National Society Investment Alliance announces grants to 14 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies

Following a rigorous review process, the National Society Investment Alliance (NSIA) has allocated approximately 3.1 million Swiss francs in 2025 to support the sustainable development of 14 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies operating in complex emergencies, protracted crises, and fragile contexts.A joint pooled fund of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the NSIA provides flexible, multi-year funding to support the sustainable development of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies that carry out critical humanitarian work under extremely challenging environments.The NSIA awards grants in two key funding categories: It can allocate up to 750,000 Swiss francs of “accelerator”funding to National Societies over a maximum of five years, and it also awards “bridge grants” of up to 50,000 Swiss francs over 12 months that aim to help National Societies lay the ground for future investment from the NSIA or from other National Society Development (NSD) initiatives.In 2025, the NSIA Office received 32 eligible proposals, 17 for accelerator funding and 15 for bridge grants. The National Societies selected for accelerator funding in 2025 are the following:Colombian Red Cross SocietyJordan National Red Crescent SocietyPakistan Red CrescentSalvadorean Red Cross SocietySomali Red Crescent SocietySouth Sudan Red CrossThese National Societies will receive strategic funding to support their journey toward long-term organizational sustainability and impact. All six National Societies have previously received NSIA grants.The Colombian Red Cross Society will strengthen institutional efficiency and humanitarian impact through a national digital management system, unifying data and governance tools to enhance transparency, coordination, accountability and donor confidence.The Jordan National Red Crescent Society will expand its Commercial First Aid services by establishing a new training center, generating sustainable income while empowering communities, especially refugees, women, and youth, to prepare for and respond to emergencies.The Pakistan Red Crescent Society will expand equitable access to safe blood and diagnostic services by upgrading laboratories and launching new mobile units, ultimately improving healthcare access for underserved communities.The Salvadorean Red Cross Society will establish a new clinical laboratory and imaging center, translating prior NSIA support into a self-sustaining health service that expands access to affordable diagnostics and reinforces the Society’s financial autonomy.The South Sudan Red Cross will drive its digital transformation by deploying new management systems, training staff and volunteers, and strengthening ICT infrastructure to enhance efficiency, accountability, and readiness in humanitarian response.Bridge grants awarded to eight National SocietiesIn addition to the accelerator grants, the NSIA has awarded bridge grants to eight National Societies: Belize Red Cross Society, Bolivian Red Cross, Guatemalan Red Cross, Honduran Red Cross, Lesotho Red Cross Society, Tanzania Red Cross-National Society, Timor-Leste Red Cross Society, Venezuelan Red Cross.2025 bridge initiatives continue to strengthen the foundations of National Societies and setting the stage for larger investments, by improving financial sustainability, governance, and institutional systems.Several initiatives, such as in Venezuela, Bolivia, Lesotho and Guatemala, will focus on restoring operational capacity and developing comprehensive resource mobilization strategies to ensure long-term income generation and donor confidence.Others, such as Timor-Leste and Honduras, plan modernization of commercial first aid services and human resource systems, improving efficiency and transparency, as well as financial sustainability.The Belize Red Cross is redefining its strategic direction through a new strategy and business plan, while Tanzania Red Cross is investing in social enterprise models and education structures to enhance financial resilience and youth engagement.Collectively, these initiatives reinforce the institutional backbone of National Societies and prepare them for future strategic investments, enabling more sustainable, accountable, and locally led humanitarian action.The NSIA continues to be a vital instrument for enabling National Societies to strengthen their sustainable institutions and deliver effective locally led humanitarian action, when humanitarian needs are increasing and funding dropping.As highlighted in the NSIA Annual Report 2024, emerging impacts show that well-targeted investments, even small ones, can generate significant returns, for example, improving governance, financial sustainability, and humanitarian service delivery across crisis and fragile and protracted contexts.Ultimately, NSIA investments offer a transformative opportunity to National Societies operating in the most complex contexts to advance their strategic priorities, strengthen institutions and eventually contributing to more resilient communities, and lasting humanitarian impact.For more information, please click here to visit the NSIA webpage.

Indonesia-Timor Leste: Race to contain COVID-19 after deadly floods

Kuala Lumpur/Jakarta/Dili, 13 April 2021 –Urgent measures are needed to prevent COVID-19 outbreaks, while providing relief to thousands of people hit by record floods and mudslides that have claimed more than 200 lives, according to authorities in eastern Indonesia and Timor Leste. Timor Leste is in the grip of a new wave of COVID-19 infections after a year of keeping the virus under control. The official number of cases has surged ten-fold from just over 100 to almost 1,000 in the past month, threatening the country’s fragile health system. More than 33,000 people have been directly affected by floods and landslides described by authorities as the worst to hit Timor Leste and parts of eastern Indonesia in more than 40 years. President of Timor-Leste Red Cross, Madalena da Costa Hanjan Soares, said: “It’s heartbreaking to see people making a choice between having a safe shelter, adequate food and water, or trying to avoid the spread of this deadly COVID-19 virus. “Our Timor Leste Red Cross volunteers have been specially trained and they’re doing everything possible to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. This is a race against time. The longer people have to stay in these temporary shelters, the higher the risk of a mass outbreak.” Red Cross rescue teams in Timor Leste and Indonesia have been searching for survivors, evacuating people to safety, and distributing relief including food, blankets, tarpaulins, clothing and hygiene supplies. Efforts have been ramped up to provide safe water for drinking and hygiene, to help prevent disease outbreaks. Indonesia is the second-worst affected country in Asia, with more than 1.5 million cases of COVID-19 recorded and more than 4,000 new infections a day. The Secretary General of Indonesian Red Cross, Sudirman Said, said: “The loss of life has been tragic and comes as a brutal blow to families already exhausted and overwhelmed by this COVID-19 pandemic. Our teams are working all hours to search for survivors, providing critical food, water and other relief while keeping people safe.” Jan Gelfand, Head of the Indonesia and Timor Leste Delegation, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said: “COVID-19 is stretching the health systems in Indonesia and Timor Leste to breaking point. Further COVID-19 outbreaks or other deadly diseases, such as cholera, dysentery and dengue fever, could push them over the edge. “In many parts of the world, clean water, soap and face masks may seem like small things but if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it’s that they save many lives. Every effort must be made to race these essentials to people so they can be protected after surviving these deadly floods.”

Empress Shôken fund 100th distribution announcement

The Empress Shôken Fund is named after Her Majesty the Empress of Japan, who proposed – at the 9th International Conference of the Red Cross – the creation of an international fund to promote relief work in peacetime. It is administered by the Joint Commission of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which maintains close contact with the Japanese Permanent Mission in Geneva, the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Meiji Jingu Research Institute in Japan. The Fund has a total value of over 16 million Swiss francs and supports projects run by National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to benefit their communities in various ways. The first grant was awarded in 1921, to help five European National Societies fight the spread of tuberculosis. Since then, 169 National Societies have received 14 million Swiss francs. To mark the Fund’s 100th year of awarding grants, a short video was developed to highlight what the Fund stands for and showcase how it has supported National Societies through the years. The imperial family, the Japanese government, the Japanese Red Cross and the Japanese people revere the memory of Her Majesty Empress Shôken, and their enduring regard for the Fund is evident in the regularity of their contributions to it. The grants are usually announced every year on 11 April, the anniversary of her death. This year the announcement is being published earlier due to the weekend. The selection process The Fund received 28 applications in 2021 covering a diverse range of humanitarian projects run by National Societies in every region of the world. This year the Joint Commission agreed to allocate a total of 475,997 Swiss francs to 16 projects in Argentina, the Bahamas, Benin, Costa Rica, Estonia, Georgia, Iran, Kenya, Malawi, Nicaragua, Pakistan, the Philippines, Romania, South Sudan, Timor-Leste and Viet Nam. The projects to be supported in 2021 cover a number of themes, including youth engagement, disaster preparedness, National Society development and health, especially the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. The Fund continues to encourage new and innovative approaches with the potential to generate insights that will benefit the Movement as a whole. The 2021 grants The Argentine Red Cross is taking an innovative approach to talent management using new technologies. It will use the grant to develop a talent-management module to be implemented in 65 branches, enabling the National Society to attract and retain employees and volunteers. The Bahamas Red Cross Society will put the grant towards building staff and volunteers’ capacities and expanding its network on five islands, with a view to implementing community- and ecosystem-based approaches to reducing disaster risk and increasing climate resilience. The Red Cross of Benin seek to help vulnerable women become more autonomous. The grant will support them in developing income-generating activities and building their professional skills. The Costa Rica Red Cross will use the grant to enable communities in the remote Cabécar and Bribri indigenous territories to better manage emergencies, holding workshops on first aid, risk prevention and emergency health care in connection with climate events and health emergencies, including COVID-19. The Estonia Red Cross is working to build competencies in four key areas, including in recruiting, training and retaining volunteers. The funds will support the development of a volunteer database to help effectively manage information, especially against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. With widespread COVID-19 transmission in Georgia, the Georgia Red Cross Society is working to help national authorities limit the impact of the pandemic. It will put the grant towards promoting good hygiene and raising awareness of the importance of vaccination. The Red Crescent Society of Islamic Republic of Iran is focused on building local capacity with youth volunteers by boosting small businesses in outreach areas. The grant will be used for training, capacity-building and development in local partner institutions, generating income for community members. The COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have affected how the Kenya Red Cross Society does its humanitarian work. The grant will be used to launch an online volunteer platform to encourage and facilitate youth volunteering. The Malawi Red Cross Society must be ready to respond to disasters due to climate variability and climate change. The funds will allow the National Society to establish a pool of trained emergency responders who can swing into action within 72 hours of a disaster. The Nicaraguan Red Cross is working to protect the elderly from COVID-19. The grant will be used in three care homes located in the municipalities of Somoto, Sébaco and Jinotepe to provide medical assistance, prevent and control infections, and promote mental health as a basic element of self-care through training and support sessions and other activities. The Pakistan Red Crescent seeks to improve how it manages blood donations. The funds will enable the National Society to increase the capacity of its blood donor centre and raise awareness of voluntary unpaid blood donation by holding World Blood Donor Day in 2021. The Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) for All project of the Philippine Red Cross aims to develop WASH guidelines and promote them in the community. The grant will be used for training and capacity-building around providing health services in emergencies. In Romania, teenagers in residential centres are vulnerable to sexual and gender-based violence for a number of reasons, including a lack of both psychosocial education and staff trained in dealing with this kind of violence through trauma-informed care. The grant will enable the Red Cross of Romania to reduce the vulnerability of 60 teenagers in residential centres by increasing knowledge and aiding the development of safe relationships. The South Sudan Red Cross is working to encourage young people to adapt to climate change by planting fruit trees. The grant will support this initiative, which aims to reduce the impact of climate change and increase food production. In 2020 the Timor-Leste Red Cross launched an education programme aimed at increasing young people’s knowledge about reproductive health. The funds will be used to expand the programme – already active in five of the National Society’s branches – to the remaining eight branches. The Viet Nam Red Cross aims to further engage with authorities and become more self-sufficient through fundraising. It will use the grant to build its personnel’s capacities by providing training courses on proposal writing, project management and social welfare.

Timor-Leste Red Cross Society

Timor-Leste COVID-19 threats: Red Cross prioritizes border areas

Dili, Timor-Leste, August 17, 2020 – Timor-Leste Red Cross (CVTL) is urgently ramping up COVID-19 prevention in remote areas bordering Indonesia as the country’s containment success is threatened after its first new case has been reported in more than three months. While Indonesia has recorded more than 125,000 cases, recently rising by over 2000 each day, Timor-Leste has achieved remarkable success, recording only 24 cases in the country in total and remaining COVID free since late April. Late last week an Indonesian national tested positive to the virus after entering Timor-Leste via a land border with Indonesia. Timor-Leste’s government responded quickly, declaring a new state of emergency, tightening border restrictions, and reinstating stricter health protocols and bans on gatherings. Red Cross has further intensified its prevention campaign in the border regions, regarded as the “red zone”, for the transmission of COVID-19. Since the outset of the pandemic, Timor-Leste Red Cross has prioritized this area and its 35 villages and 140 hamlets due to the porous border that allows people to move illegally between the neighboring countries. Secretary General of Timor-Leste Red Cross, Anacleto Bento Ferreira, said: “Timor-Leste Red Cross volunteers are reaching out to communities with important hygiene information and awareness raising activities to contain the virus. In disease outbreaks, engaging with and providing timely information to the most exposed communities is the best way to help people protect themselves.” “Known and trusted in the area, our volunteers are best equipped to reach these remote villages and hamlets, going door to door or sharing information at strategic places like markets and village centres. Where possible, we amplify this through radio messages and social media.” In addition to the educational campaign, Red Cross has worked with the Ministry of Health to establish quarantine tents in the capital Dili and the border stations between Indonesia and Timor-Leste. With hygiene a priority, Red Cross has also established more than 80 hand washing facilities in key areas such as government offices, schools and churches and is now working urgently to establish another 80 in border areas. Jan Gelfand, Head of IFRC’s Country Cluster Support Team for Indonesia and Timor-Leste, said: “Timor-Leste is one of the few countries in the world that succeeded in containing COVID-19, responding quickly and effectively in dealing with the pandemic at the outset. With the detection of a new case it is important that every effort is made to contain the transmission of COVID-19.” “Given that Timor-Leste is a relatively new country, COVID-19 has the potential to place a great deal of pressure on the country’s fragile health care system particularly in remote areas. With its reach down to the village level, CVTL has an important role to play in this effort.” About IFRC IFRC is the world’s largest humanitarian network, comprising 192 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies working to save lives and promote dignity around the world. www.ifrc.org-Facebook-Twitter-YouTube

Empress Shôken Fund announces grants for 2020

The Fund The Empress Shôken Fund is named after Her Majesty the Empress of Japan, who proposed – at the 9th International Conference of the Red Cross – the creation of an international fund to promote relief work in peacetime. It is administered by the Joint Commission of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, which maintains close contact with the Japanese Permanent Mission in Geneva, the Japanese Red Cross Society and the Meiji Jingu Research Institute in Japan. The Fund has a total value of over 16 million Swiss francs and supports projects run by National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to benefit their communities in various ways. The first grant was awarded in 1921, to help five European National Societies fight the spread of tuberculosis. The Fund has assisted more than 160 National Societies thus far. The imperial family, the Japanese government, the Japanese Red Cross and the Japanese people revere the memory of Her Majesty Empress Shôken, and their enduring regard for the Fund is shown by the regularity of their contributions to it. The grants are usually announced every year on 11 April, the anniversary of her death. This year the announcement is being published earlier owing to the Easter holidays. The selection process The Empress Shôken Fund received 36 applications in 2020, covering a diverse range of humanitarian projects run by National Societies in every region of the world. This year the Joint Commission agreed to allocate a total of 400,160 Swiss francs to 14 projects in Argentina, Bulgaria, Greece, Iraq, Lithuania, Montenegro, Namibia, Palestine, Panama, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda. The projects to be supported in 2020 cover a number of themes, including first aid, youth engagement and disaster preparedness. Moreover, nearly all of the selected projects seek to strengthen the volunteer base of National Societies, with a view to building on the unique role played by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in communities everywhere. The Fund encourages new and innovative approaches that are geared towards learning, so that the broader Movement can benefit from project findings. The 2020 grants TheArgentine Red Crosshas launched a generational change in its leadership by promoting volunteers’ access to decision-making bodies. It will use the grant to design and build virtual courses, creating new spaces for dialogue and debate. For years, the Bulgarian Red Cross has been a major partner of the State in the field of first aid, helping it to respond effectively in a crisis. The National Society will use the grant to reinforce its leadership position by introducing an online first-aid training platform that will facilitate theoretical learning and increase the number of trained first-aiders. The Hellenic Red Cross seeks to empower local communities in vulnerable or isolated areas. The grant will go towards establishing branch and community disaster teams that will build communities’ resilience through activities and training around disaster risk reduction. In Iraq, late detection of breast cancer is common and makes the disease much deadlier. To save women’s lives, theIraqi Red Crescent Societywill use the grant to train female volunteers who will raise awareness of early detection methods for breast cancer. The Lithuanian Red Cross will put the grant towards an innovative digital platform for evaluating the impact of its first-aid courses, issuing and tracking certifications, and connecting with first-aiders after they complete their training. Young people account for more than 80% of the volunteers of the Red Cross of Montenegro. The National Society will use the grant to improve its activities and services with the aim of strengthening youth participation and raising awareness of volunteer opportunities. As Namibia’s population grows, first-aid skills and services are more in demand than ever before. The grant will enable the Namibia Red Cross to run intensive first-aid training and certification courses in ten schools. To better serve the communities it works with, thePalestine Red Crescent Society seeks to build its staff members’ and volunteers’ capacities. It will use the grant to establish a computer lab as a continuing-education unit for all of its staff and volunteers. In Panama, gang violence has shot up in recent years, and pollution continues to grow owing to a lack of public awareness. The Red Cross Society of Panama will use the grant to develop a series of activities aimed at promoting a culture of peace and environmental responsibility. Blood transfusion services are an essential component of Sierra Leone’s health-care system. The grant will enable the Sierra Leone Red Cross Society to increase access to safe blood products, especially for pregnant woman and infants. In Timor-Leste, 70% of the population is under 30 years old, but accessing information about reproductive health can be difficult, particularly in rural areas. The Timor Leste Red Cross will use the grant for a public-awareness and education campaign for young people on reproductive health. The Tonga Red Cross Society will use the grant to improve students' access to health care and physical activity by using safer vehicles for transportation. The Trinidad and Tobago Red Cross Society is exploring novel approaches to teaching disaster preparedness and increasing public awareness on the subject. The grant will enable the National Society to use virtual-reality technology to teach the public about the reality and impact of disasters. In Uganda, 70% of blood donors are students, so the country faces blood shortages outside term time. The Uganda Red Cross Society will use the grant to develop its online recruitment of adult blood donors so as to counteract any seasonal shortfalls during the holidays.