wfn.org | CWS Workshop: Confronting Dangers Worldwide

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA
Contact: NCC News, 212-870-2227
Email: news@ncccusa.org  Web: www.ncccusa.org

59NCC5/12/99  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CWS WORKSHOP PREPARES STAFF WORLDWIDE TO CONFRONT DANGERS

MAY 12, 1999, NEW YORK -- Terrorism, bomb attacks, banditry, and
civil war: in today's world such dangers can occur anywhere.   Even more
so in places where human wants, misery and frustration are high, and
therefore the risk of desperate and lawless acts are high, without
effective civil protection.  Yet these are the places where Church World
Service staff persons live and provide humanitarian assistance.

"There is no way to predict what danger will face us today or
tomorrow," stated CWS Pakistan Director, Marvin Parvez.  "The only thing
we can predict for certain is that there indeed will be dangers of some
sort.  While we cannot predict their nature, we can be better prepared
for whatever may come."

To minimize the likelihood of loss of life, limb, and property, and
to protect the precious resources CWS donors intend for people in need in
the developing world, CWS May 5-8 completed the first-ever training
workshop on "Safety in Insecure Environments" to be offered in a third-
world country as a service to humanitarian aid organizations as well as
to its own staff.

Ten other organizations--each with its own life-saving, health or
human-development agenda-- joined CWS in a mountain retreat setting near
Islamabad, Pakistan, for four days of theory and practice, drills and
exercises.  Topics covered included risk assessment, security planning,
radio and telecommunication protocols, personal safety, survival skills,
defense against car-jacking and kidnapping, evacuation planning, and
communication skills to de-escalate conflict.  The 24 participants
included representatives from small community-based organizations serving
refugees and rural communities in neighboring Afghanistan under Taliban
influence.

The training event's importance stems from its "pilot" status as the
first in a series of similar workshops to be offered for CWS program
staff and colleague agencies around the world.  Terry Wesbrock and Tina
Wesbrock, workshop leaders, pointed out the special challenge and
opportunity of security training in the CWS context.

"Foreign agencies in international settings usually concern
themselves only with the safety of their own expatriate staff and
equipment, said the Wesbrocks, who live near Phoenix, Ariz.  "Church
World Service, in contrast, identifies and integrates itself so
completely with its local partners that the security and well-being of
the whole community must become the object of concern in training
exercises."  The Wesbrocks have served as CWS consultants for five years
in the area of disaster preparedness training.   They have adapted their
strong background in high-tech police and security work in the US to an
"appropriate technology" approach to security in less-developed
countries.

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