As part of the Sphere Focal Point Project hosted by Church World Service Pakistan/Afghanistan (CWS P/A), CWS P/A plans to conduct an Inter-agency Sphere Review process in Pakistan in March 2007.

All relevant stakeholders such as project teams, communities, local partners and authorities will be included in the exercise to review whether the projects identified by each participating agency are in compliance with Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response and make recommendations for the future. Finally all review teams will come together and share experiences and lessons learned during one day where also other organisations and stakeholders could be invited as observers.

The review process is to be designed as a learning experience for participants, rather than punitive. Critical reflection, analysis and learning from mistakes to improve quality are challenges that need to be successfully undertaken by those reviewing the projects. The review is to be focused on field staff and local projects. Some participants may not be very familiar with the Sphere Project and lack comprehensive knowledge and skills about the content of the Sphere handbook and they would thus have a practical first experience in applying Sphere in their unique context through a reviewing exercise.

The review will be conducted by mixed review teams, each team including members from all participating organisations. The teams will work together during the whole exercise in order to maximise learning and open up for cross-organisational discussions and experience sharing.
Even though previous Sphere reviews have been conducted and documented by e.g. CARE International an Inter-agency Sphere Review exercise is something new. Thus the Pakistani review process will be a learning experience for all stakeholder involved, individual agencies and staff and community members.

This first exercise would be conducted as a learning event limited to a 3 participating organisations and if successful to be duplicated by other organisations. CARE International, CWS P/A and World Vision will be participating actively in the review exercise.

For more information contact: Elin Adelmar, email  This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it

Download the guidelines for implementing a Sphere Audit/Review workshop and read previous Audit Reports