By Cesar Alvarez Sanchez, Independent Risk Management Consultant and Sphere trainer On August 7, 2021, Law No. 21,364 was enacted by the government of Chile, establishing the National System for Prevention and Response to Disasters (SINAPRED)[1]. The new law modifies the way in which the State…

Over 200 humanitarians in Mozambique will receive Sphere training between September and December 2021 A series of twelve in-person Sphere workshops will be held across all eleven of Mozambique’s provinces. Selected workshop graduates will be invited to join a five-day Sphere Training of Trainers workshop in Maputo at the beginning…

By Anne Radday and Nola Jenkins In 2021, the SEADS Project team will draft the first ever standards to support agricultural livelihoods in emergencies. Before we began, we wanted to better understand the preferences of the future users of SEADS. So, in early 2021 we collected input through a…

Jonas Habimana is the executive director of the Bureau d’Informations, Formations, Échanges et Recherches pour le Développement (BIFERD), a Sphere focal point in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and also a board member of Sphere. Following a major eruption of Mount Nyiragongo on 22 May 2021, Jonas…

We remember our wonderful friend and colleague Simon Russell who recently passed away in the UK. Simon worked with many organisations around the world including ICMC, Refugee Review Tribunal, ProCAP and most recently with UNHCR as the Coordinator of the Global Protection Cluster. We reflect on how lucky we…

The Sphere Handbook’s blend of ethical, rights-based approach and technical standards makes it one of the best-known and respected reference documents in the humanitarian sector. Its usefulness in assessing situations and needs; for writing project proposals; and as a framework for presenting…

The network of Sphere practitioners around the world includes people with experience in conducting training and learning activities based on Sphere and the Sphere Handbook. Find a Sphere facilitator From early 2020, COVID-19 lockdown measures made in-person workshops difficult to organise and increased the demand for online learning. Facilitating…

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020. Sphere issued COVID-19 guidance based on Sphere standards in February 2020. This was translated into another 13 languages by the Sphere community and was…

Sphere members show off their new Sphere Handbooks at the General Assembly in Geneva, November 2018 Sphere has taken the bold step to change its membership model, creating a flatter structure and offering significant reductions in fees. The objectives are to increase the engagement of national and local organisations,…

Yaoundé. The residents of the Foyer Colonel-Daniel-de-Rouffignac for the blind support each other a lot, especially during this period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Credit: DANIEL BELOUMOU/ICRC.   Read the Sphere Annual Report 2020 Download the full financial statements 2020 In the midst of a pandemic, the past…