The BVI Red Cross officially handed over its first Enhanced Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (EVCA) Report last week.
The EVCA report was handed over to the Representative for the Third District Hon. Julian Fraser by Field Volunteer Ms. Anisha Brewley at the Red Cross Headquarters last Wednesday January 15th.
The EVCA is an approach of the Red Cross Red Crescent Societies [RCRC], developed to assist communities to become more resilient through the assessment and analysis of the risks they are facing and the identification of solutions to address these. The BVI Red Cross is one of the first Red Cross overseas branches in the Region to complete an EVCA.
Commenting on the purpose of the EVCA, the Director of the BVI Red Cross Ms. Stacy Lloyd said, “The report enables communities, with the support of the [RCRC] when needed, to explore where these risks come from, which members of the community will be the worst affected, what is available at all levels to reduce the risk, and what initiatives can be undertaken to strengthen the capacity of people at risk and reduce the risks they face. EVCA includes climate change considerations as well as gender and diversity considerations.”
Volunteer Coordinator Steven Persaud explained that the EVCA is only the first part of the assessment, and that the micro-mitigation action plan will follow once the community has identified a team who can coordinate and execute the same.
At the handover, Hon. Fraser commended the team for their diligence and agreed to collaborate for the next phases of the assessment. The district representative and the BVI Red Cross team will share the findings of the report at the next District 3 meeting. The date will be announced in the coming weeks.
The Enhanced Vulnerability Capacity Assessment Report is part of the BVI Red Cross Disaster Management Resilience Programme, and is being conducted in a total of six (6) communities in the Virgin Islands.
The Red Cross Movement is a volunteer based international humanitarian organization. The BVI Red Cross was established in 1957.