Given the short timescale, the approach was low key but aiming to reach as many people with as wide a geographical spread as possible. Methods included:
1. Inter-Agency Meetings,hosted by an interested agency, following the format proposed in the Organizers' Guidelines and Facilitators’ Guidelines. Consultations have taken place in the following kind of settings:
meetings facilitated for agencies at a national level, or working in one part of a country
regional meetings
during meetings that were already taking place, by requesting time (up to a day) in the agenda
2. Community based consultations with disaster-affected populations where this is appropriate. These consultations will be led by organizations who already have a good knowledge of the community, and have worked with them on Sphere before.
3. Semi-structured interviews by telephone or face to face, with key people who have had a close involvement with Sphere. ‘Key people’ were chosen on the basis that they fit one or more of the following criteria: key involvement in creation or development of Sphere; known to hold strong and well-informed views on Sphere; have particular experience of using Sphere at field level.
4. Web based discussions in French, Spanish and English, in collaboration with Aid Workers Network (AWN):
a. Consultations in response to articles sent out via the AWN and Sphere listserves
b. Interactive web page hosted by AWN, linked to the Sphere website, to complement the above
c. Feedback on draft of results of consultations posted on the Sphere website
Calendar
The table below shows consultation meetings that took place in 2004:
When? | Where? | Organiser | Venue |
| 16 February | Geneva, Switzerland | The Sphere Project | The Sphere Project |
| 28 February | Luanda, Angola
| Save the Children UK | Save the Children UK |
| 29 February | Rome, Italy | Gianni Rufini, Fields | |
| 8 March | Bam, Iran (discussions on Sphere's future included in an interagency meeting) | Nazanin Kazemi, ICRI | International Consortium for Refugees in Iran |
| 19 March | Geneva, Switzerland | Yvonne Klynman, IFRC | International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies |
| 25 March | Sydney, Australia | ACFID | Caritas Australia |
| 4 April | Maseru, Lesotho | World Food Programme | World Food Programme |
| 7 April | Dubai | World Vision International | World Vision International |
| 12 April | Orissa, India (community level consultation) | Sphere India | |
| 15 April | Riga, Latvia | IFRC Regional Delegation | IFRC Regional Delegation |
| 20 April | Lima, Peru | ACT Peru | |
| 21 April | San Salvador, El Salvador | Sphere Working Group in El Salvador | |
| 26 April | Cochabamba, Bolivia* | Save the Children Alliance | |
| 27 April | The Hague, Netherlands | NOVIB/Oxfam Netherlands | NOVIB/Oxfam Netherlands |
| 28 April | Budapest, Hungary | IFRC Regional Delegation | IFRC Regional Delegation |
| 29 April | Nairobi, Kenya | Inter-agency group | Oxfam GB |
| 29 April | Honduras | Sphere Working Group in Honduras | National meeting |
| 30 April | Harare, Zimbabwe | IFRC Regional Delegation | IFRC Regional Delegation |
| 30 April | Tegucigalpa, Honduras | Sphere Working Group in Honduras | Regional meeting |
| 3 May | Manila, Philippines | ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management | |
| 3 May | Kabul, Afghanistan | ACBAR / Norwegian Church Aid | |
| 4 May | Managua, Nicaragua* | Save the Children Alliance | |
| 4 May | Gujarat, India | Sphere India and CARE India | |
| 6 May | New Delhi, India* | Sphere India | |
| 17 May | Jakarta, Indonesia | Mercy Corps | |
| 24 May | Washington DC, USA* | InterAction | InterAction |