Focus Humanitarian Assistance is an international group of agencies established in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;; ...

to complement the provision of emergency relief, principally in the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...

. It helps people in need reduce their dependence on

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and v ...

and facilitates their transition to sustainable self-reliant, long-term development. Focus Humanitarian Assistance is affiliated with the

Aga Khan Development Network The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a network of private, non-denominational (de jure) development agencies founded by the Aga Khan that work primarily in the poorest parts of Asia and Africa. Aga Khan IV succeeded to the office of the 49t ...

, a group of institutions working to improve opportunities and living conditions, for people of all faiths and origins, in specific regions of the developing world. Underlying the establishment of FOCUS by the Ismaili Muslim community is a history of successful initiatives to assist people struck by natural and man-made disasters in South and Central Asia, and Africa.

Disaster relief

Where FOCUS can harness organisational and volunteer capacity, it provides relief and support services to communities affected by natural and man-made disasters. Engaging its volunteer network to assist in distribution operations, FOCUS provides relief items which, in the past, have ranged from emergency food, temporary shelter, clothing and blankets as well as other basic household items. FOCUS seeks to enable relief by assessing and responding to the immediate needs of those affected by disaster; creating disaster resilience by identifying natural hazards and training professionals and volunteers to address them; and helping displaced persons maintain their dignity as they resettle and gradually become self-reliant. FOCUS India, in collaboration with RAPID UK, an international search and rescue organisation, has trained national level Search & Rescue Team, to carry out surface rescue operations. It also has a national level Disaster Assessment & Response Team to carry out post-disaster needs assessment and to identify short and long term relief and rehabilitation needs of disaster victims.

Disaster resilience

FOCUS's Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction programmes aim to enhance a community's capacity to live safely within the local environment. FOCUS's risk reduction approach incorporates participatory Hazard Vulnerability Capacity Risk Assessment and disaster planning. This scientific method of quantitative risk analysis has inspired various communities to address their risk in a planned way. Basic disaster risk management skills are demonstrated to community and village centres, schools, hostels and hospitals.

FOCUS Challenge events – Hike4Life / Bike4Life

FOCUS organise an annual challenge event called Hike4Life / Bike4Life. The list of previous events is as follows: *2002 Bike4Life –

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

*2003 Hike4Life –

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

*2005 Hike4Life – India *2006 Hike4Life –

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Afric ...

*2007 Hike4Life –

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

*2008 Bike4Life – India *2009 Hike4Life –

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The ...

*2010 Bike4Life –

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

*2011 Hike4Life –

*2013 – Walk for Life

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the secon ...

*2014– Walk for Life

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per ...

Key interventions

2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict The 2006 Lebanon War, also called the 2006 Israel–Hezbollah War and known in Lebanon as the July War ( ar, حرب تموز, ''Ḥarb Tammūz'') and in Israel as the Second Lebanon War ( he, מלחמת לבנון השנייה, ''Milhemet Leva ...

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 ...

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 ...

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern ...

War in Afghanistan (2001–present) War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: * Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see ...

References

External links

* * * *
Focus Humanitarian Assistance(AKDN)
{{Authority control Aga Khan Development Network Disaster preparedness Humanitarian aid organizations Hunger relief organizations