The following report highlights some of our key insights and learning in the program and then outlines the process we used to deliver it. We hope this is helpful for others considering similar efforts.
Hello! Esther is my name, and I am a Uganda Red Cross youth volunteer. I’m excited to tell you about how our innovation project helped female teenagers in our community while also protecting the environment. Here’s our innovation journey.
Offering essential services such as food or medicine to underprivileged and marginalised people, whether in times of peace, pandemic, disaster or conflict, is a great challenge. The Covid-19 crisis has affected vulnerable households in almost every country, a phenomenon amplified by self-isolating people.
Crises are by definition breaking points. Something that we thought would hold – peace, health, transit system, electric supply, a way of life, a society – shatters. While dealing with the crisis, our understanding of the vulnerability of our world increases, as does our understanding of how to prevent the catastrophe from happening again. The first-hand experience spurs innovation and recalibration that will, if built correctly, lead to increased resilience.
The GCBC team are joined by Mike Adamson, CEO of the British Red Cross. Mike discusses the charity’s role in responding to Covid, how he’s planning to manage a significant deficit in BRC’s income over the coming years, and what the pandemic has revealed about volunteering. Good Charity, Bad Charity is presented by Keith Davis, Camilla McGibbon and David Prest. It is produced by Dan Hardoon at…
The UN has reminded us that the climate crisis is the biggest threat facing humanity over the long term. According to the World Food Programme, 270 million people are nearing the brink of starvation and now, the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis are exasperating hunger globally.
Contributions by: Steve K K Kenei – Data Analyst, International Center for Humanitarian Affairs, Kenya Red Cross Society ulia...
The COVID-19 pandemic and its indirect economic impacts provide an X-ray of our strengths and our vulnerability to shocks. Strong community structures, good public health policies, and comprehensive social protection are paying off like never before. While humanitarians are called upon everywhere to support the response, the need is especially acute in places where those systems are weaker. By responding to those humanitarian needs, humanitarians are gaining a first-hand insight into where regular systems lack the capacity to cope with today’s compound risks.
Tree planting, home building, food service, elder care. These traditional volunteer activities date back to the birth of civilization. In fact, the Bible, Quran, Torah, and Buddhism refer to gifts of service, charity to mankind, giving – each in some way sharing to followers that good comes from good deeds.
We are used to intervening in very vertical emergencies, which usually affect a specific territory, a certain number of people or specific groups. This crisis, however, affects the whole territory, the entire population and particularly the vulnerable groups we serve.
Let us always keep our torches burning so that the whole world can live the epidemic of Humanity and positive solidarity, celebrating the strength of being together even when physical distancing is necessary.
We are used to supporting people during disasters – whether conflict, floods, fires or earthquakes – but an unprecedented crisis like Covid-19 creates a whole host of new and untested challenges. How do you decide how best to respond and deploy your resources when an emergency is at such scale, and the needs so complex, compared to any emergency you’ve dealt with before?