Increasingly the Christian Reformed World Relief Committee (CRWRC) has been using volunteers to manage and administer the implementation of relief projects after disasters, in particular in Africa. These disasters may be natural such as floods, earthquakes, volcanic eruption and famine caused by drought, or they may be caused by civil unrest such as took place recently in Northern Uganda and in the Darfur region of Sudan.
International Relief Managers (IRMs) for CRWRC help local partner organizations with management and logistics in organizing relief and rehabilitation projects to enable those who are affected to get back on their feet. The IRMs will usually be the only westerners working on a project, facilitating the implementation by a local Christian partner organization.
IRMs usually serve for 4-9 months.
Some examples:
• seed and farm tools to 2500 families in Uganda after war
• 900 jerry cans after floods in Mozambique
• 5200 families received goats after the genocide in Rwanda
• 66 families received material for rebuilding their houses after floods in Mozambique
• 3000 households received 2500 MT of food and seed in Zambia
• 1700 families received 2400 goats and 392 cows after floods in Mozambique
• water wells in Darfur Sudan
• 3876 persons received clothing after volcanic eruption in Goma (DR of CongoLocal)
• Building teams with local skills have helped build houses in Indonesia and Sri Lanka following the tsunami.
All these projects were managed by International Relief Managers.
WHAT IS EXPECTED FROM YOU?
• You have management experience and are a great organizer;
• You have been a leader in your work, in your church, or Christian organization;
• You can leave for 4 - 6 months with short notice;
• You would usually have 4 weeks notice or less;
• You are thoroughly familiar with e-mail; you know MS Word and are comfortable with Excel;
• Ideally you know the Simply Accounting software;
• You have traveled to and been part of other cultures;
• You understand budgets and how to work with them;
• You are willing to take an orientation course through e-mail and hands-on training sessions.
What else?
• You enjoy working as the “western” part of a team in a cross-cultural setting;
• You have patient perseverance and are not easily frustrated;
• You are a committed Christian, a Canadian or US resident, and have a passion to walk with the hurting.
WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT?
• Long drives on very bad roads;
• Unreliable and/or poor electrical, phone and email service;
• Paid transportation to and from the field;
• Basic housing, possibly shared;
• A monthly food allowance;
• Emotional and spiritual support from CRWRC.
If you are interested in applying for this opportunity, please contact us today at volunteer@crcna.org.
Read stories from IRMs: Sri Lanka and Mali
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