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Germany’s Relief Coalition „Aktion Deutschland Hilft“ was formed in march 2001 by ten renowned German humanitarian aid organisations. The coalition's aim is to combine their members’ individual knowledge, experience and resources to provide fast and more efficient relief after major disasters and emergencies. This cooperation prevents an overlap of aid work and gaps in the provision of vital services. „It is our prior objective to speed up our aid by working together”, says Manuela Roßbach, executive director of Germany’s Relief Coalition “Aktion Deutschland Hilft”. “Not least we can achieve this by our combined appeal for donations.” Similar organisations can be found in other countries: the Disaster Emergency Committee in Great Britain or the Swiss “Glückskette” show, that combined efforts during great emergencies substantially improve relief work. Aktion Deutschland Hilft operates after disasters such as earthquakes, floods and during famines, wars and political conflicts. It concentrates on the coordinated distribution of medicine, drinking water, food, blankets, sanitary products, shelter and other urgently required items. The aim is to first re-establish and then try to maintain the livelihood of the disasters’ victims. The member organisations work closely together, providing each other with information on a daily basis and matching further actions.
The humanitarian aid is divided into four areas: health services; water, sanitation and hygiene promotion; food security, nutrition and food aid as well as shelter, settlement and non-food-items. Providing health services for example includes building mobile hospitals, organising medical equipment and supplying medical staff with medicine and therapeutic nutrition. In areas difficult to access, Germany’s Relief Coalition sets up mobile teams of doctors or train local health workers. Further consultation services are being implemented to inform about hygiene and food to prevent diseases. Some of the members are specifically involved in “reproductive health” – they deal with family planning and aim to decrease sexually transmitted diseases to lower health risks for young women and their children. Aktion Deutschland Hilft concentrates its efforts on disasters abroad, especially in underdeveloped countries. Recent assignments include the cyclone in Myanmar May 2008, where millions of people lost their homes, the crisis in the DR Congo as well as the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe at the end of 2008. Our biggest project so far has been the Tsunami 2004 where the organization to this day engages in aid work. In exceptional cases however, Aktion Deutschland Hilft does provide relief within Germany. Transparency about the use of donations as well as giving comprehensive information about the aid projects, facilities and capabilities of the ten members are of most importance to the organisation. When a disaster takes place, the relief coalition jointly appeals for donations using one account number. Each member then receives money according to their capacity and capability to provide aid. Through the existing management structures and the individual capacities of the members, costs can be decreased and as much funds as possible put into the aid work. All members of Germany’s Relief Coalition are obliged to follow national and international standards of aid work. These norms and regulations are accredited by the European Union, the United Nations as well as the German Department of Foreign Affairs. An external examiner closely watches all projects funded by the organisation.
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