CWS-P/A is organizing a training on ‘Sphere Training of Trainers’. The training will be held from 16th – 20th June 2008 at O’ Spring Estate, Murree, Pakistan. National and International level NGOs, United Nations, Donor organizations and religious bodies are welcome to apply.

A three day Disaster Management training took place in Kuwait from the 1st to the 3rd of April 2008. The training had 16 participants from Kuwait and Qatar representing a wide spectrum of NGOs based in the Middle East and working overseas. The training was particularly focused on the International Humanitarian Standards in delivering relief aid and included an introduction to the Sphere Minimum Standards. The lead trainer was Moustafa Osman. 

The 7th edition of the ALNAP Review of Humanitarian Action (RHA) explores critical issues involved in the development of mechanisms for assessing and improving the performance of humanitarian actors. It contains a short introduction and three main substantive studies.

Governments and donors can save lives and money by reducing risks

Political inaction, poor decisions and bad management have helped to turn South Asia into the world’s most disaster-prone region, says Oxfam International in a study released today.

Although nature traditionally gets the blame, it is human failure that turns a natural shock such as a cyclone into a humanitarian disaster, says the aid agency in its report, Rethinking Disasters. It urges governments and donors to do more to reduce the risk of disasters before they happen and to tackle underlying factors such as poverty and discrimination that leave millions of people more vulnerable to disasters.

In March of 2008, the Monterey Institute of International Studies (MIIS) presented their graduate students with an intensive two-day short course on the Sphere approach and its application in disaster assessment and response. The course included components from the InterWorks resource of training materials available from the Sphere website as well as a condensed overview and hands-on illustrations of the technical standards and indicators.

UN OCHA and UN IRIN organized a one-day training course on humanitarian reporting for UAE based reporters. The training was hosted by the Dubai Press Club and the International Humanitarian City. During the day 36 from 25 journalists were introduced to subjects such as the international humanitarian system, Sphere, technicalities of humanitarian journalisitic reporting, challenges faced by responders in the field. It is hoped that similar events will be organized in other countries to strengthen cooperation between humanitarian agencies and the media.

Three months after the cyclone Sidr struck the Bangladeshi coast, Oxfam is issuing this note to take stock of a reasonably successful emergency response while also underlining communities' massive recovery needs - above all in terms of housing and livelihoods.