United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sep 2019
InterWorks facilitated the Workshop on Emergency Management (WEM) for UNHCR in Neuhausen, Germany from 10-20 September 2019. Hosting arrangements for the WEM in Starum were financed by The German Federal Agency for Technical Relief (Bundesanstalt Technisches Hilfswerk – THW – http://www.thw.bund.de). Overall coordination and planning for the event was done by the UNHCR Global Learning and Development Centre (GLDC), which administers the WEM on behalf of the Division of Emergency, Security and Supply (DESS) Emergency Services (ES) section. Other UNHCR content experts from various Divisions and Services of UNHCR train ERTs on material relating to their areas of expertise. Overall event facilitation and preparation of workshop materials in concert with UNHCR GLDC and content experts was done by the GLDC and InterWorks, LLC.
The intensive and demanding course prepared 40 participants for emergency deployment focusing on three areas of emergency management: managing yourself, managing relationships, and managing your operational role through all phases of the deployment. The course was interactive and work-oriented, and employed a variety of methodologies, including a 3-day field simulation exercise, presentations and case study, as well as group and plenary discussions. The agenda included sessions on team-building, operations planning, financial and administrative systems, operational partnerships, communication and negotiation skills, security, coordination and information-sharing, telecommunications, and humanitarian protection. New this session included the use of a currently developing case study scenario based on a settlement design rather than a camp, so that expert services from UNHCR Geneva (Shelter and Settlements Section) could contribute to the development of the overall response strategy.
It was well organised and informative. The Camp simulation helped participants see how all the learning blends together for use during an emergency.
– Workshop participant
