What does great humanitarian response look like?
It looks like the CARE team in Haiti responding to the August 14 earthquake within 20 minutes because of their staff expertise and partnerships with community leaders and women’s groups.
It looks like women leaders in Niger getting wells drilled on their first try, after "the men went to the decision-makers seven times without success.”
It looks like the team in Bangladesh working with the district with the lowest COVID-19 vaccination rates and helping it be the second best nationally within 3 months by helping people with no internet access register for vaccines. That’s finding real solutions and meeting the needs of the people who have the most barriers.
It looks like Ecuador piloting vouchers for health services using crypto currency and becoming one of the largest humanitarian responders, or Somalia setting up voice recognition programs for cash transfers—that’s innovation and creativity.
It looks like Dr. Emmanuel Ojwang from South Sudan sitting on GAVI’s advisory group about vaccines and COVID response—bringing incredible expertise to influence global conversations.
That’s the kind of creativity, dedication, and sheer brilliance that people, partners, and CARE teams responding to crises all over the world bring to work every day. That’s how CARE has worked with others to reach 7.3 million in humanitarian crisis between July and September 2021, and provided COVID-19 responses to 8.5 million people. What does that look like?
What’s changed?
- People get access to nutritious food. 2.1 million people have gotten food and nutrition support. For example, CARE Chad is leading programming on recovering from malnutrition in crisis.
- People have more clean water and hygiene. 1.3 million people have gotten water and sanitation services. In Northwest Syria, this means installing solar water systems. In Chad, its communities figuring out ways to provide soap to health centers.
- People can buy what they need with cash and vouchers. 1.2 million people received cash and vouchers. In Ecuador, they accessed health vouchers with cryptocurrency. In Somalia, voice recognition helped people make sure their money was secure.
- Health services are more accessible. 437,000 people got health services. In Iraq, people used cash and vouchers to access health and GBV services, even when they lost their income in COVID-19. In Indonesia, YCP provided maternity care facilities with better air filtration to protect against COVID-19.
- People can protect themselves from COVID-19. Ghana trained 7,500 health care volunteers on COVID-19 safety and created radio jingles, mobile vans with announcements, and more than 8,000 posters to raise COVID awareness.
- 492,000 people got stronger livelihoods. In Laos, women can access financial and technical support to improve their lives even in COVD-19.
- More people are getting vaccinated. CARE is running vaccination promotion activities in 34 countries. In the areas CARE is working on vaccination coordination and promoting in partnership with lots of actors, 126 million people have gotten COVID-19 vaccines.
- People are getting support on gender-based violence (GBV). 411,000 people are getting GBV info and services. CARE Colombia is providing GBV support in places no other INGO operates. In Turkey, counselling hotlines offer a range of messages and services for people who need help dealing with COVID-19 and the changes in their lives.
How did it happen?
- Work with (and pay) local partners. CARE works with 275 local partners, including 93 Women’s Rights and Women-Led organizations. 11% of our humanitarian funding went to local partners in Q1 of fiscal year 2022.
- Listen to communities: 78% of CARE offices have set up feedback systems in partnership with local communities and based on their advice. In Cameroon, listening to those systems helped identify places where women were looking for more support to create new savings groups. The Democratic Republic of Congo trained 90 local leaders in how to run feedback mechanisms.
- Focus on Gender Equality. The Rapid Gender Analysis (we have 36 countries currently in process with some part of an RGA), have helped CARE and our partners (like UN Women) plan and design better programming in emergencies. That’s true beyond just our own work, but also how we influence other actors.
- Focus where people need the most support. CARE is supporting 3.7% of people that the UN currently estimates are in humanitarian need. In Thailand, that means supporting migrant workers. In Colombia, it means providing GBV services in areas others don’t operate. The response looks different in every country because the crisis looks different, too. CARE works to figure out how to meet the people who have the biggest gaps.
- Get creative: From running social media campaigns to promote COVID-19 vaccines to radio jingles and trucks with loudspeakers, CARE teams and partners are finding ways to get the message out. 48% of women CARE has surveyed are sharing COVID-19 prevention information with others in their communities, and 38% are running COVID-19 awareness campaigns.