To celebrate the official launch of the Humanitarian Centre, the International Director of the Red Cross, Matthias Schmale, will give a lecture this Wednesday at 6.30 pm, Emmanuel College.
To celebrate the official launch of the Humanitarian Centre, the International Director of the Red Cross, Matthias Schmale, will give a lecture this Wednesday at 6.30 pm, Emmanuel College.
October 2006 marked the informal launch of the Humanitarian Centre, an umbrella organisation which seeks to support humanitarian initiatives based in and around Cambridge.
The lecture coincides with Cambridge One World Week: an annual week-long drive to provoke thoughts and discussion about different cultures worldwide, and the issues affecting them. Aptly, the title of the lecture is "Managing in the Red Cross - the challenge of staying relevant and credible".
Matthias Schmale joined the British Red Cross in December 2004 as International Director. His work for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies spans nearly 11 years. During this time he worked as a delegate in Sudan, Deputy Head of Regional Delegation covering 14 countries, and then as Head of the Federation's Organisational Development Department in Geneva before taking up his current position as International Director.
His previous experiences include working for the London-based International Save the Children Alliance as Deputy CEO and for church based organisations in Ethiopia during the big famine of the 1980s Schmale also has a PhD in Development Economics from the Free University of Berlin.
The inaugural lecture will be hosted by Lord Wilson, Master of Emmanuel, and held at 6.30 pm in the Queen's Building, Emmanuel College on Wednesday, 7 February. It will be followed by a drinks reception. Admission is free to all, no tickets needed.
The manager of the Centre is Ian Steed, a Cambridge languages and business graduate who has worked for the Red Cross in Germany and Switzerland. He aims for the Centre to become a focus for development work in Cambridge, encouraging more local people to get involved in international development initiatives.
It is hoped that the Humanitarian Centre lecture will be an annual occurrence, with key speakers from major NGOs speaking on the challenges of managing such organisations.
The Red Cross is an international humanitarian movement, aiming to help people in crisis, wherever they are and without discrimination. It responds to national disasters, conflict and individual emergencies.
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