They say that knowledge is power. If so, there are a lot more powerful people in recent months, as the Federation has collaborated with partners to organize another wave of regional training and dialogue workshops on IDRL.
Following on a series of trainings begun last year in Asia and Africa, the Federation organized its first IDRL workshop for Pacific Island National Societies in Suva in August. In collaboration with OCHA, it also organized similar workshops for National Societies, governments and other partners from Latin America in Panama in September, and from Central Asian countries in Almaty in October.
In each of these workshops, participants spent two days learning about how to apply the IDRL Guidelines and other international and regional norms to common regulatory issues in disasters. Through interactive scenarios, participants walked in the shoes of the various actors involved in these operations and wrestled together with the thorny issues that regularly confront all sides in ensuring the effective delivery of aid. A third day was devoted to a sharing of experiences and strategies among National Societies for effective legislative advocacy on disaster management issues.
Also in October, the Federation collaborated with the Asian Development Bank Greater Mekong Subregion Communicable Disease Project, the Cambodian Government and the Cambodian Red Cross to organize a high-level regional forum in Phnom Penh on legal preparedness for disasters and health emergencies in the Mekong Valley region. The forum followed on the completion of research projects undertaken in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam (see page 5). Representatives of the governments and National Societies from the region joined other partners to discuss how to strengthen regional and national procedures for cooperation in combating emergencies.