Trócaire, the Catholic bishops’ overseas development agency, has joined forces with six other major Irish aid agencies as a member of the Irish Emergency Alliance which will organise joint responses to international humanitarian disasters.
It, ActionAid, Christian Aid, Plan International, Self Help Africa, Tearfund and World Vision, as members of the alliance, will raise money jointly from the Irish public to help vulnerable people when disaster strikes.
The alliance launched its first joint appeal last September in response to the global coronavirus crisis.
Alliance executive director Brian Casey said: "Trócaire is not only a household name in Ireland but is an Irish aid agency with a world class reputation. With Trócaire on board, the Irish Emergency Alliance will be even better placed to respond to the world's worst disasters to make sure that we are able to reach more people in need and save lives."
Trócaire chief executive Caoimhe de Barra said Alliance members "specialise in different aspects of development. But when it comes to responding to a humanitarian disaster we all have one shared purpose: to save lives."
Supporting more people
She added that “this decision to mount joint appeals in response to humanitarian disasters makes sense. It will reduce costs and give the Irish public one central fund to donate to. Ultimately, it will help us bring support to more people. The joint appeals mechanism has worked very well in the UK for many years and we are delighted to now be part of a similar approach in Ireland.”
The alliance website states that “we save on costs by sharing resources during appeals rather than duplicating efforts, for example creating shared adverts”.
It was also the case that for every euro people give “85 cent will go directly to the disaster-affected area and we are working to increase this to 90 cent by 2024. The other 15 cent helps us raise even more funds to reach more people in emergencies, and covers other essentials such as safeguarding systems and financial accountability.”
