The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has unveiled a new campaign to address rapidly escalating climate driven humanitarian crises.
According to the announcement, the campaign calls on global governments and international donors to support local emergency responders and disaster hit communities, helping them to “Stand Tall” with smarter and faster humanitarian funding.
The Stand Tall campaign calls on global governments and private donors to stand “shoulder to shoulder” with local emergency responders and the communities they support.
The campaign is also aiming to further grow the humanitarian funds available to on-the-ground relief organisations from the CHF 64 million (US$73 million) available today to CHF 100 million (US$114 million) by 2025.
In addition, coinciding with COP28, IFRC’s Stand Tall campaign uses a series of visuals to champion the wide network of donors, volunteers, and impacted communities that make up IFRC-DREF.
Nena Stoiljkovic, Under-Secretary General at IFRC, commented: “In the battle against climate change, we have reached a critical juncture – funding needs outstrip supply as communities face more and more devastating impact. Our funding partners for IFRC-DREF enable us to deliver local response with global support.
“We take a moment to celebrate the incredible work and accomplishments of our inspiring network of funding partners and volunteers in impacted communities. We are proud of their determination and collaboration as we strive to prevent and lessen the burden of climate disasters on vulnerable communities. We encourage our partners to keep supporting IFRC-DREF’s action. Together, we will Stand Tall in the face of climate disasters.”
The IFRC’s Disaster Response Emergency Fund (IFRC-DREF) is described as being the quickest. most efficient and most transparent way of getting funding directly to local National Societies — both before and immediately after a crisis strikes.
However, it faces growing pressure to anticipate and respond to multiple, simultaneous and complex crises around the world as a result of climate change.
If you recall, in October, a summit held in London brought together leaders and decision-makers from governments, multilaterals, civil society, and the private sector, to collaboratively explore the critical role of insurance markets to help address climate and humanitarian crises.
At the summit, IFRC Under Secretary General, Nena Stoiljkovic highlighted how the DREF Insurance mechanism, pioneered by IFRC in partnership with broker Aon, is a “vital new approach” for enhancing preparedness and risk transfer.
Moreover, a major figure to take note of is that 3.6 billion people currently live in areas highly susceptible to climate change.
As a result, humanitarian funding needs are growing as more people are impacted by climate-related disasters each year.
During the first half of 2023, IFRC-DREF funding allocation increased by 75% to meet escalating demands, compared to the same period in 2022 – predominately in response to floods and earthquakes.
However, unlike other humanitarian funding mechanisms, 82% of IFRC-DREF funds go directly to National Societies supporting local action – compared with a global average of just 1.2%.
Lastly, it is heavily highlighted that localised, community-led action “is key” to ensuring that communities remain well equipped to prepare for, and overcome, devastating crises.
