Concern USA

Concern USA is an organization that works worldwide to provide emergency relief and long-term support. They work in Africa, Asia, Central America and Eastern Europe. They do a lot of work in the Sudan with specific projects in Darfur.



I thought that the information given about Sudan and the conflict in Darfur was brief, but also very informative. And unlike anything I’d really heard before. The beginning of the background read as follows:
“Sudan began exporting oil in 1999, and has large areas of cultivatable land, gold and cotton. While Sudan has also implemented sound economic policies and invested in important infrastructure, an ongoing conflict involving interethnic hostilities in Darfur, a large region of north Sudan, continues to worsen, and is now considered one of the world's most urgent humanitarian emergencies.”

The rest of the page also gives information about other areas of Sudan and some statistical information about those being affected.

The two programs they have established in Darfur are:

Darfur - Local NGO Training and Development
Darfur - Emergency Response

The first of these programs does the following:
“In 2003, Concern determined that working with local NGOs was the most effective way to make an impact in this region. An exhaustive process designed to identify local NGOs with the skills necessary to execute plans was conducted resulting in the identification of five partner NGOs:
CLOSAT, ANGATO, NDO, ZAMZAM and SUDO”



For each of the areas, staff is organized and trained. Technical opportunities are also implemented in the areas as a way to help assist.

The NGO groups then create small projects in which they assist specific groups of people and villages.

The Emergency Response program they have in Darfur is slightly different.



This program does the following:
“With the Darfur situation still unpredictable, Concern will continue to provide life-support programs focusing on nutrition, water, sanitation and distribution of essential non-food items to vulnerable people. Once the situation stabilizes, emergency relief will shift toward rehabilitation.
The sanitation program will provide 10,000 latrines.”

Almost a year ago, in May 2006, this program also started to take on aiding refugees in a Western Darfur camp from Chad.