Humanitarian aid and security
This year, 211 million people around the globe fell victim to natural disasters – a situation that demands our action.
In the last two decades, CECI has frequently been called on to implement humanitarian aid operations in order to help populations dealing with natural disasters or human conflicts in countries of Asia, Africa, the Caribbean, or the Americas.
CECI responds to disasters caused by hurricanes, typhoons, storms, earthquakes, and conflicts.
We undertake:
- emergency campaigns
- reconstruction projects
- community security and reconciliation initiatives
We also assist communities with climate-change-related risk prevention and reduction programs.
Issues
Climatic disruption due to global warming has caused a dramatic increase in natural disasters since the early 1990s. Heavy monsoon rains in Asia, alterations of the African rainy season, larger numbers of Caribbean hurricanes, melting glaciers in Nepal, and droughts are examples of phenomena having a direct impact on the poverty of highly vulnerable populations. In the coming years, we will increase our capacity to respond to the needs of these populations and work to prevent the impacts of such natural disasters.
Security issues are another concern of CECI. Unstable or fragile political environments in some parts of the world jeopardize the lives of vulnerable populations, particularly women and children. They need our support.
Goals
CECI’s humanitarian aid approach is innovative, for we focus on sustainable development in crisis situations.
Our actions are guided by the principle of inclusion of victims and vulnerable people in the assessment of their own needs. We look after the quality of the care, services, and materials distributed.
Our approach is unique: The local authorities are included in our crisis response efforts so that they are able to carry on the work after the teams have left the country.
The work is done in three phases:
1. Crucial first hours
This phase consists of saving lives, caring for the injured, providing potable water, and setting up temporary shelters. From the first hour, the victims are brought in to assess their needs and determine how they will participate in delivering the aid.
2. Crisis response
This phase involves responding to the essential needs of the disaster-stricken population:
- food aid and nutrition
- potable water distribution, sanitation, and hygiene promotion;
- health services;
- shelter, human resettlement;
- nonfood items;
- civil and minority protection.
3. Social and economic rehabilitation
Post-emergency work varies depending on the extent of the disaster. The most common types include:
- rehabilitation and/or reconstruction of homes;
- rehabilitation and/or reconstruction and refurbishment of schools, health centres, public spaces, water supply systems, etc.;
- rehabilitation and/or reconstruction of factories, irrigation systems, roads, ports, etc.;
- resumption of economic activity
CECI and the Sphere project
CECI delivers humanitarian aid in accordance with the standards and principles of the SPHERE project. This CIDA-funded project, bringing together the largest international disaster relief institutions, has drafted a humanitarian charter and identified standards in five areas: water supply, sanitation, and hygiene; nutrition; food aid; shelter and settlement, and health services.
CECI also belongs to the Policy and Advocacy Group for Emergency Relief (PAGER), where it works in coordination with other Canadian humanitarian agencies, the United Nations, and local governments to ensure that there is no shortfall or duplication of effort in humanitarian situations.
Projects
Expertise
CECI has been involved in humanitarian relief work for 15 years, most recently in Burma in the wake of a cyclone, in Vietnam after the Xangsane typhoon, and in Nepal and Bolivia after torrential storms.
Also notable was the work of CECI in Guatemala and El Salvador after Hurricane Stan (2005) and in Haiti after the devastating impact of four successive hurricanes (2008).
CECI’s disaster relief work falls into four categories:
- food security, nutrition, and health;
- reconstruction of homes and community infrastructure;
- restarting the food production system;
- restarting the economy.
Food security, nutrition, and health
The key priorities here are to:
- establish relevant food aid strategies in partnership with communities, governments, and international partners;
- distribute cooking utensils, blankets, mosquito netting, etc.;
- collaborate with nutrition experts working in health institutions and schools on implementation of food aid programs for children and infants.
Reconstruction of homes and community infrastructure
The key priorities here are to:
- provide materials and aid for reconstruction of homes and midsized infrastructure (schools, clinics, drainage systems, small roads, etc.);
- identify beneficiaries, with specific attention paid to the most vulnerable groups;
- work in close collaboration with local authorities and international partners (NGOs and citizens’ groups);
- identify, in cooperation with governments, safer places for people who lived in dangerous locations;
- promote housing types that are sensitive to the culture and local needs.
Restarting food production systems
The key priorities here are to:
- identify, in collaboration with farmers, the most effective methods for resuming local agriculture and aquaculture, including distribution of seeds, cleaning away debris, and repairing irrigation systems;
- analyze and identify models enabling communities to earn income or obtain food in the short term while the land and infrastructure are damaged;
- distribute livestock and/or disease prevention supplies for livestock;
- provide resources and training to revitalize local agricultural production.
Restarting economic activity
The key priorities here are to:
- implement programs to clean up and rehabilitate the urban environment and to create jobs by injecting money into the local economy;
- clean up the streets and irrigation channels;
- create new jobs for the poorest families;
- design and finance microcredit structures.
We have raised more than $6 million since our first major disaster relief campaign after Hurricane Mitch hit Central America in 1998, causing widespread destruction and death.
Go ahead and make a donation today. It will improve someone’s life.
Here’s what your donation buys:
- $20: a survival kit.
- $50: mosquito netting for 10 people to protect them from malaria.
- $100: three months of drinking water and water purification capsules for a whole family.
- $200: kits for 10 families containing jerrycans, kitchen utensils, cookstove and pots, mosquito netting, candles, matches, toilet paper, toothpaste, shampoo, razors, sanitary napkins, bath towels, dish liquid, disinfectants.
A donation to CECI is a donation that builds and improves lives!
