Mercy Corps Impact Report 2017
Together, we rise
Every day, people around the world step up to daunting challenges. Mothers walk miles to find food for their children. Refugees flee conflict, determined to create new lives in unfamiliar places. Families work together to rebuild after disaster.
With your support, Mercy Corps is there to help people rise above crisis and emerge stronger.
In more than 40 countries, we connect people with opportunities to break through and lead the way forward for their families and their communities.
Because of you, we’re helping families around the world fight hunger, escape violent conflict, recover from disaster and build brighter futures. Below, meet a few of the people who see new possibilities for a better life because of your generosity.
In the face of famine, we’re helping people push beyond survival to a brighter future
Overcoming a crisis demands big thinking and bold action. We move quickly to meet urgent needs, providing emergency food, supplies and cash. And we also look deeper, at the root causes of each crisis and the possibilities for long-term change.
In the bleakest scenarios — famine, disaster, violent conflict — we look for ways to make the biggest impact.
We train farmers to grow hardier crops. We help families who have lost their homes get the resources they need to survive today and rebuild stronger. We help children stay in school, where they can get nutritious meals and prepare for a brighter future.
Breaking free of famine's grip
Thulnaath, a mother in South Sudan, spends hours each day searching for food for her two young children. But food is so scarce that most days they only eat once. She’s one of more than 20 million people in South Sudan, Somalia, northeastern Nigeria and Yemen who are at immediate risk of famine as a result of ongoing conflict, economic instability and drought. In South Sudan, Mercy Corps has responded with support for the most vulnerable families in some of the least accessible areas of the country. In 2017, we provided kits to help families fish and grow their own produce and delivered hot meals to more than 10,000 schoolchildren across South Sudan. We also provided emergency cash to help families like Thulnaath’s buy what they need to get through the crisis.
We’re working with local governments to influence policies that help create more equitable societies
Violent conflict and political unrest can change the course of a family’s life in an instant. Forced to flee their homes, refugees face a new reality without the support systems and comforts many people take for granted.
We’re working within refugee camps and host communities to help families live safe, productive lives with the dignity they deserve.
We help families access safe shelter, education and the means to make a living today. And we advocate for long-term solutions and policies that create opportunities for a better tomorrow.
A seat for every student
After fleeing conflict in Syria, 15-year-old Malak arrived at Zaatari, a sprawling camp in the Jordanian desert that’s home to 80,000 other refugees. For the next two years, she couldn’t attend school.
Malak has a combination of health issues including dwarfism and severe scoliosis. The camp’s school didn’t have the facilities she needed, so for two years, she wasn’t able to attend school. Mercy Corps’ inclusive education programme changed that.
We helped enroll Malak and provided her with a custom-fitted desk. We also paired her with a teacher, Haleema, for physical therapy and one-on-one support.
At Mercy Corps’ equipment repair shop in Zaatari, Syrian refugees in our cash-for- work programme customise wheelchairs, desks and other equipment for students with disabilities.
Mercy Corps is also working with Jordan’s Ministry of Education and Higher Council for Persons with Disabilities to guarantee equal access to students with disabilities by establishing a national policy for inclusive education.
We connect talented, hardworking people around the world to innovations that help them leap forward using their own skills
No two challenges or communities are alike. To set real change in motion, we spend time listening and learning to get to the heart of a problem. Then, we act. We collaborate with local leaders, private organisations and local governments. We forge longterm partnerships and invest in new technology. We equip families, farmers and entrepreneurs with resources to solve the real-world problems they face and unlock new opportunities for success.
Forecast for a brighter future
Rural Mongolia is one of the most remote and challenging places on earth to live, with tough terrain and extreme climate swings. Nomadic herders rely on the land to graze their animals, leaving home for weeks at a time, unsure how or when the weather might take a turn for the worse.
During the weather phenomenon known as the “dzud,” temperatures can quickly plunge to 50 degrees below zero. A single dzud can wipe out an entire herd and, with it, the herder’s primary source of food and income.
Mercy Corps is pioneering a way to prevent such devastating losses. Because 95 percent of rural Mongolians use mobile phones, we built an on-demand system that alerts herders to weather conditions up to six days in advance.
A simple text message gives them time to round up their animals and head to safety before a storm hits.
We’re now expanding the programme to more provinces, and doctors, farmers and government officials are also using the system.
Thank you
Dear friend of Mercy Corps,
From Syria to South Sudan, Greece to Guatemala, our work has brought positive change to millions of people and thousands of communities in the last year. And it has never been so needed. At a time when there are more people uprooted from their homes, and going hungry, thanks to you Mercy Corps is able to respond with urgency and at scale.
With your support over the last year, we were able to reach nearly 22 million people. This fills me with optimism for what we can do together in the future to transform lives.
Thank you for your commitment to building a better world.
Simon O’Connell, Executive Director
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