Fanny: "How did you end up joining the Red Cross?"

Sòny: "In 2010, Haiti was hit by a devastating earthquake. I was born there and adopted when I was two by a couple from the Netherlands. The earthquake had a big impact on me as a teenager. I heard a lot about the relief and food parcels the Red Cross was offering in Haiti. I saw what the Red Cross does in emergency situations. This planted the first seed in me to learn more about the organisation. 

As I grew older, the need to give something back to the Red Cross on behalf of Haiti grew. Volunteers put their lives on the line for my country. That’s admirable. I wanted to do my bit. I had more time on my hands after completing my studies in Public Administration and now I’m the youth director for district Twente."

Fanny: "What a story! How can you give something back now?"

Sòny: "Youth officers can play an important role in achieving Red Cross goals. We see plenty of opportunities for young people. For example, in the recruitment, selection, bonding and further development of the youth strategy. Young people are the Red Cross volunteers of the future. My term is about to end - I’m 29. I’m building a foundation that my successor will soon be able to build on."

Sòny: "When did you start at the Red Cross and why?"

Fanny: "I have been working as an educationist for a long time. After my studies, I got into online learning. After seven years as a learning consultant, I was itching to do something else. I call that the 'Is this it?' moment. I realised I wanted to be relevant to society. When I saw a vacancy at the Red Cross, it ignited a little flame and now I have been working at the association office since 1 February this year."

Sòny: "What struck you in the first few months?"

Fanny: "I went from a small commercial company to a social organisation of five hundred professionals and tens of thousands of volunteers. That's a lot of fun. Now I see much faster how an e-module or training is received, which is very valuable. We are now busy setting up the Red Cross Academy. With this, we want to reach a large group of people. And everyone learns in a different way; we try to respond to that."

Fanny: "What would you like to achieve, Sòny?" 

Sòny: "We have a youth strategy and one of the goals is more diversity in the organisation. The Red Cross could become even more interesting for young people. We offer a place to all young people, regardless of background, studies, religion or origin. We need to look carefully at the roles they can fulfil with us. Do these sufficiently match current and future volunteering needs? This is something I would like to find out together with the young people. I want to look at the possibilities for an online and offline recruitment team of and for young volunteers."

Sòny: "What is your biggest learning moment so far?" 

Fanny: "Setting up and creating the Red Cross Academy properly is a big job; I haven't done anything like this before. We want to make sure it's user-friendly. I can move forward just fine at the Red Cross."

Fanny: "And what did you learn?"

Sòny: "You want to be a stable, sustainable organisation for volunteers, so you have to listen carefully and include people from the bottom up in the choices to be made. At what stage is it best to include young people in making choices so that they feel heard? That’s a lesson I learnt while drafting the youth strategy. Sometimes the distance between board members and volunteers is just too evident."

Sòny: "What ambition do you have for the development of the volunteers?" 

Fanny: "The Red Cross has a vision, a clear dot on the horizon, which is for volunteers to learn in a proactive, accessible and agile way. When I started working for the Red Cross, they old platform was still used. As an online specialist, it was something I could do something about. What are the trends and what do our people need? I want to improve the development of the volunteers."

Fanny: "I’m curious to know how you experience learning within the Red Cross."

Sòny: "As fine; I can continue developing within my role as a board member and can delve deeper into or expand into subjects if I would like to. The capital of volunteers is valued for their skills."

Fanny: "Shall we have a coffee sometime to see how we can better involve young people in learning?"

Sòny: "Yes, I’d like that very much! I definitely see opportunities in intriguing and committing young people. They have different motives to join the Red Cross: being socially involved, expanding their network or wanting to belong somewhere. We could capitalise on that even more. But we'll discuss that over a cup of coffee."