PIROI, or the Indian Ocean Regional Intervention Platform, is part of the French Red Cross and reports to its International Relations and Operations department, who have carried out a regional programme of disaster risk management (DRM) in the south-west Indian Ocean since the year 2000.
PIROI consists of different members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: Comoros Red Crescent, French Red Cross, Malagasy Red Cross, Mauritius Red Cross, Mozambique Red Cross, Seychelles Red Cross, Tanzania Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
This regional intervention force relies on extensive regional networks and coverage: more than 800 local committees and over 35,000 active volunteers.
Based on Reunion Island, PIROI operates throughout the south-west Indian Ocean, working with the National Societies who are programme members.
A dozen people work full-time at PIROI throughout the year to ensure programmes run smoothly. PIROI also draws on the Movement’s extensive network, mobilising volunteer teams who are trained and specialised in certain activities.
What we do
Since its creation PIROI has carried out disaster preparedness and response actions by training emergency response teams and pre-positioning equipment (6 regional warehouses), supporting capacity development of the region’s Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, raising risk awareness, and strengthening communities’ capacities.
Programme beneficiaries
- Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies, whose capacities are strengthened to better fulfil their role through the specialised training their volunteers receive, the development of their aid workers’ networks, and the acquisition of material resources for response and relief.
- Vulnerable populations who live in recognised hazard-prone areas.
- Governments, local communities, and public authorities generally, whom the Red Cross assists, thus benefiting from increased population protection and relief capacities.