COAST Foundation has been awarded the secretariat of Sphere Community Bangladesh (SCB) for 2025- 2026. Plan International Bangladesh will act as an alternative lead to support COAST in efficiently managing the secretariat while gaining hands-on experience to assume the role for the subsequent tenure (2027-2028). The decision came at a meeting on the 8th of January 2025 at the IFRC office in Bangladesh with the presence of SCB members.
SCB operates with a rotating secretariat organization that serves a two-year term. Currently, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)—Bangladesh Country Delegation holds the SCB secretariat for 2023- 2024 and ensures adherence to Sphere standards, the CHS, the Humanitarian Charter, and Protection Principles.
Initiated in 2012, the SCB Secretariat was first voluntarily held by IFRC, then CARE, BRAC, Islamic Relief, again IFRC, and now COAST Foundation will carry over the secretariat for the next two years.
COAST Foundation is a national NGO, effectively engaged in development and humanitarian response programs with a strong commitment to advancing the localization of aid campaigns at home and abroad. The organization is also a member of the CHS Alliance, ICVA, Sphere, ADRRN, Alliance for Empowering Partnership (A4EP), ALNAP, etc., and holds special consultative status with UN ECOSOC.
SCB serves as a platform for local, national, and international NGOs and UN agencies. Its mission is to uphold and promote Sphere principles and standards, fostering quality and accountability in humanitarian responses. SCB members collaborate to share knowledge, address gaps in humanitarian aid, and identify solutions for timely and effective responses as a collective.
As a secretariat of SCB, COAST Foundation aims to update memberships, translate and print the Sphere handbook- 2028 in Bangla, organize training on Sphere principles and standards including Training of Trainers (ToT), publish a newsletter, regularize meetings, conduct assessment and evaluation of the Sphere principles and standards in humanitarian response, disseminate learning and knowledge and maintain web-based documentation of Sphere resources.
