European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps...sounds fancy, but what does it mean?

A bit of background, because context is important after all.

What am I doing? Taking part in a year-long pilot Traineeship funded by the The European Commission and run by a consortium of NGOs, Masters programmes and training bodies which specialise in humanitarian assistance.

Why? Twenty five of us European Voluntary Humanitarian Aid Corps (EVHAC) have been recruited through Save the Children to increase the professionalization of the emergency/disaster response sector. This will boost the number of fully trained personnel available for deployment, particularly at the onset of a sudden large-scale emergency.

We have completed our one month’s pre-deployment training in rural North Wales and are now embarking individually on the first of our two overseas deployments.

Where/what/when.

Wales; Emergency Field Training (simulation exercise), security training, cultural awareness/ethics and dilemmas of the job/UN and EU structure/stress management/Project Management and Logistics training. (Sept-Oct 2011).

NE India; working in a Save the Children team on the current Orissa flood emergency response (November - March)

Kenya; Re-grouping of trainees and Advanced Field Training (March 2012)

tbc; second overseas deployment (April – September 2012)

It’s been a very dark summer trying to get into the sector, so hurrah for the internship I’ve always wanted!