tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83446209944800340312012-02-16T20:45:49.509-08:00CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.comBlogger211100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-51429692199520239812011-07-11T10:53:00.000-07:002011-07-11T10:53:49.214-07:00

Press release Horn of Africa food crisis: CARE launches US$25 million appeal Emergency response to reach 1.8 million people Geneva, July 11, 2011 – CARE International, one of the world’s leading aid agencies, has launched an emergency appeal for US$25 million to provide food, water and emergency relief to people affected by the drought in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya. CARE is already providing

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-60108986822999465552011-06-06T06:58:00.000-07:002011-06-06T06:58:01.038-07:00

CARE staff and partners in Japan have been busy in the three months since the devastating earthquake and tsunami - some highlights of our response below....  More details will be forthcoming this week at http://care.ca. TOTAL: 1,960 Beneficiaries CARE’s Feeding Programme and food distributions reached almost 2,000 beneficiaries on a regular basis. CARE provided hot and nutritiously balanced

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-75876796243848314572011-05-19T13:12:00.000-07:002011-05-19T13:12:05.248-07:00

CARE Ethiopia is currently responding to the drought and food insecurity emergency in the regions of Afar and Oromia (Borena, East and West Hararghe), which are the most affected areas in the country. The on-going humanitarian interventions focus on food aid; on water and sanitation such as water trucking, distribution of water treatment chemicals and water points rehabilitation, hygiene

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-89780865020023644452011-05-05T06:26:00.000-07:002011-05-05T06:26:45.568-07:00

Our CARE staff in Cote d'Ivoire are reporting that security is improving despite pockets of resistance and instability in the West and in Abidjan (Yopougon). Banks are re-opening, so salary payments to civil servants has resumed in Abidjan and in other cities. The CARE rapid assessment in the West revealed urgent needs in shelter, hygiene kits and early recovery supports for returnees and

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-74105683745338302942011-04-14T07:49:00.000-07:002011-04-14T07:49:10.092-07:00

Our staff in Côte d'Ivoire are sharing developments with us as events unfold. On April 11th Ouattara delivered a speech on TV calling for peace and reconciliation and asked Gbogbo’s forces and militias to stop fighting and looting. The Police and Gendarmerie called on their teams to resume work, and Prime Minister Soro also called all youths to end the fighting. Ouattara mentioned that Gbagbo

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-63859930712540793432011-03-25T07:03:00.000-07:002011-03-25T07:03:07.452-07:00

I was asked to address the Group of 78 in Ottawa this week, with my thoughts on how CARE manages to deliver humanitarian assistance in countries riven by conflict, with a specific focus on Afghanistan and Pakistan.  My speaking notes are reproduced here.... Delivering Assistance Amid Conflict             This is a very timely subject, not just for Afghanistan and Pakistan.  As I was preparing

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-9928049178464981402011-03-01T13:56:00.000-08:002011-03-01T13:58:04.748-08:00

Dear Friends, This year, I am not climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro (though 17 others are taking the Climb for CARE Challenge this year - http://climbforcare.ca/ for details). What I am going to try to do may be even harder, in practice if not in theory!  CARE has launched the Walk in Her Shoes Challenge, where our staff, volunteers, donors, friend etc., are all trying

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-58515571115951039862011-02-25T06:40:00.000-08:002011-02-25T06:40:13.166-08:00

I spent a year in southern Mali, and visited Cote D'Ivoire at the time (late 80s!).  CARE has been engaged as this crisis unfolds and changes for the past few years. Refugees into Liberia is a relatively recent development, and continues to cause us great concern.  Below is the most recent report from our office in Liberia...  Kevin Aid urgently needed to Ivorian refugees in Liberia Monrovia,

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-68669363963470659042011-02-24T12:40:00.000-08:002011-02-24T12:40:57.710-08:00

CARE’s staff in Egypt are monitoring the situation closely and our emergency team is prepared to respond if needed. At the moment, there is limited information on the humanitarian needs in Libya. Initial information indicates that those crossing the borders into Egypt are mostly Egyptian and are transported quickly into the country to their towns and villages.  For the moment the Egyptian

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-4423538927794698482011-02-24T11:00:00.000-08:002011-02-24T11:00:28.807-08:00

When I started this blog, I intended it to be a travelogue, with a record of my field trips to CARE program areas around the world.  I intend to keep that feature alive, but there is so much going on of interest beyond my travels that I am now trying to keep the blog fresh by adding updates from my colleagues.  Today's posting comes from Sudan, where the repercussions of the recent independence

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-49641634414206566982011-02-22T07:50:00.000-08:002011-02-22T07:50:21.347-08:00

My colleagues in Sri Lanka have been sending in regular reports about the incredible flooding they have been witnessing in the north and east of the country.  Here are some of their comments: ·         Thousands have returned to their villages only to find their homes either fully destroyed or damaged·         40 per cent of the national rice harvest has been lost to the two waves of floods ·

CARE Canadahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00495731256047421893noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-63356284638422308862009-11-10T05:31:00.000-08:002009-11-10T05:33:35.380-08:00

The only problem with these field trips is that they keep us so busy there isn't time to write about them until they are over. Even finding a few minutes to twitter (@KevinMcCort) during the trip was a challenge, though I must admit part of the trouble with twittering is that it I still find it a bit rude to break away from a conversation or presentation to post a note about the very people I'm

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-77889782607638969592009-11-03T07:48:00.000-08:002009-11-03T07:49:26.348-08:00

October was an extremely busy month for me at CARE Canada. I spent a lot of time out of the office and in Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Atlanta and Ottawa visiting donors, Board members, partner agencies etc., talking about CARE's work and drumming up support. So while my upcoming trip to Vietnam to see CARE's work in the field meant more time 'out-of-the-office" it is a different kind of

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-23993636519050508012009-07-15T07:43:00.000-07:002009-07-15T08:00:57.352-07:00

I have visited many small dams / garden projects in Africa over the past 20+ years, the very first ones I was involved with were in Mali. The local Peace Corps volunteers were helping rural communities near Kadiolo survey their watersheds and place small earthen dams in places where rain-water run-off would be captured and held to irrigate down-stream crops. And of course, this technology goes

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-37365500920442725542009-07-14T09:36:00.000-07:002009-07-14T09:50:19.553-07:00

I’ve been home from Zimbabwe for a couple of weeks now, and had wanted to get these last few postings up earlier. Unfortunately, I brought back a little passenger with me from Zimbabwe in the form of rickettsiosis, otherwise known as African tick-bite fever! This knocked me on my back for the better part of a week, but is easily treatable with antibiotics (at least here in Canada).Anyway, back to

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-26433026817329636902009-06-30T05:39:00.000-07:002009-06-30T05:44:48.533-07:00

The cholera epidemic that hit Zimbabwe last November/December is the result of one decade of decline: decline in infrastructure, in the maintenance of wells, clinics, latrines and everything that keeps a population healthy. The epidemic peaked in January/February of this year with over 100,000 cases of cholera and at least 4000 deaths. Cholera tends to happen more in poor communities because the

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-4769012145970949182009-06-29T06:22:00.000-07:002009-06-29T06:34:00.095-07:00

The first time I came to Zimbabwe was in 1990, when I was working for World University Service of Canada, an organization that posted teachers all over the country and invested in teacher training. I spent most of the 90s in sub-Saharan Africa: in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mali. This is the first real chance I have had since the 1990s to spend time in rural Zimbabwe. The last time I was in the

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-8510989377531457822009-06-24T12:15:00.000-07:002009-06-24T12:16:54.241-07:00

Have been in Zimbabwe for a few days now. Internet connections slow and unreliable. I'll post more about my experiences here when I can.

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-81639523017966973322009-06-21T08:26:00.000-07:002009-06-30T05:45:43.965-07:00

The visit with Opportunity Kenya was a nice way to end our Kenya trip because it represented a positive progression. We went from the Dadaab refugee camps to the informal settlement of Kibera (often referred to as the largest ‘slum’ in sub-Saharan Africa) and finally to the Machako bus stop, a micro-enterprise hub on the outskirts of Nairobi.To me this progression represents CARE’s ability to

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-91123159148501432352009-06-18T13:46:00.000-07:002009-06-18T13:50:34.418-07:00

Often, when people talk about Kibera, they use superlatives: this is the ‘largest slum in Africa’, there are ‘more than 1 million people’ living here, 20 percent of HIV positive people live in Kibera, etc. Big statements are always made about Kibera. Because CARE actually works here, I got the opportunity to go beyond the superlatives and to meet the individuals and people who live in this part

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8344620994480034031.post-44341724217079462622009-06-17T13:41:00.000-07:002009-06-18T13:51:25.818-07:00

The last time I visited the Dadaab refugee camps was back in 1993 when CARE was establishing them. These were the early days of the Somalia crisis. The camps at the time were thought of as temporary structures. Part of that temporary mentality was truly visible. The message was that people would not stay there very long. The official line was that but Somali refugees knew their situation was

Kieranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07764362734917283067noreply@blogger.com0