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

Water for All is a sustainability and resilience project created thanks to our CADENA team in Costa Rica. The project is aimed at ensuring a common source of access to clean water for vulnerable communities, especially in rural areas. With this goal in mind, we designed a rainwater collection system, which is effective, long lasting, and easy to install.

From Waste to Change

From Waste to Change was the winning project of the CADENA Initiative of 2014. Since then, it has become an ongoing activity of our organization. Through this project we aim at building roofs to protect families vulnerable to heavy rainfalls and floodings. The roofs are made with recycled Tetra Pak cartons, meaning that, in parallel, it also aims to reduce environmental impact and educate communities on recycling, sustainability, and humanitarian aid.

Reconstruction

For one of our resilience projects, we have helped rebuild several community facilities in marginalized areas. Between 2017 and 2018, we reconstructed 64 homes in the Miguel Hidalgo community in Chiapas, southern Mexico, after they collapsed due to the September 2017 earthquakes. We also restored 118 homes, built 110 bathrooms and kitchens, made minor repairs to 37 homes, and reconstructed a health center and two classrooms. In another iteration of this project during the same time period, we reconstructed an elementary school in Jojutla, Morelos, south-central Mexico, used by 460 students and 20 teachers. With the support of Walmart and other partner companies, we restored 12 classrooms, the media room, the library, the administrative office, a multi-purpose court, and other common areas.

TEN-CADENA CENTER | Project TEN (Mexico)

The TEN-CADENA center is a joint program with Project TEN guided by two key aims. On the one hand, it promotes the participation and activism of volunteer work. On the other hand, this is a project aimed at increasing resilience by working steadily with certain vulnerable communities. Currently, this project is located in the State of Mexico, central Mexico, and is in charge of providing support from an approach based on sustainable development. Said support takes many forms, ranging from educational programs and reconstruction to the creation of gardens. The center also offers a growth space for volunteers who work with a Tikkun Olam approach. In another iteration of this project during the same time period, we reconstructed an elementary school in Jojutla, Morelos, south-central Mexico, used by 460 students and 20 teachers. With the support of Walmart and other partner companies, we restored 12 classrooms, the media room, the library, the administrative office, a multi-purpose court, and other common areas.

Turkana

In Turkana, in northern Kenya, there are semi-nomadic communities that are facing extreme vulnerability due to the long drought seasons, which results in the population facing water shortages and famine, only worsened by climate change.

In 2011, we provided our first case of aid delivery to the most vulnerable communities in the area. Since then, and with the aim of making our aid sustainable, we have returned to Turkana four more times. In 2017, we sent a team of 36 volunteers who, in addition to delivering essential goods and providing welfare advice, helped in the reconstruction of a local school. In the third case of aid delivery, in 2018, a group of 24 volunteers succeeded in helping 11,905 people. In 2019, we returned with 26 volunteers. Finally, our newest case of aid delivery took place in 2022, in which 18 volunteers delivered goods and provided medical advice.

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.

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.