New Zealand launch of the Sphere Handbook 2011 edition

For immediate release
14 April 2011

Media Release

The Sphere Project: Global Release Of Revamped Humanitarian Standards

New Zealand launch of the Sphere Handbook 2011 edition

The Sphere Project, a leading initiative promoting quality and accountability in humanitarian work have released a revised version of its Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response.

The launch of the Sphere Handbook 2011 edition will take place in a dozen countries around the world. The New Zealand launch is being led by the NGO Disaster Relief Forum (NDRF) an autonomous sub-committee of the Council for International Development (CID). The launch will take place as part of a one day seminar, Protecting the Protectors, looking at the rise in attacks on Humanitarian workers.

The Sphere Handbook establishes shared principles and a set of universal minimum standards in core areas of humanitarian response. It offers common language and provides guidance for effective and accountable humanitarian response and advocacy.

The 2011 edition incorporates a new chapter – Protection Principles – which considers the protection and safety of populations affected by disaster or armed conflict as an integral part of humanitarian response. It also addresses emerging issues like climate change, disaster risk reduction, early recovery of services and livelihoods, cash transfers and civil-military relations.

Understanding and supporting local responses to disaster is a priority reflected in the whole Handbook, as is reinforcing the capacity of local actors.

The extensive revision of the Sphere Handbook that led to the 2011 edition involved more than 650 experts from some 300 organizations in about 20 countries. All the relevant UN agencies participated in the process.

The Sphere Project was created by a group of humanitarian non-governmental organizations and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Since its first trial edition in 1998, the Sphere Handbook has been translated into more than 40 languages, becoming the most widely known and internationally recognized set of standards for humanitarian response.

The cornerstone of the Handbook is the Humanitarian Charter, which describes core principles that should govern humanitarian action and asserts the right of disaster-affected populations to life with dignity, protection and assistance. For the new edition, the Humanitarian Charter has been completely re-written so as to offer clearer language and strengthened linkage to the standards.

A series of Core and Minimum Standards are based on best practices in the sector. The Core Standards pertain to the planning and implementation phases of humanitarian response. The Minimum Standards deal with four sets of life-saving activities: water and sanitation; food security and nutrition; shelter and non-food items; and health. They have all been significantly revised in the new edition.

The Sphere Project, a unique voluntary initiative, is a consortium of humanitarian actors including some of the biggest and oldest organizations and agencies in this sector. It aims to improve the quality of humanitarian response to disasters or armed conflicts and the accountability of states and humanitarian agencies to their constituents, donors and affected populations.

ends

© Scoop Media