Meet the Partner: Cordaid

Established in 2000 when several Dutch aid organizations joined forces, Cordaid is an internationally operating value-based emergency relief and development organisation, working in and on fragility. Cordaid stands with those who are hit hardest by poverty and conflict by supporting them in their struggle to move beyond survival and to fully participate in equitable and resilient societies. Cordaid does not accept this world of inequality and exclusion but believes in a world where everyone can live life in dignity is possible; where people can break through barriers of poverty and exclusion, and influence decisions that affect them; and, a world with an economy not driven by greed and growth, but by inclusivity, social justice, and gender equality. The organisation believes that all humans are a single family and the earth with all its resources is our common home. Cordaid focuses on fragility, operating in the fragile and volatile settings where communities and governments alike struggle to absorb and mitigate economic, political, and environmental shocks and risks. The organisation addresses these causes of fragility by supporting local communities, service providers, and frontline aid workers in creating food security, offering healthcare and education, assuring security and justice, and promoting gender equality. Cordaid fosters local ownership by collaborating as much as possible with local organisations, governments, and the private sector. Localising humanitarian assistance and development cooperation – by giving prominence and funding to local responders and professionals – increases the efficiency of interventions and counters power imbalances within the development sector. Cordaid links relief and development by offering humanitarian assistance where disasters strike by combining the longer-term improvement of health care systems, food security, economic opportunities and disaster resilience, and the promotion of security and justice with life-saving humanitarian assistance. Inspired by Christian social traditions, Cordaid is guided by the values of human dignity, justice, compassion, and care for the planet to reach out to the poor and the excluded, regardless of race and religion. The organisation seeks and promotes alliances of civil society organisations, as well as the public and the private sectors. With hundreds of funding and implementing partners, the organisation works across sectors and on different levels, with everything embedded in local communities. It works with local professionals and experts and uses innovative digital and financial methods to increase impact.