Creation of Sphere Ecuador

Sphere Ecuador will promote the development of national indicators based on global ones, training of humanitarian personnel including trainers, and evaluation of governmental and nongovernmental organizations’ efforts to implement the Sphere standards in emergencies or disasters.

The formal Agreement signed by Sphere Ecuador’s officers highlights the need to “expand and improve the application of the Sphere Project minimum standards for humanitarian response” in order to “continuously improve” humanitarian actors’ operational efficiency.

The National Secretariat for Risk Management and a dozen key humanitarian actors in the country signed the Agreement on 19 August, 2011 in Quito (see the Agreement, in Spanish).

The National Secretariat for Risk Management (SNGR) of Ecuador and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) conducted a training of trainers course on Sphere principles and standards from 31 August to 4 September, 2011 in Quito.

A total of 24 humanitarian workers with previous training in Sphere minimum standards participated (see workshop report, in Spanish).

The aim was to strengthen their understanding of the conceptual basis of Sphere, as well as the rights based approach proposed in its Humanitarian Charter.  Previously trained with the 2004 edition of the Sphere Handbook, the course gave participants the opportunity to update their knowledge based on the 2011 edition.

The course is part of a training plan for facilitators, which included Sphere workshops for beginners in the provinces of Imbabura (14-15 April, see report, in Spanish) and Sucumbíos (4-5 June, see report, in Spanish) in the operational use of the Sphere Handbook, including introductory workshops on Sphere standards.

(PHOTO CAPTION)

Officers sign the agreement formalizing the creation of Sphere Ecuador.