Sphere, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response

April 2003

Sphere Project Newsletter No. 13 (April 2003)

Table of contents

1. Overview

2. Handbook revision

3. Institutionalisation at country level

4. Training news

5. Evaluation update

6. Website update

1. Overview

It has been a busy start to the year, with continuing efforts towards the revision of the handbook and significant progress in areas of our three-region institutionalisation programme. The year began with an 8-day Training of Trainers course in Geneva, and its success has led us to organise another ToT in June (for more information, please see point 4 below). Communications/dissemination activities continued, with the creation of a three-language mailing list (English French and Spanish) and the redesign of our website.

The document Institutionalising Sphere…a great start, next steps was translated into French and Spanish and is available in all three languages: English, French and Spanish

It has been a busy start to the year, with continuing efforts towards the revision of the handbook and significant progress in areas of our three-region institutionalisation programme. The year began with an 8-day Training of Trainers course in Geneva, and its success has led us to organise another ToT in June (for more information, please see point 4 below). Communications/dissemination activities continued, with the creation of a three-language mailing list (English French and Spanish) and the redesign of our website.

2. Handbook revision

After months of worldwide consultation with hundreds of practitioners, we expect to post a draft of the revised edition of the handbook on our website in May for final comments and feedback. Based on a need to further explore the link between human rights and the minimum standards, a UNICEF-funded meeting between sector-specific human rights specialists and the technical focal points is planned for April.

3. Institutionalisation at country level - Highlight: El Salvador

In a number of countries, agencies are working to institutionalise the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards. For instance, in Afghanistan, a group of NGOs on their own initiative and with financial support from the American Red Cross are working towards systematically using Sphere in their work. A Sphere Support Extension Team has been hired and will be working over the next 12 months to build capacity in the humanitarian community in that country.
Based on recommendations from the agencies piloting Sphere, the Sphere Project is focusing institutionalisation efforts in the following countries: India, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador. As part of this particular programme, in El Salvador on 14 March a ceremony occurred where 13 agencies signed an agreement. This signifies the beginning of a collaborative effort on the part of these agencies to systematically apply the Sphere handbook into their policy and practice. They have raised $30,000 and plan to hire one person, based in LWF, to serve as a resource for their institutionalisation work. The Sphere Project has hired a coach to assist this resource person and the agencies in El Salvador with training and advice. Participating agencies are: ADRA, ASPRODE, Care, Caritas El Salvador, Catholic Relief Services, CORDES, IFRC - El Salvador Delegation, Lutheran World Federation, Oxfam International, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance - El Salvador, Salvadorean Red Cross, Save the Children US and World Vision.

4. Training news

The Sphere Project’s seventh Global Training of Trainers Course, held in Geneva in January, was a huge success. 21 people from 16 different agencies (plus 4 independent consultants) across 12 different countries participated in the course, and feedback was extremely positive. The course differed from previous ToTs, in that half of it was used by the participants themselves to teach each other on the content of the Sphere training modules. This innovation proved to be extremely effective, and a large number of participants have already implemented Sphere training events since the ToT.

We will be holding another English-language ToT near Geneva in June. The deadline for applications is 25th April 2003. For full details and application form, click here

5. Evaluation update

The independent evaluation of the Sphere Project, conducted by Columbia University in partnership with the Institute of Public Health at Makerere University in Uganda, is in progress. Two case studies are soon to be undertaken in Tanzania and in Angola, which will give the evaluation team the opportunity to speak directly to people affected by disaster, and to look closely at the situation in the field. Click here to access interim reports.

6. Website update

Our website has been redesigned and updated to be more user-friendly and easier to navigate. Check it out!

The next newsletter will be produced and sent in July 2003.

The Sphere Project
P.O. Box 372
1211 Geneva 19
Switzerland

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Tel: (4122) 730 4501
Fax: (4122) 730 4905
www.sphereproject.org

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