Mr. Mubarak Al Hadi, Acting Secretary-General of the Bahraini Red Crescent Society – General Manager of the Society, revealed that the meeting of the leaders of the Gulf Red Crescent organizations and associations in Sultanate of Oman recently approved hosting the Kingdom of Bahrain for a voluntary Gulf forum for the Gulf Red Crescent organizations and associations next year under the title “volunteering for a comprehensive Gulf future”.
Mr. Al Hadi clarified that “volunteering for a comprehensive Gulf future” forum will be held over two days, where the first day is allocated to present working papers on volunteer teams in crises and disasters. The second day is devoted to holding rehabilitation and training programmes for volunteers in each organization and Gulf society.
Mr. Al Hadi affirmed the readiness of the Bahrain Red Crescent to host this forum, which will be attended by a number of affiliates and volunteers of the Gulf Red Crescent organizations and associations along with local, regional and international experts in the field of relief and humanitarian work.
Mr. Al Hadi explained that the forum represents an opportunity to highlight the progress of the Kingdom of Bahrain in the field of volunteerism, and to benefit from the experiences and expertise of the Bahrain Red Crescent Society, which celebrates next year on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its establishment.
In a related context, Mr. Al Hadi explained that the leaders of the Red Crescent societies and associations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have adopted the strategic plan for the next five years for the Red Crescent societies and associations.
That plan was set at the end of their fifteenth meeting, which was held at the Consultative Committee of the Supreme Council of the GCC in Muscat.
The strategic plan includes eight themes centered on humanitarian, relief and development action at the regional and international level, cooperation with relevant regional and international organizations, volunteering, policies, legislation, laws and regulations, as well as human resource development, sources of finance, support, information, research, studies, media and awareness-raising.
The strategy aims at raising the level of direct coordination between the Council’s bodies and associations in relief work, consolidating positions in the relevant international organizations, enhancing Gulf presence in international positions in the humanitarian movement, developing joint voluntary work, developing policies, systems and legislation in the Council’s Red Crescent societies and associations.
Moreover, supporting governments to harmonize international conventions related to Red Crescent work with national laws, developing qualified human capacities in the field of relief, humanitarian, and voluntarism, increasing sources of finance, supporting humanitarian projects, developing a unified information system in the field of humanitarian action and increasing the visibility of the Council’s bodies and associations works.
On the same level, Al Hadi pointed out that the leaders of Red Crescent organizations and associations in the Gulf Cooperation Council approved the formation of a permanent work plan whose mission will be to follow up implementation and emphasize the importance of the suitable media coverage of the activities of the Gulf Red Crescent Day, which will be held next year under the slogan of “Our benevolence is one”.
Mr. Al Hadi expressed the pride of the Bahraini Red Crescent regarding the execution of this initiative presented by the Kingdom of Bahrain two years ago.
In the same context, Mr. Al Hadi clarified that the forum in Muscat accentuated the importance of preparing Gulf media cadres in the field of relief and humanitarian work, and revealed that the Bahraini Red Crescent has already started preparing and implementing specialized media courses for its cadres in this field.