The Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) is in a period of expansion of its activities connected with Humanitarian Service on the European continent, and on July 7, in the city of Porto, Portugal, it carried out an introductory training on the Humanitarian Charter, Protection and Housing and Settlement Principles, which brought together ten people, among which there was as a member of the board of the Paula Frassinetti Higher School of Education, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Portugal, collaborators of the Light-Network, monks of the Grace Mercy Order and people of the civil society, who actively participated in the training.
The subject of the training was developed by the humanitarian aid volunteers of the Fraternity – Humanitarian Missions (FIHM), Ricardo Treno and Anderson Santiago.
According to Sister Lisete Gonçalves, of the Congregation of the Sisters of Santa Doroteia, and part of the governing team of the Paula Frassinetti Higher School of Education, “the course helped in broadening our horizons and helped us to perceive the potential we can achieve in effectively assisting populations. Leaving the field of ideas and moving into concrete action.”
The objectives of the training were:
- Introducing the international humanitarian standards and principles contained in the Sphere Handbook;
- Contribute knowledge which can be a guide in the building of a contingency plan and preventative study for the response to an emergency;
- Teach how to use these standards as a common language with which actors can share information and align their actions;
- Monitor indicators and design mutual objectives;
- Foster a synergy, collaboration and participation among the vulnerable populations, the host communities and the response actors.
Being the focal point of the Sphere Standards in Brazil and in Portugal, the Fraternity –Humanitarian Missions (FIHM) promoted this meeting of introduction to the Sphere protocols as part of its plan of action with organizations and actors who to some degree are active, have acted or will act in crisis and humanitarian emergency situations, and social vulnerability situations.
The SphereHandbook includes a group of standards, norms and protocols gathered and compiled by various humanitarian workers with decades of experience in their respective fields, and is based on International Humanitarian Law Conventions, on the Humanitarian Charter, and summarizes those guidelines in four technical sections that have a major impact on the survival and well-being of populations affected by crises and emergencies.
The humanitarian aid volunteer, Ricardo Treno, points out that “the approach of this document of norms and standards places above all things the right of the affected people to a life of dignity, and consequently, the fact that these same populations are at the center of their recovery and must be involved in the various phases of the response.”
Sister Lisete emphasized that the exchange of perceptions and experiences during the training contributed to broadening the understanding of the importance of offering training to people so they can be protagonists in their own story. “Regardless of the context and situation in which they find themselves, because in fact, they are not victims; they are people with dignity, and from that point, everything is possible in recovering their lives and existences.” And she concludes: “it is a joy to enter this adventure to transform that world.”
