Shelter and Settlement, Non-food Item
& Critical Infrastructure Programmes
Self-assessment of Sphere compliance
…and beyond?
Presented by Mark Wooding
HQ Senior Reconstruction Advisor
Shelter Meeting 12b
Geneva, Switzerland, 31 October 2012
Purpose of self assessment tool
What?
A tool comprising a single Excel form to enable Medair project
managers in the field to self-assess the compliance to Sphere
standards of their shelter and settlement/ non-food item/ critical
infrastructure projects in emergency relief and/ or rehabilitation.
How often?
To be filled in initially to establish a baseline, then every quarter for
all current project locations in every Medair country progranmme,
and sent to the reconstruction adviser at Medair HQ in Switzerland
to track progress in overall and specific compliance to Sphere.
Why?
To raise awareness of Sphere 2011 in the field and contribute to
improving project quality through ‘soft’ performance measurement.
Sections 1-3 Key data and Instructions on completing form
1. Project information
Country/ Project/ Location/ Year/ Quarter
2. Person completing this assessment
Full name/ email address/ Position/ Date completed
3. Instructions
This spreadsheet forms part of an internal Medair monitoring system. It is
not considered as, or intended to be, definitive but is to help recognise
progress and also identify any gaps, hopefully highlighting areas for
potential improvement in either project design or implementation. The
Sphere indicators for shelter and settlements (S&S) and non-food items
(NFIs) are listed below, together with similar (but non-Sphere) indicators for
critical infrastructure. Relevant pages from the Sphere handbook 2011 are
also listed, where additional information/ explanatory notes can be found.
Instructions on completing form cont.
a) Please give a score between 0-100% for this S&S/ NFI and/ or
infrastructure project in this location for this quarter (three months), by
estimating the percentage achievement of this indicator over the quarter. If
the project supports more than one S&S/ NFI/ infrastructure site etc. the
score should represent the average across all structures/ sites.
0% = Indicator never achieved this quarter
100% = Indicator always achieved this quarter
b) If you feel that the Sphere indicator does not apply to your project this
quarter please score "N" and use the comment box under the section to
explain why the Sphere standard does not apply to your project. But note
that, in general, if the Sphere standard is relevant to your project, all
indicators should apply.
c) Please add any comments about the achievement of the indicators in the
comments section below each group of indicators, especially if the score is
low.
Section 4A Shelter and Settlement extract
A. Shelter and Settlement
Definition:
Private dwellings, either individual houses or communal apartments:
‘Adequate shelter is a habitable covered living space providing a secure,
healthy living environment with privacy and dignity for the groups, families
and individuals within them.’ (from DFID, ‘Shelter after disaster’, p321)
Standard 1: Strategic planning (see Sphere 2011 pages 250-254)
Score
0-100
Sphere indicators
1.1 Shelter and settlement solutions to meet the essential needs of all the
disaster-•
affected population are agreed with the population themselves
and relevant authorities in coordination with all responding agencies.
1.2 All temporary shelter and settlement solutions are safe and adequate
and •
will remain so until more durable solutions are achieved.
Comments and
Explanations
Section 4B Non-food Items extract
B. Non-food items: clothing, bedding and household items
Definition:
Items distributed other than food, such as clothing, household goods; but not
hygiene kits, medicines etc: ‘...the basic goods and supplies required to
enable families to meet personal hygiene needs, prepare and eat food,
provide thermal comfort and build, maintain or repair shelters.’ (Adapted from
Sphere Project, quoted in DFID, ‘Shelter after disaster’, p315)
Standard 1: Individual, general household and shelter support items
(see Sphere 2011 pages 269-271)
Score
Sphere indicators
0-100
1.1 The assessed non-food item needs of the entire disaster-affected
population ••
have been met.
Comments and
Explanations
Section 4C Critical Infrastructure
C. Critical infrastructure
Working Definition:
Essential infrastructure required to maintain critical services: Institutional
buildings (for administration, education, health etc.), transport infrastructure
(e.g. roads and bridges), major WASH construction (canals, dams, large
water tanks etc.).
Standard 1: Strategic planning (not in Sphere handbook)
Sphere indicators
1.1 All critical infrastructure projects are fit for their purpose, meet the
essential needs of all the disaster-affected population and are agreed
with the affected population themselves and relevant authorities in
coordination with all responding agencies.
Comments and
Explanations
Score
0-100
Section 4C Critical Infrastructure cont.
Standard 2: Location planning (not in Sphere handbook)
Indicators
2.1 Through agreed planning processes, relevant authorities and assisted
populations are consulted on and approve and/ or agree to the location of the
critical infrastructure project/ access to essential services.
Standard 3: Specification and contract management (not in Sphere)
3.1 All critical infrastructure designs and materials meet agreed national/
international technical and performance standards (including appropriate
disaster risk reduction measures); are approved by relevant authorities; and
are culturally acceptable.
3.2 All critical infrastructure projects have relevant project design
documentation (plans/ BoQ/ specification), and are completed under signed
contracts with the project client/ sponsor and any contractors/ subcontractors.
3.3 Handover/ maintenance documents are in place and signed off, and
demonstrate that risks and vulnerabilities in the use of critical infrastructure
projects and essential services have been identified and mitigated.
Section 4C Critical Infrastructure cont.
Standard 4: Construction (not in Sphere handbook)
Indicators
4.1 All construction is in accordance with agreed safe building practices and
complies with local labour laws.
4.2 Construction activities demonstrate the involvement of the affected
population (using signed MoUs/ individual agreements) and the maximising
of local livelihood opportunities.
Standard 5: Environmental impact (not in Sphere handbook)
Indicators
5.1 The planning of all critical infrastructure projects demonstrates that
adverse impact on the natural environment has been minimised and/ or
mitigated.
5.2 The construction processes and sourcing of materials for all critical
infrastructure projects demonstrate that adverse impact on the local natural
environment has been minimised and/ or mitigated.
Section 5 Automated Analysis
5. Automated analysis
Estimated Sphere compliance for this project this quarter
Number of Sphere indicators applicable during this quarter (Q)
Number of applicable Sphere indicators always achieved (100%) this Q
Percentage full compliance with applicable Sphere indicators this Q
Average percentage compliance with applicable Sphere indicators this Q
(End)
NOTE: Various ‘pop-ups’ appear if cells are incorrectly completed to assist
with entering valid responses (150% for example!)
Beyond Sphere…?
Medair is seeking to develop a programme performance dashboard/
‘balanced scorecard’ within each of its core sectors (Health &
Nutrition/ Shelter & Infrastructure/ WaSH), that will allow effective
but minimally disruptive oversight and simplify decision-making.
Sphere standards can be viewed as a useful minimum benchmark
for programme quality, but for shelter and settlement these
indicators alone are not sufficiently SMART.
Currently, a framework is being explored using a combination of
Groupe URD’s Quality COMPAS, DAC criteria and others to identify
the 10-12 most critical quality indicators (existing and/ or new and
including Sphere compliance) that in combination are SMART and
can give meaningful direction; e.g. construction risk assessment tool
If your organisation is there already, we’d like to hear from you..!
Any questions or feedback?
mark.wooding@medair.org