Immediate Release
12th October 2015
An Alert for an Integral Response was raised on 30th September 2015 for increasing food insecurity in East Africa, with Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan especially affected. Extreme weather patterns, caused by a particularly strong El Niño, are causing floods and droughts in many regions of the world. The implications of these weather extremes are life threatening for millions of people in majority world countries who are dependent on agriculture and fishing.
To date ten Integral Members1 have opted in to this Integral Response. On the first Integral coordination teleconference on the 5th October, a plan was developed to gather Integral Member staff in the most affected countries in order to explore how they might effectively work together.
In August 2015 people affected by food insecurity in Ethiopia had risen from 2.9 to 4.5 million people. In 2016 this figure is expected to rise to 15 million. Also, next year in Ethiopia the normal four month 'lean' season is predicted to last up to 8 months. [Source]
Jan Eyre, Integral’s Disaster Management and Programme Coordinator says, “Our Members have been running programmes in these countries for many years. Even though this is a slow onset humanitarian crisis, it is imperative that we act now so that we can ensure we don’t lose the gains made through years of development work. It is a challenge with media interest for this crisis very low, but we hope that by increasing our Integral coordination now, we will be better prepared to bring assistance as the situation worsens.”
Eleanor Tuck, Tearfund UK’s Humanitarian Support Manager, says, “Tearfund is currently working through our partners with over 13,000 Self Help Groups in East Africa, reaching over 1 million people to help them to build resilience to the shocks that they face. Our partners are assessing the needs caused by the current drought. Although the numbers of the affected population are very high already, we are focusing on contingency planning with other Integral Members for when the situation worsens. In this way, we can ensure that all the work we do further strengthens communities who face disaster beyond this particular crisis.”
Pete Howard, Food for the Hungry’s Senior Director of Emergency Response, says “We are looking forward to working in partnership with Integral to advocate with our donors. We want to see a comprehensive approach that strengthens the most vulnerable farmers and families. We desire to see them thrive in spite of the drought and challenges arising from El Nino.”
Integral has set up a dedicated website to enable Members to share information and media resources and to facilitate on-going sharing and coordination for this joint operations and communications response.
Integral’s website: www.integralalliance.org
1Food for the Hungry (US), MAP International (US), Medair (Switzerland), TEAR (Netherlands), TearFund (NZ), Tearfund (UK), World Concern (US), ZOA (Netherlands), World Relief (US), World Renew (US & Canada)
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Integral Alliance is a WEA affiliate and has served as a global partner to the WEA in the field of relief and development since 2006. Integral contributes to the WEA’s goal of fostering Christian unity around the world through working with its Members on a more integrated and collaborative strategy in disasters.
Contact: Sarah Larkin, Communication and Marketing Coordinator:
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Integral has 23 Members with headquarters in 14 countries.
Integral Members work in over 80 countries, with more than 650 local partners, in over 40 sectors and have a combined income of over $663m USDs.
All Members sign up to the Red Cross Code of Conduct and Sphere Standards, and have an agreed Quality Standards Statement.
Integral Members are:
CEDAR Fund – Hong Kong
Food for the Hungry – USA
Integra – Slovakia
International Health Partners – UK
MAP International – USA
Medical Teams International – USA
Medair – Switzerland
Missions Alliance – Norway
Mission East – Denmark
SEL France – France
TEAR Australia – Australia
Tear– Netherlands
Tearfund – Belgium
Tearfund – Ireland
TEAR Fund – New Zealand
Tear Fund – Switzerland
Tearfund – UK
Transform Aid International – Australia
World Concern – USA
World Relief Canada – Canada
World Relief – USA
World Renew – Canada & USA
ZOA – The Netherlands
On Integral Collaboration:
Integral’s goal is for all its Members to become more effective and efficient in their work and to see greater impact and reach as a result of working collaboratively.
Integral Members have a collaborative strategy for responding to disasters, with the Integral Disaster Response Process co-ordinating the emergency activities of its Members. The aim of the Integral DR process is to combine resources to ensure that as many people as possible are reached with the assistance they need. The Integral Secretariat plays a co-ordinating role to facilitate better communication between all Members in disaster situations with the aim of increasing support and avoiding duplication.
For more info see www.integralalliance.org
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