Support and Prevention

Our Support and Prevention department is the embodiment of this very principle. Its team takes action in the face of disasters and humanitarian crises at different stages, from preparation and prevention to emergency response. At each stage, we seek to relieve human suffering and build resilience.

Our meaning of providing support

In CADENA, we believe that we gravitate towards other human beings due to a fundamental interdependence. This means that a shared vulnerability is what makes us support each other and what calls on us to promote ethical responsibility. We have the conviction that there is no hierarchy between those who provide support and those who receive it. This is the very reason why we deliver hand-in-hand aid: because by creating direct meetings with people, we stop drawing levels of distinction.

By the same token, it is also our belief that the role we adopt by helping others is rooted in this fundamental interdependence, not that we are imposing ourselves in a position not meant for us. To help others is a responsibility that lies with us on the sole ground of us being humans.

Responding to emergencies

Go Team

The first 72 hours after the occurrence of an emergency are crucial. With that in mind, we created the Go Team.

Response

There are two stages in the response to a crisis or emergency: the immediate and the early recovery.

Hand-in-Hand Aid Delivery

The hand-in-hand aid delivery is provided by teams of volunteers who visit communities that are vulnerable to disasters or crises.

CADENA Health and Resilience

CADENA Health and Resilience is a group formed by specialists in physical and mental health.

Prevention and sustainable development projects

During the prevention stage, we constantly perform monitoring and assessment work in communities with a high exposure level to disasters. Based on this evaluation, we look for ways to improve the ability of local communities to mitigate risks, consequently enhancing their resilience. Such a goal can be achieved in many ways depending on their context, their access to certain services, and their degree of vulnerability.

Water for All

It is a sustainability and resilience project created by our CADENA Costa Rica team, with the goal of ensuring that vulnerable communities, especially in rural areas, have safe and reliable access to clean water. The project operates in three modalities:

- Emergencies: we provide water filters that immediately improve the quality of life of those most in need.

- Well rehabilitation: we restore water sources to ensure a constant supply of drinking water.
- Rainwater harvesting: we design rainwater collection systems that are efficient, durable, and easy to install.

Through these actions, Agua Ya not only helps reduce diseases related to the consumption of contaminated water but also strengthens social fabric and community resilience.

From Waste to Change

From Waste to Change was the winning project of CADENA Initiative 2014 and, since then, has become part of our permanent activities. Its purpose is to provide dignified roofs to families affected by disasters or living without adequate shelter, using sheets made from recycled multilayer containers.

In addition to offering protection to those who need it most, the project also seeks to reduce environmental impact and raise awareness in communities about recycling, sustainability, and humanitarian aid.

By 2024, we have built more than 100 roofs, each one a symbol of protection, hope, and a more dignified future for the families who receive them.

Reconstruction

One of our resilience projects focuses on the reconstruction of community facilities in vulnerable areas. Between 2017 and 2018, in the community of Miguel Hidalgo, Chiapas, we rebuilt 64 homes that had collapsed during the September 2017 earthquakes. In addition, we restored 118 houses, built 110 bathrooms and kitchens, carried out minor repairs on 37 homes, and rebuilt a health center and two school classrooms.

During the same period, in Jojutla, Morelos, we rehabilitated a primary school serving 460 students and 20 teachers. With the support of Walmart and other allied companies, we restored 12 classrooms, the media room, the library, the administrative office, a multipurpose court, and various common areas.

More recently, following Hurricanes Otis and John (2023–2024), we installed 1,201 roofs in 26 communities, benefiting 4,461 people. We also rehabilitated three schools in Coyuca de Benítez, San Marcos, and Acapulco, improving classrooms, courtyards, electrical systems, and furniture.

That same year, in Turkey, we built 130 temporary shelters for families affected by the February 6 earthquakes, benefiting 520 people.

Kenya

Since 2011, we have carried out seven humanitarian interventions in Turkana, Kenya, a region severely affected by drought and climate change. Over the years, we have mobilized more than 172 volunteers, who have delivered 415 tons of food, basic supplies, and menstrual products, in addition to providing 1,628 medical consultations, 80 dental check-ups, 49 cataract surgeries, and supporting the reconstruction of school infrastructure.

Thanks to these efforts, we have benefited more than 102,000 people living in conditions of extreme vulnerability.

Poland

In early March 2022, we sent a volunteer team to provide support at several points along the Polish-Ukrainian border, such as a children's center in Korczowa, a refugee shelter in Medyka, and an operations center in Przemyśl. The volunteers worked tirelessly to distribute essential goods, medical equipment, hygiene kits, and psychosocial support to the people most severely affected by the crisis in Ukraine. They also built bridges to send as many people as possible to safety.

At present, this has been one of the largest cases of aid delivery that we have provided, both in terms of the organization level and the relevance it represents globally.

Turkey

During the early morning of Monday, February 6th, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake hit southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria. Hours later, a second earthquake of 7.5 struck the territory and was followed by numerous aftershocks. In CADENA International, we coordinated a humanitarian response made up of eight Go Team members and a medical staff specialized in disasters, consisting of six medical professionals.

Our team successfully contributed to the search efforts, in collaboration with rescue teams from Turkey, El Salvador, Belarus, Israel, Mexico, the AFAD, and miners from Turkey. They worked on 20 collapsed buildings and located 19 people alive.

Thanks to this and the relentless work of the local teams, they succeeded in rescuing four victims.

Spain

In 2024, the DANA weather phenomenon caused severe floods. For this reason, at CADENA International, we activated a response team to support communities without access to safe drinking water, electricity, and services.

We provided psychosocial support, water filters, and solar lamps for those affected by this disaster.

Successful projects

Vamos juntos (Let's go together)

In CADENA, we came to the conclusion that there was a lack of humanitarian response to the migration crisis in Mexico. Therefore, in collaboration with ADRA and UNICEF, we created a project aimed at addressing health, nutrition, and mental health issues.

Using a mobile unit, a team of specialists made daily visits to the border crossing points and migrant settlements in Tapachula, Tijuana, and Ciudad Juárez. In such areas, the team provided children and their caregivers with assistance at no cost.

Care Center for Migrant Women

The Care Center for Migrant Women (Centro de Atención para la Mujer Migrante) was a project located in Cúcuta, Colombia, and developed in collaboration with Fundación Simón Bolívar and HIAS. This center focused on providing health services to the Venezuelan migrant population that, due to their irregular status in the country, is not covered by the national health coverage system (Sistema General de Seguridad Social en Salud). Even though we also provided assistance to the male and general population, the center was aimed at caring for the health of migrant and pregnant women, survivors of gender-based violence, women who have re-migrated, and girls.

We provided primary and gynecological care advice, psychosocial support, cytology tests, and laboratory tests. We also delivered medications free of charge.