Emergency Relief: On the Frontlines of Crisis

In a moment, an outbreak of war or the threat of violence and persecution can turn lives upside down—driving millions from their homes, tearing apart families and destroying communities.

When catastrophe hits, the International Rescue Committee is one of the first humanitarian aid organizations on the scene—providing rapid and effective aid that saves lives, reduces suffering, restores dignity and jumpstarts recovery.

Emergency Response Team members are always on standby to deploy to a crisis within 72 hours, whether they are launching new relief efforts or lending support to IRC teams already on the ground. The International Rescue Committee maintains an Emergency Response Team of 17 specialists with expertise in key areas necessary to assess critical survival needs and mount an effective response to sudden or protracted emergencies.

Always Prepared

The most effective way to reduce the impact of a crisis on vulnerable populations is to be prepared to respond to one in advance. The International Rescue Committee is committed to emergency preparedness—giving field teams, local partners and communities the training and resources needed to address immediate needs.

The IRC pre-positions equipment and supplies in key hubs so that the materials can be dispatched anywhere in the world on short notice. We’ve also created a kit with a wide range of inventory necessary for the start-up of an emergency program in a remote location.

All people, including children uprooted by conflict, have a right to an education.

Education plays a fundamental role in reducing the effects of trauma, providing young people with stability and structure during and after emergencies. It also gives young people and adults the knowledge and skills to earn a living, contribute to their family and community, and lead healthier and more productive lives.

The IRC is dedicated to increasing access to educational opportunities wherever we work:

In Chad, thousands of refugee children from Darfur study every day in IRC schools and in Uganda we reduce exploitive child labor by offering kids positive education and vocational opportunities. In Jordan, the IRC supports learning and recreational programs for vulnerable Iraqi and Jordanian youth, and in Afghanistan we’re establishing new schools in rural areas with a focus on educating girls. An innovative IRC project in Guinea secured teaching diplomas for hundreds of Liberians refugees, preparing them to hit the ground running when they returned home. In Azerbaijan, we’re working with the government to incorporate human rights issues in the school curriculum and in Kenya we’re teaching adult refugees how to read and giving them training to set up and manage small businesses.

IRC Education Facts and Figures

• The IRC has been providing educational services for vulnerable people affected by conflict for nearly 30 years.
• Our first education programs started in the early 1980s to set up schools for 40,000 Cambodian refugee children in Thailand. Our education work has since provided hope and promise to millions of children living in crisis zones around the world.
• IRC education teams are currently at work in 23 countries: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Central African Republic, Chad, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Nepal, Northern Caucasus, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Sudan, Syria, Thailand, Tanzania and Uganda.

The International Rescue Committee implements various environmental health programs in 18 countries around the world, focusing on reducing death and diseases caused by poor sanitation, inadequate water supply, unsafe hygiene practices and vector-borne diseases such as malaria.

In every community where it works, IRC strives to improve access to safe water and proper sanitation facilities and ensures that its beneficiaries understand the importance of practicing proper hygiene and having safe water sources.

Since 2001, IRC has been overseeing the overall sanitation activities at the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya—considered one of the world’s largest refugee camps and home to some 90,000 Sudanese, Ethiopian and Somali Bantu refugees. In Kakuma, IRC focuses on involving the community in its programs by encouraging household latrine construction, setting up youth hygiene clubs and spearheading indoor residual spraying to prevent malaria.

Within one year after the IRC took over Kakuma’s sanitation activities, more latrines were constructed in the camp and residents became heavily involved in its construction. Before the IRC took over, there were very few latrines—one per approximately 50 people. Now almost every family has their own household latrine and the ratio of people per latrine is 13 to one. Since then, prevalence of diarrhea in the camp dropped by 60%, from 101 cases for every 1,000 residents per week to only 40 cases for every 1,000 residents per week.

IRC’s expertise in environmental health is also critical to saving lives during complex emergency situations such as those brought by calamities. During the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Pakistan in 2005, IRC worked ceaselessly in quake-ravaged areas in the northwest provinces and in Kashmir, providing clean water supply and sanitation facilities to survivors in isolated areas.

When the tsunami decimated villages in Banda Aceh, Indonesia in December 2004, five IRC mobile relief teams with specialists in health, water supply, sanitation and child protection, fanned out across the province by boat, road and helicopter to deliver emergency services to some of the hardest-hit villages.

Working with the medical team, IRC’s Environmental Health staff stocked remote clinics with medicines, suture kits and bandages, constructed emergency sanitation facilities, brought in water and cleaned and disinfected wells. The EH team also distributed food as well water purification tablets.

The United States has a long tradition of offering refuge to those fleeing persecution and war. Through 24 regional offices in cities across the country, the International Rescue Committee annually helps as many as 7,000 refugees resettle in the U.S. and become self-sufficient. IRC staff members and volunteers believe that refugees’ greatest resources are themselves. We help them translate their skills, interests and past experiences into assets that are valuable in their new communities.

How the IRC helps refugees in the U.S.

The IRC supports newly arrived refugees by providing immediate aid, including food and shelter. Through a network of staff members and volunteers we provide access to the tools of self-reliance: housing, job placement and employment skills, clothing, medical attention, education, English-language classes and community orientation. Each resettlement office serves as a free, one-stop center for refugees’ needs during their pivotal first months in the U.S.

In addition to integrating refugees into the U.S., the IRC’s resettlement network provides comprehensive immigration services to assist refugees and asylees on their path to becoming permanent residents or U.S. citizens. The IRC also provides specialized services to victims of human trafficking in the U.S. – men, women and children who have been forced or coerced into modern-day slavery.

The threat of assault follows women and girls as they flee conflict. And it lingers long after fighting ends. In war-torn regions where destruction, displacement and lawlessness breed yet more violence, women increasingly face abuse in and outside their homes.

The consequences of violence against women are debilitating and many: risk of HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, damage to reproductive organs, and broken bones. The psychological and social consequences are equally as devastating, as the stigma associated with sexual violence often leaves women isolated and increasingly vulnerable. The trauma a survivor experiences goes beyond her own suffering, also rendering great costs to her family and community.

Around the world, the International Rescue Committee helps survivors heal and works with communities and institutions to break the cycle of violence. As first-responders in emergencies such as in Central African Republic, the IRC works hands-on to deliver urgent care and referrals for victims of assault. In longstanding crises, such as Darfur, we provide safe spaces for women to come together for support and to build skills at our women’s centers. And in the aftermath of war, such as in West Africa, the IRC addresses the root causes of violence against women by helping them gain greater economic independence and play a more meaningful role in decision-making.

Through grassroots campaigns that channel women’s voices about their experiences, we reach out to men and boys to change attitudes that foster violence against women. We also advocate with government officials to advance laws preventing violence against women, and enforce policies ensuring survivors’ access to care and legal justice.

The recovery of communities devastated by war relies heavily on the participation of women and girls. The IRC works to foster conditions in which women and girls not only survive the effects of conflict, but ultimately thrive.

Access to Knowledge

In 2006, IRC began programs focused on increasing the skills and abilities of our beneficiaries. Examples of this type of programming include: vocational skills training, business development training, demonstration farms, literacy and numeracy programs, and agricultural extension work.

Access to Finance and Resources

In 2006, IRC implemented programs providing access to the money and materials required to start-up or expand a business. Examples of this type of activity include: savings groups, business start-up grants, provision of seeds and tools, and the donation of toolkits or equipment. Because IRC does not operate microfinance institutions, we seek to create partnerships with organizations that provide direct financial services. IRC focuses on ensuring that our beneficiaries are aware of all their options for accessing business loans, and are well prepared to apply for available loans or other types of financing.

Access to Markets

IRC implemented programs that increased our beneficiaries’ access to markets. These programs are more complex, but were aimed at improving peoples’ ability to sell the goods and services they produce. Examples of this type of program include: work with producer groups to add value to their products, marketing centers that help identify new places to sell goods or services, as well as infrastructure such as roads, processing facilities, and agriculture storage facilities.

We coordinates the activities of the field staff to ensure that those affected by conflict are able to rebuild their livelihoods and become economically independent as soon as possible. This is an important part of maintaining the peace after any conflict, and ensuring that beneficiaries do not become dependant upon humanitarian aid.

An estimated 300 million people worldwide live in countries affected by armed conflict. When violence and political instability disrupt societies and displace populations, they usually destroy public health services, clean water supplies, sanitation and stable living conditions. As a result, death and disease skyrocket.

During these emergencies the International Rescue Committee strives to rapidly reduce illness and death rates to normal levels. When the conflict subsides, the IRC works with displaced individuals and communities to rebuild their health systems.

IRC health programs assist approximately 13 million people in 25 countries, focusing on primary health care, reproductive health care, environmental health, child survival, blindness treatment and prevention, and assistance for victims of sexual violence.

The IRC works in various settings such as in refugee camps, in disaster-stricken areas and in host countries where refugees have resettled after a conflict.

IRC experts in primary care, environmental health, reproductive health, epidemiology, child survival, and emergency medicine ensure that IRC programs use cutting edge public health tools in accordance with best-practice standards for humanitarian aid.

The IRC is also committed to contributing to the development of the science and practice of humanitarian assistance and has undertaken a variety of research studies on public health published in various peer-reviewed journals.