Red Cross to develop country strategy

The Liberian Red Cross will conduct in the next two months conduct interviews with 6,000 Liberians in randomly selected towns, villages and camps for internally displaced people (IDPs) as part of efforts to develop its country assistance strategy.

"The interviews will undertake to focus on people's vulnerabilities and capacities," the Secretary General of the Liberian Red Cross, Daniel Clarke, said.

"Because of the prevailing situation in our country, the Red Cross has a special mission to assure people that we should not lose our vision of building a better society. We are going to use the findings from these interviews to conceive a development plan and a country assistance strategy," he explained.

A statement issued by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) on Thursday said Red Cross team members would conduct semi-structured interviews using a checklist of general questions on health, emergencies and food security.

Those interviewed would also be given the opportunity to raise other issues which are important to them, the statement said. Once completed, the Federation and the International Committee of the Red Cross would help the Liberian Red Cross to implement its plan.

"We underline to the people we meet that we have come to learn about their needs and not just to plan for projects," Liberian Red Cross field officer Chris Nyanapee was quoted as saying. "The discussions we had with community leaders, youth and women have turned out to be both enlightening and rewarding."

According to the statement, one of the major obstacles facing the Liberia Red Cross was access to targetted communities. It noted that many Red Cross members were themselves displaced in their towns and villages "but even this has not thwarted Red Cross efforts", it added.