Analyzing the British Red Cross Society's Humanitarian Efforts Report

This report provides an overview of the British Red Cross Society, beginning with its origins in 1870 and tracing its evolution as a prominent humanitarian organization. It outlines the society's aims and objectives, which include providing aid during crises, supporting vulnerable communities, and promoting recovery. The report details the scope of the Red Cross's work, including general charitable activities, education, and international aid during disasters. It then focuses on the impact of the Red Cross on disaster-stricken populations, highlighting its disaster relief efforts, including volunteer deployment, aid distribution, and long-term recovery plans. The report also includes recommendations for improving the Red Cross's services, such as enhancing volunteer training in evacuation and post-disaster counseling. The report concludes by emphasizing the significant contributions of the Red Cross in various spheres of humanitarian work.

Running head: RED CROSS
RED CROSS
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Executive Summary
This paper is about the British Red Cross, the origin of the same and their rise to fame with
the work they have done. The work they have extended to the specific groups that have been
benefited by this organization has been explored to find out the importance of the work and
recommendations that can be included within. This paper is a concise report that covers all
these aspects under various headings.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Origin of the British Red Cross..................................................................................................3
Aims and Objectives..................................................................................................................4
Scope of work........................................................................................................................4
Kinds of People they help......................................................................................................4
Impact on a Specific Group........................................................................................................5
Recommendation........................................................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom’s counterpart of a humanitarian
network that extends worldwide, called the International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement. This society was founded in the year 1870 and is currently a completely
registered charity that can boast of 32,500 volunteers and about 3,500 staff. They wants to be
of service to all kinds of people and they want to provide help to people both in the UK and
overseas. This report will focus on the creation of the Red Cross, the aims and objectives of
the organization, the effect of their activities on a specific group within the society and
recommendations they should consider in order to do better in this social group.
Origin of the British Red Cross
The international movement of which this is a part of was formed seven years before
the British Red cross being founded in 1870. They were highly instrumental in providing aid
to warring armies during the Franco-Prussian War. The society that helped during that time
was called, ‘British National Society for Aid to the Sick and Wounded in War’. The
subsequent conflicts that had followed this war in the 19th century was also aided by this
society (Waikayi 2012). It’s only 35 year after the original formation of this society that it
was reconstituted and granted the first royal charter as the British Red Cross Society. All of
this was granted by King Edward VII and the president of this society was his royal consort,
Queen Alexandra.
They rose to prominence because of the charitable work they did throughout the
world wars. They are now a trusted name when it comes to charitable efforts that help a lot of
people across the world. They now provide ambulance services and other emergency services
which maybe social or even medical in nature. When it comes to charity and humanitarian
help, Red Cross is a trusted name that comes in the beginning.

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Aims and Objectives
The British Red Cross aims to help all kinds of people in crisis, wherever they may be
located, whoever they may be, irrespective of their position in society or their race. This
society wants their volunteers to respond to all kinds of natural disasters, various kinds of
conflicts, various individual emergencies. They aim at properly enabling people who are
vulnerable, in the locality or even internationally, to help them respond to emergencies within
their own communities and they even want to make sure that recovery happens and is
facilitated within these areas (British Red Cross 2019).
Scope of work
 General charitable work.
 Providing education and training to various kinds of people.
 Helping disabilities of various kinds.
 Helps in efforts to prevent poverty.
 International aid during natural disasters.
 Gives grants to various organizations.
 Helps in provision of human resources.
 Helps in the provision of various kinds of information.
 Helps in provision of advocacy and advice as well.
Kinds of People they help
 Children or the youth.
 Old and elderly people.
 People who have some form of disability.
 General Public

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 Various other defined groups.
Impact on a Specific Group
It had already been explored that they extend their services to all kinds of people.
Many kinds of groups are helped at different times by this society. The specific group that
will be explored in this report is disaster stricken people who have been helped by the British
Red Cross. They have formed a disaster relief alliance that tries to help vulnerable
communities across the world. When disaster strikes they make their way into these places
and tries to help them providing various kinds of aids. They reach there and deploy
volunteers who go about distributing things of need to these people (Lawther 2009). They
even invest in various kinds of early warning systems, sanitation management and supply of
fresh water to affected areas. The alliance also supports the British Red Cross Disaster Fund.
Local people are also taught about things they should do in case they are affected by disaster.
Long term plans are made for people in these areas to help recovery from disaster. They ask
businesses to become a part of the processes meant for the disaster management efforts. They
even aim to increase general awareness about these disasters throughout the world so that
people are knowledgeable about the disasters and they can take measures to safeguard
themselves and store various items of need in advance. They have highly trained volunteers
trained to infiltrate disaster stricken areas, help people evacuate and provide them with help.
These people airdrop items into these areas as well. This society have always been very
active in helping this strata of people during this kind a special situation.
Recommendation
People of the Red Cross should make sure they train their volunteers in helping and counsel
people to evacuate the places under high alert. This will reduce the number of casualties in
every kind of disaster. People have problems moving to safer places during these times

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because they do not want to leave their properties behind. They should also be adept in
counselling people post disaster because they go through a lot of grief and pain because of a
lot of loss that is always involved in such situations. Psychological counselling in these
situations are very much required and they must employ people who will be able to carry out
the same.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is evident that Red Cross has done a lot of significant work in various
spheres. This paper has effectively explored the work they had done till now to a specific
disaster ridden group of people and recommended methods that will help them in various
ways and make the efforts better. This paper also traced the backstory behind this famous
organization and the scope of work and people they deal with and care for on a regular basis.

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References
British Red Cross. (2019). British Red Cross. [online] Available at:
https://www.redcross.org.uk/ [Accessed 18 Jul. 2019].
Lawther, P.M., 2009. Community involvement in post disaster re‐construction‐case study of
the British red cross Maldives recovery program. International Journal of Strategic Property
Management, 13(2), pp.153-169.
Waikayi, L., Fearon, C., Morris, L. and McLaughlin, H., 2012. Volunteer management: an
exploratory case study within the British Red Cross. Management Decision, 50(3), pp.349-
367.
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