World Humanitarian Day: celebrating 10 years of the British Red Cross' Global Surge Team
For our Global Surge Team, the front line of a disaster is only ever 48 hours away. As the team turns 10 year old, we’re celebrating their exceptional humanitarian work.
Last updated 4 August 2023
When disaster strikes anywhere in the world, whether it’s conflict in Ukraine, an earthquake in Haiti, or a cyclone in Mozambique, the local Red Cross society is on the ground, supporting affected communities and giving them hope. But they’re not alone.
Ours is the largest humanitarian network in the world and in the face of a crisis, it’s all hands on deck. Societies from across the Red Cross and Red Crescent network pull together, supporting each other where and when expertise is needed.
As part of this joint response, the British Red Cross maintains a specialist corps of highly trained emergency experts – the Global Surge Team - who can be deployed anywhere in the world at short notice.
The Global Surge Team (GST) responds where there is urgent need of their expertise, triggered by a call for support from across the Red Cross and Red Crescent network.
Quite often, this means responding in the immediate aftermath of an emergency, such as an earthquake or typhoon. But the team also supports Red Cross partners before, during and after emergencies, using their specialist skills to overcome specific problems.
Either way, GST members always have their bags packed, and ready by the door.
Who are the Global Surge Team?
Find out who they are and what they do.
Growing from a small team of three people in 2012 to a team of 14 people in highly specialist roles, the team is about to celebrate its tenth anniversary.
Tarik Begic, senior GST manager, says:
“We’ve now responded to some of the world’s most devastating and challenging humanitarian crises, making 300 deployments in more than 120 countries, across six continents.
“I’m proud of the work we do. This World Humanitarian Day is an opportunity to remember, honour and reflect on the sacrifices colleagues around the world have made, while providing humanitarian assistance to those in need.”
Meet three outstanding humanitarians from the Global Surge Team.
“I’ve been in countries where things have seriously escalated - but nothing like this.”
Julia Brothwell is the longest standing member of the Global Surge Team, and one of five international delegates deployed to Ukraine this year.
She’d been in Kyiv, then a thriving European city, for two weeks, making preparations and developing contingency plans in case the conflict erupted. And then it did.
The events of that day remain crystal clear in Julia’s mind. It was early. She got dressed, grabbed her go-bag and raced to the office. Within moments, her job title had changed from Movement Contingency Planning Coordinator to Operations Manager within the IFRC.
“The president of the Ukrainian Red Cross chaired a meeting at their emergency operation centre”, Julia says.
“There was a bank of TV screens, with all regional branch chairs up on the screen. That call was about checking everyone was OK.
“It was great to see the Ukrainian Red Cross emergency teams in all their gear, ready for search and rescue, and triage. You could see the adrenaline running in them.”
That first night was sleepless and interrupted, as warning sirens shrieked outside. Several times, she and 20 Red Cross colleagues were forced to seek shelter in the basement of their building, alongside children, dogs and family members.
Eventually, she gave up on sleep and went to bed fully clothed. Even now she’s back, the relentless, shrill sirens creep into her subconscious. “It’s a noise I’ll never forget, she says.”
Julia Brothwell is the longest-serving member of the Global Surge team, and has just received an MBE for her humanitarian work.
The power of the Red Cross emblem
The team moved south to the Donbas region, where fighting was fierce, and communities were badly affected by the conflict.
As an IFRC delegate, Julia knew ICRC was well placed to provide humanitarian assistance to victims of the conflict in Ukraine. It was her role to determine how IFRC could best assist in the situation.
“ICRC already had 600 staff in country,” she says. “What we could do was facilitate humanitarian aid coming over the border.
“There were three points, one in the north, one in the West, and one in the south. The Danish Red Cross, they took care of the one in the south, and then IFRC took the west and the north one.” Julia says.
She says that they were able to get this done at all, shows the power and reach of the Red Cross – both as a symbol and an organisation.
“The Red Cross is absolutely vital in a situation like this because it’s a national organisation,” she says.
“It is staffed and volunteered by the nationals of that country, it was there long before the conflict started, and it will be there long after all the other aid agencies have gone home.
“The Red Cross is a constant, and this has helped us establish relationships with the local authorities, the health department, and the police department.
Global Surge Team members need to be packed and ready for deployments within 48 hours.
As an IFRC delegate in Ukraine, Julia ensured that vital humanitarian aid reached stricken communities - in very challenging circumstances.
“It is kind of part and parcel of the national infrastructure, and we are recognisable as being a local entity, conversant with all the norms and cultural influences.”
30 years of saving lives
Ten days after arriving back in the UK, Julia was an awarded an MBE.
After thirty years, and 40 operations, including earthquakes, warzones, and disease outbreaks, its incredibly well-deserved. She has brought lifesaving aid to many thousands of people.
As humble as ever, Julia underlines the team effort.
“This has been my day job for so long and of course it’s the day job of a lot of the people I work with. So, for every one person that gets nominated, there is a whole crowd of people that have enabled that person to get where they are.”
"I think, ultimately people save themselves, it's just we help them do it a little bit faster.”
Thuong is an information management specialist and has worked in the humanitarian sector long enough to understand the complexities of aid.
In this line of work, there are inevitable power imbalances, which is why, for Thuong, it’s essential to help affected communities find their own solutions, in the aftermath of a disaster.
“I think it’s more about working alongside people in times of crisis”, she says.
“Ultimately, people save themselves - you see that a lot in Ukraine. They would manage without us, it's just we help them do it a little bit faster.”
Modestly referring to herself as an ‘extra pair of hands’, Thuong brushes over the wealth of technical skills that qualified her to become a member of the GST. She has just returned from Kyiv, where she was looking at migration and displacement.
“My work in Ukraine was designed to help the response in the longer term, for a more strategic outlook,” Thuong says. "This means that in five years’ time, we don't end up with pieces of work that were built in the heat of the action.”
Camping in a broken school
The work in Ukraine is very different to her first mission - responding to Hurricane Maria in Dominica.
“It was terrible for the country because it got run over by the eye of the cyclone and there were almost no buildings left standing. We couldn't find our accommodation as delegates, so we had to camp in a broken school, she says.
“I've never seen something like that before. Everything was broken down, there were pieces of wood and buildings floating in the sea. It made me want to work more in this kind of field, because you realise that after such a big crisis, people do need help."
“I think the most rewarding missions I've had are ones like these, or the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. “There, we made a lot of progress in terms of trying to stop the spread of Ebola."
No ordinary job
The level of organisation involved in coordinating the Global Surge Team is quite remarkable. There’s often very little time to plan.
“Disasters can happen anytime, and you can't control when they happen,” says Thuong. “So, it’s good to have some capacity available at short notice.
“Where most people have a full-time job, family and commitments, this job is very different. “It’s often hard to find of people who can deploy very fast and technically we should be deployable within 48 hours,” she says. “Most people can't just stand up and leave that quickly.”
This can make personal life challenging, but it’s a compromise she’s willing to make. She understands the importance of her work, and fortunately there are many benefits to working within the team, as well as challenges.
“It's quite different from the average job, where you are sitting in an office or commuting to work regularly. You get the chance to meet some amazing people.
Rodrigo, second from the left, first row, with colleagues from across the network in Haiti.
“The challenge is making sure different components of the Red Cross work together to achieve the same goal.”
Rodrigo is a true altruist with a sense of adventure. So it's no surprise that when a vacancy emerged in the Global Surge Team (GST) at the British Red Cross, he jumped at the opportunity.
“I've been working with the British Red Cross for four or five years,” Rodrigo says.
"For two and a half years, I worked as a disaster management coordinator - the response lead in a specific geographical area."
The role brought him into regular contact with the Global Surge Team and in September he joined and hasn't looked back.
Supporting 200,000 displaced people
Rodrigo's most recent deployment was to Malawi, where he was helping to coordinate the response to Tropical Storm Ana.
“Tropical Storm Ana hit on 24 January this year. Cyclone Gombe, struck just three weeks later.
"I don't recall the exact figures but around 200,000 people were impacted. They had to leave their homes and were staying either in makeshift camps or schools.”
Catering to the basic needs of 200,000 displaced people is an enormous task but Rodrigo took it in his stride.
“Initial activities involved trying to tackle the most urgent needs,” he says. “We organised the distribution of different kits, so that people could build their own houses or temporary shelter.
“There was also a focus on water and sanitation because many of the latrines had got stuck or there was no access to water.
“Then it moved to the early recovery phase. At the time I was leaving cash distributions were taking place, helping to restore the livelihoods of those that have been affected.”
Juggling roles
Being part of the Global Surge team often means representing different organisations and reconciling distinct roles and responsibilities.
Delegates from the British Red Cross Global Surge team are seconded to IFRC, but occasionally, they work with ICRC, all the while having to navigate relationships with other national partners.
“The challenge is making sure different components of the Red Cross work in a coordinated manner to achieve the same goal,” Rodrigo says.
“It's a constant negotiation. You wear two or three hats at the same time. But you're working for the people and no matter the approach, you have to bring the best to those you're trying to help.”
Of the skills needed to do the job, Rodrigo says that diplomacy and negotiation are key, along with resilience.
“It's not really something you learn in training. You have to try to understand the nature of the dynamics behind each context.
“The Malawi Red Cross, for example, has strong capabilities. So our role was to advise Malawian colleagues and to help align their systems with the Federation's to avoid delays.
Super-talented colleagues
In a more personal capacity, Rodrigo admits he sometimes struggles with the constant upheaval and uncertainty which comes with the job role.
“It's tricky but the management team make an effort to help us conciliate our professional and personal lives,” he says. I think it really depends on which stage of your life you are.
"If you’d asked me perhaps six, seven years ago, when I had more of an itinerant life, I would have told you it was not difficult at all. Now, I do find it difficult at times.”
Fortunately, the pros outweigh the cons, and Rodrigo feels very lucky to work with such a dynamic, highly skilled group of people.
“It's great to work with similar-minded colleagues who are in addition super talented.
“In a way, in addition to helping people, I think we are here because we are curious people who like to travel and see different cultures.”
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