At its meeting in May 2007, the Sphere Project Board discussed the possible inclusion of additional chapters to the Sphere Project Handbook during the next revision process, scheduled for 2009, in view that sectors such as  education, livestock, livelihoods, early recovery, development-relief linkages have emerged in the last few years as ‘humanitarian sectors’ in disaster response. It was decided however, in order to keep the Handbook practical, to maintain its structure and content as at present. As such the next revised edition will continue to focus mainly on the core ‘life-saving’ sectors, reviewed and updated as necessary: water, sanitation and hygiene promotion; food security, nutrition and food aid; shelter, settlement and non-food items, and health services. Cross-cutting issues – gender, children, older people, disabled people, HIV/AIDS, environment and protection – will continue to inform the guidance notes. The Humanitarian Charter, which sets out the principles underlying the standards in a ‘rights based approach’ will be revised, as will the chapter on standards common to all technical sectors. On the other hand, the Board decided to explore the possibility of adding new ‘Companion’ Standards to the ‘core’ Handbook. This would extend its scope in response to needs that have  recently emerged in the changing humanitarian sector. 

The SEEP Network, a global association of NGOs active in microenterprise development, is coordinating an initiative to develop Standards for Economic Recovery after Crisis.  The Standards focus on strategies and interventions designed to promote enterprises, employment, and cash flow and asset management among affected businesses and households. These Standards follow the process and format of the Sphere handbook (The Sphere Project Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response), and have been developed with guidance and input from the Sphere Project. 

The draft of these Standards is being launched for a public review for the first time.  We are actively encouraging all stakeholders, particularly those with significant experience implementing economic recovery in emergency environments, to provide commentary and reviews. You can find the Standards available at http://communities.seepnetwork.org/econrecovery; on the “Discussion” page users may post their comments and suggestions for the draft review.  This draft will be available for viewing until the end of July, 2008; the first edition of the Standards will be published in November 2008, with further revisions and consultation to follow.

You can watch here our Sphere Video, an introduction to humanitarian challenges. This film outlines some of the key issues of humanitarianism that confront and challenge those who are committed to alleviating the suffering of populations affected by disaster. It is primarily intended for the new aid worker and can help begin their orientation to disaster response work. It may be useful to staff of international and national NGOs, UN agencies, national disaster response teams and Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, and in training and academic settings.

The Sphere Office would like to share with Sphere users a process that is being used by CARE as an efficient tool for auditing/reviewing project compliance to the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response.  

As the community of Sphere users is growing all over the world, with increased accumulated knowledge about its implementation in practice, the Sphere office is realising the need to further support the dissemination of this experience and knowledge about Sphere.