Watch this moving video from NEAR member Space of Peace on why renewal of the Syrian cross-border is vital for mental health, education, and protection of women and children.
The Secretary-General of the UN conferred that the humanitarian action should be ‘as local as possible, as international as necessary’ at the World Humanitarian Summit-2016. This call initiated the process of ‘localisation’ within the humanitarian community. Consequently, the UN agencies and a number of the international donor’s signed the commitments of Grand Bargain (GB), consequently some international organisations also signed the commitments of Charter for Change (C4C) and offered their support to the process and practice of localisation of humanitarian aid.
The consensus has been made that, ‘localisation’ refers as supporting the practice of locally-led humanitarian action. As a part of the process, the formal humanitarian sector has committed to ensure the enhanced opportunities in the field of funding, partnership values and accountability, institutional capacity strengthening and promoting roles and visibility in favour of the local organisations.
The date was 30 October 2020, a Friday. As the clocks showed 14:51, Izmir shook with an earthquake of 6.9 on the Richter scale. The third largest city of Turkey on the Western coast was unprepared for such a disaster. During the first hours, everyone’s priority was to reach a safe destination. People rushed to their cars and the traffic became a nightmare while first responders were trying to make their way to the affected neighborhoods of the city. As soon as this was broadcasted, people pulled their cars aside and made way for the search and rescue teams.
Local civil society organizations to Izmir connected immediately with one another and shared information about the affected neighborhoods. They agreed to mobilize their volunteers and resources to be able to respond to the immediate needs of those affected.
One of those civil society initiatives taking the lead in the response was the Izmir branch of Adım Adım, a volunteer-based social initiative in Turkey to which our member, Support to Life, belongs. The initiative was established in 2008 to introduce the concept of the ‘charity run’ in Turkey.
Watch this moving video from NEAR member Space of Peace on why renewal of the Syrian cross-border is vital for mental health, education, and protection of women and children.