The international training program is held under the supervision of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation in cooperation with the International Center for Research and Studies (Medad) and the Association for Human Development and Management (Ata’a).
Tariq Bin Ziad, executive manager of Ata’a, confirmed that Sphere was an important program to teach people how to deal with crisis or disaster. The Sphere Project, launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent, is an initiative to define and uphold the standard by which the global community responds to the plight of people affected by disasters.
“We present Sphere in order to organize the volunteer work in Saudi Arabia. This program has gathered all international humanitarian work strategies and experiences. It helps raising a person’s ability to face a crisis,” he said.
Bin Ziad added that trainers would become more qualified to deal with crisis or disaster, and that the program would open the way for volunteers and trainees to achieve the highest benefit from their energies. “Trainee teams will be registered in Saudi governmental competent authorities, such as the Civil Defense, Public Security and the Saudi Red Crescent.”
The program will be attended by 30 men and 30 women who are qualified leaders in the charitable sector and volunteering in Jeddah.
“This program is considered the first step in order to raise the performance of volunteers and help to implement global standards to achieve effective cooperation with the official authorities,” he said.
According to Bin Ziad, the program would start in Jeddah, but experts would then move to other provinces to launch the program.
“Our further plan is to establish a center for volunteering in order to organize our work,” he said.
