This has been the hardest part of the job. The Red Cross people have played numerous roles during the years. But very rarely they have been in a role that restrains them from direct operation in vulnerable communities.
Being a part of a humanitarian organization, with responsibility to respond to peoples' needs, they have rarely been in a role which requires from them to refuse to deal with the problems of people. Because in PCD we have to support the people to deal with their own problems.

Another issue, related to the previous is the Red Cross expertize in providing various services, having sole responsibility for the output. Willing to make a successful project, the Red Cross people are often tempted to take over and accomplish the work themselves. Aside from the services, being mainly involved in short term humanitarian actions they can hardly imagine how long a development project can last and are often impatient to get quick results.

Many people  with a long experience in the Red Cross work, truly believe that they know well the problems in the communities. Ready for action, it is difficult for them to justify the time needed for the Participatory Rapid Appraisal.

They are many other issues related to our own Red Cross people, our perception of our role as care takers versus beneficiaries, the difficulty to oppose a local authority as this will can destroy the Red Cross branch, which is supposed to work together with authority in providing assistance or disaster responce. Those Red Cross branches who succeeded to run the PCD in full scale, now enjoy respect by communities, partners, volunteers and local support for any new initiatives. We have not been always the best. But we are trying. We have made hundreds of mistakes during the years. But we want to learn and be better.  This is the main purpose of this website.

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