MUZAFFARABAD:Pakistan Red Crescent Society AJK State Branch with the support of German Red Cross (GRC) organized two days training on Climate Advocacy & Coordination for Resilient Actions (CACRA) for the volunteers of Pakistan Red Crescent Society AJK State Branch.
Twenty Eight participants from five districts of Azad Kashmir (Neelum, Muzaffarabad, Jhelum Valley, Bagh, Poonch and Mirpur) participated in the training.
Moreover, two assistant directors of Climate Advocacy & Coordination for Resilient Actions (CACRA) program, National Headquarters Islamabad Ehsan Qadir & Ms Majida facilitated the training. The training was aimed to further train and enhances the capacity of volunteers with regard to climate advocacy & coordination for resilient actions.
It is worth remembering that Pakistan Red Crescent Society National Headquarters Islamabad launched the Climate Advocacy program in Jan 2022. Additionally, the Climate Advocacy & Coordination for Resilient Actions (CACRA) has already launched in Sindh, KP and Gilgit Baltistan however, the program will be officially launched in AJK in next month. It is also worth mentioning that the program will be implemented on Macro, Meso and Micro level.
The secretary Pakistan Red Crescent Society AJK State Branch Gulzar Fatima honoured the concluding ceremony. While addressing the concluding ceremony Ms Fatima thanked the National Headquarters Islamabad and German Red Cross for this initiative. While addressing the participants Ms Fatima said that newly launched program is of great importance keeping in view the current climate situation in Pakistan. While talking about the deteriorated climate situation she said that we need to address this issue on priority basis and pro-active approach in this context will be adopted to address this issue.
“It is now our responsibility to reach out the communities across AJK to raise awareness & sensitize them about the issue. Pakistan has zero contribution to current exacerbated climatic situation and on the other hand we have to face catastrophic results in terms of flash floods, land sliding, cloud burst and other disasters,” she added.
The secretary Pakistan Red Crescent Society further said the situation will be exacerbated in coming years if timely actions and preventive measures are not taken.
Earlier, the Media & Communication Officer of Pakistan Red Crescent Society AJK State Branch gave detailed presentations on History of Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, history of Pakistan Red Crescent Society & on-going programs of Pakistan Red Crescent Society. Besides, sessions on climate change, advocacy, disaster management & terminologies were delivered by Assistant directors Ehsan Qadir & Ms Majida.
At the end of the concluding ceremony, secretary Pakistan Red Crescent Society distributed certificates among participants and commemorative shields were also presented to Assistant Directors Climate Advocacy & Coordination for Resilient Actions (CACRA). On this occasion, Program Coordinator First Aid Program Yasir Josh, Program Coordinator Risk Awareness & Safer Behaviour Program Yasir Kazmi, Tahira Kazmi Youth & Volunteers Officer & focal person for (CACRA) were also present on this occasion.