A unified, trusted and accountable IFRC

Deeply humbled to present my first report as Secretary General to the @IFRC General Assembly.

COVID-19 turned our world upside down. It changed the way we live & work. It changed how our network provides support during global crises.?

Since COVID-19 hit, National Societies, staff & volunteers have given so much of themselves & have been at the centre responding to many challenges.?

Inequity exists for billions of people & is growing exponentially.?

It gets aggravated by what I call the 3 Cs:?

-Climate change?

-COVID-19?

-Conflict?

I see climate change as the most consequential challenge the world is facing.?

It is a key driver of more extreme disasters, more population displacement, and more disease outbreaks.?

Many in the world may feel as if the COVID-19 pandemic is over.??

But in many countries, cases are rising and there remains a very unequal distribution of vaccines.??

Yet there are enough vaccines for everyone, so this inequity is entirely avoidable and totally unacceptable.?

It has been over three months since the conflict in Ukraine escalated.??

The humanitarian consequences have been massive and far reaching.?

Meanwhile we cannot forget that many other countries and their people continue to suffer — Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Myanmar, Syria, Yemen.?

While the 3 Cs represent both new & old challenges, there is nothing new about our mandate and our response.??

For over one century, IFRC's mission —our raison d’être— has been to prevent and alleviate human suffering.??

Our Fundamental Principles keep guiding us.?

Every day we are being called upon to deliver at scale with greater impact.??

We do have a roadmap to do this—our Strategy 2030.?

It represents the collective ambitions of all 192 National Societies to address the biggest & interconnected global challenges of our times.?

Over the past two years, we have demonstrated amazing resilience and adaptability as an organization and as a vast network of humanitarians across the globe.?

We reached over 1.2 billion people through our global COVID response with lifesaving information, cash, WASH & livelihoods.??

More than 325 million people have been supported with vaccination.??

The IFRC network is one of the biggest responders to this pandemic.?

Crises & disasters did not stop during the pandemic.?

In response to the climate crisis, anticipatory action has become our new normal.?

We launched a climate & environment charter for humanitarian organization with @ICRC. It now has 242 signatories including some governments.?

Our Disaster Response Emergency Fund (DREF) allocated 76 million Swiss Francs to National Societies to implement early actions, anticipate specific risks & respond to 241 operations reaching 16 million people.?

IFRC’s scale up of cash delivery positions us as the second largest deliverer of cash assistance in the world with our Emergency Social Safety Net programme that continues to provide cash to 1.5 million Syrian refugees in Turkey with the Turkish Red Crescent.?

In Ukraine’s neighboring countries, we are using the latest technology to deliver cash assistance digitally, enabling us to reach more people rapidly in remote locations.??

We are working to ramp up cash assistance in Ukraine too.?

Migration and displacement continue to pose massive humanitarian challenges.??

National Societies are assisting and protecting people, regardless of status, along migration routes through 275 Humanitarian Service points in 42 countries.?

Everything we do is with & for the membership.??

We continue to strengthen our National Society Development efforts.?

Our strategic and operational coordination role is critical to ensure we are bigger than the sum of our parts. But equally to improve our agility & effectiveness.?

The multi-year Pilot Programmatic Partnership with the EU Echo is a perfect example of how we intend to continue operating. As is our partnership with the Africa CDC.?

I remain laser focused to strive for gender parity & diversity at all levels across IFRC & want to inspire National Societies to do the same.?

Over 50% of our staff & volunteers are women. At leadership & Governance levels this drops significantly. We still have a long way to go.?

Pursuing humanitarian diplomacy on behalf of vulnerable people is a responsibility because of our privileged access to global decision-making forums.??

To do this we need one message & many messengers, telling the same compelling story with different voices.?

Fraud, corruption, sexual exploitation, abuse, racism, discrimination, poor gender and diversity balance are not right, and are not acceptable.??

We have zero tolerance for these and zero tolerance for inaction against them.?

A unified & strong Red Pillar with ICRC is critical as humanitarian needs grow & neutral, independent humanitarian action becomes ever more important.?

We need strong National Societies, a strong IFRC, and a strong ICRC, working in a mutually respectful relationship that serves people who need us.??

This is apparent more than ever today, as we work side by side in Ukraine and the surrounding countries.?

Leadership and culture change must come from every one of us.?

Through our work, through our collective efforts, we are showing the world the added value of IFRC.?

Let us commit together to fulfill the enormous expectations that our volunteers, our staff, and the communities we serve have of us.??

We are the hope for millions of people we seek to serve.?

Delivering on this hope is our collective responsibility.?