Without properly trained aid workers, there is no real humanitarian aid, and the people most in need of help suffer the consequences. RedR's programme in East Africa trains aid workers to ensure that the people living in some of the most disaster-stricken areas of the world like Ethiopia and Somalia receive professional and effective aid when they need it.
The humanitarian situation across East Africa is one of the most urgent in the world. Ongoing droughts and unpredictable weather patterns, coupled with protracted conflicts in many regions, have left millions of people malnourished, without secure livelihoods and increasingly susceptible to natural and man-made crises. Never has there been a more urgent time to ensure that aid workers responding to food crises, natural emergencies or conflict have the essential skills they need.
RedR UK's East African Hub opened in Kenya in October 2011, focusing on training and capacity building, strengthening the resilience of humanitarian actors in Kenya and East Africa to best meet the needs of the affected populations they work for. We have a substantial resource pool of highly experienced and professional humanitarian experts and trainers; 42 on the East Africa register, both local and international (including trainers who teach in Somali, French, Kiswahili as well as English).
The future of humanitarianism is developing the capacity of disaster-prone countries to respond to disasters themselves. By building the capacity of East African organisations and people to respond to disasters, RedR is enabling people otherwise written off as helpless victims to take control of their own future. In the long term this will mean a more efficient, effective system that saves lives.
