“The Sphere Story” is a three-part video documentary on the origins, dissemination and impact of Sphere humanitarian principles and standards. It explores the drivers, the challenges in developing a common vision, and the impact that people experienced already in the early days, all from the perspective of the actors themselves. It is based on interviews with 11 people who played crucial roles at different stages of Sphere’s development.

Part 1: Mavericks
Part 2: Groundbreakers
Part 3: Game changers

“The Sphere Story” is a three-part video documentary on the origins, dissemination and impact of Sphere humanitarian principles and standards. It explores the drivers, the challenges in developing a common vision, and the impact that people experienced already in the early days, all from the perspective of the actors themselves. It is based on interviews with 11 people who played crucial roles at different stages of Sphere’s development.

Part 1: Mavericks
Part 2: Groundbreakers
Part 3: Game changers

“The Sphere Story” is a three-part video documentary on the origins, dissemination and impact of Sphere humanitarian principles and standards. It explores the drivers, the challenges in developing a common vision, and the impact that people experienced already in the early days, all from the perspective of the actors themselves. It is based on interviews with 11 people who played crucial roles at different stages of Sphere’s development.

Part 1: Mavericks
Part 2: Groundbreakers
Part 3: Game changers

The Sphere Handbook and the other Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP) initiatives offer guidance on the COVID-19 response. They establish what needs to be in place for affected populations to survive and recover with dignity.

The objective of the report is to assess the impact of the Sphere project on the quality of humanitarian aid, in terms of its success in providing a common framework for humanitarian assistance and to understand the process by which agencies have incorporated the Sphere Project into their work.

This version of the Sphere training pack was developed by the Sphere community to strengthen the capacity of humanitarian staff working in and around Syria. It seeks to help them professionalise and improve the effectiveness, quality and accountability of the response.

Developed by InterWorks, this package for trainers supports a 4-day workshop covering the entire Sphere Handbook 2011 edition. It provides insights into many of the typical problems found in the sectors of WASH, Food Security & Nutrition, Shelter & Settlement and Health, illustrating each of the relevant standards.

The Emergency training toolkit is designed to support introductory-level training workshops carried out during an emergency response. It includes a number of resources designed by Sphere trainers to quickly bring aid workers and local officials up to speed on Sphere principles and standards. Materials are presented in a mixture of English, French and Spanish (within the same download).

The Emergency training toolkit is designed to support introductory-level training workshops carried out during an emergency response. It includes a number of resources designed by Sphere trainers to quickly bring aid workers and local officials up to speed on Sphere principles and standards. Materials are presented in a mixture of English, French and Spanish (within the same download).

A training resource covering virtually all aspects of the use of Sphere humanitarian standards as well as the Core Humanitarian Standard. This training pack supports training interventions from a 90-minute presentation or lecture to an in-depth 8-day workshop.

This user-friendly version of the Sphere Handbook 2011 edition was created in Bolivia and is available only in Spanish. It was developed to introduce the Handbook to affected populations and is mainly intended for local authorities, community leaders and local NGOs in rural areas. As a user-friendly version, it employs well known and easy to understand language while remaining faithful to the Handbook. This tool can also be used by trainers and humanitarian professionals working with affected populations.

A short guide aimed to help trainers to take advantage of the film “Humanitarian standards in context: Bringing the Sphere Handbook to life”. The film depicts the contribution Sphere standards make to improving quality and accountability in humanitarian response and features examples of humanitarian agencies around the world working with the Sphere Handbook.

This “white paper” analyses some of the changes in the Sphere Handbook 2011 edition and provides insights into questions trainers are often asked concerning differences between this and previous editions. Jim Good is a partner with InterWorks, LLC, and a long-time Sphere contributor and trainer.

Sphere for Monitoring and Evaluation is for all humanitarian practitioners from the assessment to the evaluation phase; for people carrying out monitoring activities and evaluations, be they internal or external. It also addresses the learning processes that should ensue from monitoring and evaluation exercises. The guide is based on the conviction that Sphere provides useful benchmarks for the whole programme cycle, which can be especially valuable to organisations that do not have internal targets or standard operating procedures. Sphere also adds value through its emphasis on a rights-based and participatory approach.

This document is one of a series on how to integrate key elements of Sphere’s people-centred approach into the humanitarian programme cycle. These guides indicate the relevant parts of the Sphere Handbook at different moments of the humanitarian programme cycle and should therefore be used together with the Handbook. The primary audiences for “Sphere for Assessments” are managers, assessment staff, trainers and coordinators, as well as donors. It may also be useful for a wider range of staff in any agency dealing with humanitarian response.

Sphere 2020 sets about to transform Sphere from a project into a vigorous, deeply connected network of practitioners and organisations which will act as a global catalyst for humanitarian quality and accountability.

This report covers activities carried out by the Sphere Project between 1 January and 31 December 2015 and includes related governance, financial and administrative summaries. It also includes highlights of the important work being done by the global community of humanitarian practitioners using Sphere to expand commitments and capacities to deliver quality and accountability in humanitarian response.