Promoting accountable humanitarian action in India: Sphere India’s Commitment to contextualising the Core Humanitarian Standard
Sphere India is advancing its mission to improve the quality and accountability of humanitarian assistance across India by sharing the value of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS). As a country frequently impacted by natural disasters, India needs a contextualised approach to ensure that the most vulnerable receive aid in ways that uphold their dignity and rights. Sphere India has led numerous capacity-building initiatives to integrate the CHS across disaster responses nationwide.
Strengthening Humanitarian Standards
Sphere India has deepened engagement across our national network to enhance accountability to people affected by crisis. Our work to contextualise the CHS for India has resulted in more structured, community-driven interventions. This ensures that our humanitarian efforts are not only effective but also respectful of the people we aim to assist. These improvements have fostered better relationships with affected communities, yielding more sustainable and impactful results.
AAP Training, Kerala 2014. Credit: Sphere India
Promoting Accountability in Disaster Response
At Sphere India, we have long championed the promotion of the CHS across the country, applying the Standard to our own programmes and through network partners.
“By introducing partners to the CHS and other technical standards, Sphere India is creating stronger connections to local coordination and clear linkages with District Disaster Management Authorities on issues related to quality and accountability.”
We also use self-evaluation tools and focus group discussions to assess collective groups’ adherence to CHS and then work together to strengthen accountability in joint humanitarian action.
Expanding Access to the Core Humanitarian Standard
In a recent initiative, Sphere India translated the updated CHS into Hindi, making it more accessible to an audience of more than half a billion! A national-level launch in May 2024 featured the release of this Hindi version, which we developed in collaboration with local partners to ensure accuracy and a contextualised translation.
English & Hindi versions of the CHS Handbook at the India Country Launch Event. Credit – Sphere India.
Several of our regional partners have already expressed interest in translating the updated CHS into other regional languages, including Bengali, Malayalam, and Marathi. Additionally, we held a state-level workshop in Jharkhand which raised awareness on how to integrate the updated CHS with ongoing humanitarian efforts.
Participants celebrate at the India Country Launch Event of the updated CHS. Credit – Sphere India.
Building a Resilient India
Sphere India’s work has been making a significant impact in communities affected by crises for over two decades. By translating and contextualising the CHS to meet India’s specific needs, Sphere India is ensuring that humanitarian interventions are relevant and successful. We strongly encourage other national organisations to do the same, as embedding the CHS to local conditions will strengthen their humanitarian efforts.
“We also want to end by urging governments and funders to support these initiatives by providing the resources needed to integrate the CHS with national minimum standards.”
Updated CHS
With the engagement of more than 4,000 contributors across 90 countries, the 2024 CHS is now even more people-driven and people-centred, reinforcing the leading role of communities and local actors in shaping and influencing the actions and decisions that affect them, helping address power imbalances in the aid system.
Making it accessible in as many languages as possible
As well as English, French, Spanish and Arabic, CHS Alliance members are working to translate the updated CHS into Amharic, Bahasa Indonesian, Bisaya, Cebuano, Chichewa, Farsi, Hindi, Japanese, Korean, Burmese, Romanian, Tagalog, Ukrainian and Waray. Access those that are ready here.
However, we need the CHS in many more languages. If you can help, get in touch with us to receive our translation support package.
Launches
Engaging 2024 launch events have now taken place in Afghanistan, Australia, Benin, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Niger, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Spain Somalia and Yemen, with more to come. These demonstrate how working together can create greater awareness and commitment to meeting the expectations of the updated CHS in the places it’s most needed.
Read and watch a wrap up of some other recent country launches, driving conversations on how to amplify the voices and rights of those facing crisis.