Revisiting the Sphere Standards: An Urban Informality Informed Analysis

Abstract

Background: Humanitarian actors have long used the Sphere Handbook and its minimum standards to guide operational practice. The new revision attempts to update these standards partly to address urban crises that have challenged the humanitarian system. Yet these indicators have never been based on a substantial body of evidence or data from the varied living standards found in cities or specifically informal settlements. This study attempts to compare a sample of the revised key indicators to the standard of living in three urban informal settlements of Nairobi, Kenya during a non-crisis period to examine their relevance, applicability and discuss the implications. Methods: Randomized household surveys across three informal settlements of Nairobi across arrange of indicators that included Sphere metrics. Findings: The results show that while some standards are met, the majority of the urban poor in these settlements live far below the prescribed minimum standards across many key sectors including water, sanitation, shelter and food security. The data also document variations between and within individual informal settlements. Interpretation: The standards seem to not be informed enough by informality, remain largely aspirational for some populations and consensus rather than evidence-based. The revised handbook has made significant strides in highlighting the need for contextualization, market approaches and incorporating stakeholder input. The new sphere standards must be placed into context for use in the new urban agenda realigning humanitarian actions towards more locally contextualized and driven practice. Funding: No funding for producing this study of previously collected data. Initial external funding for the data collection was provided by a grant from the United States Agency for International Development, Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance. Declaration of Interests: The authors of this study have no personal, financial or other interests to declare or conflicts of interest to report. Ethical Review: Consent was obtained from the self-identified HoH or their representative of all included households using an approved standardized consent form. Ethical review for the overall project and consent form approval was obtained from the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI) national ethical review committee. Stanford University Internal Review Board approved the data analysis for this manuscript with protocol IRB-37404.