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Concern staff members in Trafalgar Square, London.Concern staff members in Trafalgar Square, London.Concern staff members in Trafalgar Square, London.

Our year in pictures

Our year in pictures
Story8 December 2022Lucy Bloxham

With so much going on, it's hard to remember whether something happened last week or last month. That's why we wanted to go back through 2022 in pictures - our year, one photograph at a time.

From responding to a number of emergencies across the globe to planting thousands of shoes in Trafalgar Square to the continued support of our amazing fundraisers and campaigners - 2022 has been a whirlwind! So let's take a step back and look at exactly what we've all been up to this year.

We responded to a number of emergencies

Ukraine crisis

People lie on the floor in metro station, Ukraine, sheltering from ongoing fighting.
People lie on the floor in metro station, Ukraine, sheltering from ongoing fighting.

On February 24 2022, the lives of millions of Ukrainians changed forever. Over the following months, more than 15 million people fled their homes. On March 3, the Disasters Emergency Committee launched an appeal for the crisis, with an incredible £400 million donated to date.

On March 15, we began a 12-month response helping Ukrainians who remained in the country with rent, food, hygiene and psychosocial support. We have delivered non-food item kits, including bed linens, pillows, blankets and kitchenware; hygiene kits including soap, washing powder and hand sanitiser; and baby hygiene kits including nappies, soap bars and baby wipes. We have also supported thousands of people through cash assistance distributions as well as providing cash to Civil Society Organisations to support conflict-affected individuals in their communities. 

Humanitarian aid supplies arriving at a warehouse ready for distribution as part of the Ukraine emergency response. Photo: Kieran McConville/Concern Worldwide
Humanitarian aid supplies arriving at a warehouse ready for distribution as part of the Ukraine emergency response. Photo: Kieran McConville/Concern Worldwide
Food aid distribution in Ukraine
A food kit distribution in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. 1,100 people received food kits and hygiene products. Photo: PiN/Concern Worldwide
People loading trucks with supplies from the local sports hall in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania. Supplies are bound for Ukraine.
People loading trucks with supplies from the local sports hall in Sighetu Marmatiei, Romania. Supplies are bound for Ukraine.

Additionally, while many Ukrainians had places to go as they fled either their home or their country, many of the displaced did not have these connections. Part of this intervention included collective centres – a communal centre to offer accommodation and WASH facilities to IDPs (internally displaced persons), information centres, the provision of hot meals and providing psycho-social support.

Logistics Advisor, Deirdre Delaney on location in Western Ukraine as part Concern's emergency response in Ukraine. Photo: Kieran McConville/Concern Worldwide
Logistics Advisor, Deirdre Delaney on location in Western Ukraine as part Concern's emergency response in Ukraine. Photo: Kieran McConville/Concern Worldwide

Pakistan floods

14-year-old Aqib rescues people stranded in flood waters in Sindh, Pakistan.
14-year-old Aqib rescues people stranded in flood waters in Sindh, Pakistan. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide

During the summer of 2022, monsoon rains and flooding in Pakistan killed more than 1,000 people - including 207 women and 348 children. The country was experiencing three times its national 30-year average rainfall and the Pakistan Government declared a national emergency.

Approximately one million houses, 3,451km of roads and 149 bridges were damaged significantly by the floods and the population's access to essential goods and services was severely impeded. 

People going to their village to check the situation and to take out the things. Location near Sanjar Chang town in Sindh. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
People going to their village to check the situation and to take out the things. Location near Sanjar Chang town in Sindh. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
Displaced people wade through a flooded area in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since June, nearly 900 people have died by severe monsoon rains and floods in Pakistan, while thousands have been displaced and millions more affected. Thousands of people who live in areas under threat of flooding have been told to evacuate. Photo by Hussain Ali/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Displaced people wade through a flooded area in Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Since June, nearly 900 people have died by severe monsoon rains and floods in Pakistan, while thousands have been displaced and millions more affected. Thousands of people who live in areas under threat of flooding have been told to evacuate. Photo by Hussain Ali/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Manu on the spot where her home once stood. It was destroyed in the worst floods that Pakistan has experienced in decades.
Manu on the spot where her home once stood. It was destroyed in the worst floods that Pakistan has experienced in decades. Photo: Ingenious Captures/Concern Worldwide

We responded to the situation in Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab, offering cash assistance to enable extremely vulnerable families to buy critical items for daily use. Those affected used the cash to buy food, dry rations, tarpaulins and makeshift tents, as well as for essential medications and transportation where possible.

Aerial view of houses underwater in Jhuddo town of District Mirpurkhas of Sindh. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
Aerial view of houses underwater in Jhuddo town of District Mirpurkhas of Sindh. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
A woman filling a container with drinking water in Sindh after flooding devastated large parts of Pakistan.
A woman filling a container with drinking water in Sindh after flooding devastated large parts of Pakistan. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
A woman carries a handful of belongings as she wades across flooded land
A woman carries a handful of belongings as she wades across flooded land. Credit: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
Local boy, Aqib Aliin transports people on his curry frying pan across the flooded waters in Jhuddo town of District Mirpurkhas of Sindh. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide
Local boy, Aqib Aliin transports people on his curry frying pan across the flooded waters in Jhuddo town of District Mirpurkhas of Sindh. Photo: Emmanuel Guddo/Concern Worldwide

East Africa crisis

Cattle carcasses lie by the side of the road around 35km south of Garissa, in Tana River County. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
Cattle carcasses lie by the side of the road around 35km south of Garissa, in Tana River County. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide

Throughout the year, East Africa has been experiencing one of its most severe droughts in recent history. The situation remains dire, with over 23 million people facing dangerous levels of hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia, and 7 million people in South Sudan.

Most people in the region are reliant on the land and their animals to survive. This drought is destroying their livelihoods. Millions of people are leaving their homes and villages to find food, water and pasture. In the most desperate situations, families are selling their livestock to afford food for their children.

Cibaado with her daughter Foosiya inspects her field in Qaloocato in Odweine. Photo: Ed Ram/Concern Worldwide
Cibaado with her daughter Foosiya inspects her field in Qaloocato in Odweine. Photo: Ed Ram/Concern Worldwide
90-year-old pastoralist Lobakari Dida with his sons, Dakhaye village, Marsabit. Photo: Gavin Douglas/Concern Worldwide
90-year-old pastoralist Lobakari Dida with his sons, Dakhaye village, Marsabit. Photo: Gavin Douglas/Concern Worldwide
Women and children arrive at a health centre where their children will be screened for malnutrition and receive treatment, Sasame Dispensary, Kibish North in Kenya's Turkana province. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
Women and children arrive at a health centre where their children will be screened for malnutrition and receive treatment, Sasame Dispensary, Kibish North in Kenya's Turkana province. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide

It is estimated that one person is dying every 36 seconds from hunger in Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia and millions more are at risk of starvation. Famine is imminent in Somalia.

Molu Elema, 56, with his camels near North Horr in Marsabit. Photo: Ed Ram/Concern Worldwide
Molu Elema, 56, with his camels near North Horr in Marsabit. Photo: Ed Ram/Concern Worldwide
Naima* with her children outside their hut at in an IDP site in Somalia. Photo: Mustafa Saeed
Naima* with her children outside their hut at in an IDP site in Somalia. Photo: Mustafa Saeed

I witnessed the drought that killed so many in the Horn of Africa in 2011, but what I am seeing now is far worse.

Amina Abdulla - Concern’s Regional Director for the Horn of Africa

We are providing:

  • Emergency life-saving therapeutic food to severely malnourished children.
  • Cash transfers to families who have nothing left so they can buy the food they desperately need.
  • Medical support through our specialist teams in the 870 Health Centres across East Africa.

Moreover, the resilience of the communities we work with is astounding. 

Mumina Mohamed on irrigated plot of maize next to her home in Subo village. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
Mumina Mohamed on irrigated plot of maize next to her home in Subo village. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
A group of farmers winnow mung beans in Makere village in Tana River County. From left to right: Hadija Hassan (L in purple) and Jazaka Salimu (R in red). Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
A group of farmers winnow mung beans in Makere village in Tana River County. From left to right: Hadija Hassan (L in purple) and Jazaka Salimu (R in red). Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
Jazaka Salimu winnows mung beans in Makere village in Tana River County. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
Jazaka Salimu winnows mung beans in Makere village in Tana River County. Photo: Lisa Murray/Concern Worldwide
Hawa and her family had to leave their home and move to an IDP site near Mogadishu due to continuous drought. Hawa brought her malnourished daughter Sahra to Siinka Dheer Health Centre. Photo: Mustafa Saeed/Concern Worldwide
Hawa and her family had to leave their home and move to an IDP site near Mogadishu due to continuous drought. Hawa brought her malnourished daughter Sahra to Siinka Dheer Health Centre. Photo: Mustafa Saeed/Concern Worldwide

We filled Trafalgar square with thousands of shoes

Concern staff members in Trafalgar Square, London.
Concern staff members in Trafalgar Square, London.

On November 15 2022, Trafalgar Square was filled with thousands of shoes by a coalition of UK charities, including Concern, to stress the urgency of famine sweeping across East Africa.

Concern and other charity members used shoes to symbolize recent, stark figures which estimate that 2,400 people are dying of hunger every day in East Africa of Hunger. The aim was to urge Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to immediately fund humanitarian response in East Africa, to invest in anticipatory action to prevent further humanitarian catastrophe, and to protect overseas aid by ensuring adequate funding is reserved to be spent abroad. 

Shoes to symbolize recent stark figures which estimate that 2,400 people are dying of hunger every day in East Africa.
Shoes to symbolize recent stark figures which estimate that 2,400 people are dying of hunger every day in East Africa.

It was suggested that more than 55,000 people are likely to have died in East Africa in the 23 days between Rishi Sunak becoming PM and the Chancellor delivering his Autumn statement. (2). UK funding for the East African food crisis this year (£142million) is 82% less than in the last crisis in 2018 when the UK provided £861million.

The stunt was also attended by Conservative MP for Haltemprice and Howden David Davis.

Climate change became even more embedded into our work

We 'reimagined' some climate talks...

Ahead of COP27 we took the liberty of imagining the conversations that go on behind the closed doors of potential change-makers. Each COP brings with it more promises from world leaders, including our own from the UK. But we wondered whether these promises were actually going to be delivered, or if they were just lip service.

When COP27 came about, we warmly welcomed the landmark decision by global leaders to establish a loss and damage fund to support the world’s poorest countries who are experiencing the worst impact of climate change. However, this welcome has to be balanced against the fact that less progress was made at COP on other core issues such as climate adaptation funding and emissions reductions.

We asked the public what they thought about climate change...

Just three in ten people were confident that the UK government would meet their pledge to tackle climate change and limit its impacts in lower-income countries.

We spoke to some incredible women

Women of Concern were delighted to speak with Diane Chilangwa Farmer PhD, a trustee of Concern Worldwide UK. Dr Farmer holds a PhD in Gender and Work and is an expert on the impact of gender, race, and ethnicity on inclusion in the workforce.



We spoke to her about the importance of livelihood opportunities as one of the most effective ways for women to sustainably move out of extreme poverty and build a better life for themselves. 

We campaigned

Concern UK staff and other agencies at a petition hand-in in Westminster, London.
Concern UK staff and other agencies at a petition hand-in in Westminster, London.

We continued to push the UK government to keep its promise to ‘spare no effort’ in the east Africa hunger crisis. This year, we have:

  • Handed in a sector-wide petition with 35,000 signatures form the public, calling for action
  • Sent Prime Minister Liz Truss a letter signed by the CEOs of over twenty humanitarian organisations with recommendations on how to prevent catastrophic loss of life
  • Stood outside Westminster raising our voices even louder to ensure that the UK know we’re #HungryForAction

 

Concern UK staff at a petition hand-in in Westminster, London.
Concern UK staff at a petition hand-in in Westminster, London.

Our supporters have played a huge part in calling for the government to prioritise the most pressing crises both here and in the UK. Hunger and starvation is preventable and we we’ll be keeping up the pressure until we see real action.

Our fundraisers got creative!

Derry Group, and the Concert fundraiser they put together in aid of Ukraine.
Derry Group, and the Concert fundraiser they put together in aid of Ukraine.

A group of local musicians from Derry called the Magnificent Seven organised this wonderful concert in partnership with the Derry Group to support our Ukraine appeal. Overall they raised an incredible £10,000!

Armagh_Community_Choir_Patricia_McAllister
Armagh_Community_Choir_Patricia_McAllister

The Armagh Community Choir organised another fantastic concert in support of the Ukraine DEC appeal, raising a brilliant £1,520!

Derry Scalp Walk 2022
Derry Scalp Walk 2022

And the Derry Group completed their annual Scalp Mountain walk, raising £2,016 in support of Concern.

We ran the Ration Challenge (again!)

Rations including lentils, kidney beans, rice, oil, sardines and chickpeas
The ingredients inside the Ration Challenge box

In 2022, more than 2,600 of you signed up to take the Challenge!

Thank you to everyone that has supported us this year! We couldn't have done it without you. If you'd like to give again, please do.

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