Training course on the Sphere Project :
Humanitarian Charter and Mininum Standards in Disaster Response and Damage and Need Assessment

Cochabamba, Bolivia – From 12th to 16th of July

This document is the final report of the Sphere Training of Trainers course held in Brazil (Olinda) from 18 to 26 January 2010. The training was coordinated by Save the Children UK and the Sphere Project office.

This 2-day meeting was organised to repeat in Venezuela what was achieved in the Latinamerican Sphere meeting in December 2009 in El Salvador. The objective was to share experiences, lessons-learned and best practices regarding teaching and applying Sphere. At the same time, participants identified common interests and future plans to further develop Sphere learning and to reinforce the commitment to Sphere on a national level.

The meeting had three main themes: the application, spreading and teaching of Sphere. There were 26 participants from four states of Venezuela. They decided to create a Venezuela Sphere Network, consisting of 11 people from the different states. They will prioritise their activities along four themes: 1) learning session on specific Sphere-related issues (for example water/sanitation, shelter, health etc); 2) working groups (mesas de trabajo), in which different organisations can discuss specific Sphere-related aspects; 3) discussion fora for expert groups; 4) general Sphere workshops. The next step will then be the practical application of Sphere in Venezuela.