‘Youths can be most effective group’

Youths can be the most effective group of people during disasters as they are able to inject a lot of energy into responses, a disaster programme officer says.
International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) senior programme officer Xerxes Arcenal told The National that IPPF has been known for its family and sexual reproductive health programmes but its youth programme was less known.
“This is very critical in your disaster response,” he said.
“The most important response is the human resource so if you are able to mobilise young people, the youths, then you inject energy, vibrancy and creativity.
“If you are going to take this further to mobilise and organise, the young people in the communities affected by the disaster, you have an ideal sector of your population.”
Arcenal said youths were an ideal group of people to engage in humanitarian work during disasters because they were likely to details of village settings, the age group of people who lived in the village and other important information that would be needed to conduct relief programmes.