In October, only a few months after the flooding in the north of India, Cyclone Phailin hit the eastern Indian states of Orissa and Andrha Pradesh, leaving 1 million people homeless.

The livelihoods of up to 12 million were affected through loss of crops and destroyed or damaged businesses.

ACT members deployed a large and well-prepared response with food, community kitchens, drinkable water and essential non-food items. And following the immediate relief work, efforts turned to early recovery, including provision of shelter and agricultural rehabilitation.

Over the years, our members in the country had placed significant importance on disaster-preparedness work. This included the building of 24 cyclone shelters in Orissa, all of which were fully occupied during the cyclone.

While the last big cyclone to hit the region, in 1999, saw 10,000 lives lost, Cyclone Phailin saw a much-reduced death toll of 27. This is testament to the huge impact that disaster-preparedness work – coupled with an unprecedented evacuation of 900,000 people from high-risk areas – can have in saving lives.

In many other ways, however, Phailin was just as damaging as its predecessor. An ACT member humanitarian team reported that at least 230,000 homes had been destroyed. Roughly 300,000 hectares of standing crops were affected, wiping out the harvests of subsistence farmers and causing extreme hardship for large numbers of people.

Cyclones form by taking energy from warm tropical oceans with temperatures over 26.5˚C. The recorded temperature in the Bay of Bengal, where Cyclone Phailin developed, was 28-29˚C, and monitoring of sea-surface temperature shows an ongoing trend of warming.

While no individual extreme weather event can be attributed to global warming, the frequency of extreme weather events is increasing and the area around the Bay of Bengal is particularly vulnerable, both in India and Bangladesh.

Typhoon Haiyan, considered the world’s deadliest typhoon and one of the most powerful to ever make landfall, tore through the Philippines on the morning of 8 November 2013 with winds of up to 275km an hour.

ACT established a coordination centre in Manila, and initiated a massive combined response that has topped US$10m. Haiyan cut a devastating path across nine provinces, leaving behind millions of tons of debris. More than 16 million people were affected and 4 million displaced. More than half a million houses were destroyed and another 590,000 houses were badly damaged. And the typhoon’s ferocity left schools, clinics and businesses unable to operate. At least 6,245 people were killed by the typhoon, 28,000 were injured and 1,000 people were still missing at the end of 2013. The United Nations humanitarian coordinator launched a Flash Appeal.

ACT registered nine projects, all of which were approved and included in the appeal. The preparedness of the ACT Forum in the Philippines, and its commitment to effective and immediate response, enabled prompt action. To assist the humanitarian effort, a three-person team was deployed to the Philippines from the ACT Rapid Support Team roster.

An ACT Coordination Centre was set up on the premises of an ACT member in Manila. Humanitarian coordinators worked with members already on the ground to start immediate evaluations in the hardest-hit areas of Tacloban and Leyte.

A psychosocial expert began group work with local communities, developing materials in local languages. The Rapid Support Team was complemented by a professional communicator from the ACT secretariat, who documented the devastation and helped develop the communication resources needed for the fundraising campaigns of ACT members across the world.

Recovery is long-term and will depend on restoring the livelihoods of the 5.9 million people estimated to have lost them. Both crops and produce, and the ability to produce them, were wiped out.

At village level, some 30,000 fishermen lost their boats and nets, causing hardship for the coastal communities, who were some of the hardest hit. Rebuilding their livelihoods depends on building new boats, which is a relatively quick process. Many other recovery processes will take longer. Millions of coconut trees were blown down. It takes five to seven years for new coconut trees to bear fruit, so the many families and communities that rely on coconut farming as a substantial part of their livelihoods now need alternative incomes for up to seven years.

It is expected that farmers of crops such as rice and sugar, which can be harvested more quickly, will recover faster. However, the infrastructure to process these crops has also been damaged and in some cases destroyed.

Estimates for the total cost of reconstruction exceed US$5bn, and the complexity of the reconstruction is said to be unparalleled. From the onset of the typhoon, our members in the Philippines gave life-saving support – food and shelter, and water and sanitation – to the most vulnerable and resource-poor people and began planning effective interventions for restoring livelihoods. Psychosocial support was also recognised as crucial for the recovery of communities, and our members have worked on providing it in some of the most traumatised areas.

ACT is active in 17 provinces and 73 municipalities, reaching 208,600 people and an additional 4,433 households. As recovery and rebuilding moves along, everyone is aware that risks from extreme weather are increasing. “We know that Haiyan won’t be the last typhoon,” said Sylwyn Sheen Alba, who is working on the ACT response. “We hadn’t finished recovering from Typhoon Bopha when Haiyan hit. We need to understand this is a pattern and prepare ourselves.”

A large delegation of ACT organisations took part in the UN climate talks in Warsaw where Yeb Saño, chief climate negotiator for the Philippines, made an impassioned speech directly after the typhoon.

Linking extreme climate events such as Haiyan to climate change, he committed to standing with victims of Haiyan, and put pressure on negotiators to “stop the climate madness” by voluntarily fasting. Thousands of people stood in solidarity with Yeb Saño by fasting, including many staff and supporters of ACT Alliance organisations.

Existing chronic food insecurity in Mali was compounded by three years of low rainfall, reducing the availability of food and increasing food prices beyond the reach of the poor. Mali is on the frontline of climate-related emergencies today.

The UN Human Development Index ranks the country at 182 out of 187 countries. In 2013, environmental challenges were aggravated by armed conflict, as rebels and militant Islamists took over the north of the country and imposed a brutal form of Sharia law.

French troops, the African Union and UN peacekeeping forces took back control of the territory, but only after months of violence. The dual destabilising effects of extreme weather and conflict resulted in many people having to leave their homes in search of food and safety. In their search for survival they created new competition for, and conflict over, already scarce resources.

During 2013, the number of internally displaced people rose to more than 350,000, and the number of Malian refugees moving into Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Algeria rose to more than 180,000.

ACT response

Our members came together to help the displaced people in camps in the south of Mali, those in and around the capital Bamako, and the people who were slowly returning to the north as the violence subsided. We supported people with food, education, health, essential non-food items such as blankets, hygiene kits and mosquito nets, water and sanitation and psychosocial work.

Philippe Bassinga, an ACT member manager for the Sahel crisis, described how ACT had helped people returning to the country: “Returning refugees and displaced persons can access food. It’s on the market,” he said.

“But they don’t have money to buy what’s on the market. So we’ve had to combine our response to the conflict with our response to food insecurity in the Sahel. That means helping people better manage their assets, such as food and livestock, but also providing cash through direct transfer programmes and cash-for-work opportunities.”

The Civil Society Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE) has assessed international policies such as the Millennium Development Goals and concluded that they cannot be met with economic growth as the driver of development.

Instead, it promotes political leadership and commitment to sustainable approaches. However, aid budgets are in decline, and in many parts of the world the voices of civil society are being silenced.

To examine these issues, ACT organised the first Global Consultation of the Faith-Based Development Organisations on Participation in the CPDE. The meeting in Geneva, attended by 20 representatives of global faithbased organisations (FBOs), was a space for reflection on how to strengthen joint work and for prioritising actions.

It was agreed to promote involvement of FBOs in the national CPDE platforms. Over time, the group hopes to include an increasingly broad spectrum of faiths.

The civil war in Syria has been raging for three years, causing a severe humanitarian crisis.

According to the UN, more than 4 million people have been displaced within the country and more than 2 million refugees have found their way to Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey and countries further afield.

The death toll rose by 20,000 in just the three months from June to September 2013. ACT Alliance members have been providing humanitarian support from the onset of the crisis.

An ACT appeal in 2013 raised US$7.2m, and with it five of our members (working on health, food and essential non-food items, shelter, education and psychosocial work) came together as the ACT Jordan/ Syria/Lebanon Forum to coordinate the humanitarian response. They have been assisting conflict-affected families inside Syria, as well as refugees and host communities in Lebanon and Jordan.

Around 500,000 people in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey were beneficiaries of the 12-month appeal, and ACT continues to respond with humanitarian assistance.

The magnitude and complexity of the crisis, and the scale of the ACT humanitarian response, required an external evaluation of the appeal, which was carried out in late 2013. The evaluation commended the work members have done to provide an essential lifeline to the people affected by the conflict.

ACT continued to work in the Za’atari refugee camp, just south of the Syrian border in Jordan, where the population expanded from 60,000 in January to 120,000 in July. Our members helped prepare refugees for the winter through rehabilitation of dwellings and heating, and the distribution of winter clothes. Syrians had arrived unprepared for the harsh 2013 winter, which brought historic snowfall, reportedly the heaviest for 140 years.

Other programmes have included education, livelihoods, public health and shelter. Because so many refugees have emerged from deeply traumatic experiences and face conditions that tend to lead to conflict, our members have also put in place community-based psychosocial support, peace-building and conflict-mitigation programmes.

2013 saw many calls from foreign governments for military intervention. We called for a peaceful solution, urging all parties to adhere to international humanitarian law, protect civilians and to negotiate an end to the conflict.

When Aline was first diagnosed with HIV, she was ashamed and frightened. Now she provides support and advice to others and takes part in a radio show for people living with HIV that encourages people to talk openly about the virus.

Radio Ivyizigiro means Radio Hope – and hope is exactly what it provided for Aline when she was first diagnosed with HIV.

‘I was feeling weak but the programme gave me lots of information, which increased my knowledge and made me stronger,’ said the mother of three.

‘I heard that I was not the only one to have it; it was important to have that testimony. When you listen a lot, you lose your worries.’

Banishing stigma

Radio Ivyizigiro is run by ACT member Christian Aid’s partner, the World Outreach Initiative (WOI).

It broacasts HIV information, including advice on how to care for people with the condition, as well as information about counselling and advocacy programmes.

The radio station has the fourth highest listener figures in Burundi, reaching between 5 million and 7 million people.

‘Before the programme there was lots of stigma,’ Aline recalls. ‘People would point their finger but that has been reduced.

‘Now we have found a voice and we can talk openly. People call in live and we reply with advice.

‘I think this programme is very good – it helps HIV-positive people to understand that hiding is not the solution and that it can be normal to live with HIV.’

Support for HIV-positive people

WOI is part of the HUMURA Consortium, which brings together four religious partners working on HIV.

They implement health and HIV programmes, and conduct advocacy and lobbying for the rights of HIV positive people.

WOI also organises HIV tests and provides support for HIV-positive people, such as helping them set up small businesses.

In addition, WOI runs clinics and health centres supplying basic medicines and lab materials not provided by the Government of Burundi.

They also organise debates in schools and places frequented by young people.

The power of radio

‘The impact of speaking on the radio is very strong,’ explains Patrick Dushime of WOI. ‘Someone many kilometres away from Bujumbura, who can’t talk about it in church or take part in a meeting, can still hear.

‘People can listen in a secret way if they need to. Almost everyone has radios or phones, even the very poor.’

When they reported on a shortage of lab materials needed for HIV testing, the government put in place a commission to oversee supplies and there are now fewer shortages.

On another occasion, a Pentecostal leader featured on the programme said AIDS was a punishment. ‘But he’s now changed his mind, to the extent that he takes part in our counselling programmes,’ says Dushime.

For Aline, the key to overcoming stigma and spreading a message of hope is to keep talking: ‘There is a Burundian proverb that says, “If you want to cure an illness, you have to talk about it.”

‘If one day there is a cure, we will be the first to have it because our situation is known.’

Torrential rains swept eastern Romania in mid-September, wreaking devastation in towns and rural areas of the Moldova province.

Thousands of villagers fled as floodwaters rose and spread. Housing, bridges, roads and other infrastructure were destroyed. Farmers lost standing crops, farm buildings and livestock, and many had their soil washed away, incurring debts for the agriculturally dependent population in the region.

ACT response

ACT dispersed US$49,917 from its Rapid Response Fund to assist with the emergency relief work carried out in the immediate aftermath of the floods.

This meant our member in the country was able to respond quickly and effectively, distributing food parcels containing rations for a month to 400 families, as well as hygiene kits and clean drinking water.

Many families had lost winter clothes in the floods. As the cold weather closed in, our member provided those worst affected with 700 packs of winter clothing

Typhoons and unusually heavy rains caused severe flooding in Cambodia for the second year in a row. The Mekong and other major rivers broke their banks, ruining standing crops and washing away people’s houses and belongings. More than 1.7 million people were affected.

One hundred and thirty four people lost their lives, 119,000 were displaced and 244,000 hectares of rice crop were submerged. Financial losses were estimated at US$800m.

The poor were hit hardest. Small-scale subsistence farmers lost their rice harvest – their food supply for the next year. Agricultural day labourers had trouble finding work in the flooded areas.

And rice prices rose, causing extra hardship in the poorest households, who were already spending most of their income on food.

The coming together of ACT members in this emergency provided strength in numbers and a coordinated response. Part of the project involved distributing unconditional cash grants to villagers, equivalent to US$20 each, as well as detergent, water-purification tablets and plastic water-containers.

ACT focused on early recovery and on advocacy, aimed at ensuring the government fulfilled its responsibility to its people. We also supported communities to adapt and to take part in integrated climate-change planning.

Kristen Rasmussen, field director of an ACT member in Cambodia, related the flooding to climate change: “Cambodians are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, such as flooding. Eighty per cent of the population relies on subsistence crops in rural areas. The overwhelming majority of farmers – about 70 per cent – can only harvest one rice crop per year, and that leaves them extremely vulnerable.”

There is broad recognition that climate-change-related hazards must move up the political agenda, and that lack of finance is a barrier to adapting to climate change.

“There hasn’t been nearly enough progress in finance,” said Nop Polin, a member of the ACT delegation at the 2013 UN climate negotiations in Warsaw. “The developed countries have already pledged, but no money is forthcoming. What they have promised, they must deliver. It is the poor who have paid, and continue to pay, the cost of climate change.”

In 2013, a national drought emergency was declared in Namibia, with roughly 37 per cent of the population considered at high risk. In the Okarukoro area of north-eastern Namibia, for example, there has been no rain for three years.

Okarukoro is normally arid and the Himba people living there have, for generations, been relying on livestock – breeding and selling, and living off dairy produce. But, after these years of drought, the cattle have died. Only a few small goats remain.

The prolonged drought means that people in the area now  eat only one meal a day; children are suffering, and cases of malnutrition and starvation are increasing.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated in its fourth assessment report: “By 2020, some countries’ yields from rain-fed agriculture could be reduced by up to 50 per cent. Agricultural production, including access to food, is projected to be severely compromised in many African countries. This would further adversely affect food security and exacerbate malnutrition.”

Sadly, Namibia is not the only country facing the challenges of severe drought. In Angola in 2013, 1.8 million people were estimated to be suffering severe food insecurity.

IPCC climate scientists map both countries as likely to suffer increasingly from heatwaves, disease-carrying vectors, drought and agricultural problems.

ACT response

The ACT response to this situation was based on assessments made with communities and local government representatives.

In Angola, ACT members distributed food rations in hard-hit communities.

In Namibia, unconditional cash grants were distributed, allowing those affected to make their own choices about what best met their dietary needs. Cash grants are known to give households fast access to the items they most need. They were given on a per capita basis through a cash card to every caregiver.

The response is being closely monitored to document impact. The benefits of cash grants include low administration and logistics costs.

In both countries, ACT members worked to train the affected communities on emergency preparedness and disaster risk reduction. And in Namibia, ACT trained community leaders on rights-based approaches and advocacy strategies for work with local governments