Emergency Preparedness and Response

Principles and Strategy

Save the Children in Vietnam belives that it has a particular role to play to complement and augment the interventions of the various other national / international organisms working in EP/R in Vietnam . This particular niche is a function both of the principles that Save the Children's programming incarnates the strategies employed. Save the Children programs continues to evolve to better meet the principles and implement the strategies outlined below.

Principles

Child-focus

All Save the Children interventions are centered on children, who are the most vulnerable group in an emergency. While some interventions will target the community in general, they will be specifically tied to a child-focused objective.

Child Rights

Interventions will be explicitly based on the Rights of the Child and will embody a rights-based approach. In addition to upholding children's rights, interventions aim to improve partners' and communities' understanding of and capacity to implement those rights. This approach requires a holistic approach to preparedness and response interventions, emphasizing that, in addition to child protection, various other rights often regarded as 'secondary' in an emergency including those to health, education, and participation must also be considered when planning and implementing emergency interventions.

Alliance Action

All interventions will be in the name of SC Alliance, regardless of which member is the lead on any project. This principle helps strengthen the bonds between members and raises the profile of the Alliance in Vietnam, and increases the impact of advocacy efforts.

Strategy

Response

Save the Children's mandate is to respond when appropriate in an emergency context to uphold the rights of children and to ensure that their needs are met . While interventions could theoretically take place throughout the country, Save the Children is prioritizing areas which meet two criteria:

Save the Children already has programs and local partners in the area,
The area is prone to disasters.

Current activities focus on building capacity for rapid, appropriate, rights-based and child-focused response, should a disaster occur. When a response is initiated, Save the Children works through existing partnerships and with disaster management authorities as appropriate.

Preparedness

While response activities are critical in mitigating the impact of disasters, communities should be empowered to prepare for potential disasters to minimize the need for response activities. Save the Children works with disaster-prone communities to identify existing needs and resources for child-focused Emergency preparedness, as a long-term sustainable investment in significantly reducing the impact of disasters on children in the community.

Advocacy

With limited financial and human resources, and taking into account the number and strength of other national / international EP/R organizations in Vietnam, Save the Children's strategy places a strong emphasis on advocacy work. To have a truly national level of sustainable impact, key decision - makers at all levels of government, mass organizations and relief organizations should be aware of and receptive to the specific rights, vulnerabilities, and needs of children in emergencies. By advocating on these issues, other actors' interventions will become more child-focused and more holistic in their addressing of child rights in emergencies.

Collaboration

Save the Children committed to coordinating and collaborating with other organizations to rationally allocate resources, speak with one voice on key issues, and learn from each others' experiences. Impacts can be maximized for those beneficiaries most in need.

With regards to specific principles in the domain of Emergency Response, Save the Children subscribes to the SPHERE standards , a set of minimum standards in Emergency Response that has been endorsed by various key NGOs and international organizations