of all estimated humanitarian need is in this region. In this context, the commitment of focal points and their organisations to train, enable, empower, advocate and influence in the face of persistent crisis is invaluable.

As they champion this effort, they see the difference that their work makes in the lives of people in need, perhaps not every day, but certainly over the long run and the last several years of crisis in Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Libya.

The learning and shared experiences at the Amman regional practitioners workshop (*) pointed out how much potential there is in the region not only to strengthen the quality of humanitarian response there, but also to influence practice and policy far beyond their own borders.

Building on this and similar meetings that we have already had in South Asia, we are ready to start taking the Sphere network to real scale and tackle the challenges together with each one of the focal points.

I look forward to sharing their inspiration with you further in the months to come!

(*) A story and report about the meeting will be published in the coming days.