Integrated Operations Center for Providing Humanitarian Assistance - HELP

The overall objective of the project is to improve the strategic and operational efficiency of public administration and public services in managing natural disasters within the wider cross-border area (CBA), through the provision of an integrated solution for the technical support and management of post-disaster humanitarian “on-site” relief operations and logistics.

The proposed containers cluster along with the associated crisis management plan will provide the necessary technical infrastructure and equipment and the appropriate implementation platform so as to hedge the wider CBA against NDRH, in terms of enhancing pre-disaster preparedness, mitigating the corresponding post-disaster impacts in the aftermath of a disaster, and increasing the managerial effectiveness and efficiency. Furthermore, the project aims to broaden the overall regional and national capacity of providing humanitarian relief, on the basis ofthe common challenges that have to be tackled.

To that end, the project will establish networks and structures for co-operation in the CBA in order to enhance the cross-border transfer of knowledge, experience, and expertise on planning, organizing, and executing emergency relief operations. Additionally, critical goals to be also achieved, so as to maximize the project’s impact and ensure its effectiveness in practice, include the mobilization of citizens, the awareness increase of local communities, and the promotion and cultivation of volunteerism towards increasing emergency relief preparedness and humanitarian aid capacity at the local and regional level. Indicative actions towards this direction include the demonstration of the container’s functionality to the involved stakeholders and their training on how to use it, public campaigns to train citizens in case of emergency, and social media recruitment promotion in order to engage citizens into volunteerism.