Humanitarian Action

Our Work

Disasters and emergencies hit marginalized people the hardest. This is why humanitarian action is needed! At Light for the World, we know people with disabilities are among the most forgotten of these communities.

We make every effort to support people with disabilities during what is often the hardest time of their life. Our disability-inclusive response to emergencies is informing humanitarian efforts worldwide.

Image showing the flood that was left behind after cyclone Eloise. A child wearing a red top and blue shorts is standing on the right side of the image bending down whilst looking at the camera. In the back there are people walking across the piles of water.

Eloise was the fourth cyclone in two years to affect Mozambique. © Mango Sound

Mozambican children and adults are fleeing from the cyclone destroyed areas, some of them wearing masks are carrying everything they could rescue on their heads.

A countless number of people in Mozambique had to leave everything behind to find refuge.

In front of a huge red lorry Light for World Mozambique Director Zacarias Zicai wearing a mask hands a blanket to a woman with a headscarf.

During this humanitarian crisis in Mozambique, we have reached out to many people with aid: distributing food, medicine, emergency kits and other essentials.

Sitting on a bed in a South Sudanese refugee camp Nyaush, a young girl with hydrocephalus talks to Light for the World country director Sophia Mohammed. Both wear protective masks.

In the refugee camp in South Sudan, we support people with disabilities in order for them to get the necessary help.

Here is how our disability-inclusive response works

We provide targeted support to meet the urgent needs of people with disabilities in affected partner countries. We ensure equal access to information, food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities and psychosocial support.
Through Light for the World’s network of disability inclusion advisors and facilitators, we provide training and technical expertise to humanitarian organisations. As a result, these bodies go on to build relief programmes that are accessible to people with disabilities.
We advocate for the mainstreaming and inclusion of people with disabilities into government humanitarian action plans. This also includes data collection so that the particular needs of people with disabilities are recorded and addressed. We pay special attention to the challenges that women and girls face, and try to redress imbalances caused by gender discrimination.