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S3 Ep9: Saving Lives on the Ukrainian Frontline: Interview with Critical Care Medic Yuriy Soroka Jun 10, 2024

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In this short episode we speak with Yuriy Soroka, a dedicated critical care medic with the MOAS team in Ukraine. Yuriy shares his experiences working on the frontline, providing critical medical care in conflict zones. Discover the daily challenges and heroic efforts of Yuriy and his team as they navigate through adversity to save lives. Yuriy’s inspiring journey, from his background in intensive care to joining MOAS, highlights the immense dedication and compassion of those working in war zones.
Listen now to gain insights into the remarkable work of the MOAS team and learn how you can support their life-saving missions.
Donate to support our lifesaving work in Ukraine: https://www.moas.eu/donate-moas-ukraine-2/

S3 Ep8: Dietro le quinte dell'app MOAS Apr 25, 2022

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Maria Luisa Catrambone, Portavoce di MOAS e ideatrice dell'app MOAS, racconta il processo creativo che ha portato alla realizzazione dell'app e sottolinea l'importanza della trasformazione digitale, come strumento a supporto delle ONG.
L'app è disponibile su App Store e Google Play.

S3 Ep7: A chat with MOAS' app creator Apr 18, 2022

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Listen to Maria Luisa Catrambone, MOAS Spokesperson and creator of the MOAS App, as she takes us through the process behind its creation and shares her vision on how digital transformation can support NGOs.
The app is available on Apple Store and Google Play!!

S3 Ep6: Disaster Risk Reduction and fire response in Rohingya refugee camps Oct 12, 2021

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Made with the help of an EVS volunteer http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisation/925407937_en @EUPAMALTA @EUPA1

S3 Ep5: The impact of monsoon season on the refugee camps in Bangladesh: an interview with Dan Graham. Aug 17, 2021

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Made with the help of an EVS volunteer http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisation/925407937_en @EUPAMALTA @EUPA1

S3 Ep4: Safe and Legal Routes - Interview with British politician and campaigner Lord Alf Dubs Aug 05, 2021

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Made with the help of an EVS volunteer http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisation/925407937_en @EUPAMALTA @EUPA1

S3 Ep3: Yemen attraverso i miei occhi - Intervista con Laura Silvia Battaglia Feb 26, 2021

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Made with the help of an EVS volunteer http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisation/925407937_en @EUPAMALTA @EUPA1

S3 Ep2: Yemen through my eyes - Interview with journalist and writer Laura Silvia Battaglia Feb 26, 2021

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Made with the help of an EVS volunteer http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisation/925407937_en @EUPAMALTA @EUPA1

S3 Ep1: Disaster Risk Reduction Oct 09, 2020

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Hello and welcome to the MOAS podcast.
In this edition of our podcast, we are discussing the topic of Disaster Risk Reduction, trying to understand its meaning, and exploring some examples of the concept being put into practice.
Disasters often follow natural hazards such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods and volcanic activity, and their severity primarily depends on how much impact a hazard has on society and the environment. Traditionally, dealing with disasters has focused on emergency response, yet towards the end of the 20th century and beginning of the 21st century it became increasingly recognized that disasters are not natural, even if the associated hazard is. However, since we cannot reduce the severity of natural hazards, the main opportunity for reducing risk lies in reducing vulnerability and exposure. And it is through this idea that the concept of Disaster Risk Reduction has emerged.
We have specifically chosen to discuss the subject at this time because the 13th October marks the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, which was established in 1989 to provide an opportunity to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction. The international day recognizes how people and communities around the world are reducing their exposure to disasters and raises awareness about the importance of decreasing the risks that they face.
Considering these factors, and the occasion of International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction, we wanted to explore the topic of DRR in more depth, and to do this, we asked some questions to our colleague Paul Chamberlain, MOAS’ Logistics & Operations Coordinator, who is currently working in Bangladesh managing all of MOAS’ ongoing projects, the majority of them regarding Disaster Risk Reduction.
First of all, we asked Paul what do we mean by Disaster Risk Reduction, how does it work and why is it important?
So Disaster Risk Reduction is much broader than traditional emergency management. Essentially, it’s a systematic approach to identifying, assessing and reducing the risks of a disaster. So how ever that disaster is caused, be it man-made, be it natural, be it weather-related, what it looks at doing is trying to reduce the vulnerabilities to disasters of communities, be they socio-economic or physical. Examples in Bangladesh for instance, given that Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries on earth, so simple things like ensuring that there are enough cyclone shelters for the population is a key part of the DRR program here in Bangladesh.
Let’s focus now on Bangladesh, which Paul has already mentioned. What are the disaster threats and risk factors that make DRR so important in Bangladesh?
As I mentioned earlier, Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries on Earth. It’s prone to earthquakes, tropical cyclones, tropical storms, and severe monsoon flooding. The monsoon flooding in itself and the cyclones trigger events such as landslides and serious floods. So, DDR is vital here in Bangladesh, because without it, given the fact that the country is still developing, without simple, effective DDR strategies, the population will become extremely vulnerable. Like I mentioned earlier, cyclone shelters are a simple and key component of the DDR strategy in Bangladesh. As well as cyclone shelters, we have seen much work conducted in and around the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and in and around the Cox’s Bazar district.
We’ve seen improvements to infrastructure to allow a more rapid deployment of relief in the event of a disaster, we’ve seen construction of better, more sustained drainage channels to allow for flood waters to be moved away quickly. We’ve seen work on the coasts, we’ve seen for instance sea protection work going on, big canvas filled bags of sand, and concrete structures to reduce the effects of waves and the effects of cyclones. And as well as all these man-made attempts at DDR, we also see the planting of forests on the coastal belts in the attempt to slow down wind and to slow down erosion of the beaches. It’s not just about man-made interventions, it can be around human interventions. But what is also very important as well as the attempts to reduce the risk, it is the attempts to deal with any residual risk that may remain.
Are there specific areas or people that are more impacted by these risks in Bangladesh?
In terms of specific people impacted by risks here in Bangladesh, I don’t think it’s as simple as saying maybe the refugee community, or maybe the marginalised poor, I think everybody ultimately is affected by disaster here in Bangladesh because it is something so close to the kind of culture of the country. To give you an example, Bangladesh has the Cyclone Preparedness Programme, which is a network of 55,000 volunteers, it is the biggest volunteer-based emergency preparedness programme I believe in the world, currently. And the role of these volunteers is to warn the community about cyclones. So, they’re not just warning poor people to get out of the way, they are warning everybody that there is a cyclone coming and it is necessary to take action. Obviously, the people living closer to the coast are at greater risk of cyclones. Obviously, the people living on the banks of rivers are at greater risk of river flooding.
Earlier this year, we had a situation where I believe around 66% of the country was flooded and this has ultimately led to 250 plus deaths this year alone, as a result of the flooding. And this is typical every year. Bangladesh is essentially built on a network of river deltas and suffers severe flooding every year. Economically this flooding has a huge effect on the farmers, causing a loss of crops, a loss of income, which has a knock-on effect on the ability of the country to even just feed itself, which sometimes it struggles with. It relies heavily on the support of NGOs, on the support of UN agencies to help it deal with the risks, but as a country it is trying incredibly hard to manage these risks and to mitigate against them.
What are the measures taken in Bangladesh for DRR and by which responsible actors?
In terms of measures taken in Bangladesh, I think I’ve covered quite a few already, with regards to flood prevention schemes, with regards to the building of rivers, the construction of drainage channels, and these big infrastructure projects are carried out primarily by UN agencies or the government. Within the refugee camps for example, what we’re seeing are a lot of similar types of projects in terms of projects to manage the effects of landslides and these have included slope stabilisation works, these have included the planting of grasses and trees, as well as work to manage the flow of water through the refugee camps and reduce the effect of flooding, and these are mainly conducted by site-management agencies. What we’re not seeing a lot of is actual projects to manage the aftermath of that disaster and to manage resilience amongst the communities. So, we’re seeing lots of attempts to reduce the risks but ultimately that is what they are doing, they are reducing the risks, they are not necessarily fully eliminating the risks from a disaster.
Let's go into more depth on the work of MOAS. What is the role of MOAS in Disaster Risk Reduction in Bangladesh and what kind of projects are implemented?
So, the MOAS approach to DRR is quite unique in that we’ve recognised that there are a lot of actors involved in attempting to reduce the risk but there are very few involved in actually trying to deal with the residual risk once that has been reduced and actually to build community resilience. We all know that after a disaster there will be a period time before organised help arrives, and we’ve seen that globally in natural disasters and man-made disasters.
There is always that period of time between the impact of the event and the arrival of organised first responders and during that time the only responders are a combination of bystanders or members of the community. So what we’ve done is we’ve been working very hard with UN agencies and the CPP volunteers that are based in the camp and the CPP volunteers that are based in the host-community to try and upskill them so they are better equipped and better prepared to deal with the aftereffects of that disaster and ultimately reduce that we call the disaster gap, reduce the time between organised help arriving and the actual disaster taking place.
We recognised quite early on that just giving people the equipment was not necessarily the solution. The first problem that was the equipment we wanted, so throw bags and kind of life-rings weren’t available in Bangladesh. A throw bag is a simple bag of floating rope that is used globally, so if someone is in difficulty in the water, the rescuer can remain safe by staying on dry land, and they can throw the bag to the victim in the water and then pull them to safety. Even simple things like this weren’t available in Bangladesh so we set up a small manufacturing facility, we refined designs and we’re now producing our own rescue equipment for distribution amongst the communities that we work. And in addition to that, we are providing a source of income from the manufacture of this, we’re using local tailors to make this equipment for us, so they’re generating a small income from this sort of stuff.
This year has been pretty difficult for us, with the COVID-19 pandemic, we had quite a lot of training planned. The country went into a lockdown in early April and that put a stop to our training programme. We were in a position whereby we couldn’t provide this training for a period of about four months. So, we’re now in September and we’re back training again, all be it with a few adjustments, we’ve had to reduce the group size that we work with. We are ensuring everybody wears masks, we’re ensuring that there’s hand sanitiser. So, we’ve tried our best to make the training as COVID secure as we can, and we’re very fortunate to have been able to run some guidelines passed WHO, who have offered us some support and advice to ensure that we are safe in delivering the training. We work very closely with BDRCS, which is the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, who again have been very, very supportive in terms of helping us start the training again and ensure that we’re COVID secure as we deliver it.
The key time frame for us, obviously the period that COVID affected the country, the lockdown period if you like, was the critical monsoon period. We were very fortunate that this didn’t lead to any major loss of life or any major incidents this year. However, as we approach October, November, December, we’re approaching another cyclone season and we are very keen to ensure that we can complete this round of training before that cyclone season actually starts. This year in total, we will have trained in the region of 3,000 people in basic flood first responder, water rescue and safety skills.
How would you like to expand this Flood and Water Safety Training project in the future?
So how would we like to expand this. 2021 is hopefully going to allow us to expand this training. We are keen to expand our work with the host community and train more of the CPP volunteers in the Cox’s Bazar district, and again we’re very fortunate to have the support of the CPP in this. We’re also keen to expand our training in the refugee camps, so drowning has been identified as the 4th greatest reason for loss of life, so unnatural loss of life, following from murder and road traffic accidents and I believe COVID this year, drowning is the 4th greatest reason that people lose their lives in the Cox’s Bazar district in Bangladesh.
We’re keen to expand the network of first responders, community level first responders and provide them with the knowledge and the equipment to affect rescue safely. If we have enough people, then there will hopefully always be someone around when they’re needed. So, Bangladesh is an incredibly populated country so there already is capacity here, there’s a lot of people but what they lack is capability so we’re trying to fill that gap by bringing the capability to support the capacity that they already have.
Thank you, Paul, for that detailed overview on Disaster Risk Reduction and all the efforts that are being made by MOAS and communities in Bangladesh to help reduce the risks being faced.
If you are interested in finding out more about MOAS’ operations regarding DRR in Bangladesh check out our website at www.moas.eu. If you are interested in the work of MOAS and our partners, please follow us on social media, sign up to our newsletter and share our content. You can also reach out to us any time via email at info@moas.eu.
If you would like to support our operations, please give what you can at www.moas.eu/donate/.
And for final word, we are going to hand back over to Paul, take it away Paul...
And I’d just like to leave you with the sound of the afternoon rain…
Made with the help of an EVS volunteer http://europa.eu/youth/volunteering/organisation/925407937_en @EUPAMALTA @EUPA1

S2 Ep15: Yemen Operations Nov 01, 2019

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Hello
Hi and welcome to the latest MOAS podcast where we'll be talking about MOAS's operations in Yemen.
We'll also be speaking to Don Magbanua the manager of Strategic Partnerships and Resource Mobilization at ADRA Yemen who'll be giving us some insights on what it's like to provide assistance on the ground in Yemen today. I'm Ruby.
And I'm Kate
OK so we'll start by just providing a bit of context. Kate, could you give us a brief background to what's been going on in Yemen?
Since 2015, Yemen, which already the poorest Arab state, has been ravaged by civil war which the UN has been calling the world's worst man made humanitarian disaster. The war has developed into a complex protracted conflict with multiple armed groups over 30 front lines and multiple external forces exerting their own political will and power within the country. The human costs have been simply immense.
They think that nearly 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far. Which is just unimaginable tragedy. And among the survivors, 2.2 million of them have been forced to leave their homes and find safety in other parts of Yemen. We call these internally displaced peoples or IDPs. And these civilians are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance.
Following on from a close working relationship with ADRA in Bangladesh, delivering aid and providing healthcare in the refugee camps of Cox's Bazar, we once again partnered up with ADRA for a new mission in Yemen.
ADRA is an international NGO that's been established in Yemen since 1995. That's an amazing 14 year commitment to the Yemeni people. They're active across 14 governates in sectors like food security, WASH, education and health and it's a real privilege to partner with them in Yemen and contribute in a small way to their incredible work. So now it's time to hear from Don who kindly agreed to answer some questions we had about working in Yemen.
First, we asked him about the kind of challenges that ADRA other humanitarian organisations face.
The main challenges with providing humanitarian assistance in Yemen is linked to the access constraints that humanitarian organisations face. In Yemen, there are challenges that we deal with security, with authorities, with funding availability, that hinder us from providing much needed aid in Yemen.
There Don touched on some of the issues facing our humanitarian work in Yemen. Actually, even prior to the civil war, Yemen was already importing 80-90% percent of its staple foods. And now, with blockades and armed violence, delivery routes have become almost impossible, certainly dangerous and unpredictable.
Absolutely and there are 10 million Yemeni civilians now reliant on food aid for survival, additionally a third of the bombing targets in Yemen have been civilian - such as schools hospitals, community centres and this instability has led to a breakdown in infrastructure, And also the frontlines of the conflict are always shifting, which means that it’s hard for aid groups to access populations that are most in need because of continuing instability and violence in different regions.
So earlier we mentioned that the conflict in Yemen has become a protracted crisis. The concept of a protracted crisis was actually explored last month in the latest series of blogs on the MOAS website, do check it out if you get chance. So UNHCR defines a protracted crisis as lasting five years or more without an end or resolution in sight.
Yeah, it’s an extremely complicated situation, there's multiple armed groups, ongoing instability and this conflict is really having a devastating impact on Yemeni civilians
So next we asked Don how this affects healthcare systems in Yemen
The protracted nature of the conflict in Yemen is adversely affecting the healthcare systems because salaries are not being paid, medications, vaccinations, equipment, they are not reaching the field and health facilities as easily as they should. the healthcare system is also affected a whole by the fighting in all the different parts of Yemen, because one for the access reasons that I had mentioned, that supplies are not able to get to where they need to get but at the same time many people are affected so negatively by the war that was are more sicknesses there are more diseases such as cholera, dengue, acute watery diarrhoea, there's also a lot of malnutrition and so this causes a strain in the healthcare systems because they are not designed to hold, to address as many needs all at once.
Since 2015 the public health system of Yemen has virtually collapsed, and the conflict has reversed many of the advances in health that have been made in recent years. Negative outcomes for maternal and infant health have been identified as particularly alarming and as Don mentioned there's a multitude of barriers to accessing health care caused by the ongoing violence, reduced numbers of functioning health facilities, difficulty in accessing health facilities and delay in checkpoints when people are moving from one area to another
They estimate that there are currently 19 million people currently suffering from malnutrition and disease, which just goes to show how vital it is that humanitarian aid gets through as quickly as possible.
How can the international community support Yemen - we asked Don
The international community can support Yemeni civilians by being advocates for the cessation of the conflict and the fighting that's happening in Yemen. The conflict and the fighting in Yemen are the reasons and source of all the suffering that is occurring in Yemen. Many people's lives, families and livelihoods have all been destroyed because of the fighting. And so we need to advocate for peace, we need to advocate for a better future for Yemen and the Yemenis. And the best way to do this it if we can influence decision makers on an international level to also advocate for the cessation of the conflict, the fighting, the bombings, and that will improve significantly and surely improve the lives of Yemenis.
So on an international level perhaps the biggest risk for protracted crises is that they become sidelined by new humanitarian emergencies. Particularly when it comes to media attention. So I think it's crucial that we continue to bring these situations to light and that the media attention continues to focus on these situations. We need to keep sharing the experiences of those living through protracted crises like Don says we need to advocate for peace and sustainable solutions.
Whilst advocacy is very important its also vital to support people in need now and that's why MOAS has been working in partnership with ADRA, since earlier this year to launch operation in Yemen. A shipment containing 97 000 dollars worth of famine relieving product, Plumy Doz, was ` made available with the help of US based company Ediesa, who subsidised their product for the benefit of the recipients.
So what is Plumpy Doz? Well, it's is a preventative liquid-based nutrient supplement for children 6 months and older who are identified as being at risk of developing acute malnutrition and can, therefore, be used alongside ordinary foods. Each 50g Plumpy Doz sachet provides the essential nutrients required to prevent malnutrition in children whose diets are not currently meeting their appropriate calorie and protein needs.
And to support the famine relieving products, we've also delivered medical supplies and pharmaceuticals to help existing health care facilities. As so together with German organisation Action Medeor, a 138 000 euros worth of medical supplies and pharmaceuticals have been delivered to Yemen
These medicines were selected from the WHO Essential Medication List and prioritised based on safety, cost-effectiveness and current & potential need. So, in addition to medication, vital clinical equipment is also included for the purposes of diagnoses, drug administration, wound dressings and resuscitation.
After the success of our two first deliveries, we are now facilitating a second delivery of both pharmaceuticals and famine supplies to provide on going relief to Yemeni civilians in need. We asked Don how important partnerships are for NGOs working on the ground in Yemen.

ADRA is very, very thankful for strategic partnerships like the one we have with MOAS because it increases our capacity and our impact on the communities that we work in. With MOAS we have been able to help mothers and children bounce back from malnutrition and also prevent some of them from falling into acute malnutrition. Through our partnership with MOAS we've been able to receive medications from their donors, we've been able to receive therapeutic food that were' using to cure these mothers and children who are suffering from acute malnutrition. And when we have these partnerships and these social entrepreneurs who want to make an impact and who partner with us we're very thankful for that trust because we know that we'll be able to do more good and that we'll be able to create more positive future for the country of Yemen. And so we thank MOAS, we show our gratefulness, we express our gratefulness to MOAS for helping us gather and mobilise these resources and we invite other supporters to also support the mission of MOAS in Yemen.
If you are interested in the work of MOAS and our partners, please follow us on social media, sign up to our newsletter and share our content.

You can also reach out to us at any time via info@moas.eu. If you want to support our operations, please give what you can at www.moas.eu/donate.

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