Overview
In March 2013, during the visit of the director of the IFRC Americas zone office, and together with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Uruguayan Red Cross (URC) established a roadmap for the following activities: completing the statutes, hiring a managing director, development of national programmes, strengthening of volunteering, improving communication (internal and external), as well as the standardization of procedures and systems. However, despite the best efforts of the National Society and the support of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), achievements have not been significant.
As a consequence of not completing the statute, the headquarters office has not been professionalized, the national programmes have not been developed, and there are no standardized procedures and systems in place. While the management of volunteering is very precarious, a workshop to strengthen volunteering was conducted with 12 branches, and many inputs were obtained on this occasion. The resulting information was used to establish a new roadmap, and became the basis for the preparation of a concise strategic plan (completed in December 2013)
Nevertheless, it should be noted that the thematic areas continue working with volunteer staff and with very few resources (except for the health programme, which received funding from the Luxembourg Red Cross). The volunteer staff at the headquarters office is motivated and wants to work with communities; they nevertheless need greater autonomy in their work and a clear definition of roles.