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BBC Media Action and Translators without Borders (TWB), in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, together regularly helped produce for the Bangladeshi agency Shongjog, a Humanitarian Bulletin on the Rohingya Response entitled ‘What Matters ?’  This document, published in both Bengali (Bangla) and English, summarised community feedback from both the Rohingya refugees (Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals) and the Bangladeshi host population. TorqAid produced a summary of these bulletins (see link below) from February 2018 through to (version #58) February 2022.

The Rohingya situation is included as one of a number of complex emergency/crisis case studies on offer (see Topics TC08 & 09) in the online, accredited Participatory Disaster Risk Management (PDRM) program which is on offer in 2025 – see link below.

This picture, of what we’ve called ‘Bangla Boat’, was taken on the front beach of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh in June 2018.  The photo shows local fisherman (and enthusiastic volunteers) pulling one of these fishing vessels up out of the high water mark, after a night’s fishing. These beautifully shaped and crafted boats are well recognized sights by humanitarian staff based in Cox’s Bazar District working in support of the 900,000 or so Rohingya refugees.

For those interested in the humanitarian situation in Cox’s Bazar, follow the link below to a regularly updated document entitled ‘Understanding the Rohingya crisis’.

A complementary document is the summary of the ‘What Matters?’ humanitarian bulletins.  The latter are produced regularly (in English and Bangla) in Cox’s Bazar, and report on the thoughts, aspirations and concerns of both the Rohingya refugee population, and also the host Bangladeshi communities. Check this link below.

This blog highlights the various humanitarian-related consultancy services offered by TorqAid.  These are primarily offered by the CEO, Chris Piper, but he can draw on extra expertise from other members of the company, as well as the TorqAid Advisory Team  (TAT).  The link below is to a one page bio for Chris, and this can be supplemented by a longer CV as required/requested.

DRM Diagrammatic Framework.  Over the past 15 years, TorqAid has developed four key diagrams which illustrate the key aspects of a disaster or humanitarian situation.  These are the Disaster Risk Management Cycle (DRMC); the Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) diagram; the DRM Planning diagram; and the Project Management Cycle (PMC).  These four are incorporated with three other illustrations (the risk matrix; the ISO 31000 risk management process; and the Core Humanitarian Standard {CHS) diagram) in the article linked below:

DRM memberships.  Chris is a member of the Australian Civilian Corps (ACC), as a Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) specialist, and from 2014-16 was a member of the Post Disaster Recovery Team (PDRT).  He is also a Member of the Australian Institute of Emergency Services (MAIES), as well as a member of the International Association of Professionals in Humanitarian Assistance and Protection (PHAP).

Chris has worked across Australia, and throughout the Asian-Pacific, Eastern/Southern African, and European regions in the roles outlined below.  The scenarios involved have been a combination of natural disaster and conflict-related situations.

Strategic planning such as :

• Working as the Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Adviser for the Kingdom of Tonga’s National Emergency Management Organisation (NEMO). This work focused on developing Government-led coordination Clusters, as well as responding to an off-shore volcanic eruption
• Working as DRM Adviser for the Anglican Church of Melanesia (ACOM) in Vanuatu.  Principal roles here involved developing a strategy for dealing with future tropical cyclones (TCs) and droughts
• Working as an humanitarian consultant on an Australian government mission to Cambodia, planning out resettlement and reintegration of refugees/returnees from Thailand
• Enclosed below are links to the Cluster framework carried out in Tonga:

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Emergency Response such as:

• Working as Crisis Centre Adviser in Tirana, for Albanian churches, at the height of the refugee exodus from Kosovo
• Planning and management of emergency airlifts to Ethiopia, Bangladesh and Jordan from the UK and Australia

Recovery Initiatives such as:

• Working with an Australian NGO to develop a Cyclone Nargis recovery strategy for national partners in Myanmar
• Working with a British NGO helping develop a recovery program for partners in both Aceh and Sri Lanka following the Indian Ocean tsunami
• As an ACFID/AusAID-contracted consultant, working with the Government of PNG to develop a a comprehensive recovery strategy following the Aitape tsunami
• Management of inter-church community level recovery initiatives in Victoria following the 2009 bushfires and 2011 floods

Training/Capacity Building such as:

• Facilitation of over 110 accredited DRM and Participatory Project Management (PPM) workshops both across Australia and overseas
• Development of an online accredited DRM program for humanitarian and development practitioners
• Highlighted below are the links both to the online DRM, as well as to the overall training options offered by TorqAid

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Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) such as:

• Development of a CBDRM-focused program in Laos for an Australian NGO
• Development of a CBDRM field manual.  Enclosed below is a link to this CBDRM manual

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Humanitarian Evaluation such as:

• Team leader for a British NGO’s evaluation of its humanitarian work in Serbia, Albania, Kosovo, and Montenegro
• Evaluation for an international NGO’s conflict-related humanitarian response in Afghanistan
• Team leader for an Australian NGO’s CBDRM evaluation work in PNG, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu

 Working with Diaspora Communities such as:

• Co-Founder and Co-Convenor of the Melbourne based Syrian Community (SC)/Humanitarian Community (HC) Forum

Preparation of  Submissions, reports etc such as:

• Preparation of multiple proposal, reports, evaluations and other documents such as the Project Design Document (PDD)
• An example of a DRM/CBDRM PDD for an NGO working in Myanmar is enclosed in the link below:

Networking & Publications, such as:

• Co-founder of the Melbourne Development Circle
• Founder and Editor of the Australian Aid Resource and Training Guide (AARTG) over a 15 year period
• Development of the TorqAid Toolkit, the link to which is given below.

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Mentoring such as:

• Personal support for humanitarian/development practitioners working in both Afghanistan and Niger