DTS’ interactive platform to train aid workers, is to be used to help in the Syrian conflict.
The Salford firm is behind a series of hostile environment training platforms, with the Frontline Humanitarian Toolbox aimed at helping NGO’s cope in war zones.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), is one of the world’s leading NGOs and while it has attempted to employ remote management techniques, contact with partner staff is impossible in many locations.
“Communities inside Syria are constantly on the move, fleeing dangers created by changing front lines. Shifting pockets of access creates barriers to people in need of emergency aid, and besieged and hard-to-reach areas are nearly impossible to access,” explained Christine Chamoun, access and partnership advisor for the Syrian Response Office of the NRC.
“This online training is a way for us to continue to impart crucial skills that will help to save lives and keep aid workers safe in an extremely dangerous environment.”
The programmes were produced in partnership with the UK’s International Search and Rescue team.
“Our Near-Life technology and approach allows realistic training online in a way that simply wasn’t possible in the past. It will improve knowledge and awareness regarding some of the key challenges humanitarian aid workers are likely to face, and will teach the skills they need to stay safe and continue their vital work in the field,” said Mike Todd, co-founder of DTS.
It uses local actors, filmed on location in Jordan, to demonstrate scenarios, to give aid workers insight into the security situations they will be likely to encounter.
