Government and emergency management settings are specialized environments where critical operational decisions that support a disaster response are made. Therefore, the importance of our relationships with government and emergency management partners and our ability to staff local and state incident command posts and emergency operations centers with competent Red Cross personnel is a high priority for our organization.

Because the consequences of our ability to manage these relationships and serve our partners can have significant and high profile ramifications, government and emergency management assignment settings require a special cadre of knowledgeable disaster workers, who understand the inner workings of both a government and Red Cross disaster response.

The purpose of this basic Disaster Services course is to prepare Red Cross employees and volunteers who will be assigned to government and emergency settings to work collaboratively with Red Cross partners, helping to ensure a coordinated response that results in effective service delivery.

After completing this course, participants will be able to—

1. • Represent the Red Cross to our government and emergency management partners in a manner consistent with the Red Cross mission, vision, values and procedures.
2. • Establish, maintain and enhance our collaborative relationships with government and emergency management partners of the Red Cross.
3. • Explain the value of a liaison’s contributions toward a coordinated and effective disaster response, when assigned to a government and emergency management setting.
4. • Compare and contrast the basic systems and structures used by the government and the Red Cross to manage respective emergency and relief operation activities.

• Establish an "environmental awareness" of the specific settings in which a liaison, assigned to a government or emergency management setting must be prepared to operate.

1. • Seek, collect, evaluate and communicate critical information and bring to bear the resources needed by Red Cross, government and other emergency management stakeholders in support of coordinated efforts to meet disaster-caused needs.
2. • Identify and manage stakeholder expectations to affect a coordinated multi-agency response.
3. • Assemble, organize and employ the tools and resources that are needed to meet the performance expectations of a liaison assigned to a government or emergency management setting.