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October 2004

Sphere Project Newsletter No. 18 (October 2004)

Table of contents

1. Future of Sphere

2. Sphere Project training of trainers

3. Country-level use of Sphere

4. New Sphere training materials

5. Translations of the Handbook

6. Personnel changes

1. Future of Sphere

In light of the closure of the Sphere Project in its current form at the end of 2004, a consultation process was held between February and May with the aim of gathering information and opinions to inform decisions about the project’s future. The final report (available on the website) was presented to the Management Committee in June and it was decided that the Project would continue to operate beyond 2004. The Management Committee met again in September and decisions were taken regarding future structures for the continuation of the Sphere Project. An update on these will be sent out via the Sphere list serve and posted on the website:
In light of the closure of the Sphere Project in its current form at the end of 2004, a consultation process was held between February and May with the aim of gathering information and opinions to inform decisions about the project’s future. The final report (available on the website) was presented to the Management Committee in June and it was decided that the Project would continue to operate beyond 2004. The Management Committee met again in September and decisions were taken regarding future structures for the continuation of the Sphere Project. An update on these will be sent out via the Sphere list serve and posted on the website: http://www.sphereproject.org/consultation.htm

2. Sphere Project Training of Trainers

The 10th Sphere Project Global Training of Trainers course was hosted by Catholic Relief Services and held in Kenya between 31st August and 8th September 2004. The course was held in English and led by Emma Jowett, an independent training consultant who has co-facilitated the last three Sphere ToTs. Emma was supported by Kari Egge (Catholic Relief Services) and Alan Glasgow (independent). Both Kari and Alan are graduates of the previous Sphere ToT, held in Geneva in January 2004. The course was attended by 18 people, with a large representation of African countries but also including participants from Latin America, the Middle East, Central Asia and Europe.

The report of ToT #10 will be available on the Sphere website by the end of October. Details concerning the participants are already available under: http://www.sphereproject.org/training/listot_alph.htm

A team of consultants with strong experience of Sphere are currently conducting a mapping and impact assessment exercise of the Sphere ToT programme. The purpose of the exercise is to investigate the extent to which ToT graduates have replicated Sphere training following participation on the course, as well as to understand what type of training is taking place and, where participation on the ToT is not having its desired effect, to try to discern the reasons behind this. The findings will be available on the Sphere website as we get the report.

3. Country-level use of Sphere

The Sphere Working Group in El Salvador coordinated a reprint of the Spanish edition of the 2004 Sphere handbook for local distribution.

The Sphere Working Group in Honduras is organising a national ToT course in Honduras in early October. Sphere India is organising a regional ToT course in New Delhi, from 27th October to 3rd November.

The Sphere Working Group in Nicaragua organised a seminar for the Sphere technical groups and managers in disaster response in September 2004.

A meeting of Sphere users at country level is scheduled from 29th November to 1st December in Geneva. The objective of the meeting is to allow for sharing of Sphere-related experience at country level and to identify lessons that can inform similar work in the future. The meeting should lead to the production of a document or tool that could help others implementing Sphere at country level. Details will be posted on the Sphere web site as they are available.

4. New Sphere training materials

The Sphere Training Pack is being translated into French and Spanish. The Pack features excellent training materials developed and field-tested by Sphere trainers over the last four years. It is accessible, practical and easy to adapt to a wide range of audiences with different backgrounds and experience.

We are expecting to publish these versions in the first quarter of 2005. As with the Handbook, the training materials in French and Spanish will be freely available on the Sphere website, and for sale through Oxfam Publishing.

A team of Sphere ToT facilitators is currently producing a Lessons Learned document to capture the value of the Training of Trainers (ToT) programme, and the depth of experience that has contributed to its development. The audience for the document is experienced trainers and the document will focus on approaches that contribute to creating a “Sphere ToT”. Although there will be some description of contents and some sample lesson plans, the format will not follow that of the four existing modules.

5. Translations of the Handbook

The production of the 2004 Handbook in Arabic is underway, and we hope to have this edition available by the end of the year. The production of the Arabic edition is being partially funded by the IFRC and several Red Cross/Red Crescent National Societies.

The translation of the 2004 Handbook into Russian is currently being launched by the Sphere Office in conjunction with several partners in Russia. The Russian edition should be available in the first half of 2005.