Gilgit - Baltistan
FOCUS organises leadership training
by: Zulfiqar Ali Khan
Hunza, June 17: The FOCUS Humanitarian has organised a 6-days leadership training for the volunteers of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs) and Village Emergency Response Teams (VERT), working under Ismaili Local Council for Gulmit. About 80 volunteers from Shishkat, Gulmit, Ghulkin, Hussaini and Passu are participatng in the training sessions, to be concluded on June 21.
The main objective of the training is to equip the volunteers with leadership skills in order to deal any emergency situation.
The FOCUS experts will also deliver lectures at Al-Amyn Model School on earthquake safety as part of the school education programme.
Dear Zulfiqar,
Thanks for the news. I just wanted to add the CERT stands for Community Emergency Response Team whereas VERT stands for Village Emergency Response Team.
Thanks
Sultan
Dear Zulfiqar,
It is wonderful news regarding the FOCUS Organizes Leadership Training under the guidance and supervision of Ismaili Local Council for Gulmit Gojal. I would like to congratulate them and appreciate their humanitarian efforts as they did in the past and busy in doing now and hope to do further in future.
Being a part of the respective community, I have some suggestions based on my past experience and hope it will help to improve the institution in future. The suggestions are mentioned below in bullet forms:
• All focus volunteers should be given physical trainings on the subject of natural disasters or man made disasters management by keeping their interest, age preferably from 25-55 and capability to deal with the emergency.
• Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) should be given proper trainings at minimum interval of quarterly basis in a year, whereas, Village Emergency (VERT) should be trained at the minimum interval of six months in each Calendar Year.
• FOCUS in line with the local government institutions (departments such as Health, Education, and NAPWD and district management group) should provide stock piles to the CERT and even need to equip the VERT team to meet with any emergency situation.
• CERT and VERT need offices and stores to maintain the stock piles to keep then in an active forms, whereas, there is not the required store in the current time. Therefore, it is recommended that with the help of the local government, NGOs and local communities the required stores should be constructed to keep the stock piles in order to meet any emergency.
• Leadership trainings should be given to those volunteers, who hold leadership positions, such as, the captains, vice captains and secretaries of CERT and VERT.
• FOCUS head office and Ismaili Council for Pakistan should prepare TOR for the honorary set-up and the focus professionals to stream line the governance and management and to ensure the proper utilization of volunteers of CERT and VERT to deal with any emergency with proper coordination.
• The stock piles consists of tools for fire fighting, swimming, climbing, medical kits (first aid boxes), tents, wheat grains etc should be available to CERT and VERT level; while an ambulance should be identified at CERT level to deal with any emergency situation.
• Professionals for proper reporting should be included in the CERT and VERT teams and equipped them with video and audio cameras to keep records and proper information and communication to their relevant authorities and the media (either print or electronic).
• CERT and VERT with the help of government Line departments should organize awareness sessions for school children, seminars and conferences for the common people to deal with any kind of natural disasters.
• Northern Area Legislative Assembly (NALA) and civil society institutions should put their efforts to establish a Natural Disaster Management Organization for Northern Areas (Gilgit-Baltistan) level with the close coordination of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at national level.
All the suggestions could be materialized, if all the stakeholders put their efforts in a meaningful way by considering the matter most important.
thanks and regards
Sharif Khan