IRONORE2019: project finished

IRONORE2019: The largest international exercise in Austria (with over 1,000 participants) took place as one of the highlights of the IRONORE project in September 2019.  With the civil protection seminar on 10.-11. September 2020 as the last event, the project has now been completed.  IRONORE2019 was co-financed as a full exercise by the EU, project partners were the Red Cross Styria and Hungary as well as iHELP from Poland.

As project manager of the Austrian Red Cross, HQ, it was my job to implement the project proposal with the partners.  The project proposal was challenging and future-oriented.  Several workshops on current topics, the implementation of virtual reality and a “Discussion Based Exercise” came before the realistic, three-day full scale exercise in Eisenerz.

Four more workshops and the civil protection seminar were scheduled for 2020, but then came Covid-19.  The first two workshops could still take place, then the lockdown was issued in Austria.  The planned end of the project was June 2020, a three-month extension of the project duration was agreed with the EU Directorate General (DG ECHO), as was the switch to online events.

José Almodóvar Aráez, DG ECHO’s project officer said: “IRONORE is one of the best projects I have been involved since I arrived at DG ECHO … … So I was and I am still quite satisfied with the result of this project and all the synergies and cooperations we had.! ”

As responsible project manager of the Austrian Red Cross, I have to say THANK YOU to all of our partners, participating organizations and experts for the excellent cooperation!