United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Aug-Sep 2014
InterWorks conducted a UNHCR eCentre “Basics of International Humanitarian Response” (BIHR) workshop in Hua Hin, Thailand from 31 August – 8 September. Participants trained together to respond to humanitarian emergencies in Asia and the Pacific. Regional partners came from highly diverse operations.
The field-based emergency management course, builds capacity through realistic simulations and field exercises, promoting information exchange and best practices in emergency response as well as contributing to strategic and operational partnerships. Thirty-five participants represented operations in government, civil society and UN partners from Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tajikistan, Tonga, and Turkmenistan.
The event focused on topics such as rapid needs assessments, coordination, core humanitarian response sectors, distribution systems, human rights in emergencies, education in emergencies, civil-military relations, negotiation techniques, field communications and security concerns.
The exercise was a very good opportunity for everyone to try to combine everything we learnt over the last couple of days or week into [a] coordinated emergency response effort. It was a very good eye opener into what goes on in a sector-wide humanitarian emergency disaster response…Well done to everyone.
– Workshop participant
