CADUS redefine global solidarity

CADUS strives to provide independent humanitarian aid in a transparent, non-bureaucratic way and in close co-operation with the people and organisations on site.
Frequently disaster areas are in the media for a short period, and within this time frame they enjoy increased media attention and empathy from governments, civil society and charities. Shortly after, the media spotlight moves on to another subject and the crisis is forgotten. So too are the people who have to live with the aftermath for years to come. Sooner or later, as donations and state funding are drying up due to decreasing public attention, big NGOs back out too.
If a difficult political situation goes along with the media sinking into oblivion related to humanitarian disasters, external support on site is tenuous at most.
These reasons, among others, have led to discontent about the working conditions in other NGOs, and eventually to founding "CADUS - redefine global solidarity" (initially under the name PHNX - redefine globalsolidarity). CADUS provides humanitarian aid at a point where organizations in the region are barely left, where state support is not to be expected, where neighboring countries extend an economical embargo to a humanitarian one. CADUS does not follow suit and continues its work in Rojava, despite the fact that it is highly labor-intensive, increasingly time consuming and tiring.

Since September 2014 we have regularly been sending teams to Rojava and have begun a modular scheme to train medical assistants. The training is implemented in close cooperation with the Kurdish Red Crescent (Heyva Sor a Kurd), a local network which intends to make everyday medical and emergency services accessible to everybody at no cost. The end result is participants being able to share the knowledge and skills they gained during the course with other volunteers. Beyond that, CADUS also trains physiotherapists, implements research and project planning related to fresh water supply, and offers hygiene education in refugee camps. Aside from these projects, Cadus is currently working at building a mobile clinic which is supposed to be deployed in North Syria and North Iraq. The mobile clinic, based on a 4-wheel drive truck chassis, allows for a clinic with a surgery and 10 treatment places to be set up within few hours. This would enable emergency supply in regions completely cut off from public interest and devoid of any help.

We began working in this region in September 2014, and we continue to do so outside of any media attention. We work fully independent and are still mainly privately funded with no external sponsors. Now we no longer cope on our own. We need your support to continue and complete humanitarian aid projects that the people of Rojava depend on.
Humanitarian aid projects cost money. Even projects that are “only” based on education; meaning to a great extent we can use ourselves as a resource. Project related costs such as materials, flights, accommodation, food on site and interpreters, still accrue. At the same time there are running costs here. Five projects in disaster areas, on which people depend, are no longer manageable being organized from a cafe with a laptop. Costs for offices and phones… unfortunately money is still not growing on trees. A reward for the time behind all that work... not even thought about yet. So far, for everything mentioned above we have managed somehow. Small calls for donation, events here and there, and a lot of private money. In the beginnings of our organization this was still doable, however the increasing workload and the related costs are gradually outgrowing. The balancing act between, on the one side, being the only organisation which sends out teams, i.e. to Rojava, and on the other side, not knowing how to raise the rent for our office, needs to end. We want to professionalise our support - improving what we already do to bring it to the next level. We are frequently asked why we do not fund ourselves with grants. The answer is easy: there is no public funding for regions like north Syria, i.e. refugee work.
With this crowd funding we wish to consciously address people who want to see us continue doing what we do - for an NGO to continue to exist, whose work does not sell in mainstream media, which continues to plan projects in ways that make sense; an NGO that continues to operate even if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or whoever is responsible, prefers not to invest any money.

We have decided to target a funding threshold of 10,000 Euro. With this amount we would be able to complete all educational projects for this year ('train-the-trainer' medical assistants programme and physiotherapist training).Our tentative aim is 40,000 Euro. This would enable us to proceed for another year, start more campaigns (such as the psychological intervention training and a psycho-social treatment center for traumatized families) and raise more funds. From there on it is open end. Should we indeed raise more than 100,000 Euro, the mobile clinic will embark on its journey to the south before the end of this year.