Emergency Response Staff Sought

A recruitment drive for the Irish Aid Rapid Response Corps has been launched.

With the Haiti disaster and the weekend's deadly falsh floods in Maderia each underlining the importance of an international emergency response organisation, the Minister of State for Overseas Development, Peter Power is today bidding for more personnel.

The Rapid Response Corps (RRC) is a roster of skilled and experienced volunteers available to deploy at short notice to humanitarian emergencies anywhere in the world. Corps members are deployed to Irish Aid's humanitarian partners, providing specialised skills essential to their emergency operations.

"Since the Rapid Response Corps was first launched in 2007, there have been 67 deployments to humanitarian emergencies in 23 countries.

"Corps members are making a valuable contribution to saving lives and rebuilding the livelihoods of people affected by emergencies around the world," said Minister Power.

A further two members of the Rapid Response Corps travelled to Haiti this weekend, bringing the number currently deployed in the country to six.

"These highly-skilled volunteers are making a crucial contribution to the international recovery effort and working hard to respond to the needs of those affected by the devastating earthquake of January 12," Minister Power said.

Three of the six RRC members – an ICT expert, an electrical engineer and a civil engineer – are working with the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

Another is providing support to the civil military coordination function of the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Two logisticians are working respectively with Irish aid agencies, Concern and Goal.

"While we have deployed six Corps members to Haiti since the earthquake, there are 11 other members serving in Afghanistan, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Kenya, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Sudan," he continued.

Minister Power also announced that he has approved €1 million in funding to finance the operation of the Corps in 2010.

"This will support the recruitment, training and deployment of RRC members in 2010, including our ongoing operation in Haiti.

"We are seeking experienced logisticians, public health and humanitarian coordination experts and engineers, particularly those with a water and sanitation background. We are also keen to recruit volunteers with a second language and French speakers are particularly in demand," he said.

"This year, there is also a focus on civil-military coordination experts, an area of expertise in which I believe Ireland can develop a niche. I also want to recruit information management experts.

"We have seen - most recently in Haiti - that experts who can collate, analyse, map and present accessible information in emergencies are very much in demand among our humanitarian partners," Minister Power said.

"For Irish Aid, the Corps has become an increasingly important means of responding to international emergencies," he said.

See: Irish Rapid Response Corps

(BMcC/GK)