Strategy 2030, a new decade-long plan which sets out a roadmap to tackle the various humanitarian crises likely to emerge over the next 10 years, w
Strategy 2030, a new decade-long plan which sets out a roadmap to tackle the various humanitarian crises likely to emerge over the next 10 years, was laid out at the 22nd general assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in Geneva Friday.
Kerem Kınık, President of the Turkish Red Crescent, offered more details on the plans of Turkish Red Crescent for Strategy 2030, speaking to Daily Sabah.
Strategy 2030 comes as the product of two years of consultation with all 192 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and outlines the group’s strategic aims in three fields over the course of the next 10 years; namely, climate change, emergency crises and disasters, and health.
Kınık said the plan aims to help people anticipate, respond to and quickly recover from various crises, enable people to lead safe, healthy and dignified lives as part of inclusive and peaceful communities.
Climate change has reached a point at which it has started to trigger wars, he said, pointing to the mass migrations occurring across Africa and tensions in the Asia Pacific region.
Kınık said that one of the most pressing issues of Strategy 2030 regarded finding sustainable financing and seeking better financing for aid efforts.
In response, Kınık made a presentation to all 192 Red Cross and Red Crescent associations proposing a model similar to that of the Ottoman “waqf,” describing it as an exemplary solution for sustainable financing in humanitarian aid, as waqfs are formed with an income-generating model.
Turkey has a long-standing tradition of waqfs, charitable foundations, that date back to the Ottoman and Seljuq eras.
In the Ottoman era, waqf establishments acted as bridges between the public and the state. They took care of the people’s needs that the state could not. Waqfs were active in every field of life, from culture, to education and religious training, and even accommodation and providing food and water.
The Turkish Red Crescent has its own mineral water brand, real estate, portfolio management company, tent and shelter production facilities, hospitals and other businesses that financially support its aid efforts.
The companies of Turkey’s largest humanitarian organization have a combined revenue target of 1.36 billion Turkish liras ($235 million) for 2020.
The Turkish Red Crescent produces the world’s highest quality disaster tents and the United Nations is one of its clients, Kınık says. In 2019, the Turkish Red Crescent had a 5 billion Turkish lira budget ($865 million), which will be increased to 6.5 billion Turkish liras ($1.12 billion) in 2020. More than half of this budget consists of donations and funds.
Kınık says the organization receives funds from the U.N., EU, U.S., and other international foundations.
While the Turkish Red Crescent has internal audit mechanisms, the organization also hires external audit companies such as Deloitte and PwC, and is also audited by the European Court of Auditors, Kınık says.
Thanks to its financial resources, donations and strong organizational capacity, the Turkish Red Crescent was able to deliver humanitarian aid to more than 28 million people across 50 countries last year.
The types of aid the Turkish Red Crescent provides are extensive from delivering life-saving blood donations to giving financial aid to low-income families.
“In almost all international meetings, Turkey is being recognized as the most generous donor of humanitarian aid in the world, the one sheltering the largest number of refugees. We, as the Turkish Red Crescent, are also supporting this humanitarian stance,” Kınık said.