“The assistance of stand-by partners like the MSB is invaluable to the work of UNICEF”. That’s according to Frederick Spielberg, one of the facilitators on the four-day United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Emergency Preparedness and Prevention Training course held at MSB Revinge in December.

The course – that was developed in partnership between UNICEF and the MSB – aims to train staff from UNICEF’s stand-by partner organisations in the guiding principles and frameworks of UNICEF’s humanitarian work.

“In recent years, UNICEF has been relying more and more on the assistance of stand-by partners like the MSB for rapid response to humanitarian crises around the world, says Frederick Spielberg. This type of assistance has become invaluable to our work since the stand-by partners are able to provide timely, efficient and professional support.

“To further the collaboration between the stand-by partners and UNICEF, we’ve developed this training course. The purpose of the training is to familiarise participants with the work of UNICEF ahead of future deployments with our Agency. We want to “demystify” our humanitarian work in order to make it easier for staff from different organisations and UNICEF to work together on international missions.”

A total of 24 staff from different stand-by partner organisations participated in the course, including the MSB, Irish Aid, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Canada’s Civilian Reserve (CANADEM). Representatives from civil society organisations in Sweden and Denmark participated as observers.

The course covered four key areas: children-centred principles and frameworks of UNICEF, response essentials, disaster risk reduction and preparedness essentials, and emergency risk-informed programming. It included lectures, group discussions and plenary sessions with emphasis on a participatory approach.

Frederick Spielberg goes on to say that the course was very successful: “This is only the second time we organise the course. Earlier this year, we ran the first course in Australia in ollaboration with RedR Australia and other partner organisations.

“The best part of the course, in my opinion, was the evening sessions. Each night, the participants organised informal get-togethers where they shared their field experiences in various contexts. These sessions were an invaluable source of information for all of the participants. During the week, we heard stories from operations in Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Darfur (Sudan) and Kyrgyzstan.

“We are now looking at organising similar training courses with other stand-by partners around the world. We are also hoping to do a combined training course focusing on common issues with the MSB and a number of other UN agencies.”

Published: 2012-12-11 kl. 15:32, Updated: 2012-12-11 kl. 15:36
Page owner: Noomi Egan