The Dutch Relief Alliance presents its Impact Brief 2020, an overview of the emergency aid its members provided in 2020. In 2020, we reached almost 5,4 million people with humanitarian assistance in 14 countries. We provided assistance in the areas of cash, health, education, food security and livelihood, WASH, nutrition, protection and shelter and non-food items.

At the beginning of 2020, millions of people around the world were living in life-threatening circumstances due to conflict, climate change and extreme poverty. Then, on top of that, the COVID-19 pandemic wiped out decades of progress, pushing the poorest into even more vulnerable situations.

We responded directly to the COVID-19 crisis. To this end, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs granted an additional ten  million euros of funding. Our interventions included the reinforcement of hygiene measures, training of health staff, and provision of medical equipment. At the same time, we assisted the most vulnerable people with food aid and cash transfers.

Besides COVID-19, 2020 saw the blast in Beirut, locust invasions in Africa, and floods and the typhoon in Vietnam, just to name a few. Our acute crisis mechanism enabled us to typically respond within 72 hours.

The Dutch Relief Alliance again showed itself to be a valuable collaboration between Dutch humanitarian NGOs and local partners. It has established a robust apparatus to respond to protracted and acute crises, assisting people promptly and effectively. Furthermore, our innovation projects provided a test-bed environment for innovative humanitarian solutions.

The Impact Brief 2020 contains an overview of these accomplishments in 2020.