From the Humanitarian Affairs, Recovery and Enforcement Unit and other units from the Division.

The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Family in collaboration with the Human Rights Unit, Commonwealth Secretariat presented the individuals from various humanitarian affairs focused organisations who participated in the multi-stakeholder dialogue on the rights of persons with disabilities with a certificate for their commitment to advance the rights of protecting those with disabilities on, Thursday 25th April 2024.

The initial workshop took place last year, Monday 13th November 2023 at the Eden Bleu Hotel. Through the workshop the participants were able to deepen their understanding on the limitation’s persons with disabilities face and the need to boost the inclusion of persons with disabilities in Seychelles. During the workshop the participants were introduced to the current rights of those with disabilities and identified the areas within the current rights that needs to be enhanced to aid in minimising the exclusion of persons with disabilities in Seychelles.

Over the one-month internship, the students were able to experience and understand the function of all four units under the Operation section of DRMD; Humanitarian Affairs, Recovery and Enforcement (HARE) unit, Planning and Preparedness (PP) unit, the Education, Research and Information (ERI) unit and the Disaster Risk Mitigation (DRM) unit through an induction programme.

Supervised by Ms. Nissa Beauchamp and Mr. Julio Charles from the HARE unit, the students were tasked to organise and present two case studies on the incidences regarding the unknown substances that have affected people in contact with it. Moreover, the students were presented the opportunity to explore the importance of physiological and psychological support of social workers in disaster and emergency management situations.

In partnership with the National Institute of Health for Social Studies, DRMD hope to build a more sustainable and resilient communities by articulating the importance of social workers in disaster and emergency management in Seychelles.

Pictured down below from left to right are Mr. Julio Charles from the HARE unit, Ms. Nary Sedgwick social worker student, Mr. Josh Bannane social worker student, Ms. Nissa Beauchamp Head of the HARE unit, Mr. Jason Jeremie social worker student, Ms Sherlaine Port-Louis social worker student and Mr. Daniel Cetoupe, the Chief Risk Management Officer.

The Humanitarian Affairs Recovery and Enforcement (HARE) Unit, is amongst the 4 newly established unit of the Disaster Risk Management Division. The unit is responsible to;

• Develop guidelines on, and provide technical assistance to, the preparation of disaster risk management plans at national level with focus on humanitarian affairs and recovery.
• Collect, compile and process data and information that will contribute towards evidence base and practicable decision making for recovery, humanitarian response and enforcement
• Support and put in place appropriate measures to recover from the impact or negative effects of disaster

Amongst the many initiative of the HARE Unit, Shelter Management is one of high importance. Establishing shelters is one of DRMD’s many responsibilities under the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Act, 2014. Part III – Disaster Risk and Emergency Management. Section 24. As well as facilitating the implementation of Functional Area III, Humanitarian Services Task 3.2 Shelter installation and Management of the National Integrated Emergency Management Plan (NIEMP) with the purpose of providing temporary shelters for the affected population whose homes are destroyed or damaged, or who have been vacated during an emergency, guaranteeing a sufficient number of shelters with appropriate health and safety conditions.

The term shelter is very broad, covering everything from a place we temporarily seek refuge from a storm, through to a tent, a hut, a public building or a house. Shelter refers to any physical space that may be inhabited by people made homeless by a disaster or conflict.

Emergency shelter can be defined as the short term/temporary shelter that provides lifesaving support, the most basic shelter support that can be provided before, during or immediately after a disaster. (Humanitarian Shelter Guidelines, Version 2, 2018).

HARE Unit is developing an Emergency Shelter Guideline, which aims to promote understanding of the function of emergency shelters, give guidance for the selection of premises available and suitable for the use as shelters, provide minimum standards to ensure people, families and most importantly the vulnerable population is protected, treated with dignity and properly cared for when occupying emergency shelters. 

During a declaration of an emergency or an alert, or in the event or aftermath of an emergency or a disaster requiring shelters, the Ministry of Local Government and Community Affairs (MLGCA) and the Disaster Risk Management Division (DRMD) will collaborate to establish emergency shelters that will be sited in close proximity to the community they are intended to serve and will be staffed as much as possible by personnel living in the area. Facilities provided at these centres should meet the minimum requirements to provide food, drink, sleeping and sanitation facilities. The premises selected as emergency shelters should be structurally sound with adequate space, good internal facilities and protected from localized hazards.