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PROTECT.PROMOTE.RECOGNIZE.Volunteering in emergencies

www.ifrc.org

Saving lives, changing minds.


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International Federation oRed Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Advocacy ReportPROTECT. PROMOTE. RECOGNIZE.

Volunteering in emergencies

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International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Geneva, 2011.

Copies o all or part o this study may be made or noncommercial use, providing the source is acknowledged. The IFRC would appreciate receiving details

o its use. Requests or commercial reproduction should be directed to the IFRC at [email protected].

The opinions and recommendations expressed in this study do not necessarily represent the ocial policy o the IFRC or o individual National Red Cross or

Red Crescent Societies. The designations and maps used do not imply the expression o any opinion on the part o the International Federation or National

Societies concerning the legal status o a territory or o its authorities. All photos used in this study are copyright o the IFRC unless otherwise indicated.

P.O. Box 372

CH-1211 Geneva 19

Switzerland

Telephone: +41 22 730 4222

Teleax: +41 22 733 0395

E-mail: [email protected]

Web site: http://www.irc.org

We would like to express our gratitude to the Swedish Red Cross for their valuable contributions to this report.


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PROTECT. PROMOTE. RECOGNIZE.Volunteering in emergencies

CALL TOACTION

1. PROMOTE AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENT FOR ALL VOLUNTEERS

Publicauthoritiesmustworkwithvolunteer-basedorganizationstoprotect,promoteand

recognizevolunteers,especiallyinemergencies.

Understand the economic and social value volunteers bring to communities

Develop credible data to encourage new policies or volunteers.

Invest time and resources into volunteer development at all levels.

Promote volunteering and recognize volunteers

Create incentives or volunteers and encourage employers to take volunteer experienceinto consideration.

Support volunteer organizations in recruitment.

Strengthen the legal protection of volunteers

Review existing laws and address gaps in legislation.

Ensure that volunteers rights and responsibilities are clear.

Implement existing laws.

2. IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS OF VOLUNTEERS ACTING IN EMERGENCIES

Volunteersmakeitpossibleforhumanitarianaidtoreachthemostvulnerableandtheymust

beprotected.Authoritiesmustemphasizethismessageduringpeacetimeandinconict.

Integrate volunteer capacity into domestic emergency response plans

Recognize the role volunteers play in extending the reach o government.

Improve disaster planning between government and humanitarian actors.

Make sure that volunteers are insured while responding to disasters.

Ensure that volunteers have safe access to all vulnerable groups

Respect and recognize all volunteers as impartial humanitarian actors.

Respect the red cross and red crescent emblems as symbols o neutrality and

protection, as dened by the Geneva Conventions.

Include psychosocial support for volunteers in all response management plans

Consider volunteers psychosocial needs when they ace traumatic situations.

Oer psychosocial support beore, during and ater disaster response.


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Call to action 3

Executive summary 5

Volunteering in emergencies Advocacy report 7

Understand the economic and social value that volunteers bring to communities 8

Integrate volunteer capacity into domestic emergency response plans 10

Include psychosocial support for volunteers in all response management plans 12

Promote volunteering and recognize volunteers 13

Ensure that volunteers have safe access to all vulnerable groups 14

Strengthen the legal protection of volunteers 16

Provide insurance to all volunteers 19

Conclusion: protect, promote and recognize volunteers 20

Box 1 To pay or not to pay 21

Box 2 Keyboard volunteerism 22

TABLE OF CONTENTS


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Nearly 1 billion people around the world choose to

be volunteers. More than 13 million o these join theInternational Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement,delivering services to vulnerable people with noexpectation o nancial or material gain. When anemergency strikes, they perorm rst aid, rescuepeople rom collapsed buildings, drive ambulances,brave food waters, deliver letters to prisoners,conduct vaccination campaigns and provide comortto those in need. Volunteers boost communityresilience and extend the reach o governments.

The nature o emergency response work meansthat some volunteers risk their lives. In 2011 alone,Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers aroundthe world sustained injuries or died in service. InFebruary, a post-food relie distribution in Pakistanturned violent when men armed with AK-47 rifesthreatened Pakistan Red Crescent Society staand volunteers distributing ood parcels. In April,Saleh al-Awami, a young paramedic, was killedby shrapnel inside a clearly marked Libyan RedCrescent ambulance that was hit by a missile. InJuly, 32-year-old Han Sun Il, a armer and Red Crossvolunteer in the Democratic Peoples Republic oKorea, jumped into swirling food water to rescue

two children trapped in their home. He got them tosaety, but was then swept away. Two months later,a Sudanese Red Crescent volunteer administeringrst aid to casualties in South Kordoan was caughtin crossre and died. These are just a ew o themany reported incidents involving Red Cross andRed Crescent volunteers. We call on governmentsto work with us to recognize and protectvolunteers, particularly in times o emergency ordisaster, when many volunteers risk their own livesto save others.

In order to design and support policies that promotevolunteering, governments need to measure anddisseminate the economic value they bring tocommunities. Tools now exist to calculate thisinormation. In March 2011, the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) issued the Manual onthe Measurement of Volunteer Work. When the IFRCused the ILOs methodology, it ound that activevolunteers or the International Red Cross and RedCrescent Movement contributed close to 6 billionUS dollars worth o services worldwide in 2009 orclose to 90 US cents or every person on earth. Themanuals researchers estimate the total economic

value o the worlds volunteer workorce at nearly

1.4 trillion US dollars, or more than 2 per cent o

global gross domestic product (GDP).

It is more dicult to measure the social value ovolunteers, but governments should be aware thatpeople working side by side and delivering servicesto the vulnerable create a sense o communityempowerment and solidarity that money cannot buy.As a recent Red Cross pilot project in Burundi shows,volunteerism can help a post-confict, ethnicallyractured society rebuild and recover. In 2010,Burundi Red Cross volunteers built 8,115 housesor reugees returning rom Rwanda and Tanzania people they considered to be in particular need.With no external unding, they built the homes withmaterials available in their community. It is just oneexample o the widespread and ongoing collaborationbetween Hutus and Tutsis since the ethnic violenceo the 1990s. One volunteer said: Now were workingtogether to help vulnerable people, and, knowingeach other, we will not return to civil war.

Under the Geneva Conventions, governmentsrecognize Red Cross Red Crescent NationalSocieties as auxiliaries to the public authoritiesin the humanitarian eld. Volunteers are crucialto this auxiliary status, and must be accountedor in all disaster contingency planning. Prior

to an emergency, there should be coordinated

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Burundi Red Cross volunteers carry out door-to-door visits to check that mosquito

nets are being used properly. Photo: Bob van Mol/IFRC.


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strategies and regular dialogue among all levels ogovernment, the local Red Cross or Red CrescentNational Society, and other disaster-related andvolunteering organizations. These partners shouldbuild relationships in advance, so that trust isestablished and any gaps or overlaps can beaddressed. Volunteers must have proper equipment,clothing and training in order to do their jobs saelyand eectively.

One example o excellent preparation andcooperation was the earthquake response inChristchurch, New Zealand, where partners includedthe New Zealand Red Cross, the Ministry o CivilDeence, the police, the Lions Clubs and others. Itwas chaotic, like all disasters, but, in the words oone Red Cross volunteer, it was organized chaos

and it worked.

Even when a response is well managed, emergenciesare traumatic experiences. Being a volunteer doesnot make a person immune. First responders mayalso be victims, suering the loss o loved ones orproperty, or witnessing heart-wrenching situations.Governments and volunteer organizations arebeginning to understand the value o psychosocialservices and counselling or beneciaries; they mustalso extend these services to volunteers themselvesand include them in all management plans.

We must remember, volunteering is a choice onemakes in sacrice o doing something else, states DrMukesh Kapila, Under Secretary General at the IFRC.Volunteers give their time and talent, expecting littlein return. They must be encouraged and promoted,or this goodwill could disappear. Recognition doesnot have to be monetary it can be a gesture, aspeech at a public gathering, ree public transport,new uniorms or scholarships to public universities.I we are working or humanity, the authoritiesshould protect us socially and economically i theycan, says one Red Crescent volunteer in Pakistan.

We are not a liability. We are assets o a society,because we are giving our best or them.

Recognizing volunteers also helps to ensure theyhave sae access to vulnerable groups. Governmentsshould ensure that the military, the police and thepublic realize the unction and value o volunteersand protect them at all times, both during timeso peace and confict. Awareness campaigns andthe dissemination o the Fundamental Principleso the International Red Cross and Red CrescentMovement help build a culture o respect. In times

o confict, no party should ever target the Red Cross

or Red Crescent or indeed any other humanitarianorganization nor misuse the emblems, equipmentor volunteers or their own means.

Governments should continue to strengthen thelegal protection o volunteers. In 2009, the UnitedNations Volunteers (UNV) programme reportedthat, since the International Year o Volunteers in2001, more than 70 national laws or policies thatencourage or regulate volunteering have beenadopted. Despite this increased awareness, legal gapsremain and, overall, there is an ad hoc approach tovolunteering law, especially in emergencies. Issuesthat require serious consideration include labour law,taxation, liability and training. O course, passing alaw doesnt mean anything i authorities do not ullyenorce it. Implementation strategies should be taken

into consideration when laws are being drated.

Another important issue, and one that aects alarge majority o volunteers around the world, is alack o insurance. Solutions to this problem exist,such as the IFRC-backed scheme that costs NationalSocieties just 1 Swiss ranc per person, but withoutgovernment support, these might still be beyond thereach o some volunteer organizations. It is a tragedywhen a volunteer is killed or injured; the suering iseven greater when a volunteer cannot aord medicalcare, or a victims amily receives no compensation

or his or her death.

As long as there are disasters, there will always bevolunteers who ace danger in order to help others.They are a precious resource. We must all worktogether to protect, promote and recognize each andevery one o them.


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In February 2011, ater exceptionally heavy monsoonrains caused some o the worst fooding in Pakistanshistory, three Pakistan Red Crescent sta and 23volunteers were conducting a routine ood distributionin a village in Sindh province. Moments ater their vetrucks pulled up to the awaiting beneciaries, abouthal a dozen men armed with AK-47 rifes appearedout o nowhere. Nervous and agitated, the mendemanded that the trucks be handed over, sticking arife barrel into the team leaders stomach. They redshots at some volunteers, narrowly missing the ear o

a 19-year-old man. They then stole a truck and droveaway, orcing another volunteer, who was still on top,to jump o the ast-moving vehicle.

The team proceeded with the distribution but, soonaterwards, another armed band arrived. Angry andearing that they would receive nothing, the villagerssurged orward, looting the contents o the otherour trucks. The whole incident lasted three hours.

From delivering ood to providing rst aid, RedCross and Red Crescent National Societies play a key

role at community level. Without their 13.1 millionvolunteers an average o 20 or every paid membero sta they simply wouldnt exist. But volunteersaround the world ace risks every day, especiallyduring disasters and emergencies.

According to the IFRCs denition, a volunteer issomeone who works or a more humane and peaceulworld by delivering services directly to vulnerablepeople and seeking to prevent and reduce vulnerabilityand exclusion. Volunteering is carried out by peopleacting o their own ree will not through anyexternal social, economic or political pressure with

no desire or material or nancial gain.

Worldwide, two out o every 1,000 people volunteeror the International Red Cross and Red CrescentMovement. Twenty-six percent o these volunteersact in disasters; rom 2004 to 2010 they reachedmore than 300 million people. The range oactivities they perorm is vast, as are the risksthey ace. Detailed statistics on deaths and injuriesare scarce, since each country is responsible orits own volunteers, and they cannot always reporteverything that happens in the eld. Reporting

systems are oten hampered by limited technology

or capacity. What is certain is that in 186 countries,Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers areconsistently at the ront line o emergencies, romtsunamis to civil wars to pandemics.

And being at the ront line is not without risk.Volunteer ambulance drivers rescuing injured peopleduring conficts in Syria and Libya have been gunneddown. Volunteers have drowned while attemptingto save food victims in the Philippines and in NorthKorea. In 2010, Indonesias Mount Merapi volcano

erupted, killing dozens o people, including anIndonesian Red Cross Society volunteer who diedtrying to evacuate civilians. During a drug cartelgunght in Tampico, Mexico, a stray bullet killeda 20-year-old emale volunteer outside a medicalclinic. Volunteers responding to the September 11terrorist attacks in New York combed through theruins o the World Trade Center looking or bodies,and later developed cancer rom the smoke and dust.In Aghanistan, Red Crescent volunteers requentlytravel through dangerous areas delivering lettersrom amilies o government soldiers or rom Taliban

ghters in prison. Then there are the everyday risks:

VOLUNTEERING IN EMERGENCIESADVOCACY REPORT

Following the devastating earthquake on 28 February 2010, Chilean Red Cross

volunteers carried out emergency response activities such as search and rescue,

evacuating patients, removing debris and recovering bodies. Photo: Chilean Red Cross.


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car accidents, hold-ups, hostage takings, even threatsrom members o the community who believe thatvolunteers have special privileges.

Name any major crisis in any country and you canbe sure that Red Cross or Red Crescent volunteerswere there. With increasing global pressures such asclimate change, overpopulation and urban violence,our need or volunteers will only grow stronger.Civil societies, governments and corporate partnersmust work together to protect and encouragevolunteerism. Volunteers are a precious resource.

UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMIC ANDSOCIAL VALUE THAT VOLUNTEERSBRING TO COMMUNITIES

Until recently, there was no systematic way omeasuring the value o volunteers. As a result,economists tended to ignore their contribution togross domestic product (GDP). I governments collectcredible data, it will lead to the development opolicies that recognize the signicant contributionmade by volunteers, oten at great personal sacrice.

In March 2011, the International LabourOrganization (ILO) issued the Manual on theMeasurement of Volunteer Work, developed by the

Johns Hopkins Center or Civil Society Studies, therst r igorous method or producing global estimatesusing existing data sources. The researchers ownstatistics are startling: or 2005, they estimatethe total economic value o the worlds volunteerworkorce at nearly 1.4 trillion US dollars. In arecent article they state: Nearly 1 billion peoplethroughout the world volunteer their time throughpublic, nonprot, or or-prot organizations, ordirectly or riends or neighbours, in a typical year,making Volunteerland, i it were a country, thesecond most populous country in the world andthe seventh largest economy.

One o the researchers, Wojciech Sokolowski,says that on average, every dollars worth ocontributions to volunteer organizations translatesinto two dollars o volunteer work. Although theyare, by denition, unpaid, volunteers do cost money in terms o management, coordination, training,clothing, equipment, insurance and psychosocialsupport. However, the gures prove they are wellworth the investment.

Nevertheless, Sokolowski points out that the data

remains limited. He and his colleagues have not

been able to extend their research to specic elds,such as volunteering in emergencies. Overall, theresearchers estimate that volunteer positions equalaround 20 million ull-time jobs. Sokolowski notes:I I said that I knew o an industry that could add20 million jobs to the economy, everybody would bejumping and saying, What is it?

Now that the manual exists, the ILOs nextchallenge is convincing countries to use it. Ihope that the IFRC will weigh in to aid our eortto persuade national statistical agencies to startmeasuring volunteering on a regular basis, saysSokolowski. Already, the IFRC has used the ILOsmethodology to measure the economic contributiono Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers as part o itsyear-long eort to protect, promote and recognize

the value o all volunteers and volunteering.According to the IFRCs 2011 report, The value ofvolunteers, active volunteers or the InternationalRed Cross and Red Crescent Movement contributedclose to 6 billion US dollars worth o servicesworldwide in 2009 or close to 90 US cents or everyperson on earth.

During disaster relie eorts, governments havewitnessed rst-hand this added value. In Indonesia,Dr Emil Agustiono, Deputy Minister Coordinatoror Peoples Welare, estimates that volunteers

represented more than hal o the tsunami relieand recovery eort, at a raction o the cost. Welearned lessons in Aceh, he says. Governmentcant do it alone.

As he notes, volunteers extend the reach ogovernment during disasters, providing servicesthey would not be able to otherwise aord, suchas round-the-clock early warning systems. InBangladesh, one o the worlds most disaster-pronecountries, cyclones are extremely deadly. To betterprepare or these storms, the Bangladesh RedCrescent Society Cyclone Preparedness Programme

trained 49,000 volunteers in high-risk areas.The volunteers receive weather bulletins romthe Bangladesh Meteorological Department, usemegaphones and hand-held sirens to relay cyclonewarnings to 10 million people, help evacuate themto shelters, and provide rst aid. In recent years,volunteers were able to alert residents to theapproach o two destructive cyclones: Cyclone Sidrin 2007 and Cyclone Aila in 2009. As a result othese early warning systems, Cyclone Sidr caused2,300 deaths and Cyclone Aila claimed 190 lives remarkably low when compared with over 500,000

deaths in 1970 and 138,000 in 1991.


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Volunteers also play a crucial role in preventingemergencies, particularly outbreaks o disease.Mongolia is a vast, sparsely populated countrywhere 2.7 million people occupy 1.5 million squarekilometres o land, and where some 38 per cento the population is nomadic. It lies on a majormigratory route or wild birds, which makes itvulnerable during outbreaks o avian infuenza. In2006, the Mongolian Red Cross Society developed

an avian infuenza programme, using its networko local volunteers to cover nearly all the countrysterritory. Within two years, 800 trained volunteersraised the awareness o more than 350,000 people,and in 2008 there wasnt a single human case oH5N1 in Mongolia.

During health emergencies and vaccinationcampaigns, Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteerspenetrate deep into communities, rom tiny hilltophamlets to remote tribes that only locals knowabout. Pablo Medina, the IFRCs global operations

coordinator, explains: Most o my career has been

in the eld, and the volunteers are the people whomake it happen. We, as oreigners, we dont knowthe community, we dont know the language. Thevolunteers have the trust o the community. Wepride ourselves on going the last mile, getting rightinto the community to provide goods and services,and thats the value that volunteers have, beingthat last mile.

In addition to economics, there is also the socialvalue that volunteering brings to communities.Although attempts to measure this value haveproved dicult, it is clear that volunteers help buildsocial solidarity and integration, bringing peopletogether at times o diculty and giving them arole in their own recovery.

The civil war o the 1990s let deep scars on thesocial abric o Burundi. Recovery has been mademore dicult by the act that the people o thischronically poor country endure ongoing ethnic

tensions, inadequate healthcare, requent disasters

Volunteers rom the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society are providing communities with tools or improving their living environments, oering a step-by-step method or

building saer housing. Photo: Agostino Pacciani/IFRC.


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and ood insecurity. Following the war, manycommunities developed a dependence on externalaid, and many saw the Burundi Red Cross as justone more NGO providing hand-outs. Moreover, theBurundi Red Cross was weak, almost to the point obeing non-existent.

In 2007, a pilot project set out to rebuild theNational Society rom the bottom up, starting withunits o around 50 volunteers in two communities.They perormed simple services, such as diggingelds and building houses. The groups broughttogether Hutus and Tutsis, men and women, theyoung and the old. As the people became used toworking side by side, they developed a sense osocial cohesion. Later that year, the pilot projectwas extended across the country.

In 2008, volunteers rom Burundis Makambaprovince took charge when amine struck aneighbouring province. Volunteers went rom doorto door and collected 300 tonnes o ood in threedays. Other provinces ollowed suit. This show osolidarity demonstrated the extent to which RedCross volunteers helped communities rediscovera spirit o mutual help and community ownership traditional values that had been destroyedduring the war. Today, there are some 300,000volunteers in Burundi Red Cross most o them

vulnerable people themselves who identiy anddeliver services to other people who are even morevulnerable. It has become a vast, sel-sustainingcommunity network.

INTEGRATE VOLUNTEER CAPACITYINTO DOMESTIC EMERGENCYRESPONSE PLANS

Under the Geneva Conventions, governmentsrecognize Red Cross Red Crescent National Societiesas auxiliaries to the public authorities in the

humanitarian eld. Volunteers are crucial to thisauxiliary status, and governments should integratevolunteer capacity into all domestic emergencyresponse plans. There must be an ongoing dialoguebetween government and humanitarian actorsabout disaster planning.

Stean Agerhem, International Advisor orVolunteering and Organizational Developmentat the Swedish Red Cross, explains, waitingor a disaster to str ike beore governments andvolunteer organisations talk is simply too late.

There is so much potential to be had when we work

together, we must seize opportunities to grow ourrelationship well beyond the immediacy o disaster.

When governments and response organizationswork together beore emergencies strike, experienceshows that disaster response can be more ecientand ar-reaching. Take the example o Christchurch,New Zealand, where Red Cross volunteers wereon the ground just hours ater a 6.3-magnitudeearthquake struck on 22 February 2011. HayleyPresling, a young mother o two with a job in areal estate agency, had been a Red Cross volunteeror barely a year ever since the ormation o thePorirua Red Cross response team, o which sheis the leader. Just days ater the earthquake hitChristchurch, she and her team few to the scene othe disaster.

With joint unding rom the New Zealand RedCross and the local government, the team had beentraining every two weeks throughout the year. Andnow, in a real crisis, they ound they had the skillsand equipment they needed to respond. Wed donea radio and communications course, which wasbrilliant, says Presling. Many on our team had noamiliarity with Christchurch, so they had to rely onusing maps and TomTom GPS units. We used radiosto contact our base, to let them know our movementsaround the city. We used rst aid quite a lot; there

were still cases o minor injuries. We had also donea ground-based rescue course. Our team didntactually go through buildings digging people out, butthose skills are good to have i you ound yoursel inthe city and there was another earthquake.

Hayley Presling, a New Zealand Red Cross volunteer, discusses how best to

support those living near the epicentre o the Christchurch earthquake. Photo:

Phil Reid/Dominion Post.


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Fourteen Red Cross emergency response teams andother organizations worked out o the EmergencyOperations Centre, where the Ministry o CivilDeence and Emergency Management oversaw theentire operation. Volunteers rom the Red Crossrestoring amily links programme collaborated withthe police, city councils, civil deence and otheragencies to track and register more than 50,000displaced people, and to assist in nding more than1,000 missing people. A specially-trained Red Crossteam supported search and rescue teams, checkingbuildings or people who might be trapped.

Lions Clubs International had previously signeda partnership agreement with the IFRC, and inChristchurch, volunteers rom the Red Cross andthe Lions Clubs went rom door to door, inspecting

tens o thousands o residential properties andchecking peoples well-being. The Red Cross hasbeen great in providing the necessary training toprepare our volunteers to assist in emergencies,says Katerina Barcal, programme developmentmanager at Lions Clubs International.

Presling recalls the experience as organized chaos,simply because o the number o people coming andgoing all the time. Indeed, emergencies are chaotic,and it is almost impossible to predict how they willunold. Eective disaster response doesnt begin

the moment the ground starts to shake or whenan epidemic claims its rst vict ims; it requiresstrong partnerships between government andresponse organizations. It is a cyclical process thatstarts with signicant preparation beore, strongmanagement during, and actions or recovery andsustainability ater the event.

Organizations must maintain a volunteer databaseand volunteers must be adequately trained. Thereis a basic minimum, especially on the ront line,says Catherine Martin, a ormer Philippines RedCross director, who is now working with the

International Committee o the Red Cross (ICRC).For search and rescue, i its a collapsed structure,you have to go into that building, and youre inthe same danger as rst responders. When yourepicking up the wounded in a battleeld, even iyoure wearing a Red Cross vest, a bullet doesnt sayThis is the Red Cross. She also recalls a rescueattempt by poorly trained volunteers (not rom theRed Cross) during a severe food in the Philippines.I they had received the correct training, they wouldhave known not to use a rubber boat in raging foodwater. However, they went out in such a boat, it

overturned and no one survived.

Volunteers must have the proper equipment,whether protective clothing or communicationstools. The South Pacic country o Vanuatu issubject to a barrage o natural disasters, romvolcanic eruptions to earthquakes, tsunamis,hurricanes and cyclones. A population o some200,000 relies on approximately 450 Vanuatu Red

Cross volunteers to warn and evacuate them,distribute ood and administer rst aid. However,due to a lack o nancial resources, the NationalSociety is woeully underequipped, relying on oldtwo-way radios to communicate during disasters. Inthe past couple o years, two volunteers have diedin separate incidents whilst evacuating amiliesrom the danger zone o erupting volcanoes. Whentheir radios ailed, they didnt hear the orderto return and both were killed by alling rocks.Working with governments to ensure that rstresponders are properly equipped is critical in orderto ensure the saety and security o all volunteers.

The capability o rst responders can make thedierence between lives saved and lives lost. Whena disaster happens, the rst response is going tobe through local people, says Pablo Medina. Localpopulations can enhance their capacity to respondby studying general rst-aid training and basicdisaster response skills in advance. In 1985, the LosAngeles Fire Department created the CommunityEmergency Response Team (CERT). The programmetrains civilians in disaster preparedness andresponse, working at the local level so they can

meet their immediate needs during an emergency

A Cambodian Red Cross Society disaster response team visits the fooded commune oCork Trabek in Kampong Thom province in 2011. Photo: Cambodian Red Cross Society.


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whilst waiting or responders. Since the UnitedStates Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) made the programme nationally availablein 1993, CERT has conducted training in 28 states

and in Puerto Rico. In several emergencies, CERTvolunteer teams have partnered with local RedCross branches, oten arriving beore the Red Crossand helping to share the workload.

INCLUDE PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORTFOR VOLUNTEERS IN ALL RESPONSEMANAGEMENT PLANS

Even when volunteers are not risking their livesduring an emergency, they work long hours under

stressul conditions. Many may themselves become

the victims o a disaster, acing the death o amilymembers or the loss o property. Others may beemotionally aected by what they see, making themvulnerable to depression or exhaustion.

Some volunteers will need psychosocial support.Disasters are traumatic experiences and respondersare just as vulnerable as others in the community.We must always remember that we are working withvolunteers who are themselves survivors, people whoare working on an empty stomach, sleeping in therain and oten mourning the loss o a amily memberor riend, just like our beneciaries, explains DanishRed Cross psychosocial delegate Zara Sejberg.

Authorities and civil society organizations

are beginning to recognize the importance o

An American Red Cross volunteer surveys the destruction caused by the Harris fre, which aected approximately 75,000 acres in south-eastern San Diego County. Photo:

Talia Frenkel/American Red Cross.


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counselling services or sta and volunteers. TheDanish Red Cross has been particularly involved inpsychosocial activities and hosts the IFRC ReerenceCentre or Psychosocial Support. A Danish delegatewho works in Pakistan, Ea Suzanne Akasha, wasin Sindh province on the day the ood distributionturned into a nightmare. Aterwards, mostvolunteers had diculty sleeping and were worriedabout going back to the eld. Some decided to stop

volunteering altogether.

Akasha conducted sessions with the volunteers,establishing a common understanding o the ordero events, talking about their thoughts, eelings andreactions. The young man who had been red atound sympathy and support rom his peers. They

realized much to their surprise that they hadacted very competently during the attack, relatesAkasha. They were reassured that their reactionswere normal in these abnormal circumstances. Thegroup elt much relieved that someone sat with themand listened to their gruesome tales with empathy.

In post-earthquake Haiti, psychosocial delegateJrme Grimaud notes that Haitian National RedCross Society volunteers ound a way o coping withtheir own loss and grie by helping others. One othese, a 33-year-old nursery school teacher namedErline Franois, recalls: My house collapsed duringthe earthquake. The night ater, I ound mysel nakedin the streets. I did not know what to do and where togo. Ater a ew days, I approached the psychosocialteam o the Red Cross to become a volunteer. At the

end o the rst day o the training, I already elt better.The trainer listened to me and I learned that I couldalso listen to others. Beore that, I was wonderingwhat I could do, how to restart something in my lie.Ater the training, I regained hope.

PROMOTE VOLUNTEERING ANDRECOGNIZE VOLUNTEERS

There are always people who are willing to help outin the middle o a crisis. The trick is to encouragethem to continue volunteering long aterwards,giving them ullling projects between disasters,so that organizations dont have to start againand train a new group o volunteers when thenext disaster strikes. Many o the diculties inretaining volunteers stem rom a lack o resources

to reward their eorts or maintain their attention in

A psychosocial support project in Sindh province, run by the Danish Red Cross and

the Pakistan Red Crescent Society, helps children recover rom the trauma o the

oods. Photo: Olivier Matthys/IFRC.

Danish Red Cross psychosocial support delegate Ea Suzanne Akasha in Sindh province,

Pakistan, 2011. Photo: Olivier Matthys/IFRC.

Erline Franois, and another psychosocial support volunteer rom the Haiti Red Cross,

work with children aected by the earthquake in January 2010. Photo:Haitian NationalRed Cross Society.


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meaningul activity. It is crucial that volunteers eelneeded and valued by the communities they serve.

Syed Mehmood Hussain Shah Kazmi is a 19-year-old volunteer rom Kashmir, Pakistan, who becamea Red Crescent volunteer when his village wasdestroyed by the earthquake in 2005. Tears cometo his eyes when he describes running home romschool that day. On my way, I saw dead bodies. Girls,boys, elders, everyone was crying. I was running tomy home, not sure what happened. Someone said,Its a massive earthquake, its Judgement Day. Thebridge was swaying. A neighbour said, Your houseis demolished. I crossed the bridge and reachedhome, and I saw everything nished. Our house. Ourcousins dead.

He helped to dig survivors out o the rubble with hisbare hands, applying the most basic rst aid andusing pieces o clothing to dress their wounds. Hisparents and sisters had been injured but survived.At night everyone slept together in a tent, togetherwith the dead body o his 13-year-old cousin, asno one had a spade to bury her. The next day, theTurkish Red Crescent Society arrived with rst aidand relie. I thought, why are they helping? Theyare not blood relations. Moved by what he saw, hevolunteered soon aterwards or the Pakistan RedCrescent Society.

He is honoured to serve, though he says he wouldlike the experience to oer him something concretein return. The Pakistan Red Crescent Society doesnot provide him with insurance, and there is nocertainty his training will help him nd a job.Volunteers are unpaid, he says, not becausethey are worthless, because they are priceless. Wedo expect that we must be sae. We want socialbenets. We have to work or our amilies as wellas humanity. I we are working or humanity,the authorities should protect us socially andeconomically i they can. We are not a liability. We

are assets o a society, because we are giving ourbest or them.

Whether or not volunteers should be paid is amatter or debate (see Box 1). But other incentivescan promote the value o volunteering: reepasses or public transport, discounts at publicuniversities or quantiying a volunteers experiencewhen they apply or a public post. The EuropeanCommission recently released its rst policy paperon volunteering. One o its recommendations is tovalidate voluntary work experience and skills by

including them in a uture European Skills Passport.

In many Arican countries, people have a strongtradition o inormal volunteering. According toHenry Nkhoma, a director in Zambias Ministryo Community Development and Social Services,the government realizes it has a role to playin supporting and regulating that goodwill.Every year, we have International VolunteerDay. Ministers give speeches and the messagethey deliver is that government supports theseactivities. What we have not seen is an initiative tocome up with policies to take care o the welare ovolunteers generally. We are working on that. Thewill to volunteer is very much there; what it lacksis coordination.

Governments may look or inspiration to Colombia,where volunteers enjoy a solid support system. One

volunteer, Victor Manuel Letelier Paredes, has aamily and a ull-time job as a school librarian andyet, or the last nine years, he has volunteered anaverage o 16 hours a week or the Colombian RedCross Society. He speaks o his commitment with agreat deal o pride: We dont want money, he says.We just need tools to work. The organization givesus uniorms, helmets, jackets and, in return, wegive it our work and knowledge. Its a good balance.Like every volunteer member o a relie agencythat is part o the national disaster preventionsystem, he is covered by an accident insurance

policy paid or by the state. And when he recentlydecided to study or a postgraduate degree in Peaceand International Humanitarian Law, a Red Crossscholarship paid or hal o his tuition ees.

We must remember, volunteering is a choice onemakes in sacrice o doing something else, statesDr Mukesh Kapila, Under Secretary General atthe IFRC. I we do not recognize the signicantvalue this choice brings to community, i we dontstudy the social dr ivers that lead one to make suchcommitments, then we are not taking their decisionseriously enough and people will cease to make

such sacrices.

ENSURE THAT VOLUNTEERS HAVE SAFEACCESS TO ALL VULNERABLE GROUPS

Volunteers must be allowed to assist those in needwithout ear or their own saety. Governmentsmust promote ull protection o volunteers in theeld. And even i a countrys government is alling,its people should know and respect the red crossand red crescent emblems, so that volunteers can

work without ear o aggression.


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Nonetheless, attacks on volunteer ambulances havetaken place in countries rom Syria to Honduras.During the 2011 anti-Gadda uprising in Libya,security orces sometimes used ambulances to hidein when approaching the ront line, then jumped outring. Partly as a result, the vehicles became targets.Even medics wearing Red Crescent vests were shot atwhen they went to pick up bodies.

On 7 April 2011, Mohamed Mustaa Almisrati, aLibyan Red Crescent rst aider, was travelling ina clearly marked Red Crescent ambulance with adriver, two doctors and a nurse. They had just takenwounded people rom the ront line to AjdabiyaHospital and were attempting to return to the rontline. Conditions were dangerous NATO orces hadmistakenly red on the oppositions tanks, Colonel

Gaddas orces were launching missile attacks,panicked civilians and insurgents were feeing thetown so their supervisor instructed them to returnto base. They drove slowly so they could collect anycasualties along the way.

Suddenly, a missile hit the back o the ambulance,scattering shrapnel everywhere. Almisrati leapt outwhen he heard the blast, earing the vehicle wouldexplode. When he looked around or the others, hecouldnt see one o the doctors, a man named Salehal-Awami, so he ran back to the ambulance calling

or him. I opened the door, he says. I saw him lyingdown near the door. I lited his head with roth comingout o his mouth and shrapnel on his chest with hisshirt covered in blood. I burst into tears and couldntcontrol mysel. Al-Awami died on the way to thehospital. The young paramedic had been volunteeringat the hospital since the start o the uprising and hadasked to join the ambulance and go to the ront line.

Other healthcare volunteers have also oundthemselves in situations o danger, notably duringvaccination campaigns. Aghanistan is one o thelast polio-endemic countries in the world, butvaccinators have been threatened, or even killed,while trying to access Taliban-dominated parts othe country. In 2007, at the request o the WorldHealth Organization (WHO), ICRC took advantage oits neutrality to contact the Taliban leadership andask or its support during vaccination campaigns.In return, Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a letter

that vaccinators can carry, instructing people tocooperate and provide them with sae passage.

These intrepid volunteers visit households,administering two drops o oral polio vaccine toeach child. They stain the childrens ngers withpermanent ink to indicate they have received thevaccine, and they put chalk marks on the doors otheir homes. More than 12,000 Aghan Red CrescentSociety volunteers joined the campaign in March2011 alongside other local volunteers trainedby UNICEF, WHO and the Aghan government.Together, they have vaccinated some 10 million

Aghan children against the crippling diseasesince the beginning o 2011. We aim at decreasingthe polio threat to zero level, but we have notyet succeeded and there is a long way to go,says Fatima Gailani, President o the Aghan RedCrescent Society. However, there have already beensigns o success. According to UNICEF, Aghanistanreported 25 cases o polio in 2010, whileneighbouring Pakistan and Tajikistan reported 144and 458 cases respectively.

There should be a general understanding that

volunteers are to be protected at all times.Saleh al-Awami, a young paramedic who volunteered with the Libyan Red Crescent,

was killed during the 2011 uprising in Libya. Photo: Libyan Red Crescent.

Mohamed Mustaa Almisrati during Saleh al-Awamis uneral. Almisrati is the

Libyan Red Crescent frst aider who was with al-Awami when he died. Photo:

Libyan Red Crescent.


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Awareness campaigns and the dissemination othe Fundamental Principles o the InternationalRed Cross and Red Crescent Movement in schools,military and police compounds help build a cultureo recognition and respect or volunteers. It goeswithout saying that in times o confict, no partyshould ever target the Red Cross or Red Crescent orindeed any other humanitarian organization nor

misuse the emblems, equipment or volunteers ortheir own means.

Authorities must emphasize this message both inperiods o peace and in confict. Moises Inguane othe Mozambique Red Cross Society has observedthat the emblem might actually be more widelyrecognized during confict, when ICRC is present.We moved rom a period o war, when the RedCross was mostly respected and the presence o theICRC was higher. We came to a transition to peace,and in the country we had demobilization o thearmed orces and recruitment o new armed orces.

So those who are new, maybe they dont knowinternational humanitarian law as well as those inthe past.

Volunteers are always vulnerable, not just duringconfict. This was illustrated on the evening o 26January 2010, when two Kenyan volunteers respondedto a trac accident on the BungomaWebuyehighway. They rushed to the scene and provided rstaid to an injured truck driver. Suddenly, they heardgunshots. They raised their hands and shouted thatthey were rom the Kenya Red Cross Society. Despite

the act that they were wearing jackets bearing the

red cross emblem, the person ring, a policeman,claims he mistook them or thieves. When a secondRed Cross team arrived at the scene, they oundthat one o the volunteers, Michael Waula Sululu,had been shot and was writhing in pain. He died inhospital shortly aterwards.

An example o eective awareness-raising thathas produced noteworthy results is Colombia.The Colombian Red Cross Society has strived ordecades to educate the government and peopleabout its principles, with seminars or government,the army, police and rebel ghters. According toOscar Zuluaga, a senior adviser at the IFRC onvolunteering development, In 50 years o confict inColombia, only one volunteer was killed and it wasan accident. This is a question o dissemination o

the undamental principles, o the respect o theemblem, o the Geneva Conventions, o internationalhumanitarian law, o the activities o the Red Cross.

Colombian volunteer Victor Manuel Letelier Paredesrecalls one incident when he was driving anambulance or the Red Cross: Something happenedbetween the police and the people; they werethrowing rocks. A rock came towards us, and bothsides said, Excuse me, thats not or you.

STRENGTHEN THE LEGAL PROTECTIONOF VOLUNTEERS

The laws and policies aecting volunteers aredierent in almost every country, and even indierent regions o the same country. Governmentscan and must do more to explore the legalmechanisms that protect volunteers in emergencies.

In recent years, the legal situation o volunteersaround the globe has come under increasingscrutiny, with new reports released by UnitedNations Volunteers (UNV) and the IFRC. In 2009

UNV published its report Laws and Policies AffectingVolunteerism Since 2001, drated by the InternationalCenter or Not-or-Prot Law and the EuropeanCenter or Not-or-Prot Law. It ound that, sincethe International Year o Volunteers in 2001, morethan 70 national laws or policies that encourageor regulate volunteering have been adopted (nowmore than 80), whereas only a ew countries hadaddressed the issue in a comprehensive way beore.Many o these came about ollowing national crisesor disasters, such as the 2008 earthquake in China,which led to the drating o the countrys Volunteer

Service Law.

Aghan Red Crescent Society volunteers carry out polio vaccinations during a

national immunization campaign. Photo: IFRC.


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UNV has also issued a guidance note to helpgovernments drat and implement laws relating tovolunteerism. Its our main recommendations are:determine specic goals and challenges; embracea participatory approach to analysis, drating andimplementation; drat laws or policies to achievethose goals; and ensure that they are eectivelyand sustainably implemented. The report holds upNew Zealand and the Former Yugoslav Republic oMacedonia as examples o countries that dratedstrong legislation by integrating all our measuresinto their processes.

Comparative legal research on the legal environmentrelating to volunteering in emergencies is limited,

although the IFRC has recently released a reporton the legal ramework applicable to volunteeringin emergencies, which is based on desk researchand country studies. The report says countries allinto roughly our categories. In some instances,legislation is clear with regard to the denitiono a volunteer and volunteers activities. In otherjurisdictions, there is an absence o clear denitionsor scope o volunteering activities, which createsgrey areas in the law. In yet other cases, there arebarriers or legal provisions in various sectors orexample, labour laws or tax laws that may prohibitor restrict volunteering. Still others have laws ondisaster management or emergency response thatmake particular reerence to volunteers. Generally,

Red Cross Volunteers walk through a camp or displaced people in Dukou, western Cte dIvoire, where thousands o people ed ater violence broke out ollowing the

December 2010 elections. Photo: Moustapha Diallo/IFRC.


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there are clear gaps in the law and governmentshave taken a piecemeal and ad hoc approach.

Laws and policies can remove barriers tovolunteering and, at the same time, create a moreprotective environment. And yet every country hasdierent needs, so there is no universal solution.There may be signicant variations in the country-level context, which results in dierent approaches.People talk about a model law on volunteering,says IFRC lawyer Priya Pillai. We dont necessarilyneed one law on volunteering or one law ondisasters that reers to volunteering. We must lookat how well each countrys existing legislationprotects and enables volunteers. In some cases,legal provisions are sucient. Other countries neednew laws.

Certain legal concerns can have a direct impacton volunteering in emergencies and labour lawsneed to be taken into consideration. For example,volunteers should be oered time o work to trainor and respond to emergencies. Similarly, theyshould not lose any entitlement to unemploymentbenets as a result o their volunteering activities,and any small payments to reimburse them orbasic living expenses should not be taxed.

Moreover, it is important to limit the l iability o

volunteers when they are acting in good aith.Although there are ew examples o volunteersbeing successully sued ater an emergency, it isa potential risk and court trials can be gruellingaairs. Tragedy struck Linton, Australia, in 1998,when ve volunteer reghters responding to abush re were killed ater the wind unexpectedlychanged direction. Their colleagues later hadto stand witness in one o the longest coronialinquests in the history o the State o Victoria.The National Inquiry on Bushre Mitigation andManagement noted: The decisions o volunteersas well as career sta are placed under intense

scrutiny during such inquiries. This has led to somevolunteers opting out o command positions involunteer brigades.

In the United States, the Federal VolunteerProtection Act o 1997 says that a volunteerperorming services or a non-prot organizationor governmental entity will not be held liable orharm caused to a person due to an act o omission(based on certain conditions and with exceptionssuch as gross negligence). The act came aboutbecause some members o Congress elt a risk o

liability could stife volunteerism. Legal scholars

disagree on this point. However, in their 2009report entitled Letting Good Deeds Go Unpunished:Volunteer Immunity Laws and Tort Deterrence, JillHorwitz and Joseph Mead rom the University oMichigan Law School write: People who live injurisdictions without immunity are less likely thanothers to volunteer, suggesting that individuals doindeed react to tort risk or the perception o thatrisk through activity avoidance. At the sametime, a delicate balance exists between protectingvolunteers and giving them carte blanche. While youwant to enable volunteers, notes Priya Pillai, youalso need to protect persons who receive assistancerom volunteers.

It is a positive development that countries aredrating laws to protect volunteers, but i they are

to be eective, they must also be implemented.Catherine Shea o the International Center orNot-or-Prot Law says: We identied a numbero instances where countries were good atimplementation. They took it into account rightrom the outset, when they were developing theirstrategy or a law policy, and developed plans andstrategies during the participatory process so theywere able to carry orward their initiative ater thelaw was passed.

But the UNV report she co-authored also gives

the example o Bolivia, where national volunteerlegislation came about ater a volunteer re andrescue worker named Daniel Manrique was shot

A ood survivor in Odisha gives a warm welcome to an Indian Red Cross volunteer.

Photo: Indian Red Cross Society.


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in the ace during the 20022003 protests. Withno insurance and no health cover, Manrique wasonly able to receive the multiple operations heneeded thanks to the generosity o French volunteerreghters. This incident provoked a public reactionand, in 2005, Bolivia passed an ambitious lawgiving volunteers rights such as short-term medicalcoverage, material support and academic credit.Soon aterwards, however, elections brought in anew government, which dissolved the ministry thatbacked the legislation.

A countrys culture may also prove more powerulthan its laws. When a magnitude-8.9 earthquake, aseven-metre-high tsunami and a nuclear accidentall struck Japan in quick succession, 70,000 JapaneseRed Cross Society volunteers rushed to the aid

o victims. Despite this infux o assistance roman extremely large and well-organized Red Crosssociety, there still werent enough volunteers or acatastrophe on this scale. Part o the reason is thatmost Japanese workers get two weeks holiday ayear. The law allows volunteers to take additionalleave or disaster response, but ew people dare.Hiroaki Sakamoto was among them. A quiet,49-year-old high school teacher, he used one week ohis holiday to help coordinate the relie eort. Othervolunteers worked on a rota basis over our-dayperiods so as not to be away rom their workplace

or too long. The law is well done in Japan, butmanagement is not so good, says Sakamoto. Thelocal government says you can take time o tovolunteer, but it is hard. You wouldnt lose your job,but it would aect your situation.

Implementation should be actored into a law orpolicy at the outset. As the UNV report states:Once laws or policies have been enacted,government ocials and other stakeholders shouldwork together to develop an operational plan oreective implementation that provides clear anddetailed activities, goals, responsibilities, and

deadlines. Doing so will ensure that individualsand organizations take responsibility or their rolesin the implementation process, and will help toensure that laws and policies are more than justwords on paper.

PROVIDE INSURANCE TO ALLVOLUNTEERS

Most volunteers around the world are uninsured.Governments and volunteer organizations have

to work together to guarantee that volunteershave insurance, especially when they respond todisasters. Insurance or volunteers is a collectiveresponsibility, says Dr Mukesh Kapila. Governmentmust work with volunteer organizations such asthe Red Cross Red Crescent to make sure thosewho put sel-interest aside to save lives will beprotected i they suer injury as a consequence.Volunteering should not be at your own risk. TheIFRC encourages National Societies to insure theirvolunteers through the IFRC-backed scheme thatcosts just 1 Swiss ranc per person.

According to Mozambiques new legislation onvolunteering, whenever a volunteer carr ies outactivities that put his or her saety at risk, theorganization must provide insurance. In realitythough, Moises Inguane says it is too expensiveto insure each and every one o the MozambiqueRed Cross Societys 6,600 volunteers by name.Since many o them are on standby in case o anemergency, he suggests a system by which theycould pay a smaller lump sum that would covervolunteers interchangeably and would only takeeect when an accident occurs.

Hiroaki Sakamoto is a high-school teacher who volunteered with the Japanese

Red Cross Society ater the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Photo: Japanese

Red Cross Society.


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In the United States, health insurance is a majorissue or volunteers. Many o the volunteers and rstresponders who helped out at Ground Zero ollowingthe September 11 terrorist attacks in New York havedeveloped cancer or respiratory diseases as a result.Those who lacked medical insurance had to waitnine years, with no guarantee o assistance, until theJames Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Actcame into orce, helping them cover their medicalbills and other losses.

CONCLUSION: PROTECT, PROMOTEAND RECOGNIZE VOLUNTEERS

In early 2009, Red Cross volunteers in Quinga,Mozambique, responded to a severe cholera outbreak

by delivering chlorine to peoples homes and showingthem how to disinect the water. When some villagersbecame sick, they blamed the volunteers. Some peopleconused the words or chlorine (cloro) and cholera. On

22 February, they attacked the volunteers; they tiedthem up, beat them almost unconscious and destroyedtheir homes. The volunteers fed or their lives.

Because they lived in the same communities as theirattackers, they could not go back home. Over the nexttwo months, the Mozambique Red Cross Society andthe local government worked to educate the populationabout the role o the volunteers, until it was deemedsae enough or them to return. Incredibly, on theirreturn they continued serving as volunteers. Ask whyand the answer is simple: I want to improve the healthin my community, says Antonio Gabriel, who was seton re during that awul day in February 2009.

As long as there are disasters, there will be millions opeople just like Antonio Gabriel, willing to ace danger

or the sake o their communities. Volunteers whorisk their lives to help save others deserve our sharedcommitment to protect, promote and recognize eachand every one o them.

A volunteer with the Mozambique Red Cross Society explains about cholera prevention in 2010. Photo: Mozambique Red Cross Society.


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When aid money fows into a country ollowing a

disaster, the local residents may nd themselves

better o than they were beore the event. Kathy, a

volunteer hygiene promoter or the Haitian National

Red Cross Society, takes home 11 US dollars a day.

She says it is not a lot o money, but then again it is a

lot. It represents a lot because thats what helps you

send the kids to school, pay rent and do other things.

As Kathys example suggests, notions o what

constitutes volunteering change in the weeks andmonths ater a disaster. Immediately ollowing an

emergency, many people help out as much as

possible without any thought o personal gain.

Once the initial crisis is over, volunteers begin

to think again about their own amilies and jobs.

In many cases, humanitarian organizations nd

themselves staed with people working ull time

and receiving a signicant amount o money each

day, and yet describe them as volunteers.

Does this make a dierence? Yes, suggests

Dr Masooda Bano, a research ellow at theUniversity o Oxord. She has studied the negative

impact o oreign aid on the capacity o voluntary

organizations to mobilize communities and argues

that giving volunteers too much money erodes the

voluntary spirit that donors oten hope to encourage

with their aid. I you give a lot o nancial incentive

extrinsic motivation then oten you crowd out

the intrinsic motivation, the compunction to do it or

yoursel: religious reasons, inner satisaction and so

orth. I youre paying money, it no longer becomes

a volunteer activity. The psyche changes.

The issue o paying volunteers goes beyond justcommunity perception. It also raises ethical and

legal issues. In the short term, such situations

oten mean that volunteers do not receive the

benets o employment, including minimum

wages and pensions, thereby posing moral

and sometimes practical legal issues or the

organizations or which they work. Nor does the

state receive the income it usually would rom

employment.

In the longer term, there is evidence that such

practices may lead to volunteering beingassociated with poorly paid labour. When the

money runs out (as it invariably does), communities

are less well equipped and oten less willing to

deal with issues through community volunteering:

community resilience has eectively decreased.

Yet this is not simply an eor t by international

agencies to avoid employment costs. Very oten,

national employment laws do not allow them

to employ people legally, and using the word

volunteer is a simple way o avoiding legal

complications in what is eectively an employmentrelationship.

Understanding the complex nature o the debate,

the Red Cross Red Crescent remains committed

to a community-based approach towards

volunteering. We believe that a ocus on payment

creates negative value propositions associated

with volunteering that undermine the very spirit

o voluntary service, explains Dr Mukesh Kapila,

Under Secretary General at the IFRC. We will

continue to work with governments and other

volunteer-involving organizations to advocate or a

clearer denition o volunteering, and ensure thatpaid workers remain separate rom that denition.

Box 1To pay or not to pay


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Increasingly, new technologies mean that even

volunteers who are ar rom a disaster can make

a dierence through their time and skills. On 19

January 2010, a one-sentence plea appeared

online: Orphanage Foyer de Sion in Haiti running

out o water. Online saviours saw a postal address

accompanying the statement and a map o Port-au-

Prince with a red dot indicating exactly where the

children were located.

The Crisis Map o Haiti was created by Ushahidi, a

non-prot technology company that develops open

source sotware or interactive mapping, inormation

collection and visualization. The website went live

just hours ater the earthquake, with witnesses on

the ground sending urgent messages through a

variety o communications methods, including radio,

SMS, Twitter and e-mail. Trained volunteers in cities

rom Boston to London receive the inormation and

map it online, almost in real time.

Ushahidi (the Swahili word or testimony) was the

brainchild o bloggers and programmers living in

Kenya, who launched the rst site in reaction to the

post-election violence in Kenya in 2008. People

dialled a mobile phone number to report peace

eorts or incidents o violence, which were then

aggregated on a Google Maps mash-up that was

available to view online.

Since then, Ushahidis platorm has served tomap clashes and natural disasters in India, South

Arica, Libya and beyond. In October 2009,

one o Ushahidis ounders helped to create the

International Network o Crisis Mappers, a global

hub bringing technology and crisis mapping to

humanitarian disaster response.

Box 2Keyboard volunteerism

One o the smart phone applications created or Ushahidi, a non-proft technology company that develops open source sotware. Photo: Ushahidi.


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Humanity The International Red Cross and Red

Crescent Movement, born o a desire to bring as-

sistance without discrimination to the wounded

on the battleeld, endeavours, in its international

and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate hu-man suering wherever it may be ound. Its pur-

pose is to protect lie and health and to ensurerespect or the human being. It promotes mutual

understanding, riendship, cooperation and lasting

peace amongst all peoples.

Impartiality It makes no discrimination as to na-

tionality, race, religious belies, class or political

opinions. It endeavours to relieve the suering o

individuals, being guided solely by their needs, andto give priority to the most urgent cases o distress.

Neutrality In order to enjoy the condence o all,the Movement may not take sides in hostilities orengage at any time in controversies o a political,

racial, religious or ideological nature.

Independence The Movement is independent. The

National Societies, while auxiliaries in the human-

itarian services o their governments and subject

to the laws o their respective countries, must al-

ways maintain their autonomy so that they maybe able at all times to act in accordance with the

principles o the Movement.

Voluntary service It is a voluntary relie move-ment not prompted in any manner by desire or

gain.

Unity There can be only one Red Cross or Red

Crescent Society in any one country. It must beopen to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work

throughout its territory.

Universality The International Red Cross and

Red Crescent Movement, in which all societieshave equal status and share equal responsibili-

ties and duties in helping each other, is world-

wide.

The Fundamental Principlesof the International

Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement


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volunteering in emergencies

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