Red Cross/EU Office Project: Informed Prepared Together

The Red Cross / EU Office began its project inform and prepare communities to work together in civil protection (quick title - Informed Prepared Together) in January 2008. The project is co-funded by the European Commission and the Red Cross / EU Office and will run for 18-months, ending in June 2009.

Project staff and Core Group

Moya Wood-Heath, Civil Protection Advisor to the Red Cross/EU Office and British Red Cross, is the Project Leader and is supported by Suzanne Pinder, the Project Co-ordinator and Researcher and Alina Müller the Project Event Administrator. The Core Group is made of 8 persons, including five from the Red Cross. The Core Group includes representatives from:

• British Red Cross
• Federal Agency for Technical Relief (Technisches Hilfswerk/THW), Germany
• French Red Cross
• Hungarian Red Cross
• Impact, Netherlands
• Association of Chief Police Officers, UK
• Red Cross / EU Office (Leader and Co-ordinator)

The Core Group members will contribute their expertise, inform and influence the direction of the project.

Aim and objectives

The central issue to be addressed by the project is how can we animate EU Member States (EUMS) and EEA Countries (EEAC) to acknowledge the added value of utilising all available resources, from the citizen, volunteer to voluntary and statutory organisations, to build and improve national and community resilience in civil protection.

The project will seek to bring to life some recurring and salient points from past projects and, where possible and appropriate, to link these to other initiatives and dynamic pieces of work. The aim is then to turn these findings into tangible, practical and useful products and communication tools, with the expectation that they can be disseminated across the EUMS and EEAC.

The project will build on past projects and other relevant national , European and international initiatives that focused on:

• increasing the capacity and capability of citizens;
• integrating the contribution of citizens, volunteers and voluntary organisations; and
• working together to build and improve community resilience.

A cluster of past projects was identified and includes:

• The role of NGOs volunteers in civil protection in EUMS and EEAC, British Red Cross
• Working together to support individuals in an emergency or disaster, British Red Cross
• Towards a European civil protection handbook for EUMS and EEAC. Save Co-operation, Austrian Red Cross
• The promotion of volunteer work in civil protection in the EUMS and EEAC, on the basis of recommendation of common standards, Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), Germany
• Involving citizens in civil protection, British Red Cross
• Best practices and life support kits for self-protection of EU citizens and households in daily or disastrous emergencies, French Red Cross
• Citizens and resilience: the balance between awareness and fear, Impact Foundation, Netherlands
• Promoting European resources for victims of terrorism (Eureste), Belgian Red Cross (French community)
• European guidelines for First Aid training for the population A reference for local First Aid training manuals, Belgian Red Cross (Flemish community).

The project will also explore other past and on-going initiatives, such as:

• The Voluntary Sector Civil Protection Forum, UK
• Voluntary Rescue Services, Finland
• Building resilience Report and recommendations for Victim Support on delivering services to victims of terrorist attack, Victim Support, UK
• International Federations Guidelines on International Disaster Response Law (IDRL Guidelines)

Expected results

The project will have achieved:

• Production of guidance on a minimum level of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of citizens and communities
• Products for dissemination of the key messages and practical advice
• Identified and utilised effective communication tools
• Demonstration of the added value of utilising all available resource
• Production of guidance on how to integrate these key messages to support and complement national arrangements
• Implementation of the project results to improve effectiveness of European civil protection.

Phases of the project

The project is divided into three phases.

Phase 1 Preparatory (January September 2008)

The project will research past projects and other initiatives and record the findings into a summary of key messages and practical advice, from which guidance on a minimum level of humanitarian assistance to meet citizen and community needs will be developed. It is anticipated that a workshop will take place in September 2008, attended by the Core Group and representatives of past projects, to refine the summary of findings, guidance and thinking on the nature of the products to be developed and presented at a conference in February 2009.

Phase 2 Conference (October 2008 March 2009)

The second phase of the project relates to organising and holding a conference, where representatives of EUMS and EEAC will meet to validate the findings and guidance and agree on the nature of the products and best channels of communication. It will also be an opportunity to begin promoting and disseminating the learning and guidance. It is intended that the conference will be held in February 2009.

Phase 3 Dissemination (March 2009 June 2009)

Based on the learning from the conference, the project will refine and produce the selected products; promote and disseminate them to organisations across the EU and EEAC.

For further information and enquiries, please do not hesitate to contact:

Moya Wood-Heath, Project Leader, Tel : +32 (0)2 235 06 92, moya.wood-heath@redcross-eu.net

 Go to the project website