Dear colleagues,
I am forwarding a copy of this week's "Aid Workers Exchange" which may be of
interest.
Aid Workers Exchange is a weekly knowledge-sharing bulletin for
development and relief practitioners. You can subscribe online at
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With best regards,
Mark Hammersley
Aid Workers Network.
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Aid Workers Exchange - April 7, 2004
Disaster Preparedness is an important element of relief and
development work. Is it possible to bring together the critical
actors - governmental and non-governmental organisations, and
communities - for a co-ordinated response? This week, Phil
Gelman describes one answer to this question, using the Sphere
Project as a starting point to build a common platform.
An online consultation to help shape the future of Sphere is taking place
from now until the end of April, and you can participate via web or e-mail.
To join the Sphere online consultation please visit
http://forum.aidworkers.net/sphere/
or write to [log in to unmask]
This article is available online at:
http://www.aidworkers.net/exchange/20040407.html
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BUILDING CAPACITY IN DISASTER RESPONSE
by Phil Gelman
When Hurricane Mitch hit Central America, it demonstrated to all
of us working in the region the urgent need to develop better
measures for risk reduction in both non-governmental and
governmental organisations. The one positive impact of Mitch was
to create a spirit of interagency cooperation around this
objective.
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS
In September 2001, Comisión Cristiana de Desarrollo (CCD, a local
NGO), Catholic Relief Services and the International Federation
of the Red Cross sponsored an interagency workshop on the Sphere
Project.
The workshop created the opportunity for a range of 20 NGOS to
come together for the first time on a common platform, and
institutional commitment amongst our group was high. The Working
Group formed following the workshop quickly realised that
institutionalising Sphere in the NGO community was not the only
issue.
The benefits would not be maximized until Sphere became the
common denominator of humanitarian assistance nationally. Our
priority was to begin a dialogue with the government,
particularly to engage the Comisión Permanente de Contingencias
(COPECO), the national emergency response coordinating agency.
ENGAGING THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
Hurricane Mitch had demonstrated that, while COPECO had some
capacity to coordinate government activities, its ties to the NGO
community were virtually non-existent. Given the major role
played by our organisations in emergency response, COPECO had
begun an unprecedented process of coordination with our agencies
to develop more coherent response mechanisms.
The Working Group met with the COPECO Deputy Commissioner to
raise the possibility of certifying the Humanitarian Charter and
Minimum Standards. The idea behind a system of project
certification is to create basic parameters for interventions in
all aspects of risk reduction - a "checklist" to ensure
standardization of activities. Certification of specific tools
and educational materials would also give a "seal of approval"
for their use in Honduras.
After several meetings a certification project was established,
including
* Development and production of a community-friendly version of
the Sphere manual;
* Development of training materials associated with this;
* Training of 40 staff (both NGO and COPECO) in use of these
materials.
While CCD had already planned to develop the manual, COPECO and
CRS agreed to finance production of the manual and training
material. The support of the Working Group members would ensure
that the manual reached a wider audience than CCD alone could
reach.
FROM THE TABLE TO THE TOWN HALL
The certification project was established as COPECO began a major
initiative to establish Municipal Emergency Committees (MECs),
chaired by the mayors of each municipality. MECs would be
responsible for coordination of governmental and non-governmental
agencies - and with disaster-affected communities - to ensure
adequate response. The initiative included a training program
for municipal authorities and community leaders, including risk
reduction - for which the community-friendly version of Sphere
would be extremely useful.
While the Sphere Handbook is very useful for policy and
operations, it is not accessible for disaster-affected
communities. The 'community-friendly' version of the Sphere
Handbook was not just a Spanish-language version of the original
Handbook. Instead of a technical, text-heavy tool, the
community-friendly version of Sphere materials are visual
presentations aimed at audiences with lower literacy rates.
These presentations will be made available in the 'rotafolio'
format used in Honduras. Printed on vinyl sheets, community
facilitators can simply carry them in a protective tube as they
travel from village to village.
HONDURAS - A SPHERE COUNTRY?
In early 2004, the Working Group agreed with the Sphere Project
to establish a Coordinator, to develop a workplan for monitoring
institutionalization of Sphere and promoting Sphere among
potential new users. The project will involve training 25
"institutionalization agents" to strengthen the capacity of
existing Sphere users and to train new users.
Future plans include outreach to the Asociación de Municipios de
Honduras (the mayors' union) to develop an orientation program on
risk reduction for mayors-elect and in-service training for
municipal authorities. Preliminary contact has been made with
universities with courses related to risk reduction, to determine
how Sphere might be included in their curricula.
Our experience in Honduras shows that Sphere can be a tool to
promote closer NGO collaboration. The Humanitarian Charter and
the Minimum Standards have also been an entry point for
coordination with other players in humanitarian assistance in the
country. With the development of the community-friendly version
of Sphere, Honduras is on the way to becoming a "Sphere country."
---------------------------------------------------------------
Phil Gelman is a Regional Advisor for USAID's Office of Foreign
Disaster Assistance (OFDA) in San José, Costa Rica. Until
December 2003, he worked in Honduras for Catholic Relief Services
and participated actively in the Sphere Working Group.
The Sphere team is carrying out consultations on the future of
Sphere. For information on how you can participate in this
process, please visit www.sphereproject.org/consultation.htm
---------------------------------------------------------------
YOUR SAY ...
Have you used Sphere as a starting point to build a common
approach? Do you think the lessons learned in Honduras are
applicable to your work? Do you have any suggestions on how this
type of approach can be developed in future to better meet the
needs of people affected by disasters?
Email [log in to unmask] or join the discussion
online at http://forum.aidworkers.net/messages/258/15791.html
---------------------------------------------------------------
SPHERE ONLINE CONSULTATION [sponsored topic]
An online debate about the future of Sphere project is taking
place on Aid Workers Forum from now until the end of April. You
can participate via web or email.
Join in by visiting http://forum.aidworkers.net/sphere/
or write to [log in to unmask]
To obtain a username and password for the forum click here:
http://forum.aidworkers.net/sphere/join.php
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Aid Workers Exchange 07-APR-04 ISSN 1478-5137
previous issues available at http://www.aidworkers.net/exchange
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