Emergency response & Risk Management
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New IDPs registering for food
distribution at Jahtondo IDP Camp,
Liberia. |
As the LWF humanitarian agency and an instrument of the global ecumenical network, DWS assists the victims of natural and human-made disasters and armed conflict. A pro-active response to emergencies aims at reducing risk and the vulnerability of disaster-affected populations thereby promoting sustainable development. A major competence of DWS is long term assistance to refugees and internally displaced persons, reflected by the fact that DWS is the second largest partner of UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees).
Emergency Response
As part of the ACT (Action by Churches Together) alliance, DWS is committed to supporting and facilitating capacities of local communities to respond to emergencies, linked to the ongoing process of ensuring sustainability. As the leading ACT operational agency for emergencies, DWS is unique because it is both international and local: its country programs also serve as part of the locally available capacity.
Financial support for DWS emergency response comes from LWF related agencies, member churches and the global ecumenical network, governments and inter-governmental organizations (especially UN agencies).
Disaster Preparedness
LWF/DWS India providing emergency food items to victims of the Brahmaputra River flooding in July 2004. © LWF/DWS India |
DWS has a roster of skilled and professional staff, including staff of related agencies, who are ready for rapid deployment in case of emergency. DWS staff are also accessible by the ACT Coordinating Office as necessary. Disaster preparedness includes mapping the hazards and vulnerability of the more volatile and disaster-prone areas, stockpiling relief items, and increasing capacities for recovery in food security, water and sanitation, shelter and social infrastructure.
Disaster preparedness also involves the collaborative development of standards for emergency response, and the corresponding commitment to mutual accountability. The LWF is a signatory to the Code of Conduct for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations in Disaster Relief, and operates within the framework of the SPHERE Project (Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response).
Risk Management
Natural and human made disasters disproportionately affect vulnerable and impoverished communities. This relates to the lack of existing infrastructure and services, financial resources, and the limited margin of life support systems that sustain such communities. As communities enhance their development sustainability, and as the capacities of local community organizations increase, communities also enhance their ability to respond to disasters and other emergencies.
Desk for Emergencies, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs)
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Welo woman checking the quality
of seeds from a
seed bank. |
In accordance with the people-centered and rights-based approach of DWS, one of the duties of this desk is to promote and support the critical dimensions of the protection of vulnerable persons and communities, and the safe-guarding of women's and children's rights.
Within DWS Geneva, this desk ensures effective and efficient cooperation and collaboration throughout the DWS-related network in relation to emergencies, refugees and IDPs and works in close cooperation with the ACT office. This covers the full spectrum of policy and standards development, risk management, implementing agreements, operational preparedness, and emergency response.
In the past eight years, DWS has been involved in such complex emergencies as have occurred in Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Angola, the Balkans and the border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia. The major natural disasters to which the LWF has responded include Hurricane Mitch in Central America, extensive flooding in Mozambique and Mauritania, furious cyclones which hit Orissa in coastal India, earthquakes in El Salvador and Gujarat, India. DWS has also responded to hunger appeals in southern Africa and the horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia and Eritrea which experience chronic drought and hunger.
For further information please contact:
Program Officer Ms Elsa Moreno or Program Assistant Ms Regula Dominguez.
