Planning for travel emergencies that may affect charity staff and volunteers is at the forefront of Theodros Abraham's mind. Abraham is director of Reconnect, a London-based NGO that provides training and employment opportunities for refugees in the UK. He has recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Ethiopia and South Sudan's capital Juba, the locations for a pilot project that marks the start of the charity's first international initiative.
"We are trying to reverse brain-drain by sending skilled refugee teachers to work in sub-Saharan African countries," says Abraham, who fled Ethiopia as a university student in the late 1970s. "We are working in the specific area of education because it empowers individuals and creates conditions for peace and stability."
But peace and stability are a long way off for much of South Sudan, where widespread atrocities have been reported since the outbreak of fighting between rival factions in December 2013. As a result, one of the main goals of Abraham's trip was to assess the safety measures Reconnect needs to put in place to protect the 15 student teachers – refugees from various nations, including South Sudan – that it plans to send there in the next six to eight months.
As well as insurance and emergency evacuation cover, these include setting up a local steering group with in-country partners to monitor and report on the progress and welfare of the new arrivals, providing pre-departure safety training, and developing a formal travel policy.
It's a responsibility Abraham takes very seriously.
"This is important," he says. "Many of [our teachers] left their countries under difficult circumstances so that is still in their minds. We don't want to drag them back to another conflict zone. They are quite determined – we have refugee teachers who want to travel tomorrow – but we need to work out the logistics. We feel very responsible for these people."
Ethical considerations aren't the only thing at stake. Since the 2007 Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act came into force, UK employers across all sectors have had a greater legal obligation than ever before to minimise risk for their staff. In addition to being required to adhere to long-standing health and safety regulations, those judged to have breached their duty of care to an employee who dies as a result are now liable for an unlimited fine and a court order to publicise their failings.
For NGOs often working in volatile regions or at the scene of natural disasters, this means it has never been more important to demonstrate a responsible approach to sending staff overseas.
Many have long made this a priority. In the event of an ash cloud, earthquake, coup or terrorist attack, employees of the British Red Cross are well versed in what to do. With each staff member undergoing safety courses tailored to their destinations prior to departure and their movements recorded on a bespoke online travel tracking platform, the organisation goes a long way to make sure that communication and contingency planning is possible in difficult circumstances. The forms employees fill out before they travel even contain "Proof of Life" questions – based on privileged information known only to the person so that the team back home can verify employees' identities remotely.
"Our travel security procedures are designed as a set of mechanisms or 'layers of protection' that are proportionate to the risks our employees may be exposed to when travelling overseas," says Thomas Bendall, security adviser at the British Red Cross. "As such, when our staff and volunteers are travelling to destinations of high risk, there are more layers of protection to be met and adhered to."
It's a similar story at Oxfam, where all travel is booked in-house via an agency and risk-assessed for health, safety and security for every destination including Europe, and each country has a security management plan that is shared with travellers prior to departure.
Yet while many NGOs have well-established procedures, this is not the case across the board. According to travel management company Key Travel's 2014 customer survey, some 17% of organisations do not have a travel policy that is known to staff, despite the fact that 24% of those asked could recall a serious incident that had happened while they or a colleague were travelling abroad for work.
"The dilemma that charity and NGO operations teams have to balance is maintaining programme delivery and successfully applying risk control and support for their people," says Paul Green, sales director at Key Travel.
For Abraham, this is precisely the point. His aim is to find the best ways to protect Reconnect's staff and volunteers without allowing travel safety considerations to become so restrictive that they scupper a valuable project.
"A common-sense approach is important," he says. "One has to be continually informed about the situation and the reality on the ground should be the guiding principle. There has to be a degree of flexibility. When we were going to South Sudan in April, a lot of people thought we were crazy. But Juba was safe."
Top tips for safer travel
- Plan ahead. Assess the risks, work out what staff members should do if anything goes wrong and familiarise everyone with the steps.
- Share itineraries. Circulate up-to-date traveller schedules to relevant in-country and central office-based colleagues. Make sure travellers keep home contacts posted about any last-minute changes to plans. Pre-arrange airport transfers where possible.
- Take paper copies. Ensure those travelling have written records of key contacts, and medical, travel and insurance documents. This should ensure staff are not stranded in the event of power cuts that make the internet or charging facilities for phones etc difficult to access.
- Keep in touch. Pre-arrange times for staff overseas to contact their home base. Tell people what they should do if they fail to hear from colleagues at the agreed time.
- Spread valuables out. Advise travellers to carry some emergency cash separately in a bag, belt or pocket. If visiting a high-risk area, staff may wish to consider splitting their money and bank cards between two wallets so that they have a spare one in the event of being robbed.
- Do your research. A little knowledge of the language, laws, customs and geography of a destination can pay dividends in stressful situations.
Read more stories like this:
• Aid worker safety in seven objects
• NGO travel booking: online or through an agent?
• Shifting sands: the changing landscape for international NGOs
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