VCA to be improved in the Caribbean

The aim of the just concluded Vulnerability and Capacity Assessments (VCA) Refresher workshop held in Trinidad and Tobago was to equip Red Cross entities across the Caribbean with tools to enhance their disaster preparedness programmes not only at a country level but at the community level as well.

Some 28 representatives representing Caribbean Red Cross entities and one national emergency office also attended.

The week long workshop which started on the December 3 and ended on December 8 was organized by the Caribbean Regional Representation Office (CRRO) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (International Federation) and funded by the European Humanitarian Aid Department (DG ECHO) under the DIPECHO VI project.

The purpose of the workshop was to help participants from the different organizations to gain a better understanding of how to assess vulnerabilities and capacities within their communities and use the VCA tool to develop appropriate programmes to deal with those issues in a participatory way.

The workshop was facilitated by Nicole Williams, DM Officer with the CRRO and Graham Bett-Symond, a senior Disaster Preparedness Officer based in Geneva.

When disasters occur, the community, non-governmental agencies (NGOs) and the government are affected.

VCA is a tool that helps the Red Cross not only in improving their planning skills, but to better understand the work that they do based on their own capacities.

VCA also ensures that the Red Cross works with communities and other organizations to enhance their capabilities in dealing with vulnerabilities.

Instead of looking at the VCA as a new tool or a brand new way to do things, the workshop took what people in the region have been doing for a long time and tried to systematize and organize it in a different way so that the path in which they are trying to go becomes clearer.

The trainers are expected to conduct VCA training in their own countries and representatives of the government and Red Cross entities should plan together how to use the VCA.