Following an intensive initial review process, the first draft of the Sphere Standards 2018 edition is now open for comments and suggestions from practitioners around the world.To provide an opportunity to learn about the main improvements and how you can contribute to the process, PHAP hosted an online briefing session on 27 April. This was an opportunity to hear directly from the lead chapter authors and the Sphere secretariat and ask questions about the process.The lead authors and writing teams have been working with their review groups across six chapters to create the framework for the revised standards. The first draft moves the standards from a text-heavy format to a clearer table style which draws out indicators, thresholds, and targets and encourages the reader to think more about context. Common terminology is being used to build greater consistency across chapters. Drivers of future humanitarian response, such as cash transfer programming, urban response, and environmental concerns, are grouped and woven throughout them.Read more about the event and access related resources at https://phap.org/27apr2017

Revising the Sphere Handbook: What is new and how you can contribute

Learning sessions and webinars organized by the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection open to members and the wider humanitarian community.

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While both climate finance and humanitarian response aim to address the negative effects of climate change, they have different mechanisms and distinct forms of financing, resulting in poor coordination. Improving coordination between these two sectors is needed to help close the considerable funding gaps that exist for countries most affected by climate change.Join us for a webinar on 6 July, in which we will discuss how climate finance and humanitarian response can better work together to respond to climate-related emergencies. Together with an expert panel, we'll be looking in more detail at how climate loss and damage financing works in relation to humanitarian response, what the two sectors can learn from each other, and what lessons we can already draw from existing coordination efforts.Read more about the session at https://phap.org/6jul2023

Humanitarian Response and Loss and Damage Finance: Coordinating action to meet rising needs

What is needed to move beyond consulting and listening to people affected by crises to ensure their representation and influence in decision-making forums? Join us on Tuesday, 13 December 2022, to explore how we can collectively build greater trust in our responses through genuine participation in decision-making processes.The IASC AAP Task Force has been exploring different elements of putting accountability to affected populations (AAP) into practice through a series of events over the past year. Previous sessions have focused on collective accountability, leadership, and donor engagement. In each of those events, getting the voices of those affected by crisis “to the table” has been a recurring theme.As part of the IASC Task Force’s commitment to engaging and consulting with the broader community, we invite you to join us and share both the challenges you are facing and your views on how we can ensure genuine participation. Together with a panel, we will discuss cases submitted by the participants to see what practical steps can be taken to better ensure the genuine participation of people affected by crises.Read more about the event at https://phap.org/13dec2022

Building Trust through Participation

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) includes commitments regarding “Loss and Damage” (L&D;) – the impacts of climate change to which those least responsible for climate change are not able to adapt. Action to address L&D; under the UNFCCC aims to enable countries to recover and develop after a crisis and address slow-onset impact, but also to compensate people for what they have lost. The concept of L&D; is rooted in the principles of climate justice: that those who have done the least to contribute to rising temperatures should not bear the costs associated with addressing it.This session will explain what Loss and Damage is and how it could support – and be supported by – existing humanitarian finance mechanisms. The session will explore the losses and damages experienced by individuals, communities, and governments and how adequate funding for loss and damage could reduce the impact of short-term, protracted, and slow onset crises.This webinar aims to:   -Improve understanding of Loss and Damage and its relationship to climate finance, as well as the importance of this year’s COP27 to Loss and Damage and how it links to humanitarian action.-Discuss why humanitarian organizations need to engage on the topic of Loss and Damage, among others, in the lead-up to COP27.-Highlight the modalities and strategies for humanitarian NGOs to engage in the preparatory work for COP27 and beyond.Read more at https://phap.org/25aug2022

Understanding Climate Change Loss and Damage and Links to Humanitarian Action

Over the last few years, we have seen a significant increase in awareness by the humanitarian community of the impacts of the climate crisis and humanitarian engagement in UNFCCC processes. Following on COP26 in Glasgow last year, we saw a far greater presence of humanitarian actors, engaging and raising awareness of the impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable. However, ahead of the 2022 UN Climate Change Conference or COP27, which will take place in Sharm El-Sheikh in November this year, the humanitarian community needs to further articulate its collective role in implementing solutions to the climate crisis. How does COP27 relate to the work of humanitarian actors and how can they engage in the proceedings to make sure that the discussions take into account humanitarian needs?Commitment #6 of the Climate and Environment Charter encourages humanitarian organizations to use their influence to mobilize urgent and more ambitious climate action and environmental protection. The Charter commits us to work together to foster ambitious action on climate change adaptation and mitigation and to ensure protection of those who are most vulnerable so that they are not left behind. The humanitarian sector is uniquely placed to influence legal and policy frameworks to better channel resources and attention towards vulnerable and at-risk people. We can leverage our presence, expertise, and insight to work with multilateral institutions, governments, and other organizations to ensure that greater focus on the impacts of this crisis on communities and people we serve are taken into consideration at decision-making levels. On 30 June, join us for a webinar on how we can make COP27 an opportunity for this.This webinar aims to:   - Raise awareness of the UNFCC process and the importance of this year’s COP27 and how it links to humanitarian action- Discuss why humanitarian organizations need to engage to bring in humanitarian perspectives on the topic of Loss and Damage in the lead-up to COP27- Highlight the modalities and strategies for humanitarian NGOs to engage in the preparatory work for COP27Read more at https://phap.org/30jun2022

The Road to COP27: Strengthening humanitarian perspectives

Over the last decade, individual agencies, and the humanitarian sector as a whole, have made progress in becoming more accountable to people affected by crisis. However, we are still facing substantial challenges in meeting the commitments we have made to affected people. Fundamentally, we need to work with affected communities, multilateral agencies, NGOs, civil society organizations, governments, and donors, to address the asymmetry of power that currently defines the relationship between humanitarian agencies and affected people. This requires a more cohesive, collaborative system-wide approach to seeing how we connect the incentives and break down the barriers that hold us back from making this change.Join us on 24 June for a discussion on collective accountability, organized by the new IASC Task Force on Accountability to Affected People (AAP) and hosted by PHAP, where we will aim to generate ideas and understand better what is needed to drive a system-wide change for greater collective accountability for people who have been affected by crisis. The discussion will take its starting point in the vision of the AAP Task Force: “By having an accountable and enhanced leadership, supported by an inclusive system and architecture with quality resourcing available we will strengthen collective accountably to people affected by crisis and deliver the necessary system-wide change”. The session will draw on learning from a range of initiatives to capture ideas of opportunities, as well as overcoming barriers to change to help offer direction to advance the IASC Task Force plans for collective accountability to affected people.Read more about the event on https://phap.org/24jun2022

Revising the Sphere Handbook: What is new and how you can contribute

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