IOM Ecuador will this week host a two-day training workshop for 30 government officials and other humanitarian partners aimed at strengthening the delivery and effectiveness of humanitarian aid.
In coordination with the National Secretariat for Risk Management, IOM experts will use the "Sphere Project" training for humanitarian actors who respond to natural or man-made disasters, especially along Ecuador's northern border.
The "Sphere Project", launched in 1997 by a group of humanitarian NGOs and the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, is an initiative to define and uphold the standards by which the global community responds to the plight of people affected by disasters, principally through a set of guidelines that are set out in the Sphere Handbook.
The training, which will take place on 14 and 15 April, is part of an IOM initiative implemented since 2007 which established six types of recurrent threats in the country: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, floods, landslides and droughts.
As part of the UN Emergency Team, IOM has provided technical advice and assistance to improve the government's response, especially on issues related to shelter, water and sanitation.
In 2009, as per a Cooperation Agreement signed with the Ministry of Economic and Social Inclusion, IOM provided technical assistance for the drafting of humanitarian assistance standards, adjusted to the realities of Ecuador. This instrument, used by all government agencies to provide a basic assistance standard, includes the minimum requirements of care which should be awarded to victims in emergency shelters following natural disasters or man-made emergencies.
For more information, please contact Rogelio Bernal at IOM Quito. Email: rbernal@iom.int Tel. +5932.225.67.89