ACT Alliance demonstrates its value as the leading faith-based alliance in humanitarian response by working with faith and humanitarian actors at the global, regional, national, and community levels. ACT harnesses the combined strength of its members in delivering humanitarian response at scale and with considerable reach through joint programming approaches.
We commit to an effective ecumenical response that saves lives and maintains dignity, irrespective of race, gender, belief, nationality, ethnicity, or political persuasion. Humanitarian needs define our priorities and the humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence guide our actions. We remain committed to strengthening the resilience of affected communities and to being accountable to people and communities affected by a crisis. The ACT Alliance Secretariat is certified against the Core Humanitarian Standard on Quality and Accountability and is committed to the Sphere Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response.
Emergency Steering Committee successfully established, activated more than 30 times since inception with over US$67 million mobilised since 2022 for ACT’s Humanitarian Appeals.
ACT Emergency Appeal coverage (the total amount of funds generated versus budget) has 02 risen from 28% to 46% from 2018 to 2023.
Systematic approach to appeal management – inception meetings, coordination roundtable
discussions, enhanced monitoring, results frameworks and closing meetings all introduced 03 with a focus on Quality & Accountability.
Extensive consultation with members and forums on locally led response within ACT Alliance 04 has led to a Pledge of Commitments which is being launched at the General Assembly 2024.
Through its national, regional and sub-regional forums ACT Alliance provides humanitarian and emergency preparedness support to local communities helping them during a crisis and to become more resilient.
READ MORE
The Rapid Response Fund is an innovative funding mechanism designed to put local communities at the centre of decision-making and is recognised as one of few such funding mechanisms across the sector.
The RRF provides valuable opportunities to demonstrate the niche of faith actors in humanitarian response as we work closely with local ACT members and their community networks. On average, the RRF funds 20 emergencies annually and responses are implemented within six months.
The primary mechanism for large scale or global emergencies, including protracted crises: ACT Alliance raises an appeal to its membership with both requesting and funding members co-owning the process. Appeals are open for funding during their entire project period and accessible to both national and international ACT Alliance members.
Consortia represent a new funding mechanism for ACT Alliance. As part of Emergency Preparedness planning, consortiums are established before a disaster strikes and consortium members share a vision and strategic focus. Members self-organise and develop their own financial management models and programme strategies supported by the EPRP process and tools.
Emergency preparedness and response planning is integral to the strengthening of ACT Alliance’s capacity to respond effectively in emergencies through joint programming.
ACT national and regional forums develop emergency preparedness and response plans (EPRPs), working collaboratively to understand potential disaster risks and plan how to respond to emergencies quickly and effectively. Forum EPRPs are accessible by members through an online platform, which can be viewed by other members who may be interested to support them. ACT Forums use specific ACT guidelines and tools to support the process of developing an EPRP which is reviewed regularly.
As part of the holistic and integrated approach to humanitarian response, development and advocacy, ACT’s emergency preparedness and humanitarian response is supported by stronger humanitarian coordination and advocacy with stakeholders and duty bearers.
In the current strategic period our advocacy focuses on three banner commitments to the Grand Bargain at the World Humanitarian Summit where ACT has made significant investments and where member engagement is quite strong: the localisation agenda and the primary role of national/local members and local faith actors; demonstrating the important role of faith actors in humanitarian response; and strengthening of cash-based programming across the humanitarian sector.
Appeal Target: US$ 840,396. Relatively late pledges to the Appeal delayed the implementation for one of the ACT members, EELCO. Additionally, in the meantime newly identified gaps in EELCO’s areas of intervention have motivated some change of activities. As a result, EELCO will revise its part of the Appeal, and request for an extension, while FCA, NCA and ECC remains unchanged (and their implementation period is now over). This first revision only affects EELCO part of the Appeal. The ACT DRC Forum members providing emergency assistance to Burundian refugees and host communities affected by the Burundi crisis in DRC are Finn Church Aid (FCA), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA), Eglise du Christ au Congo National Office (ECC) and Evangelical Lutheran Church of Congo (EELCO). (Appeals) COD151Rev1_Bur-Ref_DRC
Appeal Target: US$ 2,015,704. The response of the ACT Palestine Forum members focuses on improving access to health and medical care services, mental health and psycho-social support, improving the nutrition status of malnourished and underweight children, supporting young people with vocational skills training, cash for work, protection, shelter, food security among others. This full appeal replaces the preliminary appeal issued on 20 May 2015, now removed from this site. Appeals_PSE151_OPT_PostWar
Appeal Target: US$ 4,131,680. The following ACT Forum Members participating in the Appeal are operational in the flood stricken areas and well equipped to respond: Christian Aid (CA), Church World Service (CWS), DanChurchAid (DCA), Diakonia – Sweden, ICCO, Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA). Priority needs are food, Non-Food Items, WASH, Early Recovery and Livelihoods, Early Recovery and Livelihood Restoration, Education, and Emergency Preparedness. Appeals_MMR151_Myanmar_Flood_Response
Rapid Response Funds Payment for US$ 60,000. The overall goal of the response is to contribute to assisting the newly arrivals of Iraqi refugees in Jordan through lifesaving interventions:
Rapid Response Funds Payment for US$ 59,728. The goal of the proposed emergency response is to reduce the suffering of the most vulnerable flood affected families in the target area, helping them get back on their feet by providing for the most basic needs of food, non-food items and temporary shelter materials. Rapid Response Funds - RRF06-2015_Lao-PDR_Flood_Response
6 August 2015 - A massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter approximately 80 km north‐west of the ancient Nepali capital city of Kathmandu struck central Nepal at 11:41 AM on 25 April 2015. This is the most powerful earthquake to hit the region since the Bihar earthquake of 1934, and its impact has been devastating in terms of loss of life and destruction of infrastructure. As of the 20 May, the confirmed death toll in Nepal has reached 8,600. On top of this tragic loss of life, there has been massive damage to housing and other socio-economic infrastructure. In addition to this first crisis, a second 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck Nepal on 12 May, with the epicenter on the border between Sindhupalchowk and Dolakha Districts, 76 km northeast of Kathmandu, exacerbating damage from the earlier quake, and expanding the geographical area of death and destruction.
The appeal is being revised to include the programme of ACT Nepal Forum member ICCO Cooperation, whose primary objective is to recover and improve the income generation of 10004 households mostly affected. This revised appeal replaces the appeal issued on 2 June 2015, now removed from our web site.
(Appeals and rapid response funds RRFs)
30 June 2015 - A new wave of attacks by the suspected Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) and Mai Mai hit the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. It forced thousands of Congolese to reportedly flee from possible abduction, forced recruitment and rape. The capacity to ferry the refugees to various settlements in the country such as Kyakka, Nakivale, Oruchinga, Kyangwali and Rwamwanja had to be boosted. Over 56.3% of these new refugees are women and children under 18 years.
Since April 2015, Burundians have been fleeing their country following the announcement that President Pierre Nkurunziza, is seeking a 3rd presidential term. Mass protests have followed, during which at least 30 civilians have perished1. There was a subsequent failed coup which has led to a deterioration in safety and security in Burundi, including displacement towards surrounding countries at a high rate. The largest influx of refugees are arriving in Tanzania. UNHCR reports that more than 50,000 Burundian refugees are present in western Tanzania, and nearly all of them are currently in Nyarugusu Refugee Camp2, with more arriving. Nyarugusu is an old refugee camp for Congolese refugees, and with the arrival of the new Burundian refugees, the camp is congested, the living conditions have become extremely dire and tensions arise.
15 June 2015 - The Colombian north‐east department of Arauca has experienced non‐stop heavy rains from May 22, creating emergency situations due to the floods caused by overflown rivers with peaks on 25th May and 3rd of June, requiring evacuation of affected communities. Both main and local roads were affected. Individual houses and public spaces were flooded. Municipal water distributing structures were affected, as well as household and community wells in rural communities. Most of the rural population depends on small‐scale farming (cocoa, plantain and rice crops) and livestock farming for subsistence, many of these livelihoods have been lost.
Preliminary appeal_06_2015_Flood in Arouca, Colombia_COL15112 June 2015 - As a result of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak in 2014, the Liberian Government made an appeal to international governments and national and international organisations to help combat this life‐threatening disease. The response from international organisations was very positive and Liberia received a lot of support in combating the virus. The EVD took away many innocent lives and left people psychologically traumatised and stigmatised.
Head of Humanitarian Affairs
Global
niall.orourke@actalliance.org
Geneva, Switzerland
Regional Humanitarian Officer
Africa
Caroline.Njogu@actalliance.org
Nairobi, Kenya
Humanitarian Operations Manager
Global
Cyra.Bullecer@actalliance.org
Bangkok, Thailand
Humanitarian Programme Advisor
MENA
Amman, Jordan
Humanitarian Programme Officer
Latin America and the Caribbean
Bogota, Colombia
Finance Coordinator
Global
marjorie.schmidt@actalliance.org
Geneva, Switzerland
