Africa-Press – Uganda. A section of experts from humanitarian societies has recommended that the day and night allowances for volunteers working in crisis situations be increased to at least $30 (about Shs110,000).
Ms Aida Elsayed, the Secretary General of the Red Crescent Society in South Sudan, said daily allowances given to volunteers should be commensurate with the critical services offered.
“Volunteers are the backbone of Red Cross and Red Crescent, and they should be motivated through training and better pay,” she said during a cross-border collaboration meeting in Health and Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness held at Speke Resort Hotel Munyonyo on Tuesday.
“Before the conflict broke out in South Sudan, each volunteer used to earn about $10 per day and this was only increased to about $16 during the war, yet these people work for 24 hours and the cost of living is high. Something should be done to ensure they are well facilitated,” she added.
Dr Josephine Okwere, Director of Health and Social Services at the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) said: “We must sustain volunteers’ motivation. We have had concerns in this area. Societies should review and see how to support them better.”
They also recommended that member countries should have a harmonized contingency plan for epidemic prevention and response, review auxiliary laws, develop a multi-hazard risk atlas for easy identification of hotspots for epidemics, and promote community participation and engagement.
Mr Richard Ssekadde, Country Manager of the International Committee of Red Cross, said societies should engage concerned authorities in their respective governments so that medical items used in crisis situations are exempted from taxes.
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