“The golden rule is to always find the right balance between a pragmatic and a principled response”, says Rohan Kent. Photo: Save The Children Rohan Kent works within the Concepts and Capabilities Directorate of the Australian Civil-Military Centre, a government agency that promotes joint efforts between civil,…

  Aninia Nadig, Sphere’s Policy and Practice Manager, shares her thoughts about the importance of providing palliative care in responses to COVID-19.   Despite some progress, palliative care still does not receive enough attention in humanitarian response. We need to remind ourselves of its importance, particularly in the…

  Over the course of the past year, Sphere continued to promote quality and accountability across the humanitarian sector. Our newly released annual review presents a summary of Sphere’s many activities and achievements throughout 2019. The brochure includes a financial overview as well as a poster to print out.

Indonesian Red Cross volunteers deliver hygiene kits in Paramadina as part of the COVID-19 response in March 2020. Photo: Indonesian Red Cross   A strategic document published this month by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) stresses the importance of supporting humanitarian workers to…

  https://spherestandards.org/wp-content/uploads/sphere-handbook-tutorial_extended.mp4   Humanitarian practitioners anywhere in the world can now share their first-hand experience, add to the knowledge of the Sphere community and shape the next edition of the Sphere Handbook and standards. Sphere is launching a new digital tool that allows you to comment on the Sphere…

  Visit the dedicated page and download our COVID-19 guidance   Coronavirus is spreading globally. How can individuals, communities, humanitarian actors, local and national authorities best respond to uphold the rights of all affected people? Sphere and its partner standards can guide our response. In situations of…

Firzan Hasmim delivers school supplies to Pitabeddara students who lost them during the 2017 floods and landslides. Photo: A-PAD Sri Lanka.   Firzan Hashim is the Sri Lanka Country Director for the Asia-Pacific Alliance for Disaster Management, a trans-national platform that coordinates the work of governments, private companies and…

  Humanitarian practitioners working in Syria can now have a revamped tool to support them in providing high quality and accountable assistance. Sphere recently released an updated version of its Syria training pack, a set of Arabic-language materials that contain guidance on how best to apply the Sphere standards…

Photo: KCOC   Tristan Hale, Sphere’s Learning and Training Manager, recently took part in a Sphere training event in Lebanon. Through the workshop, he had the opportunity to interview members of the Syrian refugee communities and discover the value of field visits for practitioners to learn more about putting…

     Sphere is developing a new five-year strategic plan which will draw on the inputs of the global Sphere community. The strategy, built upon the priorities articulated by Sphere members during the last…