Focus Humanitarian Assistance is an international group of agencies established in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

to complement the provision of

emergency relief Emergency management (also Disaster management) is a science and a system charged with creating the framework within which communities reduce vulnerability to hazards and cope with disasters. Emergency management, despite its name, does not actu ...

, principally in the

developing world A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agreeme ...

. It helps people in need reduce their dependence on

humanitarian aid Humanitarian aid is material and Humanitarian Logistics, logistic assistance, usually in the short-term, to people in need. Among the people in need are the homelessness, homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Th ...

and facilitates their transition to sustainable self-reliant, long-term development. Focus Humanitarian Assistance is affiliated with the

Aga Khan Development Network The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a network of private, non-denominational development agencies founded by the Aga Khan, with the primary focus of improving the quality of life in different regions of Asia and Africa. The network focuse ...

, a group of institutions working to improve opportunities and living conditions, for people of all faiths and origins, in specific regions of the developing world. Underlying the establishment of FOCUS by the

Ismaili Muslim Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept M ...

community is a history of successful initiatives to assist people struck by natural and man-made disasters in South and Central Asia, and Africa.

Disaster relief

Where FOCUS can harness organisational and volunteer capacity, it provides relief and support services to communities affected by natural and man-made disasters. Engaging its volunteer network to assist in distribution operations, FOCUS provides relief items which, in the past, have ranged from emergency food, temporary shelter, clothing and blankets as well as other basic household items. FOCUS seeks to enable relief by assessing and responding to the immediate needs of those affected by disaster; creating disaster resilience by identifying natural hazards and training professionals and volunteers to address them; and helping displaced persons maintain their dignity as they resettle and gradually become self-reliant. FOCUS India, in collaboration with RAPID UK, an international search and rescue organisation, has trained national level Search & Rescue Team, to carry out surface rescue operations. It also has a national level Disaster Assessment & Response Team to carry out post-disaster needs assessment and to identify short and long term relief and rehabilitation needs of disaster victims.

Disaster resilience

FOCUS's Community-Based Disaster Risk Reduction programmes aim to enhance a community's capacity to live safely within the local environment. FOCUS's risk reduction approach incorporates participatory Hazard Vulnerability Capacity Risk Assessment and disaster planning. This scientific method of quantitative risk analysis has inspired various communities to address their risk in a planned way. Basic disaster risk management skills are demonstrated to community and village centres, schools, hostels and hospitals.

FOCUS Challenge events – Hike4Life / Bike4Life

FOCUS organise an annual challenge event called Hike4Life / Bike4Life. The list of previous events is as follows: *2002 Bike4Life –

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

*2003 Hike4Life –

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

*2005 Hike4Life – India *2006 Hike4Life –

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

*2007 Hike4Life –

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

*2008 Bike4Life – India *2009 Hike4Life –

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

*2010 Bike4Life –

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

*2011 Hike4Life –

*2013 – Walk for Life

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

*2014– Walk for Life

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ), also spelled Amdavad (), is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 ...

Key interventions

* 2006 Israel–Lebanon conflict *

2005 Kashmir earthquake An earthquake occurred at on 8 October 2005 in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, a territory under Pakistan. Its epicenter was 19 km northeast of the city of Muzaffarabad, and 90 km north north-east of Islamabad, the capital city of Pakistan, ...

2010 Pakistan floods The floods in Pakistan began in late July 2010, resulting from heavy monsoon rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab (Pakistani province), Punjab and, Balochistan, Pakistan, Balochistan regions of Pakistan, which affected the Indus Riv ...

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time ( UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the sci ...

War in Afghanistan (2001–present) War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC), the conquest of Afghanistan by the Macedonian Empire * Muslim conquests of Afghanistan, a series of campaigns in ...

References

External links

* * * **
(AKDN)
{{Authority control Aga Khan Development Network Disaster preparedness Humanitarian aid organizations Hunger relief organizations