The open suitcase sits on your bedroom floor with clothes hanging half out.  You awoke at 4 a.m. this morning, wide awake and unable to get back to sleep. You have 300 unread emails and 18 voicemail messages.

You recently returned from a mission trip!

A couple days after returning home, many mission trip team leaders turn their attention to laundry, catching up on missed work and trying to figure out what to do about the jet lag. They may not be thinking about writing a debrief report—but they should.

As we discussed in our last blog, capturing important information in a mission trip debrief report is vital for future performance. The last thing, however, that you probably want to do right now is write a dissertation! So how do you write a mission trip debrief that gets to the point but also captures the right information?

Consider including these items in your debrief:

1. Your after action review (see our last blog). Include notes from your AAR in the debrief. This provides the best summary of the trip and gives practical information to help future teams.
2. National contact information. Include the names, email, phone, addresses, etc. of all the key national leaders that you worked with on the field. Include a note about what their role was and any important information or concerns about the person that would be helpful to future missions leaders.
3. Key performance indicators. Churches started, meals served, lessons taught, supplies distributed—whatever it is that your organization measures for field effectiveness.
4. Team member roster. Be sure to include a list of those who went with you on the trip and any issues or concerns.
5. Transportation. What airline(s) did you fly? What was your ground transportation? Any issues that arose?
6. Accommodations. Where did you stay? Quality? Costs? Include names and phone numbers.
7. Problems encountered. Health, team logistics, finances, etc.
8. Financial report(s). Include field expense reconciliation, final budget, profit and loss statement, or whatever reports your organization requires.
9. Recommendations for future ministry.

By capturing these nine items you will ensure that you have good information that will greatly benefit future teams. You don’t need to be lengthy in your responses to each item, just give the basic information. A little time spent writing a debrief immediately after a mission trip will be greatly appreciated later.

Now, about that laundry…

It has been months, maybe even years in the making. Now the time for your short-term mission trip has almost arrived. As you prepare yourself and your team for departure, you know there are a myriad of details that must be handled. While some of those details may include things like getting the clothes washed so you can start packing, they also include gathering important pieces of information for your trip.

Since we live in a dynamic and ever-changing world, it is vital that the information related to our mission trip is up to date. We need good, current details about the country where we are headed, as well as the over-all trip process. In order to wade through the enormous amount of information available, you will want to focus your data collection on four key areas: general country information, safety/security, health, and travel. Within each category, however, there is a host of information sources. Which ones should you use? How do you know if that source is reliable?

Here is a checklist of some of the best Internet resources that will give you most of what you need to know as you travel internationally.

General Country Information

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/index.htm

U.S. State Department Country Background Notes provides general information about the population, demographics, politics and more of every nation.

www.AlertNet.org

AlertNet.org is a website tied to the global news organization Reuters. It “focuses its resources on covering fast-moving humanitarian emergencies and on the early warning of future emergencies,” according to the website. It is a great source of current, often real-time information on countries and regions of the world. It also has an extensive collection of archived materials.

http://travel.state.gov

The U.S. State Department maintains an international travel section. In addition to general country information, it also has entry and exit requirements, travel updates, safety suggestions, and more.

Safety and Security

www.osac.gov

The Overseas Security Advisory Council is a government-sponsored site where you can search security related news by region or country. They also have an extensive online library of reports covering topics such as food security, evacuation planning, financial scams, and much more.

https://travelregistratin.state.gov

Travel registration for U.S. citizens traveling abroad. While this is not an information site, it does allow the U.S. government to contact you with information in the event of an emergency. If there is a disaster or unrest while abroad, you may have limited access to vital information. Government officials can get information to you and even assist in evacuation if necessary.

Health

www.who.int/countries/en

The World Health Organization (WHO) is the directing and coordinating authority for health within the United Nations system. It assesses health trends and provides technical assistance to countries that need it. The WHO’s website includes an international travel and health section with a number of resources beneficial to missionary and humanitarian travelers.

www.cdc.gov/travel

The Centers for Disease Control provides travel-related health information on most nations of the world. They also provide a list of recommended vaccinations. 

Travel

www.tsa.gov

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration provides security screening at the nation’s airports. Look at the “What to Know Before You Go” section for the latest changes in the screening process and what you are allowed to carry on the plane.

Luggage–Airline(s) Website

Be sure to check the luggage restrictions on the websites for each airline that you will be flying. Different airlines have different allowances. You may depart on one airline without a problem but then find that your returning airline considers your bag over-weight and stick you with a fee.

Transfer Airports

If you are changing planes or have a long-layover at a particular airport, check out that airport’s website before you fly. Also, you will find a number of articles on various major airports at www.MinistryTravel.com/blog.

www.weather.com

Check the weather for your destination city on this site provided by the Weather Channel. It includes international cities as well cities across the U.S.

I recommend three information gathering times where this checklist would be used. The first is in the planning stages of your trip. As you work through the checklist you will discover what you need to know about entering your destination country, how to keep yourself safe while there, needed vaccinations, and so on.

The second time to use the checklist is 10-14 days before you leave. If there have been any major changes, then you still should have time to adjust to them. Note particularly if there have been any changes in country entry requirements, as well as any changes in the safety or the politics of your destination. Are there rallies, protests, or labor strikes scheduled for the time that you will be there? If so, then you may need to make alternative arrangements or develop a contingency plan.

The final time to review the checklist would be 24-48 hours before leaving. This last pass would only need to focus on getting late-breaking news such as that found at www.AlertNet.org and at www.osac.gov. If you are going to a volatile area, such as a disaster site or where security threats are an issue, you will want to continuously monitor these sites. In addition to AlertNet and OSAC, consider checking the social media site www.Twitter.com for current posts from those who are on the ground in the area where you are headed.

The ten sites listed in the checklist are some of the best and most relevant to short-term mission trips available on the Internet. Those sites, along with your airline(s) and transfer airport websites, plus Twitter, will provide most of the information that you will need as you head out for your next mission trip. Work through the list and you should be ready to go. It won’t take care of your laundry, but at least you will be intellectually prepared to travel.

Frank Banfill is a former mission executive and is the president of MaxPoint Ministries (www.maxpoint.org). He writes on behalf of Ministry Travel (www.ministrytravel.com).

Best practice is a concept common in the medical field that has spread to numerous other fields, including humanitarian and missions work. By identifying the best way to do whatever it is that your organization does, you eliminate redundancies and deliver a better product or service.

Typically, best practices are developed over time as multiple individuals, companies, or organizations tackle similar issues. Best practices also seek to protect all the involved stakeholders. In the humanitarian aid arena, there are several entities that seek to develop best practices and provide agreed upon standards for its members and others.

Two of those organizations are the Human Accountability Partnership or HAP (http://www.hapinternational.org and the Sphere Project (http://www.sphereproject.org/). Both offer a variety of resources to help individuals and organizations involved in responding to disasters or alleviating human suffering. Both organizations cooperate together and meet on a regular basis to coordinate activities.

HAP’s purpose is to “make humanitarian action accountable to beneficiaries.” They seek to improve both the quality of humanitarian services rendered and the accountability of those delivering it. Their services range from certifying organizations in humanitarian accountability and quality management to offering workshops and providing online resources. Anyone working in this arena will find a wealth of ideas in the HAP website resource section, including case studies and tools. Organizations like Save the Children, Christian Aid and World Vision have all contributed samples and ideas to the site.

The Sphere Project’s work is centered on the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards for Disaster Response book, simply called the Sphere Handbook. The 344 page publication is available as a .pdf file for download from their website.

Sphere also has a unique online library of humanitarian videos covering a variety of subjects such as water supply, shelter, psychosocial support, food security and more. In addition, Sphere’s site includes numerous training resources, some of which are quite extensive (like the five day “Technical Sectors” course). Some of the training materials include PowerPoint presentations, trainer guidelines and participant manuals.

HAP and Sphere are valuable resources to anyone doing disaster relief or tackling other humanitarian projects. Ministry Travel assists global humanitarian efforts by providing discounted airfare through specially negotiated airline contracts. These discounts usually represent substantial savings over what Internet sites, other travel agencies and even the airlines themselves offer the general public.