Humanity and Inclusion

Emergency:humanity & Inclusion (hi) responds to conflicts, natural disasters, and food crises, providing immediate assistance to people enduring some of our planet's most challenging circumstances. In particular, we provide services to people with disabilities, people with new injuries, aging adults, and isolated women and children. By offering a multidisciplinary humanitarian response to refugees, displaced people, and the most affected populations, hi ensures that no one faces exclusion during an emergency.in 2022, two major crises--the war in ukraine and the devastating pakistan floods--captured the particular attention of american donors and funders. Humanity & Inclusion teams launched a response in ukraine and nearby moldova in march, supporting displaced ukrainians with everything from cash assistance to emergency psychosocial care, rehabilitation, and basic needs kits. Hi teams also worked to teach civilians how to stay as safe as possible during bombings, and amid residual, explosive ordnance. In august, "apocalyptic" floods struck pakistan, where Humanity & Inclusion had worked for decades. Monsoon rains and devastating flash flooding left more than one-third of pakistan completely submerged, with 6.4 million people in need of urgent assistance. Teams identified people in need of support. Staff then distributed 1,000 food packs and 1,000 kits of essential supplies to families affected by the intense flooding in nowshera and charsadda, pakistan. In the initial weeks, distributions reached more than 1,500 families, benefitting approximately 15,500 people. Teams had begun the year responding to back-to-back storms and cyclones in madagascar. First, the northern areas of madagascar were hit by the powerful tropical storm, ana, which caused more than 50 deaths and significant damage by winds and flooding. Less than two weeks later, the island was devastated by cyclone batsirai, affecting over 143,000 people, destroying nearly 9,000 homes and taking the lives of over 120 people. As the country was evaluating the extent of damage caused by that powerful storm, cyclone emnati hit the coast of madagascar february 22nd. The storm tore across the island with wind gusts as high as 125 miles per hour and intense rainfall. Nearly 40,000 people from over 9,000 households were displaced ahead of the storm across seven regions. Among the most affected were people with disabilities, many of whom had faced great difficulty evacuating their homes twice in a month among flooded streets and rough terrain. Prior to the storm, hi distributed emergency supplies in mahanoro and manakara to support communities and over 200 people with disabilities affected by cyclone batsirai, and to support accessible evacuation centers. Hi then continued its response to batsirai and begin contributing to evaluations and responding to cyclone emnati in farafangana, manakara and vondrozo.

Armed violence reduction:a comprehensive humanitarian mine action strategy is key to achieving not just lands free of weapons, but also to ensuring that civilians living in dangerous zones are well informed about the risks of unexploded ordnance in their communities, and the ways to stay safe. In 2022, 19% of funds raised by the u.s. office of Handicap International dba Humanity & Inclusion supported activities to reduce armed violence, and support victims of explosive remnants of war in places such as colombia, cambodia, laos and lebanon.in colombia, for instance, four areas in el canon de las hermosas are potentially contaminated by explosive devices: el escobal, la aurora, el davis and las hermosas natural park, a protected nature reserve. Thanks to the surveys and clearance operations carried out by hi's teams, the communities will soon be able to use their agricultural and pastoral lands again and gradually restore the ecosystem. The terrain around el canon de las hermosas is rugged and mountainous. Flooding, rockslides and landslides frequently block the only access road, cutting off the communities. Often, teams travel by horseback to reach the demining sites. Hi's goal is to clear 460,000 square feet of land. Meanwhile, in cambodia, demining teams continued work in partnership with the cambodian self-help demining organization (cshd) to clear minefields and restore the land conditions required for sustainable economic and social development, as well as the safety of communities. The goal is for cshd to take over residual contamination actions after 2025, when cambodia aims to be landmine-free. These two projects are funded in large part by the american people through u.s. department of state office of weapons removal and abatement grants.

Disability rights and inclusion:working alongside people with disabilities, Humanity & Inclusion (hi) advocates for their access to all aspects of social life, including education, decent, waged employment, community activities and more. Critical work to strengthen the capacity of organizations of persons with disabilities, and to organize around effective policies to see their rights upheld. This work happens at the village level all the way up to government legislation and International advocacy. Projects in places like laos and rwanda helped children thrive at accessible and inclusive schools. With funding from usaid, students with disabilities in nepal continued to receive support from the reading for all project. This project produced an easy-to-use mobile app to assist deaf students, their families and instructors with nepali sign language.in 2022, hi also participated in the global disability summit. Disability Inclusion was a key topic, as about 1 billion people, about 15% of the global population, have a disability and this is only an estimate due to lacking global disability data. Despite being the largest minority group in the world, meaningful Inclusion remains a challenge between 2014 and 2018, less than 2% of International aid was disability relevant. Humanity & Inclusion made a range of commitments at the summit in the sectors of inclusive education, inclusive health and inclusive humanitarian assistance. Hi also created a commitment on meaningful engagement and sustained partnerships with organizations of persons with disabilities across all of its projects. For instance, throughout livelihood and education initiatives, hi committed to implementing capacity building on advocacy and inclusive policies in five countries by the end of 2026. The organization also made a commitment to acknowledging disability, gender and age as cross cutting components and critical vulnerability factors for populations affected by sudden onset or long-term crisis or poverty. Recognizing the diversity of the disability community, hi committed to implement its disability, gender and age framework within all its projects by the end of 2023, to ensure that further marginalized groups, such as persons with psychosocial and intellectual disabilities, receive equal opportunities and representation in all initiatives.

Rehabilitation:physical and functional rehabilitation has been a component of Humanity & Inclusion's (hi) work since its founding in 1982. Physical and occupational therapy, along with assistive devices, help to foster autonomy for people with injuries, chronic diseases, or disabilities. As a pioneer in humanitarian rehabilitation, especially after natural disaster and conflict, hi has firmly embedded physical and functional rehabilitation components into many of our projects.in 2022, 16% of the funds raised in the u.s. Supported rehabilitation projects in places such as uganda, afghanistan, ukraine, cambodia, and jordan. Thanks to a grant from the u.s. department of state's bureau of populations, refugees, and migration, refugees in kenya had greater access to rehabilitation. For instance, hi ran inclusive projects in support of people with disabilities living in kalobeyei camp. Hi-trained physical therapists and community rehabilitation workers were trained in home rehabilitation techniques, and visited patients at home to run through exercises. The project also helped people access mobility devices, such as walkers and crutches, to support their mobility and independence.in vietnam, people who have experienced brain trauma, children with cerebral palsy and other people with disabilities had access to new and innovative tools to improve their rehabilitation journey--including the development of the "opentelerehab" software--thanks in part to funding from usaid. The initial pilot stage of the project ended in 2022, and entered an intermediate assessment stage. Users were surveyed as part of efforts to improve the user experience before extending use of the software to other services. Opentelerehab was also deployed to cambodia and other african countries, as well as the middle east, and latin america is expected to follow suit in the next few months. Some one hundred beneficiaries already use the app. More than 100 rehabilitation professionals have also been trained to use the software, and additional training sessions have been held in partner centers. A total of 380 exercises are currently available for people with cerebral palsy, stroke-related conditions or head injuries, and by the end of 2022 up to one thousand exercises were available for other pathologies.

Prevention and health:worldwide, more people are being exposed to disease, road accidents, or injuries that can result in permanent disability. Amid this, in 2022 communities continued to grapple with the lingering effects of the covid-19 pandemic. In 2022, 5% of funds raised supported a mix of prevention and health projects. One project donors supported focused on the health needs of venezuelan refugees. More than 6 million refugees had left venezuela by mid-2022, due to the political and socio-economic crisis that has ravaged the country since 2013. This is the largest population displacement in latin america in recent history. After assessing the humanitarian needs of the venezuelan refugees living in peru, Humanity & Inclusion had begun supporting refugees and host communities in 2020. We have since run mental health projects and provide psychosocial support and food aid for those most in need, including people with disabilities, children, refugees and older people.in south sudan, staff worked to see more people with disabilities receive equitable access to appropriate care through the women integrated sexual health (wish) project. Women and girls with disabilities disproportionately experience gender-based violence and sexual abuse. On top of that, many health professionals believe women with disabilities are not sexually active. Health facilities also lack sign language interpreters or accessible information. People with disabilities have the right to access sexual and reproductive health care, including family planning.