New Initiative to Strengthen Africa's Red Cross & Red Cresce

 

By Joe De Capua

A new initiative has been launched to strengthen the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Africa, making them better able to respond to emergencies.

The local humanitarian¹ groups are often the first on the scene of either man-made or natural disasters. Often responding days or even weeks sooner than larger, international organizations.

Now there's a plan to establish a network of the groups across Africa. It's called NEPARC, the New Partnership² for Red Cross, Red Crescent Societies. The man chosen to lead the effort is Abbas Gullet, former deputy secretary-general of the International Federation³ of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Mr. Gullet has coordinated⁴ relief for such disasters as earthquakes in Iran and Turkey, and floods in Sudan, Sri Lanka and China. He's also led relief efforts for 700-thousand Rwandan and Burundian refugees.

He says, "The Red Cross, Red Crescent is the largest humanitarian organization in this continent. It's a grassroots organization. It is made of indigenous⁵ national societies, who are auxiliaries⁶ to their governments - and who are expected to intervene to assist the government when there are catastrophes⁷ or disasters in these countries."

Mr. Gullet says the first order of business is to audit⁸ the groups in each of the African countries - to find their strengths and their weaknesses.

To do this, the San Francisco-based Fritz Institute will offer its expertise⁹ in strengthening the infrastructure¹⁰ of humanitarian groups. It has resources in both the business and academic communities. Also, the international organization SGS, with its experts in inspection¹¹, verification and testing, will be part of NEPARC.

Mr. Gullet says such an effort for Africa is long overdue¹².

"As a continent where we've had the largest intervention¹³ of humanitarian work over the last 40 years, and where the needs are most in terms of health problems, natural disasters and man-made disasters like conflict, we are saying it is appropriate and timely that the African national societies take more responsibility for their own development and capacity building of their local national societies. So that when there are these emergencies and disasters then they are able to better respond to the needs of the communities at large," he says.

He says strengthening the presence and contributions of Africa's Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies sends a strong message.

"At a time when the world is going through a lot of changes and turmoil¹⁴ and crises, an organization like the Red Cross and Red Crescent are vital to support the public authorities. They are also probably highly regarded by the public in these countries. And really the message it would send would be very powerful. That there are local institutions and local organizations that can stand up and can meet international standards everywhere - and that they can respond to the needs of their own community," he says.

Abbas Gullet says the crisis in Darfur, Sudan is a good example of the work being done by such groups. In this case, the Sudanese Red Crescent Society.

He says, "The work the Sudanese Red Crescent is doing - that can already be highlighted and ongoing¹⁵ today and be recognized. And the areas where they need improvement, we can work with them as long as this operation is going on. Other things on good governance, good management, these are things we shall identify through this audit to know areas that the societies need to improve on."

The audit and capacity building of Africa's Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is expected to take three to five years.

The initiative also includes helping¹⁶ the groups attract more donations; establishing corporate¹⁷ partnerships¹⁸; and finding new technology to meet needs in humanitarian crises.

Joe De Capua, VOA news, Washington.

注释：
Red Cross 红十字会
Red Crescent Societies 红新月会
emergencies 紧急事件
Burundian 布隆迪的
refugee 难民
indigenous 本土的
auxiliary 助手，辅助者
catastrophe 大灾难，大祸
overdue 迟到的
governance 统治

1 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

2 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 coordinated   

adj.协调的

参考例句：

• The sound has to be coordinated with the picture. 声音必须和画面协调一致。
• The numerous existing statutes are complicated and poorly coordinated. 目前繁多的法令既十分复杂又缺乏快调。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法

5 indigenous   

adj.土产的，土生土长的，本地的

参考例句：

• Each country has its own indigenous cultural tradition.每个国家都有自己本土的文化传统。
• Indians were the indigenous inhabitants of America.印第安人是美洲的土著居民。

6 auxiliaries   

n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 )；辅助工，辅助人员

参考例句：

• These auxiliaries have made our work much easier. 有了这些辅助人员，我们的工作才顺利多了。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• In English the future tense is often rendered by means of auxiliaries. 在英语中，将来时常用助动词来表现。 来自辞典例句

7 catastrophes   

n.灾祸( catastrophe的名词复数 )；灾难；不幸事件；困难

参考例句：

• Two of history's worst natural catastrophes occurred in 1970. 1970年发生了历史上最严重两次自然灾害。 来自辞典例句
• The Swiss deposits contain evidence of such catastrophes. 瑞士的遗址里还有这种灾难的证据。 来自辞典例句

8 audit   

v.审计；查帐；核对；旁听

参考例句：

• Each year they audit our accounts and certify them as being true and fair.他们每年对我们进行账务审核，以确保其真实无误。
• As usual,the yearly audit will take place in December.跟往常一样，年度审计将在十二月份进行。

9 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

10 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

11 inspection   

n.检查，审查，检阅

参考例句：

• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。
• The soldiers lined up for their daily inspection by their officers.士兵们列队接受军官的日常检阅。

12 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

13 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

14 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

15 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

16 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

17 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

18 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句