What is Sphere?

Launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, The Sphere Project is an initiative to define and uphold the standards by which the global community responds to the plight of people affected by disasters, principally through a set of guidelines that are set out in the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (commonly referred to as the Sphere Handbook). Sphere is based on two core beliefs: first, that those affected by disaster or conflict have a right to life with dignity and therefore a right to protection and assistance, and second, that all possible steps should be taken to alleviate human suffering arising out of disaster and conflict. Sphere is three things; a handbook, a broad process of collaboration, and an expression of commitment to quality and accountability.

The Sphere Handbook

The Sphere Handbook – Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards for Disaster Response – was developed as, and remains, the key tool of the Project. The cornerstone of the book is the Humanitarian Charter, which describes the core principles that govern humanitarian action, and asserts the right of populations to protection and assistance. The minimum standards and indicators that follow are not exclusive to Sphere. They are a compilation of best practice in the sector and a practical expression of these core principles.

In the current 2004 edition of the Handbook, there are 5 chapters following the Humanitarian Charter – an initial chapter detailing ‘process’ and ‘people’ standards for the planning and implementation of programs, together with four technical chapters covering water, sanitation and hygiene promotion; food security, nutrition and food aid; shelter, settlement and non-food items; and health services. The 2004 edition is currently being revised, with the new 2011 edition to be launched in early 2011.

The 2011 Handbook edition will consolidate the latest best practices in the sector while putting the affected population at the centre of humanitarian action. Understanding and supporting local responses to disaster will be a priority reflected in the whole Handbook, as reinforcing the capacities of local actors at all levels. The new edition will also integrate a set a new emerging issues like disaster risk reduction, climate change, conflict sensitivity, urban settings, early recovery, education, etc. in addition to enhancing the linkages and coherence with other quality and accountability products such as the HAP Standard, the People in Aid Code and the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies. The publication of the new edition will provide an opportunity for a significant global awareness-raising campaign to outreach to the widest possible audiences to update their knowledge and revitalize their use of Sphere.

Sphere after a decade

The Sphere Project has been running in various forms since 1997 (Details of the earlier phases of the Project are included in the following box). From a very early stage it was recognized that the quality of humanitarian response did not depend solely or even primarily on a set of technical standards, but also on an approach and philosophy of action that listened and responded to the opinions of people affected by disasters. Hence the terms “quality” and “accountability” have become very closely associated, to the point of becoming almost inseparable.

This message has not been always easy to communicate. Many agencies claim to work “to Sphere standards”, by which they mean little more than observing the quantitative indicators in the Sphere Handbook. This poor adoption of Sphere has been exacerbated over the past decade by the entry of many new actors into the humanitarian arena. Many are organizations that do not come from the same humanitarian tradition as Sphere’s proponents, such as the military or private contractors. Others, such as some religious organizations or local citizen’s groups, may share the same values, but lack the operational experience and capacity to do justice to the Sphere standards.

Despite this, Sphere has been also used with great effectiveness and success in numerous contexts. There are encouraging examples of spontaneous local attempts to replicate and disseminate Sphere, as evidenced by the more than 25 languages into which the Sphere Handbook has been translated and the emergence of Sphere Honduras and Sphere India as two examples of local organizations which champion Sphere on their own initiative.

Sphere was conceived as a project to develop standards and train people in their use. Ultimately, however, its success will be measured by the degree to which its methods and products become widely used throughout the sector, and improve the lives of people affected by disasters. To achieve this, ownership of Sphere’s standards has to be taken up by a “critical mass” of humanitarian actors, both institutions and individuals.

Sphere and the Humanitarian Reform

Since the publication of the Humanitarian Reform Review in 2005, and the subsequent rolling out of the humanitarian reform process, including the establishment of the Cluster approach, Sphere has engaged to ensure the integration of Sphere within the principal elements of the reform process. It did so through the presence of Sphere Board organizations – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) and InterAction – on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC).

The IASC working group priorities for 2009, in anticipation of its commitment to fully engage in the Sphere Handbook revision process, both through the individual IASC organizations and through the Clusters, identified the Sphere standards as ‘the de facto standards in humanitarian response’. A number of focal points for relevant technical sectors and cross-cutting issues within the Handbook revision process have been identified from IASC organizations.

At the Cluster level – global and country – the uptake of the Sphere minimum standards and indicators continues, and engagement with a number of IASC ‘task forces’ – e.g. needs assessment – has seen the interest to use Sphere indicators as a basis for the way forward.

Sphere and other Quality and Accountability (Q&A) initiatives
Sphere was one of the first initiatives aiming to improve the quality and accountability of humanitarian response and has always aimed to maintain close relationships with similar initiatives, in order to maximize complementarity and minimize duplication. Regular bi-annual meetings continue with the other principal, Europe-based initiatives: HAP-International, ALNAP, People in Aid, Coordination Sud, Qualité Compas and the Emergency Capacity Building Project (ECB). Others are also now part of this group, including The Listening Project, Inter-Agency Network on Education in Emergencies (INEE), and the Enhanced Learning and Research for Humanitarian Assistance (ELRHA) initiative.

Sphere continues to be a full member of ALNAP. A Sphere representative attends ALNAP Biannual meetings and, to the extent possible, relevant events and meetings of the other initiatives.

The HAP Standard and the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Recovery are both being reviewed at the same time as the Sphere Handbook. There is reciprocal engagement by staff of these initiatives in the respective review/revision processes, in an effort to increase complimentarity and reduce overlap and duplication between the products.

Sphere ‘Companion Standards’

In 2007, the Sphere Project Board discussed the possible inclusion of additional chapters to the Sphere Project Handbook during the next revision process, in view that sectors such as education, livestock, livelihoods, early recovery, development-relief linkages had emerged in the last few years as ‘humanitarian sectors’ in disaster response. Deciding, however, in order to keep the Handbook practical, to maintain its structure and content as at present, the Board agreed to explore the possibility of adding new ‘companion’ standards to the ‘core’ Handbook, extending its scope in response to needs that have emerged in the changing humanitarian sector.

A number of other initiatives had either already developed, or were in the process of doing so, their own sector-specific Quality Standards and Indicators. Some had adopted to a large extent the process, approach, structure and terminology used successfully by the Sphere Project, and had expressed an interest in some sort of formal relationship with the Sphere Project Handbook.

The Sphere Project therefore reviewed these developments and established a mechanism by which these new Standards can become ‘companion’ Standards to the Sphere Project Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. In October, 2009, the INEE Minimum Standards for Education in Emergencies, Chronic Crises and Early Reconstruction became the first such companion standards; the process of companionship with Sphere has also started for the Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) Project and the Minimum Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis of the Small Enterprise Education and Promotion (SEEP) Network.

Reaching the “Critical Mass” – Strategy 2015
In October 2008, the Sphere Board undertook to map out the strategic direction for Sphere for the period until 2015, drawing heavily upon the experience gained with Sphere since its inception in 1997. Sphere’s Vision is summarized as follows:

To strengthen the humanitarian sector’s capacity to adopt Sphere as its collective heritage and to maintain the momentum of increasing quality and accountability to people affected by disasters, the strategic priorities for Sphere call upon the Project to put greater emphasis on new areas of activities while continuing its core functions related to maintaining the Handbook and building capacities around it. The three main focus areas (based on the strategic priorities) where the project will be working for the next period are therefore:

1. Maintain the Handbook and strengthen capacities around it
   (Strategic Priority 1: Strengthen the capacities (people and tools) of the sector to adopt Sphere more widely) - including continuing to keep the Handbook relevant, make it available in different languages, train people on it and support individuals and organizations in using it.
2. Advocacy and Communication
   (Strategic Priority 2: Nurture the political will (among leaders and donors) to support the wide application of Sphere)) - both at the global and local level to influence a wider and a more practical adoption of Sphere and to redress some of the misconception and the superficial understanding of it.
3. Partnering and Networking
   (Strategic Priority 3: Make common cause with allies who can help achieve Sphere’s vision) - acknowledging that reaching the critical mass will not
   happen without the collective efforts of the Sphere Board organizations and of a large number of regional and national partners and networks that take up and “own” the Sphere Standards.

The Sphere Strategy 2015 is being implemented through two three-year work plans that complement each other, i.e. 2010-2012 and 2013-2015 and while primarily presenting the activities of the Project secretariat also reflect the Sphere Project as a whole, including the different members of the Sphere community, i.e. Board organizations, Partners, Focal Points and others.

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