Between the 16th and the 18th of February, the cycle of workshops on SPHERE STANDARDS for HOPE – Master in Humanitarian Operations in Emergencies Managing Projects, People, Administration & Logistic in the field, was held in Madrid, at Social Change School’s Headquarters, and it was led by Ana Urgoiti, Sphere Trainer Humanitarian Expert.
The workshop started with a short discussion between the School’s staff, fellows and lecturer on the recent events about unethical behaviours in NGOs. The fellows got to know about the school’s position on this regard and shared their own thoughts. An important debate to raise awareness and critics about these unprincipled conducts.
The first day was dedicated to an initial approach to “QUALITY AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE: SPHERE STANDARDS AND OTHER KEY STANDARDS”. Furthermore, the students had a first contact with Humanitarian Charter, Protection Principles and Core Standards.
On the second day, a first moment was dedicated to exploring the content of the Core Humanitarian Standards. The rest of the day was centred on the overview of the four Technical chapters and on how to use Sphere in the project cycle. At the end of the day, fellows worked on a case study to apply those standards, focusing on Shelter.
On Sunday morning, the workshop started with a simulation on the application of Sphere standards within the WASH chapter, using the Sphere handbook; a very useful exercise to put the handbook’s contents into practice. Afterwards, students worked on another case study, applying all the knowledge acquired on how to use the Standards Sphere book, analysing the situation and preparing a small project. The last hour of the session was dedicated to Education and Protection in Emergencies. The workshop ended with a contest, where students had to answer 10 questions on the issues they dealt with during the entire workshop.
The objective achieved in this series of workshops was to give fellows a global understanding of Sphere Standards and the skills to apply them in practical situations in the field.
At the end of the workshop, students were very satisfied with the lectures.
Mauro Paris (one of our fellows) said he “really appreciated the testimonial of the teacher about her real experience. She transferred to us her practical knowledge and she gave us examples on how to really work in the field. It has been useful to learn how to use the knowledge practically.”
Another student, Giulia Merendi, also stated: “I really enjoyed this training, the theoretical part as well as the practical one. Ana Urgoiti is an excellent trainer and I like how she challenged us to use different tools. She gave us the keys to understand and explore Sphere’s set of principles and minimum standards by ourselves and she also encouraged us to be creative. I also really enjoyed the challenging opportunity to work with other students, to debate with them and to get a common understanding.”
Lastly, Albert Mayordomo found that “It has been a very comprehensive and enriching workshop. Ana fulfilled my expectations by bringing in many years of experience. Loved the learning approach.”
