UNIQUE THREE-WAY PARTNERSHIP IN EMERGENCY RELIEF AIMS TO HELP AFRICA HELP ITSELF
NAIROBI – June 15, 2011 – World Vision, Agility and Advance Aid are delighted to announce a three-way partnership that will enable African-produced emergency relief goods to be provided to assist in African emergencies – a first of its kind.
This partnership will begin to reverse a trend whereby all emergency relief goods have been sent to Africa from the Far East, sometimes even from Europe and North America. The 5,000 Emergency Kits that Advance Aid is supplying to World Vision today are 100% locally-purchased and more than 80% African-manufactured. The partners believe that this is the first time that a largely African kit has been supplied for use in African emergencies.
Advance Aid has worked with a number of Kenyan manufacturers to source the goods for the Emergency Kits. Each Kit provides the basics that help a family of five to survive once they have lost everything in a natural or man-made disaster and contains plastic sheeting, blankets, a mosquito net, a kitchen set, two buckets and a hygiene kit.
Logistics and warehousing services are being provided for the initiative by Agility, a leading global logistics provider, through its warehouses in Nairobi and Mombasa. Agility will also be working with World Vision Kenya to distribute the emergency kits – in forty-foot containers provided by Advance Aid – to World Vision offices across the country where they will be stored to be ready for use in the event of emergencies striking.
“We are delighted to be able to work with World Vision and Agility on this initiative,” says David Dickie, Chief Executive of Advance Aid. “They have both shown great vision in backing this idea and helping it come to life. We are also grateful to the local manufacturers who have helped us make this possible and have seen both the value of the initiative for Africa and the opportunity that it presents to them to get back into a market that has largely moved to South East Asia. Africans should be getting the full development benefit of the huge sums of money that are spent here on emergencies. This development benefit should be bringing jobs and wealth to Africa, not just imports.”
Nicholas Wasunna, Senior Advisor, World Vision Kenya adds, “As the frequency of emergencies increases, there is an urgent need to ensure that life saving humanitarian assistance is able to reach the most affected populations as soon as possible so as to uphold the humanitarian imperative of saving lives. World Vision is committed to remaining responsive to emergency needs and through this exciting partnership with Advance Aid and Agility we have together developed a solution that best addresses the immediate needs of vulnerable children and communities across Kenya”.
“Agility is pleased to partner with Advance Aid and World Vision in this new model of relief aid procurement and distribution. The partnership fits in well with Agility’s vision of Corporate Social Responsibility and our commitment to contribute to positive change in the East African countries that we work in.” says Dev Bij, Agility’s CEO for East Africa. “Partnering in a project of this nature that largely depends on an effective supply chain solution is synonymous to our business and we are delighted to contribute our skills, knowledge, resources and local expertise. Building of local capacity and the high level of local content in this relief aid model coupled with the benefits of pre-positioning are also key factors attributed to Agility’s participation in this project.”
