*VRCS Volunteers participating in a group activity for the Participatory Approach to Safe Shelter Awareness for Staff and Volunteers (PASSA).*

Participatory Approach to Safe Shelter Awareness (PASSA) for Staff and Volunteers is a participatory approach preparedness tool that helps develop local capacity to reduce shelter-related risk by raising awareness and developing skills in joint analysis, learning and decision-making at the community level. The application of PASSA is particularly useful for gender mainstreaming where shelter risk is often viewed through different lenses by men and women. Thus, a more holistic picture of shelter risk is obtained and can be addressed. Furthermore, PASSA by its nature can enhance social capital, reinforcing/strengthening community resilience to disaster.

This training was for the course participants to be able to facilitate the PASSA activities and manage the PASSA process at the community level.

Specifically, this taring aims to:

1. Explain the purpose of PASSA and its place in shelter programs, and describe how it is supposed to work at the community level,

2. Describe the PASSA methodology, including the purpose and process of each activity and the inks between activities,

3. Explain essential shelter safety principles and how they apply in the local context,

4. Outline the steps in each of the 8 PASSA activities and, materials required, Demonstrate the skills required for facilitating PASSA Activities

At the end of the training, participants are familiar with the PASSA approach and aspects of PASSA and be ready to implement and manage PASSA at a community level. Have a community implementation plan for PASSA and integrate it into existing programs/projects. Last but not least, participants have the ability to train the branch volunteers to increase the number of PASSA-trained personnel for VRCS. This would allow for a greater outreach at the provincial and village levels.