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ADRA and Partners Establish Network to Improve Disaster Response Standards in Nicaragua

Silver Spring, Maryland-The Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) office in Nicaragua and seven other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Managua, Nicaragua, to improve coordination and response to natural disasters. The eight organizations-ADRA, CARE, Catholic Relief Services, Centro Humbolt, Consultora para la Investigación y el Desarrollo en Nicaragua (CIDENIC), Red Cross International Federation, Oxfam Great Britain, and World Vision-formed a network to share experiences, lessons learned, and provide inter-institutional training to improve disaster response capacity. Plinio Vergara, country director for ADRA Nicaragua, will serve as coordinator of the network during the next year. "In the past, humanitarian organizations have responded to disasters separately. Now we want to provide a coordinated and standardized response," Vergara stated during the signing of the memorandum. "ADRA was one of the twenty pilot agencies that the Sphere Project Committee approached to test the Minimum Standards in Disaster Response. This Memorandum of Understanding is a significant step toward working together to meet the standards as described by the Sphere Project when responding to a disaster in Nicaragua," states Frank Teeuwen, bureau chief for disaster preparedness and response at ADRA International. The Sphere Project, launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, aims to improve the quality of assistance provided to people affected by disasters, and to enhance the accountability of the humanitarian system in disaster response. Sphere framed a Humanitarian Charter identifying minimum standards to be attained in disaster assistance in the sectors of water supply and sanitation, nutrition, food aid, shelter, and health services. ADRA is present in more than 120 countries providing individual and community development and disaster relief without regard to political or religious association, age or ethnicity. .

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