Australian Red Cross Delegates Program

Indicator 13: Australian Red Cross personnel, particularly programming staff,benefit from delegates’ experience.Delegates shared their experiences and expertise with Australian Red Crosspersonnel by participating in a number of activities and events, including:• Australian Red Cross’ ‘roundtable’ strategic planning meetings in the sectors ofhealth, shelter and water and sanitation. Delegate participation provided:1. Insight into key programming challenges and suggestions for improvedprocesses to support them in their role.2. Insight into National Society capacity and made recommendations for futureprogramming.3. Input into key policy documents (such as health, water and sanitationposition papers) within International Programs to guide future programming inthese sectoral areas.4. Informed debate on models for engagement with national societies, based onthe realities in the field.• Australian-based training sessions, including IMPACT pre-deployment training• Lunchtime seminar series, conducted with national staff and delegate colleagues inMelbourne. Presentations were given by visiting and returning delegates including:Water and Sanitation Delegate Andrew Sheehan gave a presentation to staff on‘Demystifying PHAST’ and Health Delegate Ruth Jebb shared with staff herexperiences as a delegate with Australian Red Cross since 2005, includingdeployments in Kenya, Sudan and Haiti. Gebru Gebreselasie presented on hismission as an Economic Security Delegate in Pakistan as part of activities for Anti-Poverty Week; and Livelihoods Delegate Alex Murray presented her key findingsfrom an evaluation of the impact of seeds distribution and food parcel distributionsin Pakistan. International Disaster Response Law Coordinator Tessa Kelly providedinformation to staff on the work of the Disaster Law Program in the Asia Pacific;and David Curtis gave an overview of his work on disability inclusion in Cambodia.Further presentations were given by the Federation Head of Disaster ManagementUnit in the Asia Pacific, Michael Annear; Regional Shelter Coordinator forFederation in the Asia Pacific, Gregg McDonald; Restoring Family Links Delegate inTimor Leste, Kate Jones, Restoring Family Links Delegate in India, Jess Letch; andProgram Advisor in Myanmar, Samadhi Marr.Australian Red Cross delegates also shared their skills and experience across thewider Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, through facilitating global Federationsector specific trainings, including shelter, Field Assessment Coordinator Team(FACT) and training with national societies including on beneficiary communications,logistics, and psychosocial support.Photo: Australian Red Cross Delegate Jess Letch coaches Angel, an Indian Red Cross Society staff member fromTamil Nadu, in a camp for Sri Lankan refugees. Photo: Australian Red Cross/Jess Letch.