HelpAge International & CBM Global announce a new partnership

News | June 7, 2023

CBM Global and HelpAge International are pleased to announce a new strategic collaboration, bringing together two organisations who are both heavily engaged in raising awareness and promoting age and disability inclusion in the humanitarian sector.

CBM Global will work with HelpAge – the co-ordinator of a global network of organisations who work together to promote the dignity, wellbeing and voice of older people – to share expertise and thought leadership in a number of inter-agency initiatives.

These will include the ongoing promotion and roll out of the Humanitarian Inclusion Standards and the IASC Guidelines on Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities in Humanitarian Action. They will also be working together to support Country Age and Disability Working Groups to mainstream older people and people with disabilities in their disaster risk reduction, relief and early recovery projects.  

Both organisations are committed to shifting power to southern based national actors, promoting locally led development and humanitarian aid and learning from our localisation efforts. In this regard both organizations are signatories of Charter4Change.

Image: David Bainbridge, ED of CBM Global and Justin Derbyshire, CEO of HelpAge International with the newly signed MoU

Samuel Wood, Head of Humanitarian at HelpAge International said:

“HelpAge and CBM Global both share the same goal to champion the rights and wellbeing of those who are most at risk of marginalisation and exclusion, so this partnership feels like a natural fit. Sharing experience and expertise with such a well-aligned organisation can only serve to strengthen the work we are able to do for the communities we support. We must remember that working together in partnership can only make us stronger.”

Christian Modino Hok, Humanitarian Director of CBM Global said:

“I have lots of hopes and expectations in this partnership. Both organisations have so much in common. We share a similar vision of an inclusive world where the most at risk, such as persons with disabilities and older people, are not left behind and are supported to be active agents of the change they want to see. We could not let much more time pass to formally come together and support and complement each other’s missions.”

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between CBM Global and HelpAge covers a range of areas of collaboration including: humanitarian action, partnering in crisis preparedness and response, strengthening the capacities of national and local humanitarian partners through joint initiatives; Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS); advocacy and joint inclusion advice to other organisations – bringing together age and disability inclusion – in humanitarian and development settings.

Meetings between the two organisations have already taken place in Nairobi, where the Kenya Country Directors committed to work on a plan to implement the MoU in country in order to support promoting and upholding the rights of older people and people with disabilities in humanitarian and development programmes in Kenya.

Image: Edwin Osundwa, CBM Global Kenya Country Director and Barlet Jaji. HelpAge Kenya Country Director (centre) with other members of both organisations meet together in Nairobi to discuss Kenya-specific collaboration

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