TAP Training Associates Pacific

  Against a white background, two shapes in black among many shapes in white.  This is Saudi HEART Batch 2.  Were the time two months earlier, one would have seen a nearly perfect match of shapes in Batch 1.  The white shapes are the twenty five men in their traditional Abayas and black shapes are the two women of Batch 2 in theirs.  They are now at the end of their first five weeks of Saudi HEART training.  Five weeks gone and 11 more weeks to go to complete the Core Curriculum of this program.  So far they have completed an introductory Disaster Management Course, a Presentation Skills Course and a course conducted by the International Federation and International Committee of the Red Cross / Red Crescent.   What is Saudi HEART?  In Saudi Arabia, the National Red Crescent organization is called the Saudi Red Crescent Authority (SRCA).  It has a...

After almost a year's hiatus from our work in training and facilitation (while Denny was running for county commissioner in Mason  County and I was his campaign manager)  we are geared up and working again.    Denny is in Naivasha in the Masai Mara in Kenya doing an Africa region workshop for the UN's OCHA (Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs).  He was delighted to be asked to facilitate this workshop and to participate in a review of "Lessons Learned" and "Best Practices."  He had worked on its course development and field testing four years ago and had organized and facilitated its TOT (training of trainers) course.   Denny was also  quite  interested in finding out how and if the course had changed and was looking forward to working with some old friends and colleagues and to meeting and working with the new faces on the team....

In May, 2008, Denny began work with the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance on a three part capacity building program for humanitarian field personnel.  The first element is distance learning, which involves reading 6 chapters related to humanitarian emergencies, which were written for this program.  The chapters are: Humanitarian Coordination, Information Management, Protection,  Preparedness and Strategic Planning, Advocacy, and Humanitarian Funding.   In the initial roll out of the course, 85 people signed up to participate.  Every two weeks, they each completed a chapter and an exercise at the conclusion.  These exercises were submitted to the course managers, reviewed and received a response. Following the successful conclusion of the distance learning component (Phase 1) the participants were invited to and attended a face-to-face training workshop.  In the first year, one was held in Geneva, a second in Mombasa, Kenya and the third in Bangkok.  These workshops focus  on developing and enhancing competencies required for effective performance in humanitarian...