This Sunday, May 3, a new Training Cycle began with the contents of the Sphere Handbook, which this time will include members of the Light-Community, monasteries of the Grace Mercy Order (GMO), and other affiliates of the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF).

The course will have 8 modules and will also be transmitted online, respecting the social distancing orders because of the coronavirus pandemic.

The goal of the second training cycle is to teach the members who are permanently active in the work  of the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF), bearing in mind the current and future emergencies that may occur in Brazil and other locations in which the organization currently operates.

For Anderson Santiago, parent missionary of the Colombia Mission, the training of those who are active in humanitarian assistance programs is extremely important: “we know that the training of the communities and people directly or indirectly involved in humanitarian responses and other social services carried out by the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Federation (FIHF) will be an element of emergency prevention and, at the same time, of qualitative improvement in those places where we already operate,” he adds.

The missionary emphasizes that many times people create a superficial idea of this kind of action, and the study of the Sphere Handbook can serve as a “withdrawing of veils” about what a Humanitarian Response is, how it is structured, what its purpose is, the main challenges to be faced in a general way in the emergencies, and the most appropriate ways to find the respective solutions.

The Sphere Handbook is an initiative of the Sphere Humanitarian Standards, that seeks to ensure the quality of humanitarian assistance, and involves more than 450 organizations present in almost 60 countries. Created in 1997, it establishes a series of principles and standards that have to be followed in humanitarian responses, and has the goal of being a guide for civilian, governmental, military, and private organizations that act together in humanitarian projects in the search for a more just and worthy society.

Find out more about the Sphere Handbook by clicking here