United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) May 2016
InterWorks co-facilitated an Emergency Management Workshop on Refugee Protection from 17 – 20 May 2016 in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. This workshop was organized as a part of the overall UNHCR regional strategy for preparedness for possible refugee emergencies in Central Asia. For this 4-day event in Tajikistan, the central planning and training scenario was the possible influx of 10,000 refugees from Afghanistan into Tajikistan, as outlined in the current UNHCR/interagency contingency plan. The event trained 27 UNHCR, Government, and NGO partners in agreed international emergency response norms, core concepts of refugee protection, and applicable international standards and indicators applicable to refugee emergency operations.
Sessions were presented in Russian and English with simultaneous translation throughout. All workshop materials, exercises, and presentations were prepared in both Russian and English. The core workshop content included practical applications and hands-on illustrations of:
- Refugee Protection in Emergencies
- Shelter and Site Planning
- Nutrition and Food
- Water Supply and Sanitation
- Health
- Education
- Registration and Civilian Character of Asylum
- Coordination of Emergency Responses in the Field
The workshop was highly participatory, emphasizing hands-on application of tools and skills. Participants discussed real-life cases, best practices and lessons learned from the humanitarian and development fields offering their own observations and experience in active discussions throughout the workshop.
Particularly liked participatory approach. Exercises were also very realistic and was very interesting and was very interesting to see how the different participants acted and interacted with each other
– Workshop participant
