Myanmar Red Cross Society: Disaster Management Review - Final Report

The Myanmar Red Cross Society has undertaken a massive response and then recovery operation in the areas of the country severely affected by Cyclone Nargis. The National Society wanted to see where they were positioned as well as learn from these experiences to take an enhanced role in disaster management activities in the national arena. This review attempts to highlight some areas internally and externally where they can consider working to have such an effective input.

The great strength of the MRCS at community level is its volunteers, but in reality the number of volunteers is limited – as in every RC Society. This report acknowledges the work they are doing and does not propose to increase the amount of work by, and expectations upon, the volunteers, but to propose a more coherent and integrated approach to working with them, so the resources are used more efficiently and with a better overall impact. Conversely, interesting programming and more inclusion of the volunteers should have a direct impact on staff and volunteer retention and general community support for the MRCS.