Sphere Board meets in New Delhi, looks ahead to Sphere 2020

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Hosted by Sphere India, the Board meeting took place in parallel with a gathering of Sphere focal points from the South and South East Asia regions. On the 10th, Board members participated in the opening day of the focal points meeting.

The gathering showcased the vitality and diversity of the Sphere community. Working in disaster-prone areas and acting as national coordination platforms, the Sphere country focal points are an effective way of promoting humanitarian standards.

Among other initiatives, they are working on the development of a South Asian Network on Disaster Management across the country members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).

“The collective spirit in this gathering will be a great inspiration for our discussions over the next two days and will inform our future strategy,” said Sphere Board Chair Unni Krishnan. “We can only strengthen the Sphere Network by working with you and learning from you.”

“What we do depends on what we do with others,” Krishnan added. “That’s the power of the network idea. As we continue growing, Sphere is committed to engaging and collaborating with all those who are working towards principled and dignified humanitarian response.”

The discussion of the new Sphere Strategy 2020 was one of the main topics of the Board meeting. A final draft is being revised and will be validated in mid-December.

Sphere 2020 aims to leverage the impact of the world community of Sphere practitioners through the establishment of a global network. It will be launched in January 2015 and guide Sphere’s work for the coming five years.

The new Strategy and its growing portfolio of Sphere programme activities will be supported by an ambitious fundraising campaign. Board members agreed on the need to diversify funding sources and made specific fundraising commitments.

One of the key approaches discussed at the meeting was to integrate evidence research on the use of standards and in the impact of Sphere in the field into the 2015 work plan, either through collaboration with research institutes or by conducting field research directly.

Sphere will also be actively supporting the range of regional groupings and learning from their direct experience with national disaster management authorities, community outreach and capacity-building.

Board members agreed to invite one additional humanitarian NGO family into the Board. Likewise, conversations with current candidates to become Companion Standards will continue to be actively pursued.

The Sphere Board endorsed the (CHS) developed through a wide consultation process carried out by HAP International, People In Aid and the Sphere Project. The CHS will replace the HAP Standard, the People In Aid Code of Good Practice as well as the Sphere Handbook Core Standards.

The Board noted that in its current form, the CHS is not yet complete, with key indicators and guidance notes to be developed and tested in 2015. Thus, Sphere Core Standards will remain in place until the CHS as a full product is ready for use by field workers. Sphere will engage in the development process and review the complete CHS during the year.

Board members are keen to contribute Sphere’s expertise on developing evidence-based key indicators and guidance notes. This is a crucial step if the CHS guidance is to be consistent with the Sphere Handbook structure.

The Sphere Board expressed its willingness to be part of the projected CHS Steering Committee. The new body is expected to reflect a broad range of stakeholders beyond HAP, People In Aid and the Sphere Project.

Thirteen Board members participated in the meeting with two others intervening remotely during key discussions.

Four staff members participated in the meeting as well, including Linda Poteat, outgoing Interim Director, and Christine Knudsen, newly appointed Director. The Board expressed deep gratitude to Poteat for her commitment and excellent work during the interim period, and welcomed Knudsen to her new responsibilities.

The Sphere Board will meet next in Brussels. Hosted by Caritas, the meeting will take place in May 2015.