Victoria has worked in the humanitarian and development sectors for nearly 20 years, particularly in the Asia Pacific region, in a range of roles spanning international law and policy, emergency operations, community development and institutional capacity building.
Victoria has extensive operational experience in humanitarian coordination and program management, having held senior positions with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). She has developed and managed programs in areas of disaster preparedness and risk reduction, climate change adaptation, health, WASH, shelter, migration and settlement, and community development. Victoria has also been deployed to numerous international disaster operations including the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), Pakistan Earthquake (2005), Myanmar Cyclone Nargis (2008), Marshall Islands Drought (2013) North Pacific Typhoons Haiyan (2013) and Maysak (2015) and as Shelter Cluster Coordinator for the Nepal Earthquake (2015).
With a background in international law and policy, Victoria was one of the initial founders of the world’s first program on International Disaster Response Law (IDRL) and was a key contributor to the development of a set of international guidelines for the facilitation of international disaster response. She later worked in the Asia Pacific region supporting national governments and regional bodies in the Asia Pacific region to strengthen legal and policy frameworks for responding to disasters, and conducted numerous research projects, case studies and other published work.
Victoria has also provided coaching, mentoring and capacity building for Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies and NGOs in the areas of legal base and governance, strategic planning, leadership development, human resources, project management and stakeholder communications.
Publications
V. Bannon, Nepal: Regulatory barriers to providing emergency and transitional shelter after disasters (IFRC, 2014) Available here.
V. Bannon, “International Disaster Response Law and the Commonwealth: Answering the Call to Action”, Commonwealth Law Bulletin, Volume 34, Issue 4, Nov 2008 Available here.
V. Bannon, “Red tape, grey areas and black holes: Lessons learned from the Indian Ocean tsunami”, International Aid + Trade Annual Review 2007. Available on request.
V. Bannon and D. Fisher, “Legal Lessons in Disaster Relief from the Tsunami, the Pakistan Earthquake and Hurricane Katrina”, American Society of International Law Insight, Vol 10, Issue 6, 2006. Available here.
V. Bannon, “Strengthening international disaster response laws, rules and principles” in C Raj Kumar & DK Srivastava eds, Tsunami and Disaster Management: Law, Policy and Governance Reform in Asia, Sweet and Maxwell & Co (2005). Available here.
V. Bannon, Nepal: Laws, policies, planning and practices on international disaster response (IFRC, 2005). Available here.
V. Bannon, Fiji: Laws, policies, planning and practices on international disaster response (IFRC, 2005) Available here.
V. Bannon, Indonesia: Laws, policies, planning and practices on international disaster response (IFRC, 2005) Available here.
V. Bannon (ed), International Disaster Response Laws, Principles and Practice: Reflection, Challenges and Prospects (IFRC, 2003) Available here.
V. Bannon and R. Layton, “International Law and Armed Conflict: Implications for Emergency and Humanitarian Organizations”, Australian Journal of Emergency Management, Vol 15, No 2, 58-63, 2002. Available here.