CARE's March 2022 global humanitarian update

If there’s ever a week for a little hope and inspiration, this must be it.

If there’s ever a week for a little hope and inspiration, this must be it. Between the invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, and anniversaries of pandemic, earthquakes, and conflicts that have sprung up around the world, it’s been a tough week for news—global and local.

Did you know that so far in FY22 (between July 1 and December 31, 2021), CARE has helped 11.9 million people in 44 countries respond to the crises they are facing? We’ve also helped 15.7 million people in 53 countries respond to COVID-19. Now, on top of all that, CARE says we’re going to help 4 million people who need emergency assistance because of the conflict in Ukraine.

Here’s why we know we can meet those goals. Because in 4 days, we’ve already done a Rapid Gender Analysis on the Ukraine context. Because in Niger, CARE was one of the first groups to respond to a cholera outbreak in September. Because in Nepal, CARE teams worked with local partners to get support to people caught in a flood in less than 24 hours. CARE’s teams have some of the best and most dedicated humanitarians there are. If we don’t have the experts, we work with partners who do.

The latest global humanitarian update leads to one of the best reporting questions ever: what are you most proud of? It's worth taking 5 minutes of your day to read through what CARE teams are proud of this time.

What has changed?

  • People can get clean water and hygiene supplies. 3 million people got access to clean water, hygiene services, or information and supplies on hygiene. In Niger, that meant being one of the first organizations to respond to a cholera outbreak in September. In the Haiti earthquake, it meant trucking water to prisons where the water supply broke. Somalia trucked 3.3 million litres of clean water for 3,200 families.
  • People get food, or can buy it themselves. 2.9 million people got nutritious food, 1.2 million people got cash or vouchers, and 1 million people got livelihood support. All of that makes it possible to eat more nutritious diets. In Yemen alone, 1.5 million people got food, vouchers, or support.
  • Cash got creative. The 1.2 million in cash and vouchers took a lot of paths to get to people who need it. In Ecuador, the team is experimenting with cryptocurrency to make cash transfers safer for everyone. In Egypt, the team is working with the Egyptian Post Office to get cash to the right places. In Honduras, the team is focusing on survivors of GBV. CARE’s team and our partner Ihsan Relief and Development released a series of podcasts on doing cash programming for GBV.
  • People who usually get overlooked got support. In Pakistan, the team figured out how to get special heat wave kits to people who manual daily labor. That means they got support and were able to continue their jobs and earn and income safely, instead of losing the days of pay.

How did it happen?

  • Working with partners. Partners are a key part of how we work. CARE works with 300 partners on humanitarian programming, and 111 of them are Women’s Rights or Women-Led organizations. Yayasan Care Peduli (CARE in Indonesia) is coordinating with the Indonesian Red Cross. Rwanda coordinated cash transfers for volcano response through their local partners network, and so did Nepal for flood relief. Myanmar is working to strengthen capacity with their local partners.
  • Driving with data. CARE Jordan released their annual needs assessment (11 years into the Syria crisis), which looks at needs of both refugees and Jordanians. To take just one stat from the study, unemployment among Syrians has jumped from 50% in 2019 to 80% in 2021. The Rapid Gender Analysis on the conflict in Ukraine is one of 9 we’ve done so far this year—and there are more on the way. CARE Nigeria has won a research grant from the World Food Programme to better understand the context in Nigeria.
  • Advocate for change. CARE Ecuador wit working with local groups and governments to improve access to GBV services. CARE teams around the world are consistently pushing for more funding for COVID-19 vaccine delivery efforts
  • Get smart about technology. Peru is one of dozens of country teams that have experimented with new ways to reach people with digital programming. So is the Women Respond project. There are many more teams using technology creatively, for everything from feedback to cryptocurrency to training programs and job fairs online.
  • Listening to what people need. 43 countries have a standard protocol for getting community feedback, and 39 of those systems were designed with community participation and feedback. It might be Whatsapp, a free hotline, a suggestion box, a face to face survey—or all four—but we’re prioritizing ways to stay accountable to the people we serve.
  • Letting experts lead. Dr. Emmanuel Ojwang in South Sudan sits on the GAVI civil society mechanism for COVID-19 vaccines. CARE Turkey chairs the Legal Counsellors Group under UNHCR to work on Child Protection. CARE is one of the biggest humanitarian actors in Ecuador, and co-leads the health coordination cluster with UNICEF.