ReliefWeb

Each year on 19 August, we pay tribute to the real-life heroes who commit their lives to helping others in times of crisis. This year’s theme highlights the global solidarity at the heart of humanitarian relief efforts.

With the world facing overlapping crises – from the pandemic to armed conflict, climate change and growing inequality – there has never been more people in need of emergency assistance. Just as raising a child is a community effort, an entire humanitarian network is needed to deliver lifesaving help to people in crisis and put communities on a path to recovery and resilience.

One of UNDP’s contributions to this community is our SURGE Academy, which sends trained advisors to emergency situations around the globe. It’s a critical component of UNDP’s ability to deploy the right people at the right time during or after a crisis.

Haïti: Building on lessons learned

On 14 August 2021, a magnitude 7.2 struck southwest Haiti, destroying areas of Les Cayes, the country's third largest city. More than 2,200 people lost their lives, and an estimated 600,000 people were in need of assistance.

Building on lessons learned from the 2010 earthquake and 2016 hurricane responses, the United Nations family and partners teamed up to accelerate relief and recovery efforts. As a member of UNDP’s pool of SURGE Advisors, Nermine Mohamed Wally arrived to support the UNDP Haiti team in coordinating its response.

“When I spoke with people who lost their homes, I was struck by their will to stand up and regain their lives — many were already working to repair or rebuild.”

Afghanistan: Stay and deliver

Following the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, UNDP committed to stay and deliver critically needed services to the people of Afghanistan as part of the overall UN system's response. Dozens of SURGE Advisors were mobilized, serving as reinforcements on the ground.

That’s how Usman Qazi found himself in Kabul initiating the Area Based Development Emergency Initiative (ABADEI), which aims to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe and complete breakdown of the country’s economy.

Tilini Subodha Kuruppu Arachchige also joined the mission, traveling from Kabul to Kandahar to meet the new authorities and connect with other stakeholders, including women leaders, and set up new programmes.

Bahamas: Preparing for the new norm

In September 2019, Category 5 Hurricane Dorian, the strongest ever to make landfall in The Bahamas, and one of the most powerful in human history, battered the archipelago for 48 hours, leaving ‘apocalyptic’ scenes in its wake.

Leading a SURGE team days after the storm, UNDP Resident Representative Denise E. Antonio reiterated the Government’s call for resilient recovery based on “building back better”.

UNDP partnered with local organizations and the Government to get critical “build better” knowledge into the hands of the people. It implemented a cash-for-work programme to clean up debris and provided small grants to help small and medium-sized businesses get back on their feet.

Equatorial Guinea: Impactful assessment

Craig Castro’s 20 years of international development experience were put to the test when he deployed as a SURGE Advisor to Equatorial Guinea in March 2021 after a series of explosions in the country's main city, Bata. In collaboration with the local government and sister UN agencies, he set up an impact assessment that proved critical in immediate work programmes and informing longer-term recovery plans.

“A month into my mission… I got another call from New York. I was being sent to Mozambique.”

In Mozambique, his mission was to support the growing number of people displaced by militancy and to promote stability. The team identified the remote Macomia District as a priority area. But getting there was complicated by deteriorating security conditions. Moldova: A personal mission

When the call came for SURGE Advisors to support Ukraine and neighbouring countries following the outbreak of the war, Ioana Creitaru knew she had to go. Once in Moldova, she met women refugees and heard stories with echoes of her own great-grandmother's, who decades earlier had fled as a refugee from Moldova to Romania.

In Ukraine and elsewhere, UNDP’s humanitarian response relies on partnerships with local organizations and citizens, who know their communities best. Mykola Nadulichnyi is founder of an NGO promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities in Ukrainian society. The war forced him to flee his home in eastern Ukraine, making the trek to the western city of Lviv, close to the Polish border.

Working in tandem

In times of crisis, volunteers are among the first to take critical action on the ground. Under the UNV-UNDP Tandem Teams, UN Volunteers work together with international experts, local staff and SURGE Advisors responding to the pandemic, environmental disasters and human-induced crises.

Tandem Teams bring together local knowledge and insights of national and international volunteers. In 2021, 38 UN Volunteers were deployed across the globe in UNV-UNDP tandem initiatives.

One of them, Bryan Wakesa, joined UNDP Africa to support the COVID-19 recovery framework of the African Union. In his role as research assistant and information manager, Bryan gained insight into the need to address the impact of crises on vulnerable populations. But this knowledge was not all he took away from the experience.

Reducing future need

When a crisis hits, saving lives and attending to immediate needs are top priority. But preserving development gains and helping people get solidly on the path of recovery is also indispensable. Critical members of the global humanitarian village, UNDP SURGE Advisors strengthen crisis response by integrating a long-term perspective, ultimately reducing the chances of future humanitarian catastrophes.