It Takes a Village!

A global pandemic, extreme weather, climate change, conflict, hunger, and displacement: the world and its most vulnerable people are struggling like never before in recent history. The stress from these crises can be almost unbearable.

The UN estimates that 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance in 2022, and the number has never been higher.  But for the people in need, the secret to not losing hope is having faith that at any moment of any day, someone will have your back if you end up in the worst possible situation.

António Guterres, the UN Secretary General has said: “Losing hope is not a strategy. Taking action to support people in need is”.

The story of Siavash, an aid worker

One busy afternoon Siavash Maghsoudi, an Assistant Field Officer with UNHCR for the past decade, received a phone call from a weeping man. It was an Afghan refugee father he had known through his work. In a trembling voice the man explained why he had called: not to ask for help, but to bear good news: his 16-year-old daughter who had received treatment for a serious kidney condition, was now back in school.

Before UNHCR stepped in to offer support, the family had been scrambling to afford medical care. What had started as a minor allergy had developed into severe kidney infection, and the girl was now in need of regular dialysis.

“This is what keeps me going, the little improvements that we can make to people’s lives,” Siavash said. He is one of the many other unsung heroes of aid work who dedicatedly help people caught in the crosshairs of conflict or suffering in the aftermath of natural disasters. They are in daily contact with the traumatic stories of people who have lost their loved ones and their homes.

Siavash, a former photojournalist, is not daunted by the difficulties of humanitarian work: “Whenever a single person is helped through our efforts, I get my reward. I have received more than I have given - the trust and love I receive from the refugees and others in need is invaluable”.

Why It Takes a Village

A famous saying goes: It takes a village to raise a child. The same wisdom applies to humanitarian work: it takes a village to support a person in a humanitarian crisis: People who are victims of a crisis themselves are always the first responders, helping out neighbors, families and friends. Next in line, there is a community of local volunteers, emergency services, NGOs, and humanitarian networks such as the Red Crescent Society. And finally, the international system kicks in. International organizations and the various UN agencies, often in collaboration with the authorities, form a crucial network to deliver urgent healthcare, food, protection, water, livelihood, and more. Millions of people are helped every day. Everybody – the wider community or the metaphoric village – is needed when a crisis hits, immediate and timely support saves lives, as does national and large-scale international professional assistance.

What UN aid agencies do in Iran

Let’s take a moment and get to know the recent activities of some of the UN agencies who are delivering humanitarian aid in Iran:

• OCHA supported victims of 2022 floods by identifying the needs of the affected people. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) works with the local government and the UN agencies to coordinate an emergency response to crises, and identify relief needs and gaps. UNHCR and WFP jointly supported 5,000 families affected by the floods in 2022. They distributed core relief items in the provinces of Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Kerman, and Hormozgan. WHO set up mobile clinics to care for those hurt.
• UNICEF helps the most vulnerable children in Iran. Recently the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) distributed 421 pulse oximeters, 293 digital gun thermometers, 76,500 latex gloves, 4,000 N95 masks, 2,354 boxes of diapers, and 6,640 liters of surface sanitizers to children living in State Welfare Organization (SWO) rehabilitation centers and nurseries. These centers will now be better equipped to protect the children from the COVID-19 virus. One nurse was overjoyed to receive the equipment: “In the past we had to move babies from their beds to the nursing station to measure their blood oxygen through the medical monitor. Now we have a fingertip pulse oximeter”.

• WFP has strengthened its humanitarian response for over three decades, to the protracted refugee crisis in Iran, continuing to provide unconditional food assistance to the most vulnerable refugees living in 20 settlements while successfully adjusting and expanding activities related to education and livelihoods, with a special focus on refugee women and girls. Although WFP’s intervention in Iran is focused mainly on assisting refugees, the organization has the operational capacity to support the Government and people of Iran in emergency response.

• UNHCR distributed pandemic aid to refugees in Iran to protect against COVID-19. During the initial stages of the pandemic in Iran, UNHCR coordinated with its local government counterpart, the Burueau for Foreign Aliens and Immigrants’ Affairs (BAFIA) to distribute basic hygiene items such as soap and disposable towels to 7,500 refugee families living in settlements across the country. These items were crucial in preventing and slowing the spread of disease in settlements, where families usually live in small spaces, without enough possibility of social distancing.

The history of World Humanitarian Day originates not far from Iran. The day was named in the memory of the 19 August 2003 bomb attack on the Canal Hotel in the neighboring capital of Baghdad, which killed 22 people, including the then incumbent UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, the Brazilian diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello. The UN General Assembly formalized the day as World Humanitarian Day (WHD) in 2009. Each year, a new theme is chosen for WHD to raise awareness about the people struggling due to crises and the aid workers who help them survive and rehabilitate with dignity. This year we cherish the value of humanitarian action and emphasize aid worker security.

Conditions for the most vulnerable people in the world are dire and more than ever we need to take action for their benefit. On this World Humanitarian Day in 2022 we take a moment to recognize the efforts of hundreds of thousands of volunteers, professionals, and crisis-affected people who supply what is needed wherever in the world it is needed.

In 2022, 274 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection. This number is a significant increase from 235 million people a year ago, which was already the highest figure in decades. The United Nations and partner organizations aim to assist 183 million people most in need across 63 countries, which will require $41 billion.