In the context of the upcoming World Humanitarian Day, we spoke to Deutsche Post DHL Group about their GoHelp Programme and some of the individuals that make it such an impactful initiative. At CBi, the diversity of what it means to be a humanitarian, and what both individuals and businesses can offer to community resilience in the face of crises is what motivates us to share this story. It’s part of a series, and you can read other profiles here.
When a disaster strikes, it doesn’t discriminate or respect borders established by us. It affects everyone, and responding requires a whole community too – from frontline healthcare or aid workers to logisticians, and more. Alongside volunteers, international and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and government teams, local businesses big and small contribute essential actors during emergencies.
The private sector can offer support in the form of financial donations, but also through skills and in-kind contributions.
One example of a multinational who has found a way to support local communities in times of need is the global logistics company Deutsche Post DHL Group. They are strongly involved in disaster management through their GoHelp Programme, a strategic partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) aiming at improving disaster logistics.
Below are the stories of Ade and Cesar, two DHL employees who are volunteers of the DHL’s Disaster Response Teams, a programme run by DHL in partnership with OCHA to handle essential airport logistics in times of emergencies. So far, around 500 specially trained employees have volunteered their time to be a part of DHL DRTs in the Americas, the Middle East/Africa and Asia Pacific.
Ade Lestari Tobing, logistician, Indonesia
Ever since she was a little girl, Ade has dreamt of helping people. While she thought she would become a doctor or a minister to do so, life turned out differently – but Ade’s drive to have a positive impact on people’s lives remained.
After quitting her job to take care of her sick mother, Ade joined DHL in Indonesia to help improve the quality and safety of logistics operations in the country. That was 12 years ago. In 2018, she joined the DHL Disaster Response Team (DRT).
A few months later, the Central Sulawesi region of Indonesia was struck by a magnitude 7.5 earthquake which triggered a devastating wave of tsunamis. The disaster caused more than 4,400 deaths and displaced over 170,000 people in the Sulawesi – Palu region. Ade was deployed to respond at the airport, and she helped to handle incoming relief goods to prevent a bottleneck from happening.
“Things happened so fast,” remembers Ade. “I was the among the newest members of the response team and we had to manage a distribution centre in the connecting airport of Balikpapan. I had to partner with humanitarians and military from different countries. This was a very memorable moment for me.”
One of Ade’s big takeaways was that despite being a country in the “Ring of Fire” and a high potential for disasters year-round, it still felt like they weren’t experts in how best to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. In the years since then, Ade has continued special disaster training with DHL and OCHA and strives to enable synergies within and between teams.
When asked if she thinks of herself as a humanitarian, Ade said she didn’t, not in the sense of it being a trait that differentiates her from her peers.
"I think everyone has the instinct to be humanitarian,” she says. “Whatever I do, I do it to bring positive change around me. I believe that if you do something good to someone, that person will continue that act of goodwill, and that will create a better world for us and our children.”
Captain Cesar Caceres, pilot, Guatemala
Captain Cesar always wanted to be a pilot. He started his career in the national Air Force and has been working with DHL for the past 30 years as an aviation pilot. He joined the DRT in 2010 and since then has been helping train others on aviation safety issues.
Cesar was on the frontline of the response to the volcanic eruption which struck Guatemala in 2018. The entire deployment involved 55 DHL volunteers working in close partnership with partners, including the Guatemalan disaster management authority (CONRED), to ensure smooth handling of relief cargo.
“The volcanic eruption left a deep impression on me,” recalls Cesar. “I was able to observe it very closely, handling aid in several collection centers, and I was struck by the devastation that such disaster can bring to communities in a short amount of time. But what inspired me is that we were able to be there. The satisfaction of knowing that you are useful in a time of need is priceless.”
In addition to volunteering with the DHL DRT, Captain Cesar helps train airport professionals to prepare airports for disaster situations. DHL Get Airports Ready for Disaster program (GARD), in partnership with UNDP and more recently the Airports Council International, prepares airports for the logistical challenges posed by disasters linked to extreme weather events and their aftermath, and aligns the airport’s preparedness plans with the Nation’s emergency plan.
“Being a humanitarian person for me means being in solidarity with people who need support because of a disaster. Being a humanitarian is something that inspires us to help at all times, something valuable as a human being,” says Cesar. His wish for the future is to “put an end to all wars that cause too much suffering, death, famine and destruction.”
Just like Cesar and Ade, thousands of individuals and companies volunteer their time, resources and skills – regardless of what those are – to save lives in times of emergencies. That’s because emergencies require teamwork beyond neighborhoods, sectors, and even language or cultural barriers to lessen their impact and consequences.
If you’re interested in doing more to support your community or company in times of crisis, you can ask internally if there are opportunities available, or start by taking on-line courses such as our free and self-paced course on Business Continuity Planning to better understand the role you could play.
At the Connecting Business initiative (CBi), we work with country-level business networks to mobilize businesses of all sizes to support humanitarian response in some of the world’s most disaster-prone countries, to improve communities’ resilience to climate change.
Two of the current CBi Member Networks, the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation (PDRF) and the Vanuatu Business Resilience Council (VBRC) are implementing partners of the GARD projects in their respective countries.
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