Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V. – Bündnis deutscher Hilfsorganisationen (ADH) (Campaign

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

helps association - alliance of German aid organisations) is a connection of German

aid agencies An aid agency, also known as development charity, is an organization dedicated to distributing aid. Many professional aid organisations exist, both within government, between governments as multilateral donors and as private voluntary organizatio ...

for humanitarian aid, with the target of helping faster and more efficient through coordination and combination of efforts in case of a disaster and to raise

donation A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as ...

s together. The association is headquartered in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ru ...

History

In Germany

Aktion Deutschland Hilft was founded in 2001 with headquarters in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

, to combine the capabilities of German aid organisations, so that fast and efficient disaster aid can be guaranteed abroad. Reasons for action are wars and conflicts,

famines A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompan ...

, earthquakes, floodings, emergencies concerning the environment and other unpredictable disasters. In June 2006 the alliance moved to Bonn. Aktion Deutschland Hilft includes 24 German aid organizations, which raise donations together and coordinate their measures.

Areas of disaster relief

Aktion Deutschland Hilft is activated after a decision from its member organisations. Examples of disasters it responded to include the

2003 invasion of Iraq The 2003 invasion of Iraq was a United States-led invasion of the Republic of Iraq and the first stage of the Iraq War. The invasion phase began on 19 March 2003 (air) and 20 March 2003 (ground) and lasted just over one month, including 26 ...

, the War in Darfur (August 2004), the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the

2005 Kashmir earthquake The 2005 Kashmir earthquake occurred at on 8 October in Pakistani-administered Azad Kashmir. It was centred near the city of Muzaffarabad, and also affected nearby Balakot in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and some areas of Indian-administered Jammu an ...

, the

2006 Pangandaran earthquake and tsunami An earthquake occurred on July 17, 2006 at along a subduction zone off the coast of west and central Java, a large and densely populated island in the Indonesian archipelago. The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.7 and a maximum perceived inten ...

, the 2007 African floods, the

2007 Tabasco flood The 2007 Tabasco flood occurred in late October and early November 2007 in the Mexican states of Tabasco and Chiapas, in which as much as 80% of the former was left under water. At least 20,000 people were forced to seek emergency shelter. Over ...

and cyclones in

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

(March 2008) and

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

(May 2008). In 2009 ''Aktion Deutschland Hilft'' was active for refugees in Sri Lanka (May), and victims of an earthquake in

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

in August and October as well as for people hit by the

2009 West Africa floods The 2009 West Africa floods are a natural disaster that began in June 2009 as a consequence of exceptionally heavy seasonal rainfall in large areas of West Africa. Several rivers, including the Pendjari, Niger, Volta and Senegal rivers, broke ...

. In 2010 there was action for

2010 Haiti earthquake A catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake struck Haiti at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. The epicenter was near the town of Léogâne, Ouest department, approximately west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's c ...

, the

2010 Chile earthquake The 2010 Chile earthquake and tsunami ( es, Terremoto del 27F) occurred off the coast of central Chile on Saturday, 27 February at 03:34 local time (06:34 UTC), having a magnitude of 8.8 on the moment magnitude scale, with intense shaking l ...

and the

2010 Pakistan floods The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and, Balochistan regions of Pakistan, which affected the Indus River basin. Approximately one-fifth of Pakistan's tot ...

. In 2011 the alliance took action for the victims of

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six mi ...

and the

2011 East Africa drought Occurring between July 2011 and mid-2012, a severe drought affected the entire East African region. > Said to be "the worst in 60 years", the drought caused a severe food crisis across Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Kenya that threatened the li ...

. In 2012 the alliance was busy with the

2012 Sahel drought 2012 had a very severe drought in the Sahel, the semiarid region of Africa that lies between the Sahara and the savannas. Countries included in this region are Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, and Eritrea. D ...

and Refugees of the Syrian Civil War. The year 2013 was dominated by

2013 European floods Extreme flooding in Central Europe began after several days of heavy rain in late May and early June 2013. Flooding and damages primarily affected south and east German states (Thuringia, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Lower Saxony, Bavaria and Baden-W� ...

, the

2013 North India floods In June 2013, a mid-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides, becoming the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. The rainfall received that month was far great ...

and

Typhoon Haiyan Typhoon Haiyan, known in the Philippines as Super Typhoon Yolanda, was one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded. On making landfall, Haiyan devastated portions of Southeast Asia, particularly the Philippines. It is one of the ...

on the Philippines.

Organization

Leadership

The patron of ADH is the former Federal President

Horst Köhler Horst Köhler (; born 22 February 1943) is a German politician who served as President of Germany from 2004 to 2010. As the candidate of the two Christian Democratic sister parties, the CDU (of which he is a member) and the CSU, as well as the ...

. ADH additionally has a board of trustees. These trustees get elected for three years by the general assembly. * Minister of State

Frank-Walter Steinmeier Frank-Walter Steinmeier (; born 5 January 1956) is a German politician serving as President of Germany since 19 March 2017. He was previously Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2005 to 2009 and again from 2013 to 2017, as well as Vice Chan ...

is heading the board of trustees. * Ruprecht Polenz, MoP for the CDU and spokesman of the foreign committee of the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Common ...

is vice-chairman. Further members of the board of trustees (As of December 2015)

Membership

In 2014 Aktion Deutschland Hilft had the following member-organizations: * action medeor * ADRA Deutschland *

Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland or ASB (English: Workers' Samaritan Foundation Germany) is a German charitable aid agency founded in 1888. History The industrial revolution of the 19th century led to a dramatic increase in accidents at work. Therefore, in 1877 the St. Jo ...

* AWO International * CARE Germany-Luxemburg * Habitat for Humanity * Help – Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe (help people to help themselves) *

Islamic Relief Islamic Relief Worldwide is a faith-inspired humanitarian and development agency which is working to support and empower the world’s most vulnerable people. Founded in the United Kingdom in 1984, Islamic Relief has international headquarter ...

Johanniter-Unfall-Hilfe ) , formation = 1952 , type = '' Eingetragener Verein'' , status = , purpose = Medical care, humanitarian relief, youth programmes , headquarters = Berlin , location = Germ ...

* Malteser Germany * Der Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband ** arche noVa ** Bundesverband Rettungshunde

Search and rescue dog A search-and-rescue dog is one trained to find missing people after a natural or man-made disaster. The dogs detect human scent and have been known to find people under water, under snow, and under collapsed buildings. Applications A dog ...

s ** DEMIRA Deutsche Minenräumer ** Friends of Waldorf Education ** Hammer Forum **

Handicap International Humanity & Inclusion (formerly Handicap InternationalOn January 24th 2018, the global Handicap International network changed its name and became Humanity & Inclusion. This was done "to communicate more effectively on the diversity of its activiti ...

** HelpAge Deutschland ** Kinderhilfswerk Global-Care (help for children) ** LandsAid ** Solidaritätsdienst International ** Terra Tech * World Vision Deutschland * Zentralwohlfahrtsstelle der Juden in Deutschland (Jewish helping organization) Membership is open to all charitable organizations located in Germany as long as they fulfill the membership criteria and keep its standards. Associated members of the ADH are the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft and the

People's Solidarity People's Solidarity (german: Volkssolidarität) is an organisation for elderly people in the new states of Germany, founded 1945. It was one of many important non-parliamentary mass organisations in the former socialist country, East Germany. T ...

Quality-standards in disaster-help

Member organisations are subjected to national and international accepted norms and agreements, for example: * Codex of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement * "Twelve basic rules of German humanitarian aid abroad" of the German government, * "

Sphere Project Sphere (formerly known as the Sphere Project) is a global movement started in 1997 aiming to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance. The Sphere standards are the most commonly used and most widely known set of core humanitarian standards. ...

" (Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response) * "NGDO-Charter", Basic Principles of Development and Humanitarian Aid

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...

in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. * "Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft" of

Transparency International Transparency International e.V. (TI) is a German registered association founded in 1993 by former employees of the World Bank. Based in Berlin, its nonprofit and non-governmental purpose is to take action to combat global corruption with civil ...

www.transparency.de
; retrieved, 27 February 2014 All financed projects are audited by external controllers.

Self-concept

Aktion Deutschland Hilft aims to get disaster relief quickly to the victims and tailored to the mission. In the disaster zone there is close cooperation between the organizations to guarantee maximum outcome.

Donations

The cooperation helps member organizations to reduce costs and to provide the maximum amount of donations direct into the projects. Common advertisement and one bank connection help to achieve this goal. The costs and incomes get split between the organizations. Additional to that a supportive membership of individuals is possible.

References

External links

Aktion Deutschland Hilft
{{Authority control Charities based in Germany Humanitarian aid organizations Medical and health organisations based in Bonn Organizations established in 2001