Effective planning of emergency response has always been a major concern of the Burundi Red Cross. To address this challenge, it builds capacity of its staff. With the support of the IFRC, 18 staff members of the National Society, from all departments and services, have just completed a four-day training course on the procedures, implementation, management and reporting of the DREF. DREF stands for Disaster Relied Emergency Fund. » It is then the IFRC fund that supports in carrying out relief activities in the first three months of a disaster. The training session took place from 19 to 22 August 2019.
« The DREF is a firefighter fund, its request requires strict compliance with the rules, » said Alina ATEMNKENG, during the training. Here, this IFRC DREF delegate for Africa, refers to the DREF request submission period and the relevance of the content of the Emergency Plan of Action. In addition to this, there must be a coherence between the situation analysis, the operational strategy, the plan of the operation and the proposed activities. « This consistency is ultimate since the DREF does not meet all the needs of the operation but rather alleviate sufferings of the most vulnerable in the early days, » said Ms. Alina.
Participants are satisfied with the results of the training. « We will make more use of the knowledge gained so that once needed to request a DREF all requirements fill up timely more than before, » said the Disaster Management officer at the Red Cross Officer at the end of the training.
The participants are determined to strengthen more their coordination in emergency operations because the success of the implementation of the DREF depends on it.