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Atkins Graduates take part in Disaster Relief Workshop

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As part of a two-day celebration of their work at SNC-Lavalin’s Atkins business, 190 of the Atkins’ graduate cohort took part in a RedR UK Disaster Relief Workshop.

After a networking session in the morning, graduates took part in a challenging simulation training exercise, based on real-life humanitarian crises in Sudan and Syria. The workshop was designed to put graduates’ technical knowledge and skills into practice and to give them an insight into the realities of working in the field. 

Graduates took part in one of two simulation exercises; one was centred on a fictional urban camp for Syrian refugees in Beirut, Lebanon, where tensions were growing between the host community and refugees. The second simulation placed graduates in a fictional IDP camp in Sudan where they needed to prepare for sudden surge of new arrivals as a result of recent conflict within the country.  

Working Under Pressure

Participants were asked to act as a members of a WASH, Shelter, Protection or Medical cluster and were tasked with finding practical solutions to various challenges while working in high-pressure conditions with limited access to information, simulating real-life field conditions.

While working on their tasks, team members were also required to respond to urgent needs from IDPs and refugees, played by actors as part of the simulation. Teamwork, collaboration, coordination and knowledge sharing were all key to successfully completing the tasks. Participants gained a unique insight into the humanitarian sector, and the role RedR UK plays in building the capacity of the sector around the world.

We’d like to congratulate all of the participants for their excellent work and to thank the Atkins L&D team for their excellent role-playing skills on the day. 

Working Under Pressure