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Sphere Board accepts new member, elects Chair

The Sphere Project Board members in Johannesburg

Plan International, one of the oldest and largest children’s development organizations in the world, joined the Sphere Project Board as of 1 June 2011. Founded more than 70 years ago, Plan is active in disaster relief, post-emergency recovery projects as well as risk reduction programmes. It works in 48 countries across Africa, Asia and the Americas.
The Sphere Project Board accepted Plan International’s application at its 18-19 May 2011 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa. With the incorporation of Plan International, the Sphere Project Board is now composed of 17 member organizations (see a list here ).

Plan International’s designated representative to the Sphere Board is Unni Krishnan, Plan’s Disaster Response Policy Coordinator. Krishnan has already been a member of the Sphere Project Board in 2009-2010.

Erik Johnson, Chair of the Sphere Project Board At its Johannesburg meeting, the Sphere Project Board elected Erik Johnson as its new Chair for a period of two years, effective 1 June. Johnson, who is Head of Humanitarian Response at DanChurchAid, joined the Sphere Board on behalf of the Danish agency and of the Lutheran World Federation on 1 January 2011.

Johnson is an experienced humanitarian professional who has worked in disaster relief for the International Rescue Committee, Merlin, Oxfam Great Britain and DanChurchAid in Africa and Asia for many years. He succeeds Ton van Zutphen, World Vision’s Emergency Response Director, who has been the Sphere Board Chair since 2008.

“I see this role as a service job,” Johnson said after being elected. He said he was ready to lead and work on behalf of the Board to help the Sphere Project face the challenges ahead. “Erik will lead the Sphere Project to a brighter future,” said van Zutphen, assuring Johnson of the support of both the Board and its member organizations.

The Sphere Project Board emphasized that greater coherence and effectiveness is needed among the various initiatives dealing with quality and accountability within the humanitarian sector.

The discussion about improving overall coherence among these initiatives and their impact is not new. At its previous meeting, the Sphere Project Board appointed an internal working group to identify potential opportunities to realise greater efficiency, effectiveness, rationalisation and coherence among the various initiatives in a strategic way.

In Johannesburg, the Sphere Board affirmed its historical mandate to lead efforts to promote greater coherence and consistency in humanitarian standards and, accordingly, to play a leading role in the potential convergence of quality and accountability initiatives.

As a next step, the Board supported the proposal of a meeting between representatives of four key initiatives in the quality and accountability sector, namely, the Sphere Project, People in Aid, the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) and the Active Learning Network for Accountability and Performance in Humanitarian Action (ALNAP).

The meeting will take place on 20 July. It is expected to help reach a common understanding of the achievements, challenges and limits of the current architecture of quality and accountability initiatives. Participants will discuss the pros and cons of a range of available options and agree on a process for moving forward rapidly.

Additional information:

  • Plan International