Launched in 2016, the Urban Collaboration Platform has been at first a platform for Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies to share experience and good practice, and explore new ways of working. Today, the network is bigger and includes partners from city networks, local governments, private sector, etc.
This year, from June 7th to 9th, the Urban Collaboration Platform’s 2023 conference was held in Geneva with the theme “Stepping Up & Scaling Urban Resilience and Response”. As we believe that first aid is an important tool in order to improve the resilience of communities, GFARC took part in the event.
How to scale up resilience building and disaster response efforts in cities through First Aid
During the event, the Centre was represented by Mercedes Aguerre, in charge of Disaster Risk Reduction programs. The Global First Aid Refernce Centre, as an IFRC’s global hub of technical expertise dedicated to First Aid, has at heart to increase the resilience of communities and help them improve their capacity to build emergency response. In the face of climate change and increasing disasters, it is more than essential to adapt First Aid to environmental challenges.
Therefore, Mercedes shared GFARC’s strategy and tools with the participants. For instance, as heatwave preparedness protects people and increases resilience, GFARC has developed technical tools for National Societies but also for other actors and communities. In the same spirit, the Centre has implemented some resources intended to adapt first aid to pandemic context. All our resources can be found here, do not hesitate to check and learn more.
And, last but not least, the new Universal First Aid App, about to be launched, has been designed to prepare and support communities in case of emergency situations such as disasters. The app, that will be deployed all over the world through National Societies, can be a great help to scale up resilience building!
