Training of Officers and Volunteers

As it is known, the C.R.C. basically functions with the help of volunteers. Although they are mainly driven in their voluntary contribution by an altruistic disposition, quite often something else is required to make the input of their humanitarian services more effective, particularly in more specialized and demanding fields. It is precisely for this reason that since it came into being the C.R.C. has realized the importance of and included in its priorities training programmes for its officers and volunteers.

The various training programmes offered from time to time by the C.R.C.  include both theoretical and practical subjects selected according to the prevailing needs and priorities. For example, while in the first years of the C.R.C. the range of subjects chosen was limited with the emphasis on more practical than theoretical ones, like First Aid and Blood Donation, today things are different. The increased complexity and multinational character of Cyprus society, with the ensuing introduction of many foreign problems to the island, the international action of the C.R.C., the high education standard of the trainees, the specialized and sometimes scientific approach that is required for the solution of the various problems, all have very greatly modified the content and the standard of the training provided to C.R.C. officers and volunteers.

The high standard of the aims and the European orientations set by the C.R.C. require, in cooperation with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the training and utilization of upgraded educational programmes, which would provide its officers and volunteers not only with knowledge and skills, but also with the self-confidence necessary to carry out successfully their humanitarian mission.

In this context, the C.R.C. has organized in cooperation with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies at the Penteli Hotel in Platres on 11-12 November 2006 a seminar under the title “Thoughts for the Future.”  In the light of the experience gained from the involvement and substantive contribution of the C.R.C. in the handling of the Lebanese crisis,  the C.R.C. reflected on its future organizational, educational and other priorities and made decisions accordingly.