The Sphere Project [to 17 October 2015]
http://www.sphereproject.org/news/

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How humanitarian standards make a difference in the refugee crisis
13 October 2015 | Sphere Project
From Gaziantep in Turkey to Calais in France to several German cities, humanitarian standards are taking centre stage in the response to an unprecedented crisis… with no end in sight …
..OCHA Turkey recognises the need to train humanitarian staff to work with the Sphere Handbook. Thus the agency – in collaboration with CARE, Save the Children and the Sphere office – organised an experts workshop to customise the Sphere training package to the Syrian context.

The workshop took place in Gaziantep, some 40 km north of the Syrian border in late July. Integrating field examples from Syria, it demonstrated the applicability of Sphere standards and indicators to the Syrian humanitarian response while highlighting potential challenges linked to the specifics of the crisis.

The workshop outlined an action plan for the dissemination of Sphere standards through customised Sphere training activities in Arabic. These activities will target staff of international and national NGOs working in the Syrian response, be it inside Syria or across the border in Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq.

A three-day training activity took place already in July; two more, as well as a training of trainers course, are planned for the end of 2015. A Sphere reference group in Turkey is being set up and will work closely with the Sphere country focal points…

Download the workshop report Customisation of Sphere training modules to the Syrian context.