Sphere and LEGS today announced a landmark shared services agreement that deepens their long-standing collaboration and marks a new phase in how humanitarian standard-setting organisations work together.
Sphere, a charity registered in Switzerland, and LEGS, a UK-registered charity, have been partners since 2011. The agreement creates a strategic opportunity to deepen the partnership in a changing humanitarian landscape, strengthening collaboration, enhancing efficiency, and maximising the organisations’ collective impact in addressing evolving needs.
“This agreement marks an important moment for Sphere and for the wider humanitarian community,” said Alper Küçük, President of the Sphere Board. “The challenges facing our sector demand new ways of working. By deepening our collaboration with LEGS, we are choosing to adapt, to reduce duplication, and to focus our collective energy where it matters most: supporting quality and accountability in humanitarian action.”
The partnership builds on a decade of close cooperation through the Humanitarian Standards Partnership (HSP), which brings together leading standard-setting initiatives to improve coherence and application of humanitarian standards worldwide.
Kate Sadler, Chair of the LEGS Trustees, said: “LEGS and Sphere share a commitment to quality and accountability in humanitarian action. This agreement helps safeguard LEGS for the long term and deepens collaboration across the Humanitarian Standards Partnership. By sharing practical services while retaining our separate identities, LEGS can keep investing in the guidance, learning, and community that protect livestock-based livelihoods in crises.”
Under the shared services model, Sphere and LEGS will align selected operational functions to reduce administrative overheads, strengthen organisational resilience, and support long-term sustainability. The arrangement is designed to free up capacity for both organisations to focus on their core missions – developing, maintaining, and promoting high-quality humanitarian standards – while retaining their own legal status, governance structures, mandates and intellectual property.
“Partnerships like this are no longer optional,” added Küçük. “They are essential if we are to remain relevant, credible, and effective in an increasingly complex humanitarian system.”
As part of the agreement, LEGS will also take over the coordination of the Standards for Supporting Crop-related Livelihoods in Emergencies (SEADS). This will create new opportunities to strengthen connections between livestock- and crop-related standards, and support more integrated approaches to protecting livelihoods in humanitarian crises.
