British Red Cross partners with Bonita Trust for online education project

The British Red Cross and the Bonita Trust have entered into a landmark partnership aimed at the development of an online humanitarian education project. The Bonita Trust has provided a £50,000 grant that will see the British Red Cross develop an interactive resource to engage students and teachers across the country on global humanitarian issues.

Announcing the partnership today (Wednesday 25 March 2009), Andy Lloyd, the British Red Cross humanitarian education manager said:

“Our partnership with the Bonita Trust offers an exceptional and positive way for us to reach new key audiences in the education sector. Building on our existing online resources, we are aiming to reach at least 50,000 students and 2,500 teachers by June 2010. This project will excite users to explore aspects of humanitarian education and raise awareness of the situation of vulnerable people.”

The British Red Cross currently offers downloadable lesson plans for citizenship teachers on its website (http://www.redcross.org.uk/education). Last year alone, there were at least 30,000 online downloads of the resources. Additional topical material and audio-visual resources on first aid education, conflict and diversity will be added for the new project.

The announcement of the association coincides with the start of the Education Show 2009 in Birmingham where the British Red Cross is demonstrating first aid classes, to show that first aid skills are simple and can be learnt in a few minutes. The first class, on 26 March 2009, will teach a group of local pupils vital first aid skills through the interactive and easy-to-use Life. Live it. First Aid Education kit.

“Teachers and pupils alike are invited to join our class and get a feel for how easy first aid education can be with the Life. Live it. toolkit. Our message to teachers is that,with the right materials, anyone can teach essential lifesaving skills even if they feel unfamiliar with the subject,” Liz Brunwin, the Red Cross Life. Live it. project manager said.

Liz continued:

“Basic first aid is already on the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) curriculum in England for Key Stage 3 and 4, and with the move towards making the subject statutory, we would urge teachers to get ahead of the game.”

The education kit – including an interactive CD-ROM, contains ten flexible lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, video and audio clips. It also comes with an interactive quiz, which provides a fun and easy way to help students learn the first aid basics.

For more information on the British Red Cross online humanitarian education and first aid resources, please visit
http://www.redcross.org.uk/education

Notes to editors

• The British Red Cross will hold a first aid education class ‘How to build a generation of lifesavers’ at the New Product and Training Feature area at The Education show at 14:20 on Thursday 26 March 2009. Life. Live it officer, Jane Cooper, will lead the class with the assistance of students from Joseph Leckie Comprehensive School, Walsall. A second class, for teachers only, will take place at 12.20 on Saturday 28 March 2009.For press enquires, images or to arrange an interview, please contact Henry Makiwa on 078 774 99038/ Hmakiwa@redcross.org.uk

• The Bonita Trust is an independent charitable organisation committed to the advancement of new technologies and internet-based solutions to address health and
education challenges. For more information, visit http://www.bonitatrust.org/

The British Red Cross helps people in crisis, whoever and wherever they are. We are part of a global voluntary network, responding to conflicts, natural disasters and
individual emergencies.

We enable vulnerable people in the UK and abroad to prepare for and withstand emergencies in their own communities. And when the crisis is over, we help them to recover and move on with their lives.

In the event that we raise more money than can be reasonably and efficiently spent, any surplus funds will be used to help us prepare for and respond to other humanitarian disasters either overseas or here in the UK. For more information, visit redcross.org.ukwww.redcross.org.uk

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Contact name : Henry Makiwa
Mailid : henry.makiwa@yahoo.co.uk