On 22d and 23rd of February 2023 the VolFiRe project kick off meeting took place in the office of the Armenian Red Cross Society in Yerevan.
Mr Klaus Kapper, Counsellor-Head of Office of the Austrian Development Cooperation in Armenia, opened the kick off meeting by a speech, followed by Mrs Lusine Qocharyan, Head of Disaster Management of the Armenian Red Cross Society and Mr Armen Gevorgyan, Head of Rescue Forces Department of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Armenia.
The model of Volunteer Fire Rescue groups (VFRGs) was explained to all participants. The main lessons learned and recommendations of previous StrengthVOL project were also shared with audience before a full presentation of objectives and activities of current VolFiRe project.
This first part of kick off meeting was also an opportunity to exchange about the VFRGs model and project activities with other members of Red Cross movement, e.g the ICRC, IFRC and Swiss Red Cross, all present at the kick off meeting. Indeed it is fundamental for the Armenian Red Cross Society and the Austrian Red Cross that all RC movement partners are fully aware of the project and contribute to the success of the activities.
The second part of the day, the project team discussed VolFiRe activities more in details, after an inclusion energizer organised by Armenian Caritas, also the definition of roles and responsibilities between partners. The second day was dedicated to the full activities planning and introduction to ADA rules and regulations.
