Tonga is one of nine countries that we support in our Rotary Give Every Child a Future campaign. You can imagine how we felt when we heard about the volcanic eruption that devastated the small Pacific nation in January. As one of the participating Clubs, we wondered how we could best respond, and consulted our corporate member RedR for advice. RedR is a leading international humanitarian response agency that selects, trains and deploys technical specialists to crises throughout the world. It turned out they had two people already on the ground in Tonga who were able to provide some immediate support and guidance.

Subsequently, we learned that, even before this dreadful event, RedR had, along with Tonga’s Natural Disaster Management Organisation, already identified a need for improved disaster response capability in the country. And so it was that the project to sponsor 30 Tongan people to attend a specially designed training course was born. The course entitled ‘Essentials of Humanitarian Practice’ had been developed specifically for Pacific Island countries by RedR, and successfully road-tested in Fiji.

Course participants would come from government ministries, lead agencies, NGOs, civil society, churches, and maybe the local Rotary Club. The Course objectives were:

1. To assist key responders in gaining a deeper understanding of humanitarian foundations, coordination mechanisms, and both regional and global trends.
2. To provide a forum where first responders will be given an opportunity to discuss and reflect on lessons learned from the recent disaster response.
3. To be a pre-requisite for persons wishing to join the international Humanitarian Response Roster for the benefit of the Tongan community of 100,000 and its neighbouring countries.

….…you can see elements of sustainability here!

Our International Programs Committee supported the project, and were tasked with raising 90,000 Australian dollars to fund the Training Course. Our own Club generously donated $15,000; this has since been matched by Rotary Balwyn, and the Baker Foundation has made a very significant contribution. The balance will come from RedR’s own donor network, and just today I heard from them that the training course is planned for May 23, and they have identified many who will benefit from the course, so there will have to be a careful selection process.

This is a wonderful example of a partnership between one of our corporate members, our own International Committee and Club Foundation, another Rotary Club and an external philanthropic organisation.  

26th October 2022

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