CWS News

Twenty-six natural disaster and conflict recovery professionals assembled in Medan to improve their capacity in applying Sphere, the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, from 13 – 17 April 2010.

“This training is important because we want to improve the capacity of our staff in responding to current or future emergencies,” said Dino Satria, Church World Service Emergency Coordinator who also functions as the facilitator. CWS as a humanitarian organization aims always to comply with the standards in its emergency response efforts, in order to better provide the needs of affected populations.

Church World Service from around Indonesia and other humanitarian organizations’, members of ACT Alliance, staff participated in the event, including Lutheran World Relief (LWR), Yayasan Tanggul Bencana Indonesia (YTBI), Christian Aid, Yakkum Emergency Unit (YEU) and The Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC).

Chairul Syah, CWS Project Officer, is sharing his experience in emergency response in Padang, West Sumatra and Yogyakarta
(CWS Indonesia)

The one-week training covered humanitarian charter, assessment process, Sphere standards and key indicators for emergency response including water and sanitation, hygiene promotion, food security and food aid, shelter and non-food items and health services, project cycle and monitoring and evaluation. Participants also learned about Logical Framework Analysis especially for short-term projects such as emergency response.   

The training included lectures, discussion, role-play, simulations. Prior to the training, participants assessed their knowledge on Sphere standards and disaster response. After the training, they had to do another test to see if their knowledge improved.

Participants will utilize Sphere standards in project planning and implementation, especially emergency response. Participants who were already familiar with Sphere standards now have an increased capacity. “Sphere will give us, the humanitarian worker, a guide in giving assistance to the affected community”, said Dewy Agustin, CWS staff who is now working on an earthquake recovery project in Padang Pariaman District, West Sumatra. 

Sphere standards provide guidance in project planning and implementation and project monitoring and evaluation. “The training is very helpful. Having understood the minimum standards and indicators of the Sphere, we can monitor the implementation and also evaluate the project better,” expressed Dessy Susanti, CWS Senior Program Officer for Monitoring and Evaluation.

Participants set a list of follow-up actions “Facilitator and participants shared their experiences. Different participant experiences and input will enrich our knowledge to better conduct humanitarian action,” said Mesih Andana, YEU staff in Padang Pariaman.

In a disaster-prone country like Indonesia, the Sphere training for humanitarian workers is necessary to improve the assistance that the agency delivered to the affected community. Dino Satria concluded that, “We will face challenges in the field that Sphere cannot answer. However Sphere will help us set up standards to have a good quality projects, especially in responding to an emergency.” [IS/IV/2010]