Intensive workshop trained participants to design and conduct workshops to promote quality and accountability of humanitarian action

Abu Dhabi, 17 January 2011:  Held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi and President of OCFA, the UAE Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid (OCFA) is holding an intensive Sphere Project Training of Trainers workshop, aimed at building a cadre of Emirati trainers to help train future generations of aid workers.  Held in Abu Dhabi, the nine-day workshop will enable individuals working in foreign aid to promote improved quality and accountability of the UAE foreign aid sector.  

The workshop, conducted in Arabic, will familiarize participants with the Humanitarian Charter, minimum technical standards in humanitarian action and principles of adult learning.  Participants will also be trained to design and conduct training sessions on the Sphere Project and to develop tools and techniques to carry out learning needs assessments and evaluate training programmes.

"OCFA conducted an 'Introduction to Disaster Management' workshop as well as a workshop introducing Sphere's minimum standards in humanitarian response early last year, during which several participants showed significant interest in becoming trainers themselves, offering this workshop demonstrates OCFA's continued commitment to facilitating skill transfer between international and local humanitarian aid players and building the long-term capabilities of local aid agencies," OCFA stated.

The UAE organizations sending representatives to participate in the training have committed to releasing their staff members for one week per year, for the following two years, to train other UAE foreign aid personnel on the Sphere Project.

The training is conducted by Moustafa Osman, a lecturer of Disaster Management at Birmingham University and an independent consultant to the UN and other major humanitarian agencies, and Wasim Bahja, who has more than 12 years of expertise in the field of humanitarian work, relief, emergency, rehabilitation and social development.

The Sphere Project is a unique voluntary initiative reflecting the collective will and shared experience of a broad array of humanitarian actors that is dedicated to improving the quality of assistance to people affected by disaster and the accountability of states and humanitarian agencies to their constituents, donors and the affected populations.  The project is based on International Humanitarian, Human Rights, and Refugee Law; The Code of Conduct: Principles of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement; and NGOs in Disaster Response Programmes.  

OCFA was set up by UAE Cabinet decree no. 36 for the year 2008 and has been operational since early 2009 to help UAE foreign aid donors improve delivery of humanitarian and development programmes worldwide.  With HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Ruler's Representative in the Western Region of Abu Dhabi, presiding as the office's President, OCFA is assessing foreign aid donor needs; providing appropriate training programmes and knowledge transfers; and, building and strengthening ties between the UAE foreign aid sector and the international aid community by providing multiple platforms that bring international and local aid organizations together.

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For more information, please contact:
Mohammed Zigby
UAE Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid
Mob: +971 50 800 5747
Email: zigby@ocfa.gov.ae

© Press Release 2011