The Sphere Handbook

Book of minimum standards in humanitarian aid

The Sphere Handbook

Fourth (2018) edition cover

Subjects| SECTORS
Food security, nutrition
Water & Sanitation
Shelter
Health
ACTIVITIES
Monitoring & evalaution
Staff management
Preparation
Coordination
CROSS CUTTING THEMES
Children
People with disabilities
Gender
Protection
HIV/AIDS
The Environment
TRENDS
Urban responses
Localisation
Genre| Non-fiction
Publisher| Practical Action Publishing
Publication place| Switzerland
ISBN| 9781908176400

The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response often called the Sphere Standards is a textbook of minimum standards in humanitarian aid published by the Sphere Association.[1]

The first edition was published in 2000[1] and is a "cornerstone of humanitarian practice".[2]

## Background

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Main article: Sphere (organization)

The Sphere Handbook was developed by international humanitarian aid agencies to describe minimum standards for the provision of emergency humanitarian aid.[1] The handbook is published by the Sphere Association (also known as the Sphere Project).[1]

Médecins Sans Frontières declined to engage in the project to create the standards.[3]

## Content

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### First edition (2000)

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The handbook presents minimum standards for provision of humanitarian relief activity for food aid, water and sanitation, nutrition, shelter and health care.[2] For each of the sectors, key indicators and metrics are provided.[2]

### Second edition (2004)

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The 2004 edition added two chapters, one on food security another on processes of participation, monitoring & evaluation, and staff management.

Seven cross-cutting themes were included: children, older people, people with disabilities, gender, protection, HIV/AIDS, and the environment.[4]

### Third edition (2011)

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The 2011 edition included increased emphasis on protection and safety of people affected by humanitarian crisis. It includes topics of disaster risk reduction and early recovery and includes increased focus on climate change and environmental degradation. The third edition introduced the issue of humanitarian agencies needing to respond in urban (rather than peri-urban and rural) contexts.[4]

The technical chapters were revised to show the importance of greater system-wide preparedness, coordination and technical quality, including recognition of the need to support and strengthen local health systems, to provide standards around transitional longer-term reconstruction, and to develop a more integrated approach to the prevention and treatment of malnutrition that addresses wider causes such as poverty and livelihoods in emergencies.[4]

### Fourth edition (2018)

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The fourth edition expanded further into standards for humanitarian response in urban settings[2] and includes greater focus on the role of local authorities and communities as actors of their own recovery. More emphasis was placed on context analysis to apply standards. There was also updated standards in areas such as water and sanitation, palliative care in health, security of tenure in shelter and settlement. New ways of delivering assistance, including cash-based assistance, are also integrated.[4][5]

## Use

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The standards within the handbook have been used to monitor and evaluate humanitarian interventions[6][7] and are used to the training of humanitarian workers.[2]

## Reception

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The initial publication was generally welcomed by aid agencies, but was also met with criticism that the standards can only be met in ideal situations, and therefore are not useful the common situation of there being inadequate resources and time to respond perfectly to humanitarian emergencies.[1]

2019 criticism, published after the publication of the fourth edition, were still criticized for being aspirational and led by consensus rather than by evidence.[2]

## References

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1. ^ a b c d e André, Griekspoor; Collins, Steve (2001-09-29). "Raising standards in emergency relief: how useful are Sphere minimum standards for humanitarian assistance?". BMJ. 323 (7315): 740–742. doi:10.1136/bmj.323.7315.740. ISSN 0959-8138. PMC 1121289. PMID 11576984.
2. ^ a b c d e f Patel, Ronak B.; Chadhuri, Jay (2019-03-12). "Revisiting the Sphere standards: comparing the revised Sphere standards to living standards in three urban informal settlements in Nairobi, Kenya". Journal of International Humanitarian Action. 4 (1): 6. doi:10.1186/s41018-019-0054-y. ISSN 2364-3404. S2CID 84840527.
3. ^ Tong, Jacqui (2004). "Questionable Accountability: MSF and Sphere in 2003". Disasters. 28 (2): 176–189. doi:10.1111/j.0361-3666.2004.00251.x. ISSN 1467-7717. PMID 15186363.
4. ^ a b c d "The Handbook editions and languages | Sphere Standards". Sphere. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
5. ^ Sphere (2018-11-16), Sphere Handbook authors: What is new in the fourth edition?, archived from the original on 2021-12-15, retrieved 2019-02-19
6. ^ Wang H, He Q, Liu X, Zhuang Y, Hong S (2012) Global urbanization research from 1991 to 2009: a systematic research review. Landsc Urban Plan 104(3-4):299–309
7. ^ Nickerson JW, Hatcher-Roberts J, Adams O, Attaran A, Tugwell P (2015) Assessments of health services availability in humanitarian emergencies: a review of assessments in Haiti and Sudan using a health systems approach. Confl Heal 9(1):20

## External links

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* 2018 edition official website

* v
* t
* e

Humanitarian aid

* Humanitarian aid
* in conflict zones
* Humanitarianism
* Humanitarian principles
* International humanitarian law

History|

| 1850s, Creation of
the Red Cross|

* Henry Dunant
* Battle of Solferino
* A Memory of Solferino
* Red Cross Movement
* Geneva Conventions
* International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission

|

Post WWII|

* History of the United Nations
* 1951 Refugee Convention

21st-century
reform attempts|

* World Humanitarian Summit
* Grand Bargain
* Localisation
* Humanitarian-Development Nexus
* Inter-Agency Standing Committee
* Humanitarian Cluster System

Humanitarian
organizations|

| UN agencies|

* UNHCR
* OCHA
* IOM
* WFP
* UNICEF
* WHO

|

Red Cross Movement|

* Seville Agreement
* ICRC
* The Federation (IFRC)
* National Societies
* Protective Emblems

International agencies|

* Action Against Hunger
* Catholic Relief Services
* CARE
* Danish Refugee Council
* International Medical Corps
* International Rescue Committee
* Islamic Relief
* Médecins du Monde
* Médecins Sans Frontières
* Mercy Corps
* Norwegian Refugee Council
* Oxfam
* Guardian Girls
* Save the Children
* World Vision
* Koyamada International Foundation

Consortiums|

* NEAR Network
* CALP
* Global Refugee-Led Network

Local agencies|

* BRAC
* Adeso
* Network for Refugee Voices
* Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation

Analysis and reporting|

* ODI
* ALNAP
* The State of the Humanitarian System
* The New Humanitarian
* ReliefWeb
* Global Humanitarian Overview

Notable people|

* Degan Ali
* Jan Egeland
* Christos Christou
* Winnie Byanyima
* Martin Griffiths
* Jemilah Mahmood
* Hugo Slim
* Peter Maurer
* James Orbinski
* Rachel Kiddell-Monroe
* MacKenzie Scott
* Melinda Gates
* Jamshedji Tata
* Michael Bloomberg
* Warren Buffett
* Bill Gates

Donors and funding|

* CERF
* USAID
* Japan
* FCDO (UK)
* Norway
* ECHO (EU)
* Canada
* Turkey
* France
* OECD
* Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
* Yield Giving

Major emergencies|

* Chinese Famine of 1870s
* Great Indian Famine of 1870s
* Ethiopian famine 1980s
* 2004 tsunami
* 2010 Haiti earthquake
* 2011 East Africa drought
* Typhoon Haiyan
* Central African Republic Civil War
* Western African Ebola outbreak
* Iraq War
* South Sudanese Civil War
* Rohingya genocide
* Syrian civil war
* Yemeni Civil War

Standards,
power, abuse|

* CHS Alliance
* Sexual exploitation and abuse
* Core Humanitarian Standard
* Sphere (organization)
* Sphere Handbook
* The State of the World's Cash 2020

Aid worker safety|

* Attacks on humanitarian workers
* Aid Worker Security Database
* World Humanitarian Day
* Health Care In Danger Campaign
* Kunduz hospital airstrike
* Airstrikes on Yemen
* Dolo hospital airstrike

Related fields|

* Human Rights
* International development
* Peacekeeping
* Neocolonialism

Related articles|

* 2015 European migrant crisis
* Detention Centres in Libya
* Crisis mapping
* Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks
* United Nations response to the COVID-19 pandemic
* Aid effectiveness

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