“I am very impressed with the whole idea of the Vulnerability, Capacity and Assessment (VCA) tool. It is an interesting tool and quite useful as it gives the community the ability to look at their own strengths and weaknesses and improve on their capacities when preparing for disasters.”
This was the view of David Benjamin, chairman of the National Centre for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) in Trinidad and Tobago. He was also recently one of the participants of the Vulnerability Capacity and Assessments (VCA) Refresher workshop which was held in Trinidad in December.
The workshop for him was quite good and he has learnt a lot of new things. “I like the VCA concept. It can assist people with disabilities in the communities prepare for a disaster.” He said in many emergencies people with disabilities are often forgotten.
He said while this is the first time he has heard of VCA, the concept of assessments is not new to him.
VCA is a tool that helps the Red Cross not only in improving their planning skills in disaster preparedness, but also 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 organisations to enhance their capabilities in dealing with vulnerabilities.
The aim of the just concluded VCA workshop 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 from Caribbean Red Cross National Societies and one emergency office also attended. The week long workshop which started on December 3 and ended on December 8 was organised by the Caribbean Regional Representation Office (CRRO) of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (International Federation) in partnership with the European Humanitarian Aid Department (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, former DM Officer with the CRRO and Graham Bett-Symond, a senior Disaster Preparedness Officer based in Geneva.
David said: “I am quite pleased with what I am seeing at this workshop. This is an opportunity for us to get the resources we need to take a closer look at the communities in which we live. The work during the workshop was excellent and this is definitely a tool that we can adopt.” He assured that he was going to introduce VCA to the NCPD so that persons with disabilities can help out in the community.
Nigel Mcarthy, a Local Government representative who was also present at the workshop said that while the VCA was an excellent tool, it was up to the communities to recognize that they need support and lobby the relevant organization for that support. “We at Local Government cannot do anything unless people see the need to do something.”
He noted that this is where the Red Cross could help. He said that National Societies could assist the Local Government in educating the communities in identifying risks and vulnerabilities and building capacities.
“People need advice. While the tools are available, they do not know how to use them and this sometimes limits people when it comes to disaster preparedness and response. Sharing and understanding each other’s mandate is very important.’
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