Formation | 27 February 2009 [1] |
---|---|
Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
General Secretary | Rudelmar Bueno de Faria |
Website | actalliance |
ACT Alliance is a global alliance of more than 145 churches and related organisations [2] from over 120 countries created to provide humanitarian aid for poor and marginalized people. 76% of its member organisations are rooted on the global south, 22% in the global north and 2% have a global presence. [3]
Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, a national citizen from Brazil, is currently the General Secretary and Birgitte Qvist-Sørensen, General Secretary of DanChurchAid, is the current moderator of the organisation. [4]
ACT Alliance was formed in 2010, merging two organisations: ACT International formed in 1995 to work on delivering humanitarian aid and ACT Development formed in 2007, towards a more coordinated approach to humanitarian assistance and development cooperation. [5] ACT Alliance was formed with a starting membership of 130 organisations. [6] [7] [8] The membership of the alliance is defined by a relation to the World Council of Churches and the Lutheran World Federation combined with a mandate to work on humanitarian assistance and/or development issues. [9]
ACT Alliance provides humanitarian assistance when emergencies occur across the world and in 2015 responded to 43 emergencies worldwide. [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15] The alliance engages in advocacy in a number of thematic areas including the post-2015 process which in September 2015 generated the Sustainable Development Goals, [16] [17] issues of finance for development and development effectiveness, private sector accountability, [18] migration, [19] [20] gender justice [21] and climate justice. [22] [23] [24] [25] In countries with more than one ACT Alliance member organisation, members are encouraged to collaborate as national, and in some cases, regional, Forums. In 2016 ACT Alliance comprised 49 National Forums and 10 Regional Forums across the world. [26] The third General Assembly of the ACT Alliance affirmed its New Global Strategy for the period 2019–2026. The main programmatic areas include: Gender Justice, Climate Justice, Peace and Human Security, Migration and Displacement, and Humanitarian Response and Disaster Risk Reduction.
ACT Alliance has a seat on the boards of the Sphere Project [27] and the International Council for Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), [28] and holds the position of vice-chair as a Principal of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR). [29] In his capacity as representing SCHR, ACT Alliance General Secretary Rudelmar Bueno de Faria is a Standing Invitee of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). [30] ACT Alliance is also a member of the CHS Alliance, with the ACT Alliance secretariat having achieved HAP certification in 2013. In 2017 ACT Alliance Secretariat was certified against CHS standards. [31] [32]
CARE is a major international humanitarian agency delivering emergency relief and long-term international development projects. Founded in 1945, CARE is nonsectarian, impartial, and non-governmental. It is one of the largest and oldest humanitarian aid organizations focused on fighting global poverty. In 2019, CARE reported working in 104 countries, supporting 1,349 poverty-fighting projects and humanitarian aid projects, and reaching over 92.3 million people directly and 433.3 million people indirectly.
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity.
The Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, commonly known as CAFOD, is an international development and relief charity. It is the official aid agency of the Catholic Church in England and Wales.
A humanitarian crisis is defined as a singular event or a series of events that are threatening in terms of health, safety or well-being of a community or large group of people. It may be an internal or external conflict and usually occurs throughout a large land area. Local, national and international responses are necessary in such events.
Islamic Relief Worldwide is a faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency which is working to support and empower the world's most vulnerable people.
Norwegian Church Aid is a Norwegian humanitarian and ecumenical organisation with headquarters in Oslo. It was traditionally affiliated with the state Church of Norway, but is now independent. Norwegian Church Aid works together with people and organisations across the world to eradicate poverty and injustice.
Medair is an international non-governmental organisation (INGO) whose purpose is to relieve human suffering in some of the world's most remote and devastated places. Medair aims to assist people affected by natural disasters and conflict to recover with dignity through the delivery of quality humanitarian aid.
The Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR) is an alliance made up of chief executive officers representing nine humanitarian networks or agencies.
There are a number of meanings for the term humanitarian. Here, humanitarian pertains to the practice of saving lives and alleviating suffering. It is usually related to emergency response whether in the case of a natural disaster or a man-made disaster such as war or other armed conflict. Humanitarian principles govern the way humanitarian response is carried out.
DARA is an independent, international organization based in Madrid, Spain. DARA was established in 2003 by Silvia Hidalgo to assess the impact of humanitarian aid and to make specific recommendations for changes in policies and practices. DARA has carried out evaluations in more than 60 crises countries for a variety of organizations including United Nations agencies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the European Commission, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
Sphere is a global movement started in 1997 aiming to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance. The Sphere standards are the most commonly used and most widely known set of core humanitarian standards. Sphere's flagship publication is the Sphere Handbook.
Humanitarian Accountability Partnership International, established in 2003, was the humanitarian sector's first international self-regulatory body. A multi-agency initiative working to improve the accountability of humanitarian action to people affected by disasters and other crises, HAP members ranged from organisations with a mandate for emergency relief and development activities to institutional donors. The organisation aimed to strengthen accountability towards those affected by crisis situations and to facilitate improved performance within the humanitarian sector. The ultimate goal of the organisation was to uphold the rights and the dignity of crisis-affected populations across the world.
The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) is an inter-agency forum of United Nations and non-UN humanitarian partners founded in 1991 to strengthen humanitarian assistance. The overall objective of the IASC is to improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance to affected populations. The Committee was established following UN General Assembly Resolution 46/182 and resolution 48/57 confirmed that it should be the primary method for inter-agency coordination. The committee is chaired by the Emergency Relief Coordinator.
People In Aid was an international, not-for-profit membership organisation with offices in the UK, Australia and East Africa. People In Aid no longer exists following its merger with HAP International on 9 June 2015 to form the CHS Alliance.
Reverend Andrew Morley is a British non-profit executive, who currently holds a number of humanitarian focused roles. He is chair of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response (SCHR), and within the United Nations framework he is a member of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). He also serves as President & CEO of World Vision International. Morley is an ordained minister and vicar, after being personally called to ordination by Justin Welby.
Sir Mark Andrew Lowcock is a British economist and accountant who served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator between 2017 and 2021. Prior to his appointment by United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on 12 May 2017, Lowcock was the Permanent Secretary of the Department for International Development (DFID) from June 2011 to September 2017. He is currently a visiting professor in practice at the Department of International Development at the London School of Economics and Distinguished Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Development in Washington, DC. He is also a Trustee/Director and vice-chair of The Howard Partnership Trust, a multi-academy trust of schools in Surrey.
The Logistics Cluster is a coordination mechanism established by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), activated to ensure an efficient and effective emergency response.
The Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability (CHS) sets out nine commitments for humanitarian and development actors to measure and improve the quality and effectiveness of their assistance. The CHS places communities and people affected by crisis at the centre of humanitarian action. Humanitarian organisations may use it as a voluntary code with which to align their own internal procedures. It can also be used as a basis for verification of performance.
The Core Humanitarian Standard Alliance, known as the CHS Alliance, is a network of non-governmental organizations working in humanitarian aid.
Humanitarian Networks and Partnerships Weeks (HNPW) is an annual event organized the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.