Concern Worldwide overcame pandemic challenges to help 36.9 million people in 2020

Ireland’s largest overseas humanitarian organisation, Concern Worldwide, helped 36.9 million people last year in 23 of the world’s poorest countries, according to its annual report, published on Saturday (May 29).

“In a year like no other, where conflict, climate and coronavirus have driven levels of suffering, hunger and vulnerability to unprecedented levels, our commitment to stay and deliver held strong,” Concern CEO Dominic MacSorley told Saturday’s AGM, held virtually due to COVID-19 safety restrictions.

“Thanks to the support of key donors such as Irish Aid and the extraordinary generosity of the Irish public, we were able to mount a global response to the Covid pandemic that reached almost 20 million people, while continuing to respond to new emergencies such as winter flooding in northern Lebanon and the ongoing locust infestation in East Africa.”

Concern Chair John Treacy said the extent of the organisation’s impact in 2020 served “as a powerful motivational reminder of what is possible in a world of great uncertainty.

The report shows that Concern’s income last year was €210 million - €39 million of which was donated by the public in Ireland, the UK and South Korea.

The annual report highlighted the organisation’s work in 23 countries during 2020. The work spans a number of key areas including emergencies; livelihoods; health and nutrition and education.

Among the work highlighted in the annual report:

• Faced with the COVID-19 pandemic we focussed on maintaining our existing programmes, raising awareness of the tools used to fight the spread of the infection and supporting the communities most impacted by the crisis. This included distributing soap and hand sanitiser to 345,000 people in Pakistan and reaching 802,000 people with awareness raising messages in Bangladesh;
• We responded to 78 emergencies in 23 countries, reaching five million people directly and 12.9 million people indirectly.
• We provided urgently needed assistance to almost 160,000 people in northern Syria affected by on-going conflict. General food rations were distributed to almost 25,000 individuals in camps, collective centres and informal settlements, and food vouchers were provided to approximately 116,000;
• In the Democratic Republic of Congo, we responded to five displacement crises, providing emergency support to 159,000 people fleeing conflict or natural disasters and helping them to buy food, access clean water and receive hygiene kits.
• In 2020, we improved the food security and livelihoods of approximately 600,000 people directly and 3.7 million indirectly.
• In the Sila region of Chad we work with over 33,500 farmers, pastoralists and vulnerable communities who are severely affected by climate change and struggle to provide enough food for their families;
• In Cité Soleil, a marginalised urban area in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, we supported 1,159 extremely poor households to improve their livelihoods through vocational training, coaching and mentoring, life and business skills training and cash payments to support small business development.
• In 2020, our health programmes reached over 1.9 million people directly and 7.3 million indirectly.
• In South Sudan In 2020, over 150,000 conflict-affected and vulnerable people in Unity State and Northern Bahr el Ghazal were reached through our water, sanitation and health programmes.
• In 2020, our education programmes directly benefited approximately 180,000 people and 520,000 million indirectly.
• Our programme in Takhar Province, Afghanistan, which aims to provide quality education services for girls, boys, men and women, reached almost 5,500 people.

To read the annual report click https://bit.ly/2R59BKq or find it on Concern’s annual report web page https://www.concern.net/accountability/annual-reports.

For media queries contact Kevin Jenkinson at kevin.jenkinson@concern.net or 086 358 2886 or Eilis Staunton at Eilis.staunton@concern.net or 085 872 0720.