SCHC Forum
The Melbourne-based Syrian Community (SC)/Humanitarian Community (HC) Forum has been running since Sept 2013. It involves representatives from the Syrian community/diaspora in Melbourne; Australian humanitarian agencies (eg Save the Children; RedR Australia) working in the Middle East; the main service providers (eg AMES Australia, Diversitat) giving support to arriving refugees; specialist agencies (eg Foundation House; Diaspora Action Australia) or individuals (eg clinical psychologists); as well as other interested/involved individuals and organisations. The purpose of the SC/HC Forum is to provide a safe environment and location whereby individuals can both share information about the work they are doing, and also network with other stakeholders. In particular we tend to cover to following:
- Input from the Syrian community/diaspora on both how they are coping with the humanitarian situation in Syria, as well as hosting arriving refugees
- Humanitarian NGOs on their operational work in the field; contact with arriving refugees; and potential for closer cooperation with the Syrian community/diaspora
- The main service providers, and their stories of stories, success and challenges in working with arriving refugees
- Psycho-social specialist agencies (such as Foundation House) and individuals on the psycho-social stresses faced by a variety of stakeholders, these including the refugees themselves; care-givers and humanitarian practitioners; and the Syrian community/diaspora itself
- Other agencies (such as churches) and individuals involved in supporting arriving refugees
Meetings tend to be held on Wednesdays. The next one will from 10 am to midday on Wednesday 12th July 2017. The location for this is the Board Room of the 3 ZZZ community radio station at 309 Albert St, Brunswick, 3056. Tel 03 94151923. www.3zzz.com.au . Agenda for this can be accessed here (ideally released by 8/6).
As background information to these meetings, please read the article entitled ‘Understanding Syria’, which is regularly updated by TorqAid.
DownloadPlease note in this the latest map of Syria and Northern Iraq, showing the territory controlled by the various protagonists. Also included is a modified Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) diagram for Syria, showing a time-line of key events which have occurred between 2011 and 2017. Finally it should be noted that Syria, as an example of a Complex Humanitarian Emergency (CHE), is taught by Chris on both the TorqAid online accredited Disaster Risk Management (DRM) program, and also on the Charles Sturt University (CSU) Emergency Management program unit (EMG 309 = Humanitarian Relief) for which he is Unit Chair. Press here for links to the map; the DRR diagram; the online DRM program; and a summary of the DRM CHE module.
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