A comprehensive, authoritative and evidence-based overview of the current state and future trends in humanitarian action with three sections: Global Trends; Inter-Agency Coordinated Appeals; and Delivering Better. There is a short section on people with disabilities in Global Trends.
The Sphere Handbook is the oldest initiative in the field of humanitarian standards. It has been field-tested over twenty years and regularly updated to ensure it remains fit for purpose in a changing world. What does not change is its rights-based foundations: people have the right to assistance, the right to life with dignity, the right to protection and security, and the right to fully participate in decisions related to their own recovery.
The Sphere Handbook 2018 is the fourth edition.
The Sphere Handbook comprises the Humanitarian Charter, the Protection Principles, the Core Humanitarian Standard, and minimum humanitarian standards in four vital areas of response:
Water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH) Food security and nutrition Shelter and settlement Health
There are numerous references to people with disabilities through the handbook.
The purpose of these Guidelines is to assist humanitarian actors and communities affected by armed conflict, natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies to coordinate, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate essential actions for the prevention and mitigation of gender-based violence (GBV) across all sectors of humanitarian response. Part One presents an overview of GBV, provides an explanation for why GBV is a protection concern for all humanitarian actors and outlines recommendations for ensuring implementation of the Guidelines. Part Two provides a background to the ‘thematic areas’ in Part Three. It also introduces the guiding principles and approaches that are the foundation for all planning and implementation of GBV-related programming. Part Three constitutes the bulk of these Guidelines. It provides specific guidance, organized into thirteen thematic area sections: camp coordination and camp management; child protection; education; food security and agriculture; health; housing, land and property; humanitarian mine action; livelihoods; nutrition; protection; shelter, settlement and recovery; water, sanitation and hygiene; humanitarian operations support sectors. The importance of cross-sectoral coordination is highlighted in each section. It is also recommended that sector actors review the content of all thematic area sections. The Guidelines draw from many tools, standards, background materials and other resources developed by the United Nations, national and international non-governmental organizations, and academic sources. In each thematic area there is a list of resources specific to that area, and additional GBV-related resources are provided in Annex 1. The importance of indicators being disaggregated by sex, age, disability and other vulnerability factors is highlighted throughout.
This synthesis report of the UN Secretary General was written to guide negotiations for a new global agenda centred on people and the planet, and underpinned by human rights, supporting States’ discussions going forward. The extensive document presents information in short numbered paragraphs, within six sections: 1) A universal call to action; 2) A synthesis “taking stock of the negotiations on the post-2015 agenda and reviewing lessons from pursuit of the MDGs; 3) Framing the agenda; 4) Mobilising the means to Implement our agenda; 5) Delivering our agenda; 6) Conclusion: together in a universal compact. It highlights the need to “finish the job,” both to help people now and as a launch pad for the new agenda
"This manual is about how to protect children from sexual violence and sexual exploitation, specifically in disaster and emergency situations. It is not intended to be an academic report but instead is a practical guide that we hope will be of use to people working directly in the field. The aim is to provide fundamental information to assist personnel working in emergency situations in responding to protect children, in terms of what can be done before disaster strikes (which might be called ‘mitigation’ efforts), in the immediate aftermath (the ‘response’) and in the longer term reconstruction phase (sometimes called the ‘recovery’). We have also included recommended actions and key considerations to be taken into account in the event of sexual violence or sexual exploitation"
This report presents the methods and findings of an action research effort to measure and compare the impact of Hurricane Mitch on conventionally and agroecologically farmed lands in Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala. The project included farmers, promoters and local organizations as full partners in the research process, from beginning to end, and was designed to stimulate reflection and action based upon the lessons learned
