Introduction to Sphere Standards: Enhancing Quality of Disaster Response

The Sphere movement was started in 1997 by a group of humanitarian professionals aiming to improve the quality of humanitarian work during disaster response. With this goal in mind, they framed a Humanitarian Charter and identified a set of humanitarian standards to be applied in humanitarian response.
Sphere’s flagship publication, the Sphere Handbook, is one of the most widely known and internationally recognised sets of common principles and universal minimum standards in humanitarian response. The Sphere standards serve as a vital set of principles and minimum humanitarian benchmarks in key technical areas of humanitarian response. These areas include Water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH), Food security and nutrition, Shelter and settlement, and Health. Established in 1997, Sphere has emerged as a leading initiative committed to improving the quality and accountability of the global humanitarian sector. Its standards have gained widespread recognition and are utilized as reference tools by humanitarian agencies, advocacy groups, governments, and donors.
Humanitarian standards provide a framework for ensuring that crisis-affected individuals have the right to receive protection and assistance, and to live with dignity. By adhering to these standards, humanitarian agencies and practitioners commit to delivering quality responses and being accountable to the populations they serve. Humanitarian standards are a useful resource for practitioners to plan, implement, and evaluate humanitarian responses. They provide a strong basis to advocate for the rights of crisis-affected communities. By applying them in preparedness and response operations, humanitarian agencies and practitioners make a commitment to quality and make themselves accountable to the populations they serve.