Sphere, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response

In a remarkable international initiative aimed at improving the effectiveness and accountability of disaster response, the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response sets out for the first time what people affected by disasters have a right to expect from humanitarian assistance. The aim of the Project is to improve the quality of assistance provided to people affected by disasters, and to enhance the accountability of the humanitarian system in disaster response.

This new edition of the handbook (2004) has been thoroughly revised and updated, taking into account recent developments in humanitarian practice in wat/san, food, shelter and health, together with feedback from practitioners in the field, research institutes and cross-cutting experts in protection, gender, children, older people, disabled people, HIV/AIDS and the environment. The revised handbook is the product of an extensive collaborative effort that reflects the collective will and shared experience of the humanitarian community, and its determination to improve on current knowledge in humanitarian assistance programmes.

In addition to the handbook, the Sphere Project recommends that the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards be used as companion and complementing standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction.

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Or you can download it from the download sectionClick here to know how to order the Handbook and other Sphere materials. The Sphere Handbook has been already translated into more than 20 languages including: Arabic, Azeri, Bahasa, Chinese, Croatian, Dari, Farsi, French, Japanese, Korean, Malayalam, Marathi, Nepali, Pashtu, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish, Tamil, Telegu, Urdu, Vietnamese and Russian. Click here for more information about the translated versions of the Handbook and how to get them.If you want to translate the Handbook, please refer to the Translation Guidelines.In collaboration with the Sphere Project, Forced Migration Online (FMO) has made most of the references and reading materials in the handbook's bibliographies accessible online (Read here in full text)When you have used this new edition of Sphere Handbook, we are eager to get your comments and suggestions, based on your personal use, through our feedback form.