Who Determines Risk?
Reliant will gather information from the Field Leader, Church/Ministry Partner, Team Members, Approved Third-Party Decision Makers (Sending Network, Sending Church, etc), Program Team Director, Concilium, etc. The final decision on the location's risk will be determined by Reliant's International Crisis Management Team.
How Does Reliant Determine Risk?
Reliant will require a formal risk assessment for every new international partner to determine the Reliant International Risk Levels for the team's location. Reliant will work with field leadership, the partner church/ministry, and any approved third-party decision maker (sending network, sending church, etc) to gather as much information as possible. This will include specific location(s) of the ministry, future vision/mission of team, forecasting/evaluating impact and probability of threats, and documenting mitigation steps to reduce the risk of each threat above a medium level. Once this information is gathered, Reliant will work with our security consultant to weigh the real-time risk and threat levels for the location/ministry. Reliant's security consultant factors in governmental travel restrictions and warnings, real-time intel, and information from the Overseas Security Advisory Counsel (OSAC). Lastly, Reliant will take into account organizational liability and insurance availability in the risk assessment.
Once Reliant has determined the risk intensity level, every team member will sign an agreement that they understand the assigned Reliant International Risk Level and the associated risks outlined for their location.
Reliant's Risk Intensity Categories
- Basic Risk: Any moderate risk factors are limited or temporary. Free movement, free access to basic goods, free expression of ministry/reason in the country, stable government and economy. Easy entry requirements for all Americans. (ex. Canada)
- Moderate Risk: Several moderate risk factors exist and/or a high-risk factor is recent, imminent or ongoing.
- High Risk: Several high risks exist and/or an extreme risk factor is recent, imminent or ongoing.
- Extreme Risk: Several extreme risk factors are recent, imminent, or ongoing. (Reliant is unable to accommodate extreme threat locations at this time. See Countries with extreme threat level.)
Organizations may have different thresholds for determining Risk Intensity. The chart below will help you understand Reliant's risk tolerance in specific scenarios.
Risk Factor | Basic | Moderate | High | Extreme |
Government Scrutiny/Interrogation | Open to Religious Workers | Expulsion | Short Term Detention | Long Term Detention/Execution |
Political Stability | Peaceful Rule of Law | Street Protests | Routine Infighting | Active War Zones |
Economy | Stable | Fluctuating Currency | Limitation of Cash and Commodities | No Access to Cash or Commodities |
General Terrorism | Uncommon | Wrong Place/Wrong Time | General Targeting of Group | Specific Targeting |
Sexual Assault | Uncommon | Cat Calls | Groping | Rape |
Targeted Bodily Harm | Uncommon | Mugging or Minor Assault | Targeted Physical Assault | Martyrdom |
Health Hazards | High standards of public health and access to advanced medical facilities. | Potential health hazards and exposures to disease can be managed by typical vaccines and are generally easily treated by local healthcare | Potential exposure to unpreventable and untreatable health hazards or diseases with minor lingering effects | Potential exposure to unpreventable and untreatable/uncurable major diseases or health hazards with long term effects or likely death. |
Natural/Environmental | Predictable Weather Patterns that do not pose a risk to human life. | Minor Weather Patterns | Routine Risk for Severe Weather | Major Severe Weather Continually |
Isolation | Local believing and expat populations | Reasonable Access to Civilization | Moderate Distance from Civilization | Off the Grid |
Re-evaluation of an International Location Risk Intensity
Reliant reassesses the Risk Intensity of your location depending on changes happening in or around your location or if prompted by you or your team leader.
Additionally, a location-specific risk assessment will be performed if:
- There is a significant change in the security climate of a location due to governmental, environmental, societal, or other significant factors
- If an evacuation took place a new assessment will be performed before returning
- The location is deemed to be at a generally high-risk level and Reliant leadership determines that more frequent evaluations are necessary
Steps for submission
- Each team (or team leader) will perform a risk assessment each year, considering the events that are likely or impactful.
- They will provide the Reliant ICMT with their assessment.
- In turn, Reliant has provided contingency planning templates for each type of risk (See Contingency Planning)
- The team leader will customize contingency planning templates specific to the risks of their location. The number of contingency plans required correlate with the International Risk Levels for your location.
- The Crisis Management Plan for your team and team members also correlates with what is needed for the contingency plans
