ADRA joins humanitarian alliance

This article was originally published in the Adventist Record here.

Sixteen Australian charities, including the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), joined forces for the first time on 6 August 2021, to launch the newly-formed Emergency Action Alliance (EAA) at an online event that featured prominent government leaders, media executives and charity leaders.

The humanitarian agencies will be uniting in their campaign and fundraising efforts to improve how Australians can support and donate when large-scale overseas humanitarian disasters take place.

The CEOs of the charities believe that through this new single fundraising entity more money can be raised from the Australian public more quickly, so that there can be a rapid distribution of funds allocated to where the money is most needed. This will save more lives and can enable the quicker and more efficient rebuilding of communities.

“We at ADRA, are very pleased to join the Emergency Action Alliance as one of the founding members,” said Denison Grellmann, CEO of ADRA Australia, on Friday.

“Our world is changing, and we need to position ourselves to address new humanitarian realities. Unfortunately, we are seeing more and more natural and man-made disasters, and it is important that we are better prepared to respond and save lives.

“Being part of the Alliance allows us to have a wider appeal reach, and as a result, fundraise and coordinate humanitarian efforts in a more significant way. This Alliance also strengthens ADRA’s purpose to serve humanity so all may live as God intended.”

EAA executive director Kerren Morris said, “Around the globe, the number of large-scale disasters are increasing. The complexity of these emergencies is also accelerating, and new factors such as the COVID-19 pandemic mean that communities are even more vulnerable.

“It’s no surprise that the needs for disaster response and recovery are escalating. Our member organisations already work in close collaboration during a disaster response—but there has been a common agreement that a more formal alliance was needed to make it easier for donors to give. Today is an historic moment in Australia’s response to disaster relief.”

The online launch on Friday featured speakers including Senator Marise Payne, ABC Board director Dr Jane Connors, CEO of ACFID Marc Purcell, CEO of Fundraising Institute of Australia Katherine Raskob, and each of the EAA member CEOs.

Matthew Maury, chair of the EAA Board and CEO of Tearfund Australia, said, “Australians are incredibly generous when a disaster strikes and the EAA is designed to maximise the impact of this generosity. When a crisis occurs, the Emergency Action Alliance works with its 16 members to quickly direct resources to the member agencies best positioned to respond to the disaster.”

“ADRA recognises that the increasing impact of disasters on families, communities and nations today requires innovative and collective ways to resource responses to major disasters as soon as they occur,” said Murray Millar, ADRA’s Emergency Management director.

“The newly formed Emergency Action Alliance will be a very helpful mechanism to achieve this. As a foundation member of the EAA, ADRA is committed to strengthening its capabilities and competence to ensure that when resources are provided by the Australian public we will be able to rapidly deploy these resources responsively and responsibly for the greatest good.”

The full list of member organisations of the EAA are: Action Aid, ADRA, Act for Peace, Australian Lutheran World Service, Anglican Overseas Aid, Baptist World Aid, Caritas Australia, Care, CBM, ChildFund Australia, Oxfam, Plan International, Save the Children, Tearfund Australia, Australia for UNHCR, and World Vision.

For more information on the Emergency Action Alliance please visit https://emergencyaction.org.au/