RA Federal Services

Elisabeth represented her country at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where she set the national record in the Women’s 800 metres. In countries like CAR, where state funding for sports is limited or non-existent, athletes often have to support their activities through regular work. To facilitate Elisabeth’s sporting career, we decided to offer her flexible working arrangements and to sponsor her training fees and kits. Besides helping Elisabeth directly, this also gives other young female athletes a role model and helps put the country on the sporting map.

We reviewed the stock in our warehouse and donated spare milk powder, beans, cereals, rice, cooking oil and sugar to feed people who were dying of hunger in the Lower Shabelle region of Somalia. In this case, our local presence and well-managed supply chain allowed us to support a humanitarian effort with fast and efficient practical support.

The orphanage was clearly in need of help, so, after asking the sisters what they needed, our team arranged to pay their monthly utility bills, set up a twice-monthly delivery of food, and regularly avail RA staff to upgrade their facilities. Simultaneously, we are assisting the orphanage in becoming more self-sufficient and setting up its own income-generating activities, making them less dependent on our donations and thereby enabling them to better support the children in the long term. While this is clearly just a drop in the ocean, we believe that RA’s partnership with the orphanage will give the children who live there today, and those that inevitably follow them, a better chance in life for years to come.

They contacted UNICEF, coordinator of the local WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) cluster, to find out how they could help. Sanitation proved the most pressing problem since the number of fatalities had increased due to diarrhea and cholera. As such, we built latrines, put up water tanks and hand washing facilities, and distributed soaps and jerrycans in five IDP camps. Says Muhamed, RA’s Country Manager in Somalia: “In situations like these, there’s no time to lose. Decisive action from an experienced team can have immediate impact and saves lives.”