Our people are our greatest humanitarian asset

From designing dams to refugee settlements, RedR Australia’s expert roster members are lending their technical and soft skills to humanitarian crises and conflict globally.

When civil engineer Neil deployed to Bangladesh in March 2020, he was initially tasked with helping to flood-proof the Rohingya refugee camps ahead of monsoon season.

Deployed through humanitarian response agency RedR Australia as a Hydraulic Engineer to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Neil was on the ground in Cox’s Bazar when COVID-19 struck. Quickly shifting his focus to the construction of isolation and treatment centres, Neil oversaw the repurposing of camp facilities as the disease threatened to infiltrate the settlement’s already-vulnerable population.

Neil has since gone on to complete a further two deployments in as many years – working with Timor-Leste’s Secretariat for Civil Protection in two separate roles to assist the government to improve its disaster risk reduction efforts.

Following the country’s most severe floods in 50 years in April 2021, Neil’s coordination skills enabled 40,000 affected locals to evacuate to 41 centres. He also made recommendations for future mitigation efforts, work he’s continuing in his current role with the Secretariat as it looks to elevate its operational response processes.

Neil is one of close to 800 technical specialists on RedR Australia’s humanitarian professionals roster – a register of skilled people who can be called upon to help partner organisations and communities to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies including tropical cyclones, floods and drought.

As a member of the United Nations (UN) Standby Partnership, RedR Australia has deployment arrangements with 15 UN agencies as well as a number of national governments, regional and civil society organisations.

In FY21, RedR Australia deployed 114 humanitarians to support 31 partners in 30 countries – the equivalent of 539 months, or almost 55 years, of continuous professional humanitarian assistance in just one year.

RedR Australia CEO Kirsten Sayers and roster member, and Monitoring, Evaluation and Communications Specialist Rob in Za’atari camp, Jordan.

In providing support to these host organisations, RedR Australia’s roster is an invaluable resource of people who are experts in their fields. Many of our roster members come from the engineering and consulting sectors – with skills spanning public infrastructure, site planning, logistics and procurement, hydrogeology and climate change adaptation.

Our specialists are known not only for their technical expertise, but also for their soft skills and ability to hit the ground running. They work in collaboration with local colleagues and systems, building relationships to understand the needs on the ground and find solutions.

The roster is an asset to both RedR Australia and the global humanitarian sector – for skilled people are needed to help effectively and efficiently mitigate, recover and rebuild in the event of disaster.

Like Neil, roster member Rob also lended his skills to UNHCR’s work with refugees, with the Monitoring, Evaluation and Communications Specialist working alongside a team of electrical engineers in Jordan to support the ongoing operations of solar plants for the Za’atari and Azraq camps.

As the first two camps in the world with renewable energy, the plants are providing refugee families with increased access to electricity – meaning better lighting of shelters and streets, increased safety at night and more power in homes for refrigeration, cooking and homework.

Rob’s work helped to measure the impact of this electricity on communities’ protection, health, security and nutrition outcomes – also helping UNHCR to harness key learnings to draw upon when implementing similar projects.

RedR Australia’s roster provides the opportunity for skilled engineers and professional services consultants to use their skills to help communities be physically and socially connected to support, trade and livelihoods before, during and after a disaster.

When firms enable their staff to deploy with RedR Australia, it supports employee engagement, retention and leadership opportunities – with employers benefitting from the insights that staff bring back.

It also enables firms to meet their environmental and social governance aspirations through supporting work to build capacity in communities and make cities and settlements more safe, inclusive, robust and sustainable.

Whether it’s selecting and assessing infrastructure in communities or assisting governments to improve their disaster risk reduction initiatives, consulting professionals have a lot to offer, and gain from, the humanitarian sector.

By joining the RedR Australia roster, you’ll be helping to address rapidly increasing humanitarian need while also learning skills, developing networks and gaining insights into what safe social and physical infrastructure looks like in different contexts.

To learn more about the roster and using your skills to save lives and build resilience, visit: https://redr.org.au/humanitarian-roster/what-is-it/

Christie Long,

RedR Australia