Sphere Association was around 60% funded by the US government in 2024. Like many other humanitarian organisations, the association was required to stop work on activities funded by USAID BHA and US State PRM on 21 January – and subsequently made the difficult but necessary decision to reduce team capacity by two. The Sphere team is now one person in Karachi and three in Geneva; the leanest it has been.

Numerous Sphere focal points, members and other partners were, and continue to be, directly affected by funding cuts, including stopped programmes and staff reductions. Despite these challenges, the Sphere network, supported by the secretariat, continued Sphere-related activities around the world during 2025 Q1.

The Sphere Handbook

The Sphere Handbook – Humanitarian responders make informed decisions that reduce morbidity and mortality by applying its principles and minimum standards. The Sphere Handbook continues to serve as a shared reference that enhances accountability, efficiency, and coordination in humanitarian action.

• Sphere worked with focal point for Brazil and Portugal, Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), to organise and promote a series of free online Sphere workshops titled Dignity first, always! The first event was on 14 March in Portuguese. There will be four more events during 2025 in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.
• Sphere released a new guide, Operationalising Sphere: A practical guide to contextualisation. The topic for the guide was voted for by the Sphere network in 2024 and was written by Sphere trainer Aya (Syria) and Sphere focal point representative Nabil (Yemen). The guide is based on interviews with and case studies collected from a dozen Sphere network organisations.
• Sphere completed and the French translation (Francophone Africa localisation) of its introductory How to use the Sphere Handbook self-paced online course – available from Sphere’s learning platform.

Dignity first always | Operationalising Sphere | Comment utiliser le manuel Sphère

Strategic Partnerships

Strategic Partnerships – People responding to crises have streamlined access to humanitarian standards relevant to their context and stage of response. The Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP) is a leading authority on humanitarian standards.

• Sphere signed a cooperation agreement with People-First Impact Method (https://p-fim.org/). P-FIM gathers community feedback for humanitarian organisations by building respect and mutual trust with and between communities, and mentoring community members to collect feedback. Then they listen. Under the terms of the agreement, P-FIM have added additional open-ended questions to their interviews which correspond to Sphere’s vision and mission statements. Sphere, for its part, will ensure that this voice of the community content feeds into the next revision of the Sphere Handbook – which will be the most people-centered edition yet.
• Sphere, in its role as host of the Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP), continued to provide advice on the development of Connectivity as Aid (CAA) standards, and was approached by two new potential HSP partners interested in developing standards for Anticipatory Action and Engineering in Emergencies.

Policy & Advocacy

Policy & Advocacy – Sphere principles and standards are embedded into policies and operational frameworks at all levels, from local organisations to international institutions.

• Sphere authored a new brochure presenting its vision, mission, Theory of Change, global reach, Sphere Champions Network world map, strategic partnerships, and more.
• Sphere established new media contacts and appeared on television twice including a short news item in Switzerland (Radio Télévision Suisse) and a one-hour interview in Mauritius (Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation).
• Sphere staff represented Sphere in-person at events including a London School of Economics (LSE) disaster simulation and Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Forum (HIF) in Kenya.
• Sphere co-signed a statement on 3 February with other INGO agency leaders calling for the humanitarian imperative to come first in the wake of the USG foreign assistance freeze.
• Sphere partnered with Microsoft to organise an AI literacy workshop in Nairobi. The event gathered AI experts with learning professionals to discuss what AI literacy means for humanitarians, and how this knowledge could be rolled out in Kenya, East Africa and beyond (see the detailed event report for findings).

Sphere Brochure | RTS Television | AI training in Nairobi

Champions Network

Champions Network – Sphere standards are locally driven, strengthening national and community-based actors in their leadership and application of globally recognised humanitarian standards. This approach reinforces sustainability and enhances the effectiveness of humanitarian response.

• The Estonian Refugee Council became Sphere’s 92^nd focal point. The ERC grew rapidly following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has gained extensive experience in cash programmes, notably with Ukrainian refugees.
• Sphere organised a live chat event via its online forum. For one hour, four invited AI experts answered questions – about AI – posed by Sphere trainers, members and focal points.
• In partnership with its focal point for Brazil and Portugal, Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), Sphere released a 30-minute documentary about its focal point network (also on FIHM’s channel). This was filmed in Antalya during the Global Focal Point Forum (GFPF) with photographs and b-roll of in-country programmes provided by the interviewees.
• Sphere organised or co-organised six public sessions at HNPW 2025 (two online, one in-person, three hybrid – attended by over 500 people), ran a stall in the exhibition area, and supported the attendance at the event of Sphere champions from Syria/Canada, Kenya/Somalia, DR Congo, Bangladesh and Moldova. Sphere’s Head of Digital joined a panel to discuss Humanitarian Data Standards, and Sphere’s Executive Director joined panellists from IUCN and IFRC and Hugo Slim, calling for closer collaboration between humanitarian and environment actors. Sphere held in-person Board and HSP meetings in the fringes of the event.
• The Sphere network submitted 39 events to Sphere Calendar.

AI live chat | Sphere focal points documentary | Sphere @ HNPW

Communications

Sphere published four blogs during the quarter – of which three were written by network members in Türkiye, Yemen and the Philippines – and ran two email campaigns: a roundup of news and an invitation to HNPW sessions.

• Blog: Nature-based Solutions for Humanitarian
• Blog: Safe water and inclusive aid: Sphere’s impact in WASH
• Blog: Sphere Türkiye Project – Strengthening humanitarian assistance in Türkiye and beyond
• Blog: Operationalising Sphere: Contextualising humanitarian standards for real-world impact
• Newsletter: Sphere at HNPW 2025
• Newsletter: Sphere spotlight: Recent highlights and news February 2025

Sphere maintained newsletter subscribers above 100,000, and achieved good growth in LinkedIn followers (5.9% during the quarter).

NbS for Humanitarians | Safe water | Türkiye project

Operations, management and governance

Sphere held several Board and Committee meetings following the change in USG administration, including an in-person board meeting at the end of March in the fringes of HNPW. The board agreed that given the extraordinary circumstances, the Sphere Association will actively explore new operating models.

The secondment of Sphere’s Communications Coordinator’s from CWSA to the Sphere secretariat was extended by twelve months to the end of March 2026, reflecting the great success of this agreement.

Sphere was delighted to meet with a new SYNI programme participant ahead of her six-month assignment with Sphere from April.

The future of aid is locally-led and people-centred – and Sphere is committed to playing an active role in this transition.