Essay

Day 1

We started the day by having a meet and greet session with both the lecturer and the other students. The unit outline was introduced to us by the lecturer and the class course of conduct was set by taking opinions from all the students.

In the second session of the day guest lecturer Dr. Jonatan Lassa gave a very informative presentation on understanding crisis and humanitarian ecosystem.

Later on we learned more about Humanitarian discourse and an in-depth discussion session took place on topics such as global inequality, underdevelopment, poverty and humanitarian aid.

I learned how we can use the Human Development Index (IHD) to measure poverty on which I did not have a clear concept before.

Later on we selected the topic of our presentation and worked on that in groups.

I am looking forward to learn more in the next 9 days of this intensive course.

Day 2

I think we had a really productive day today with most of the groups presenting their power point presentations throughout the day and going through a recap of what was done on the first day of our placement.

Some of the learnings of the day included the lecturer teaching us about the fundamental humanitarian principals in practice and potential ethical dilemmas. In-depth discussions were done on Humanity, Neutrality, Impartially and Independence which are the four humanitarian principals.

Later on the staff members of Australian Red Cross joined us and gave a presentation on their history, principals and their services in the Northern Territory. It was very interesting to learn how ARC operates in NT and was indeed amazed to know how much they have contributed in times of crisis in Darwin.

Day 3

We started off day 3 of this intensive course with the remaining of the groups presenting their power point slides which had very informative ideas on key NGOs and INGOs and how their funding mechanism works. Later on the campus security manager briefed us on CDU’s security regulations and safety of students.

Following that, CDU’s Global Mobility Officers joined us to outline the intriguing international opportunities that both the international and domestic students can attain.

The most important session to me was when Amanda Janssen from CDU’s ALLSP team joined us and involved all the students to activities relating to the significance of reflective essay writing methods. Such activities not only allowed me to learn more about structuring essays, but also polished my current methods of writing reflective essays.

Day 4

Like every day, day 4 started off with a recap of the learnings of the day before. After a brief session on day 3, the lecturer introduced us to International Relations, International Law and International Disaster Law.

An in-depth lecture included definitions, purposes, effectiveness and differences of views of each topic which according to me not only helped to broaden my knowledge but will also assist me to apply the principals to disaster scenarios in the future.

Later on Dr Simon Moss of CDU joined us to give us a presentation on risk associated with personal safety and security in the field. It was indeed fantastic to learn more about resilience, motivation and confidence from both his personal life experiences and his research.

Day 5

Today our group was taken to a field trip to the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre which is the biggest centre of its kind in the Asia-pacific region. The staff member greeted us and gave us a tour of the whole facility and further educated us on how they operate in times of disaster. They provide services mainly based on the medical assistance of humanitarian work which include training surgeons, logistics officers and other field practitioners. It was amazing to know that their co-ordination levels are so high that in times of disaster, they are capable of deploying a team of almost 100 people in just 6 hours with the all the necessary supplies to operate for up to 2 weeks.

Later on we went to the Fireground Traiing Facility, North Australian Centre for Oil and Gas where we further learned about the local and regional emergency response mechanisms.

Day 6(week 2 starts)

Day 1 in the second week of our intensive placement started with the introduction of RedR Australia which is a leading international humanitarian response agency that selects, trains and deploys technical specialists.

One of the learning objectives of today was to evaluate the benefits of humanitarian coordination mechanisms which included activities on the cluster approach. After the activity, I understood the importance of coordination and how the cluster approach can be used to avoid gaps and overlaps in the assistance delivered by humanitarian organizations.

Further learnings included in-depth lectures on the humanitarian financial mechanism and activity questioners helped me to clear my concept on the differences between appeals and funds.

Day 7

Day 2 of our second week started off with an intensive activity of assembling tents. We were divided into 3 groups and sent out on the field with the equipment. Particularly our group had the task to assemble a tent without any verbal communication which meant we were not allowed to speak to each other. We found it really challenging but we figured out how to communicate with sign languages and eventually were able to finish our task.

Following that we came back to the class to learn more about working in teams which included team process theory and analysis on good team characteristics. After the session I was able to link the theories of working in teams with the activity we had in the morning. The learning outcomes for me included a better understanding of communication and the importance of co-ordination which I think will help me to operate more efficiently while working in teams in the future.

Day 8

Day 3 of week two personally for me was one of the most important learning session of this intensive course.

One of the learning session was on Civil Military Coordination which intrigued me the most as I always used to wonder how the military and human aid actors work side by side. We looked into different perceptions, interactions and how foreign military assets can be used to support the humanitarian actors.

We also looked into the core technical sectors of humanitarian work which included identifying the key challenges that humanitarian actors face. One of the activity was on shelter and settlement which was to identify the possible responses of humanitarian workers during a cyclone.

Other learnings included sessions on the importance of Information Management and Humanitarian Protection.

Day 9

In the first session of day 4 of week 2 we looked into the key problems relating to livelihoods, logistics and education for people affected by disaster. For me the outcome of that session included a better understanding of educational principles and importance of education in emergencies. Other learnings included the identification of the roles that logistics play in humanitarian response and the sectors of livelihood that get most affected by disasters.

One of the most important things we learned today was about stress management in the humanitarian context. The learnings included types of stress, common causes, symptoms and further analysis of both external and internal factors relating to stress. The activity of stress management allowed me to further identify the possible methods in which stress can be prevented and managed which according to me will assist me to work more efficiently as a humanitarian worker.

Day 10

Day 10 was about implementation of all that we learned in the last 4 days of this intensive Redr training through a simulation of operational planning. We were divided into different groups with tasks that included us to act as INGOs and to plan a coordinated, timely and realistic response to a humanitarian crisis based on assessed needs for the people of the country Sebedoh.

The whole simulation was based on real-life situations which had barriers that included ever changing scenarios, coordinating with both group members and other INGOs, negotiating with the local government officials and implementing humanitarian principals.

We as Red Heart had the task to closely work with other INGOs to allocate, monitor and order supplies for food and nutrition of the IDPs affected by the flood.

It was intensive, stressful but a wonderful learning experience which according to me will further help me to work as a professional in the humanitarian field.