Browse by Theme: Humanitarian

After disasters and in post-conflict returns, many families will rebuild relying on their own resources, with little or no support from formal institutions or the humanitarian community – they self-recover. Previous research indicates that support after a major disaster is likely to meet only around 15% of the shelter needs, often less. Yet, many people will rebuild homes incorporating the same housing vulnerabilities as before and the opportunity to build safer, healthier homes can be missed. So what more can we do to support this inevitable process of shelter self-recovery?

It’s hard to believe the changes in the world today. They are coming so fast and so completely that we can lose track of what’s happening. It can be hard to feel hopeful as COVID-19 cases rise, economies crash, and underlying inequality skyrockets. In the upheaval, there is also hope.

Britain can be proud to be one of the countries that meets the UN target to give 0.7% of GNI (gross national income) to reduce poverty in poorer countries. That’s just 70p in every £100.  This is the result of a 15-year cross-party consensus since 2005 when 9 million British people asked the government to Make Poverty History.

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a huge threat to billions of people around the world, but it can’t be the only priority for aid. Other humanitarian disasters and emergencies have not gone away. Countries that still don’t meet the UN target of sharing 7p in every £10 with people in poorer countries, should try as hard as possible to increase their aid budget to respond to the new COVID-19 pandemic, and try to avoid taking aid away from other emergencies.  

Responding to COVID-19 in the world's largest humanitarian crisis

CARE International UK CEO Laurie Lee hosts a discussion with Bushra Aldukhainah and Lina Al-Saffi – who are both working on the frontline of CARE’s response to COVID-19 in Yemen.

Recorded on Thursday 21 May 2020.

Just as in the UK, trust, speed and scale is needed to meaningfully limit the impact of COVID-19 in communities already living in poverty. Unlike the UK, countries like Chad, Mali and Niger already had 12.8 million people in need of humanitarian assistance due to conflict and climate change. With support from the UK Department for International Development (DFID), CARE will be able to reach thousands of people here, but we and our peer NGOs have the capacity to scale this work up significantly, and the experience to make a real impact. The window we have to reach those communities is closing quickly – the international community must accelerate its response before it’s too late.

Cash support in times of crisis can keep markets functioning, keep money flowing to small businesses that desperately need it, and save lives and livelihoods at the same time – because it means people can get what they need, when they need it. As a woman in Bangladesh told us: “People are unable to go out for working. People are having difficulty getting their daily necessities. We are being told to wash hands frequently. We are having trouble buying necessary items as it is, how will we afford handwashing soaps? … In this case, cash support might be more helpful.”