Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama -countries all under the umbrella of the office of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Guatemala - face poverty, extreme inequality in the distribution of wealth, and little government capacity to cope with the rise of malnutrition and the spread of disease. Their populations live under the constant threat of natural disaster as witnessed by the devastation caused by El Niņo and Hurricane Mitch. In recent years, several major disasters requiring international assistance have struck the region, including earthquakes (Mexico), floods (Honduras), droughts (Nicaragua), volcanic eruptions (Nicaragua) and hurricanes (Mexico and Central America). These disasters left a trail of destruction, not only taking lives but also destroying physical infrastructures and disrupting production in vast areas of these countries.
Furthermore, likely changes in the global climate combined with further environmental degradation may well cause the region to become even more prone to disasters. Compounding the threat of natural disasters, social violence is on the rise as political stability in countries such as Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua hangs precariously in the balance.
This is the context in which a Red Cross regional workshop on Sphere was held in El Salvador in June 2001 for the countries mentioned above and Belize.
How Sphere was used
The workshop followed standard training modules developed by the Sphere project, adjusted to ensure that they were relevant to the Central American region. It went a step further, however, to include a 'field school' that used practical exercises to strengthen the basic training. Before arriving in El Salvador, the field school concept had been first developed in Zambia and tested further in Namibia with the Namibian Red Cross and UNHCR.
During the El Salvador workshop, participants spent the third day in a shelter for people affected by the earthquakes of early 2001. Going through the following steps, they were asked to compare the minimum standards and key indicators with existing projects:
· Participants were divided into five groups; each group was assigned a technical sector. They were informed that the purpose of the exercise was not to evaluate, and that respect for people affected by the disaster and for the projects was of utmost importance.
· Each of the five groups was asked to choose two minimum standards within their technical chapter, and to identify a few key indicators and guidance notes that would serve as their focus for the field trip. They were given 60 minutes to do this.
· A 30-minute briefing took place at the workshop venue before the group departed. Since MSF Holland was running most of the shelter programmes, their staff conducted the briefing; this gave general information about the site and the history of the people living there.
· Participants left for the shelters where they observed the situation and conducted interviews with project managers and people living there.
Once the exercise was over, the participants returned to the workshop venue. In groups, they organised their findings, drew conclusions and identified lessons learned.
Following the training, participants established a regional network to further promote Sphere in Central America.
Lessons learned
Most participants concluded that the exercise was very useful in 'grounding' the contents of the Humanitarian Charter, and in understanding what the minimum standards, key indicators and guidance notes look like in real life. Sphere's value for monitoring and evaluation was also recognised.
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