(Continued from Part #1)

Trained trainer trains trainers

Left: Sphere workshop in 2013, right: Aya holding the 2018 Sphere Handbook

“Every Sphere event leaves me with a multitude of enduring memories and creates new relationships and wonderful opportunities for collaboration. Dr Khaled Khalifa led my Sphere ToT in 2013, and a few years later I worked with him to facilitate a series of ToTs in different regions. Being an active member of the Sphere community is an honour and a rewarding experience.”

Aya Yagan, a Sphere trainer based in Turkey, remains an active member of the Sphere community, facilitating several events in 2022 including a ToT in Albania and pilot workshops for a new training package for applying Sphere in urban settings.

Global focal point forum

Sphere secretariat staff remember the first in-person Sphere Global Focal Points Forum which took place in November 2017.

Participants of the global focal point forum in Bangkok in 2017

Delegates from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas met in Bangkok for a 3-day event co-hosted by Sphere’s first regional partner, Community World Service Asia (CWSA).

COVID-19 would go on to hamper plans for further in-person global forums, but regional and online events have taken place in the meantime.

Revising the standards

Sphere embraced by Development actors in Cameroon

“A friend introduced me to the Sphere Project in 2015. I found the ‘Sphere Handbook in Action’ e-learning [since replaced by Sphere in Practice] an indispensable blueprint for humanitarian programming. I found the Humanitarian Charter, Protection Principles, Core Humanitarian Standard and Minimum Standards, notably those for ‘Sheltation’ (our local term for Shelter and Sanitation), highly relevant to our community development ventures.

 

“I am glad to have contributed to the revision process which resulted in the 2018 edition of the Sphere Handbook, which is notable for its broad appeal beyond the humanitarian sector.

 

“The story of the Sphere Project from the 1990s to today, and beyond, is surely a journey from humanitarianism to (sustainable) development.”

David MBA’ TAMBU, PhD, PMP, Organisational member representative and CEO of Action for the Needy (CEPROCUL) in Cameroon

David holds a locally printed copy of the 2011 Handbook

A new Handbook for a new focal point

Trainer Shaza Massarani (in the front row wearing a pink hijab) remembers the first Sphere workshop in Syria organized by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent (SARC) in February 2017.

Participants of a Sphere workshop in Syria in 2017

SARC became a Sphere focal point in 2018 and has since organized over 25 in-person Sphere workshops in the Syrian Arab Republic.

SARC is one of a growing network of sixty Sphere focal points.

The 2018 Edition

Launching the new Handbook

There have been at least 48 launch events for the 2018 Sphere Handbook. The first of these was in Geneva on 6 November 2018, and included a keynote speech from one of the founders of the Sphere Project back in 1997, Peter Walker.

Participants of the Sphere Handbook launch in Geneva watch Peter Walker give a keynote speech via live video feed

Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

Isaac holds a Sphere Handbook

“With my background in information technology, I joined BIFERD [a Sphere focal point] in 2019 as a MEAL and Information Manager. The Sphere Standards are very useful to me, from planning, through implementation, to evaluation and performance management.

 

“I am very happy to be among actors who improve the quality of humanitarian response by using the Sphere Standards.”

Isaac Buhazi, Individual Sphere member, DRC

(Continue to Part #3)