ADRA collaborates with the French Civil Protection to deliver humanitarian aid to Ukraine
The international network formed by ADRA’s national offices offers one of the most responsive humanitarian networks in the world. Indeed, when it comes to climatic disasters or armed conflicts, ADRA almost always succeeds in positioning itself on the front line from the first hours following a humanitarian tragedy.
The armed conflict in Ukraine was no exception, with no less than 20 ADRA country offices involved in helping to respond to this large-scale humanitarian crisis. Since day one, ADRA Ukraine has been on the front line providing emergency relief to victims of the conflict through the distribution of basic necessities or vouchers for purchases while the local economy remains functioning.
In this general mobilization, ADRA France is active in strengthening the response capacity of the international network. In particular, they facilitated the establishment of a major shipment of essential materials to Ukraine by relying on ADRA’s international network.
Two weeks after the start of the war, the collective of French-speaking Christian NGOs ASAH obtained privileged contact with the French Civil Protection to collaborate on sending trucks of humanitarian material to Ukraine. As Civil Protection cannot charter equipment outside the European Union, humanitarian partners, such as ADRA France, are needed to manage large quantities of equipment and bridge the gap to Ukraine. ADRA France then positioned itself with other members of the collective and got in touch with ADRA Poland to charter a large volume of pallets of humanitarian material to Ukraine.
At the beginning of April, the first delivery of 18 pallets of medical equipment was carried out by plane from Paris to Krakow, where ADRA Poland took over. A well-oiled collaboration was then established and from May 2022 each week 3 semi-trailers of equipment are on the way to ADRA Poland.
Again, in May, the network was called upon for delivery of an unexpected surplus of goods. It was then ADRA Slovakia that immediately responded and received 6 semi-trailers in less than ten days.
Each of these trucks carries 33 pallets of hygiene, medical, and food equipment and represents between 60,000 and 600,000 EUR of equipment and consumables.
It is the responsiveness and the professionalism of the ADRA network, combined with good partnerships, that once again is strengthening the quality of the NGOs’ response for the good of its beneficiaries.
