Dear Jean-Jacques,

I hope this mail finds you well.
Following your request, I would like to share with you a few thoughts regarding our ERU mission in Greece supporting the Hellenic Red Cross during the migrant crisis in 2016.
French Red Cross, as you know, is working in Ritsona camp, providing access to water and to sanitation to the migrants seeking refuge in Greece and flying violence and war in their countries.

We already discussed about the various problems of the camp and the challenges its location is creating:

• There is no public transportation for the people living in the camp
• The camp is not closed and accesses are not controlled
• The conditions of living of the population are not satisfying and there has been some breakdown in assistance provided to them
• There is a high risk of forest fire and the topography of the camp creates some challenges in the implementation of the activities
• The multiple stakeholders working in the camp creates also some challenges in the coordination of the response
• The population of the camps are coming from several countries (mostly Afghans, Syrians and Iraqi Kurds) and we have observed some tensions between the communities

As you already know, we have faced several security incidents leading to the evacuation of our team.

I am convinced that spending some time with the whole team to review the Safer Access Framework will help us to improve our response.

Context and risk analysis: the various changes in the origins of the population living in the camp leading to shift the balance of power inside the communities in the camp, the existence of volunteers from “informal NGOs”, not used to worked in coordination with other actors and the fact that the camp was a military camp are some of the aspects that should be included in the assessment.

The acceptance of organizations providing assistance to the communities was not always easy, even for the Red Cross Movement. We need to increase our understanding of the needs of the communities, and improve the communication and organization.

Acceptance of the individuals: One of our staff member is originated from Kurdistan. The direct communication with the beneficiaries, using their language, creating personal links by visiting them and by drinking a lot of teas helped our team to increased our acceptance.

As a first and immediate action point, I would really recommend to train all of our ERU members on Community Engagement and Accountability prior to their departure and refer to this framework to improve communication, information provided.

If there is also a possibility to improve the briefing regarding cultural aspects and needs of the population I am sure it will have a great impact on our daily activities.

I would also recommand a visit from our security officer to review the security plan and the evacuation procedures following the last incidents that occured.

I am sorry to keep it short tonight but I am convinced this first message would launch an fruitful discussion.

Have a great evening

Kind regards

Aude