The Sphere Project is a significant process - it has entailed an extensive and broad-based consultation in the humanitarian community. The people who participated in writing the first edition of the Sphere handbook, and in its revision for 2004, came from national and international NGOs, UN agencies, and academic institutions. Thousands of individuals from over 400 organisations representing 80 countries have participated in various aspects of the Sphere Project, from developing the handbook through to piloting and training. The Sphere process has endeavoured to be inclusive, transparent, and globally representative.

From April 2005, the Sphere Project has taken a new form. This is based on decisions taken by the Sphere Management Committee which were informed by the Consultations on the future of Sphere carried out in 2004. The Management Committee has become the Sphere Board, including some new members. The Board has committed to maintaining a minimum Sphere office (the Project Manager and an office based at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) through Board member contributions. This means that the project is no longer dependent for a minimum existence on phases determined by external donor funding. Three further positions (Knowledge and Information Management, Materials and Training Support, and a half time Assistant) and project activities are funded by external donors for 2005-6. The focus of the Project during this period will be to find out more about where and how Sphere is being used around the world, as the basis for better assessing the impact of the Project on the quality and accountability of humanitarian response. This will be done by developing a database of information and learning on Sphere activities, including training, materials and its use in emergency situations, which should eventually be available online through the Sphere website. More information on these developments will be available on the website as it becomes available. Five training of trainers courses are also scheduled for this period, and promotion of the Project will continue at all levels of the humanitarian community.

Details of the earlier phases of the Project are given below.

An Extension to Phase III (2003-2004) was agreed to enable the project to build on the achievements of the first three phases and pave the way for the future. During the Extension the external evaluation of the Project was completed. This was complemented by a consultation on the Future of Sphere which laid the basis for the current form of the Project.

The Handbook was translated by the Project into Arabic and Russian and the promotion of all Sphere materials, particularly those produced during Phase III, continued. Work on Sphere in Practice at country level continued in many countries, and a meeting at the end of 2004 brought together representatives to share and document their experiences. Two Training of Trainers (ToT) courses were held in English, an evaluation of Sphere ToTs was carried out and Sphere ToT facilitators produced a document recording lessons learned from the development of Sphere ToTs.

Phase III (2000 – 2003) continued the dissemination efforts and focused on learning from the piloting programme and sharing these lessons across the humanitarian system. The training program grew from general interagency 3-day workshops into sophisticated 8-day training of trainers. A broadly consultative revision process led to the publication of the second edition of the handbook and a useful 50-minute orientation video for new humanitarian workers was produced. An external evaluation was begun, conducted by Columbia University in partnership with the Institute of Public Health at Makere University in Uganda.

In Phase II (1998-2000) activities were focused on making the commitment to quality and accountability in humanitarian practice a reality through dissemination, debate and implementation. Phase II of the Sphere Project employed the same collaborative and inclusive approach of Phase I. 
Phase II included two formal reviews of the preliminary handbook and new text regarding gender and protection issues was incorporated into the final first edition that was subsequently published in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian. 

A website was launched, a training program begun and 20 agencies committed to piloting the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response.

During Phase I (1997-1998) a preliminary edition of a Sphere handbook was developed, including the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards for the care sectors of water supply and sanitation, nutrition, food aid, shelter and site management, and health services. Many humanitarian actors have recognized Phase I of the Sphere Project for the unique interagency co-operative process that developed a framework for, and commitment to, quality and accountability in humanitarian practice.