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Minimum humanitarian standards and the Sphere project

  • Page updated onMarch 29, 2026
Minimum humanitarian standards and the Sphere project
Text and photo: Bruno Abarca

Humanitarian minimum standards define essential levels of quality for effective, safe, and dignified humanitarian action for people affected by crises. Their best-known reference is the Sphere Project, a framework for all humanitarian organizations, not only concerning participation, responsibility, and accountability, but also the technical standards of operations.

What is Sphere?

The origin of the Sphere project and its objectives

The Sphere Project emerged in 1997 at a turning point in the humanitarian system: the reform and transformation that followed the humanitarian crisis in Rwanda in 1994. The initiative was initially driven by Peter Walker (IFRC) and Nicholas Stockton (Oxfam), and was joined by a wide range of humanitarian organizations.

From its inception, the Sphere project aimed to improve the effectiveness and accountability of humanitarian action. Initially, some organizations were wary and concerned that the existence of minimum standards for humanitarian response would reduce the accountability of governments in humanitarian crises. However, over time, Sphere has established itself as a global humanitarian reference for improving the quality, accountability and coherence of humanitarian action.

The Sphere Handbook and its contents

The heart of the Sphere project is the Sphere Handbook, aimed at people involved in the planning, management or implementation of humanitarian responses, in any context. After the publication of a pilot version in 1998, the Handbook has been updated in 2000, 2004, 2011 and finally in 2018, this being the current edition in force. The document reflects the commitment of the Sphere Project and the humanitarian system to base its response on principles and rights, and is divided into two main blocks:

The first major block offers an ethical, legal and practical basis for humanitarian action, in four chapters:

  • The first chapter explains what Sphere is and how the Handbook should be used. It explains that its minimum standards or norms should always be used taking into account the context of intervention, the diversity of individuals and peoples, operational and logistical realities, and the starting point in key indicators. It is not a recipe but a reference and its use does not replace a critical and continuous analysis of the situation.
  • The second chapter is the Humanitarian Charter, based on the 1994 Code of Conduct, and lays the ethical and legal foundation for the remaining chapters. It affirms the principle of humanity and the humanitarian imperative, as well as the recognized rights of all people affected by a disaster or armed conflict, and the commitment that adhering humanitarian organizations make to them.
  • The third chapter explains the protection principles by which any humanitarian actor must be guided: (1) prevent or mitigate harm, (2) ensure people's impartial access to the humanitarian assistance they need, (3) help people recover from the effects of violence, coercion, and abuse, and (4) help people claim their rights. These principles underpin the rights recognized in the Humanitarian Charter and are operationalized through the principles of protection mainstreaming.
  • The fourth chapter includes, since the update of the Handbook in 2018, the Core Humanitarian Standard and its nine commitments.

The second major section, however, includes the minimum technical standards for four humanitarian sectors: water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), food security and nutrition, shelter and settlement, and health. For each of these sectors and their specific technical areas, the document sets out a series of recommended key actions, key indicators with pre-established minimum thresholds, and additional technical guidance.

Humanitarian technical standards beyond the Sphere Handbook

The Sphere Handbook is not the only document of the Humanitarian Standards Partnership, the alliance that today continues to advocate for these improvements. There are also additional documents on standards for the care of children and adolescents, the inclusion of the elderly and people with disabilities, and the management of camps for displaced persons, among others.

In addition, outside the Humanitarian Standards Partnership and the Sphere project, numerous other UN agencies, sectoral humanitarian clusters, academic institutions, donors and non-governmental organizations have developed technical guides and sectoral manuals, which are increasingly evidence-based.

Although it is impossible to list all the sources of technical guidance for the different sectors, it is worth highlighting the work of UN agencies such as WHO, UNFPA and UNICEF and organizations focused on research, innovation and learning such as ALNAP and ELRHA, the work that numerous NGOs implementing humanitarian action such as Médecins Sans Frontières carry out in research, learning and evidence generation, or the commitment of academic sector initiatives such as the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the Geneva Centre of Humanitarian Studies, the Health in Humanitarian Crises Centre of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, or the Johns Hopkins Center for Humanitarian Health, among many others.

The global humanitarian clusters in each sector have many of the main technical and operational reference guides on their websites.

Standards, practices and dilemmas

How to cite this page

Abarca, B. (March 29, 2026). Minimum humanitarian standards and the Sphere project. Salud Everywhere. https://saludeverywhere.com/en/humanitarian-aid-and-international-development/minimum-humanitarian-standards-and-the-sphere-project/

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