The Sphere Project Handbook was translated into Azerbaijani and published by Fovgal-Oxfam GB/Azerbaijan partner organisation in 2008 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
The Interagency Working Group (IAWG) is looking for consultants to assess the conformity to Sphere standards of a Fida International (Finnish NGO) project in Uganda. Read the Terms of Reference.
From 15 to 18 July 2008, in Tahuna H.Iskandar Leman facilitated an emergency response training for 27 participants (6 among them female) consisted of pre-dominantly local government personnel, Red Cross, local NGOs and a representative of local Christian church. The Sphere Project Humanitarian Charter, Code of Conduct and the Common Standards was introduced to participants. The organizing committee was the local NGO, Perkumpulan Kelola and financially supported by Oxfam GB.
For further information, please contact H.Iskandar Leman at
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Two Sphere graduates Lessons Learned Workshops were conducted by CWS P/A in Islamabad, Pakistan on 24th June 2008 and in Kabul, Afghanistan on 26th June 2008 to explore and document the CWS Sphere Focal Point Project beneficiaries’ lessons learned and best practices based on their experiences.
The CWS P/A’s Sphere Focal Point Project (SFP) has been operating in Pakistan since shortly after the devastating earthquake of October 2005. The project aimed to give all relevant agencies the opportunity to build their awareness and practice in relation to Sphere standards, so that their work is representative of recognized best practice in humanitarian work. Over 600 training participants have benefitted from the Sphere Focal Point Project from 2005 to present.
The Sphere Project is supporting, in close collaboration with HAP International, the Nargis cyclone emergency response in Myanmar since early July 2008. Kelly Wooster, Annie Lloyd (two Sphere international consultants) and Shabana Bhatti from CWS in Pakistan will be sharing the role of the Sphere support for a period of two months in Myanmar.
Hosting for all three Sphere resource people, as well as two HAP people, is being provided by Save the Children in Myanmar, which is providing management oversight and taking responsibility for insurance and security. CWS (Asia/Pacific, working as part of the ACT Alliance) has generously agreed to cover all staff costs until the end of August 2008.
At its meeting in May 2007, the Sphere Project Board discussed the possible inclusion of additional chapters to the Sphere Project Handbook during the next revision process, scheduled for 2009, in view that sectors such as education, livestock, livelihoods, early recovery, development-relief linkages have emerged in the last few years as ‘humanitarian sectors’ in disaster response. It was decided however, in order to keep the Handbook practical, to maintain its structure and content as at present. As such the next revised edition will continue to focus mainly on the core ‘life-saving’ sectors, reviewed and updated as necessary: water, sanitation and hygiene promotion; food security, nutrition and food aid; shelter, settlement and non-food items, and health services. Cross-cutting issues – gender, children, older people, disabled people, HIV/AIDS, environment and protection – will continue to inform the guidance notes. The Humanitarian Charter, which sets out the principles underlying the standards in a ‘rights based approach’ will be revised, as will the chapter on standards common to all technical sectors. On the other hand, the Board decided to explore the possibility of adding new ‘Companion’ Standards to the ‘core’ Handbook. This would extend its scope in response to needs that have recently emerged in the changing humanitarian sector.
The latest lessons paper by ALNAP and Provention provides a distillation of the learning from thirty years of humanitarian response to earthquakes. It concentrates on issues of particular relevance in earthquakes, such as communication breakdown due to the destruction of infrastructure, geographic concentration of the effects and the occurrence of aftershocks disrupting operations.
The volunteers from the Mexican chapter of Disaster Resource Network completed their Sphere training through a three day long workshop session that took place from the 2nd to the 4th of July 2008. Conducted by Juan Sáenz (ToT), the 36 architects and engineers were deeply committed and motivated to understand the Humanitarian Charter and the Minimum Standards.
