Cairo, Egypt is one of the largest urban refugee centres in the world. Over 255,000 refugees call Cairo home. Unlike refugee camps like Kakuma or Dadaab in Kenya, refugees in Cairo are not all congregated in one place, but live as they can throughout the city.

In the last few years, the Sudanese and South Sudanese refugees who were the bulk of Cairo’s refugee population have been joined by tens of thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the violence in their home.
Since 1987, Refuge Egypt, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Egypt based in All Saints’ Cathedral in Zamalek, Cairo has been working to support refugees in the city.

ACT member PWRDF has supported this work for over 20 years through two children’s clinics operated by Refuge Egypt. The Well Baby and Well Child clinics provide health care, health education and nutrition support to children aged 0-5 and their families.

Staff at the clinics focus on monitoring the growth of the children, as well as ensuring their vaccinations are up to date, and checking them for malnutrition and disease. When a family brings their child to the clinic, they receive a food basket with milk, rice, cooking oil, biscuits, cheese and peanut butter.

These food packages motivate the parents to bring their children in, and they also provide the opportunity for staff at the clinic to talk with the families about proper nutrition to help ensure their children’s growth is not stunted due to malnutrition.

One newborn baby came to the Well Baby Clinic when he was 29 days old. After weighing and measuring him, the staff determined he was underweight (under the 3rd percentile), and then referred him to the malnutrition clinic. At the clinic, his mother learned about the importance of breast feeding and of her own diet while she is lactating.

One month later, his weight had improved, and his mother was happy to see her baby growing and being more active.

PWRDF has just announced a grant of $39,352 to Refuge Egypt – an increase of $21,000 over our previous grant, in order to provide food baskets to the families of Syrian refugees who are flooding into the city along with the already existing African refugee population.

Since the war in Syria began, over 160,000 Syrians have fled to Cairo, and this huge influx of refugees has strained the capacity of Refuge Egypt’s clinics.

PWRDF’s additional grant will help to provide thousands of children and their families with food to help keep them healthy and strong.

Photo: ACT/Sean Hawkey

Latin America is the most unequal region in the world and this inequality affects half of the continent’s children. In order to help feed their families, many children begin working before they reach age 10. The International Labor Organization estimates that there are approximately 9 million children and youth exposed to forced labor in the region.

Some children and youth go out to work to escape drug use and violence at home, only to be exposed to the same on the streets, where they often end up living. These children are particularly vulnerable to sexual abuse, exploitation and other forms of violence. Despite the fact that violence affects some 6 million children it is an issue still largely ignored by the public and government officials, making its eradication all the more difficult.

CWS in the region

CWS works with local organizations to protect vulnerable children from all forms of violence and to expand opportunities to at-risk youth in some of the poorest and most violent communities of Haiti, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, Brazil and Uruguay. The five countries involved represent four of the major sub-regions and political and socio-cultural contexts of Latin America-Caribbean.

Our partner organizations have been chosen because of the quality of their programs and their commitment to the defence and promotion of children´s rights. Each has demonstrated its ability to leverage local resources and participation. Their services are holistic, address the root causes of problems, and are closely linked with local advocacy.

They exercise leadership and influence in their communities and their local networks and at the same time are open and generous about sharing their insights, contacts and methodologies, which is a key to the success of the exchanges and other regional initiatives CWS promotes.

Until 2012 these organizations were part of a CWS Regional Children’s Program. You can read the 2011 report here or visit this link to find out about its main achievements.

ACT member HEKS has been working in Albania since the beginning of the nineteen-nineties. By networking with strong partner organisations, including one of the four biggest NGOs in Albania, HEKS is succeeding in improving the lot of marginalised groups who are particularly adversely affected by the weak state and who are denied access to education, health care and earning opportunities.

One of the biggest challenges is the high level of migration, encompassing both internal movement to conurbations (Tirana, Durres, Fush Kruja) and migration abroad. Due to the adverse economic situation a third of the working population is forced to live abroad, often in poor conditions as illegal immigrants. Their absence opens the floodgates for a spate of social and economic problems. HEKS intervenes in strategic ways in an attempt to alleviate the welfare situation for those who stay behind and to improve the future prospects for migrants in Albania.

Whereas HEKS has concentrated on the urban centres in the past because of the high level of internal migration and the consequences this brings, it will increasingly move its focus to marginalised groups in rural areas in the coming years. The regional towns will also be included, however, particularly those in central and north Albania, as these are also adversely affected by the loss of skilled workers.

Aims, Points of Focus, Initiatives:

Over the next four years (2009-2012) HEKS would like to improve the social and economic conditions of marginalised sections of the population in Albania, such as the Roma community, migrants and women, who suffer under the patriarchal regime, but also of children and young people from socially disadvantaged families, especially in the regional towns and in rural areas. HEKS also intends to intensify its collaboration with church groups which promote tolerance.

The following aims are being pursued with the aid programme:

To encourage the rural population but also some marginalised urban groups by developing access to education, health and creating earning opportunities
To further civil society and the peaceful co-existence of the different people groups
To support the sustainable development of the partner institutions
To support the church partners (Interchurch Cooperation mandate)

HEKS is working in the following areas:

Facilitating access to loans and funds, and promoting vocational integration, education and state health care
Developing job opportunities, community centres and welfare services for marginalised groups and the rural population
Social and professional training with the focus on youth, women and Roma
Strengthening the local partner institutions, their capacities and fundraising strategies
Boosting the capacities of the Orthodox Church of Albania, its work and of a Protestant church still to be selected
Total programme cost 2015: CHF 65 000.

As a result of the Crimean crisis and the armed conflict in Eastern Ukraine the humanitarian situation arising from this conflict has lately deteriorated dramatically.

There are alarming reports from conflict-affected areas that thousands of people are highly vulnerable and in need of assistance. Along with financial problems, many lack the ability to buy essential food and medicines and are living in frigid winter conditions.

The rise in numbers of refugees and internal displaced persons (IDPs) in the past month coincides with a recent deterioration of the situation worsening law and order, fear of abductions, human rights violations and the disruption of state services.

Winter is making life difficult

Most IDPs are currently accommodated by relatives or in temporary shelters: schools, recreation and cultural centres that are not suitable for habitation, especially in winter.

Local authorities are making efforts to winterize these premises, after it became clear that IDPs would not be able to return to their homes before winter.

Currently, they receive assistance from government sources, local authorities, local and international non-governmental organization, in particular – food, water, medical supplies and clothing, but this is not enough.

Host families are over-stretched

However, families and friends hosting refugees in Russia and Ukraine cannot be expected to keep providing the necessary assistance for a longer period. Resources are limited. The living standard of refugees/IDPs-receiving families and communities has dropped significantly.

Both in Ukraine and in Russia an economic crisis is developing. Production declines, jobs are cut, inflation is rising. In 2014 the local currency was devalued significantly.

ACT Alliance has issued an appeal for emergency assistance to refugees from Eastern Ukraine in Russia & Ukraine. The appeal target is US$ 332,766. ACT Alliance members Russian Orthodox Church and Hungarian Interchurch Aid are currently working to assist IDPs in seven regions of Ukraine.

Primarily large families with three or more children are receiving food, hygienic and baby packages.

Also Ebola-survivors need a lot of support in Sierra Leone. ACT Alliance members are on the ground building awareness at community level, giving educational and psychological support to traumatized communities and for example teaching how to wash hands with soap, water and Chlorine.

ACT Alliance member Finn Church Aid (FCA) this month signed an official agreement with the Eritrean National Commission for Higher Education in Asmara, Eritrea,to help support a revitalisation of teacher education in Eritrea.

Eritrea faces a critical shortage of trained teachers and training institutions are in need of radical reform, and in recognition of Finland’s international reputation for quality education, the Eritrean government has entered into a three-year programme (January 2015 – December 2017) with FCA.

Finn Church Aid will work side-by-side with Eritrean educators to strengthen teacher education programmes in all training institutions in Eritrea.

“The new agreement represents a welcome opportunity to renew partnership with Eritrea,” said Antti Pentikäinen, Executive Director of FCA. “Strengthening the teacher education is a great entry point to develop the education system as a whole.”

FCA will also support the planning and development of the first Innovation Centre in Eritrea. This new initiative will bring together innovation experts from Finland, Eritrea and East Africa.

The vision of the Innovation Centre is to develop new and local solutions to address pressing challenges in Eritrea, such as energy provision, better learning opportunities, education for marginalized populations in hard-to-reach areas, job creation, and so on.

The initial budget for the programme is 1.5 million euros for the next three years. The work is financed by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland.

Floods in Malawi in January 2015 have killed nearly 200 people and displaced over 200,000. ACT is on the ground helping to save lives by providing much needed food for communities in hard to reach areas.

Senior staff of ACT Alliance member organisations meeting in Iceland under the auspices of Icelandic Church Aid. Photo: Sean Hawkey/ACT

The beginning

Icelandic Church Aid (ICA) was founded in 1969 by the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, the National Church. The idea was born earlier that year, when the Church participated in a very successful nationwide fund-raising march against hunger for the starving population of war-torn Biafra in Africa. It was certainly not the first contribution the Church had made abroad for people in need, but this particular fund raising sparked ideas of establishing organized relief work on the pattern of that in our neighbouring countries. So it was in 1969 that the Convocation passed the motion that 1% of the annual income of all the clergy should go to relief work and the foundation of Icelandic Church Aid was established a few months later. From that time on ICA has participated in relief work in many parts of the world.

The organization
ICA is an independent foundation within the National Church of Iceland, governed by a council of 13 representatives from different regions of the country. Each Parish can also appoint its representative, which many have done and five are selected by the Church Council. The council meets twice a year. The council of representatives selects a three member board of directors and three proxies, to take responsibility for the daily running of the institution. A director is employed by the board of directors for a four year period to run the institution with additional staff.

The projects
The role of ICA is to initiate and coordinate relief work carried out in the name of the Icelandic Church. Its broad aim is to assist people in need at home and abroad, regardless of its cause and regardless of nationality, race, religion or political ideas. The greatest need and likelyhood of the project input to make a difference, are key issues. ICA has working guidelines to select projects. ICA also runs substantial aid to people living in Iceland.

A worldwide net
Our relief work is organized and carried out in close cooperation with local people and institutions. ICA is a member of experienced and professional international organizations; The Lutheran World Federation and The World Council of Churches who, together, form the ACT Alliance a network coordinating emergency relief and development. ICA also collaborates with its counterparts in the other Nordic countries, which, being larger institutions with greater resources usually have their own people stationed in the stricken areas, something ICA unfortunately lacks the means and manpower to do. Last but not least, we have close ties with individuals and institutions in the developing countries, people with first hand knowledge of conditions. They keep us informed about the work in progress with regular reports and budget analyses in between regular monitoring visits to project areas.

Development Cooperation
These are long-term projects aimed at improving standards of living in particular areas. We focus on providing water and as a consequence food can be irrigated and cultivated with more certainty than rain fed crops. Clean water improves health and allows girls the time to go to school instead of spending their days fetching water. Water also allows for animal husbandry which is a part of some of our projects. ICA emphasizes gender equality and capacity building and prioritizes women, orphans and the elderly.

We always encourage the recipients to take an active part in carrying out the projects. Their participation and feeling of ownership is the key to lasting changes and sustainability. We take all possible care to ensure that our projects harmonize with the local environment, its people´s customs, culture and tradition though no custom or tradition will be valued higher than human rights as agreed by the United Nations.

Domestic Aid
ICA has since its foundation assisted people in Iceland who are in need. There is an application process where each applicant has to produce documents to show their income and expenditure. Should the difference be lower than dictated by the authorities to be a minimum amount to support a family, the applicant will receive assistance in the form of a gift card in food stores, second hand clothing, drug and medical costs and more. There is also assistance available to youth, who are financially not able to support themselves during secondary studies. ICA´s assistance aims at helping them graduate and be able to enter University level with state loans or graduate with certificates that make them more competitive on the job market. All applicants are interviewed by our social workers to identify their specific needs. We offer various councelling, free of charge, for example financial councelling, family and individual counselling and life coaching.

Where does the money come from ?
ICA depends almost entirely on public contributions for its income. We do have regular supporters, who pay a certain amount every year, and so do the clergy and many of the parishes. Another means of income is the sale of outdoor candles, our so called “lights for peace”, By far the greatest sources of income, however, are organized fundraising campaigns among the public, the largest being at Christmas. All fundraising income and gifts are spent on projects while administration and publications are financed by other means, like financial revenue, candle sales and parish contributions.

See more about ACT member Icelandic Church Aid.

Thanks to the ACT Alliance, which through its members is present in 140 countries, Church of Sweden can rapidly provide humanitarian aid in times of crisis.

Church of Sweden is part of the ACT Alliance, a global alliance of churches and church-related organisations for disaster relief, development and advocacy.

Church of Sweden operates from a community-based psychosocial approach, which means that our humanitarian relief efforts, in addition to meeting physical needs, also aim to meet the social and psychological needs that arise when disaster strikes.​

This framework looks to people’s own resilience and their own capacities to manage the situation and to recover.

The goal is to restore hope, dignity, mental and social well-being and a sense of normality to people affected by a disaster.

Besides financial aid, Church of Sweden provides capacity-building staff and thematic support, and in particular providing an integrated psychosocial support framework and specific psychosocial initiatives. For this purpose, Church of Sweden maintains a staff roster of psychosocial specialists, which is at the disposal of the ACT Alliance.

More information on the international work of ACT member the Church of Sweden here.