The ICRC and Fondation Hirondelle signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" on Monday, December 11, 2017, in Geneva, with the aim of facilitating cooperation between the two organizations on projects of common interest.

This MOU was also about institutionalizing our common, old, constructive and friendly ties. We share values and a commitment to serve populations affected by major crises. We are convinced that together we can initiate new collaborations between humanitarians and journalists in the field, helping to improve our respective actions for our beneficiaries. Among the possibilities of collaboration that we discussed we identified the following:

• coordinated communication actions to improve access to information for local communities,
• the organization of trainings for journalists to improve their skills and knowledge of humanitarian principles,
• communication campaigns on the ICRC's mission and mandates
• dissemination of messages on respect of the principles of humanitarian law
• campaigns to prevent violence against humanitarian staff
• coordinating studies and field surveys that include both questions about the humanitarian environment and the audience of the media
• assessments of local ecosystems on information
• raising the awareness of ICRC staff on the role and functioning of the media

It is now a question of concretizing and enriching these lines of collaboration in the field in the regions where both of our organizations are currently active, in Western and Central Africa, and in Myanmar.