Geneva (BLAZETRENDS) the world, with respect to a total workforce of 20,000 people in a hundred countries.
The decision was made by the governing board of this institution, will be applied in the course of the next twelve months and is part of a plan to save 430 million francs (431 million euros).
At least 20 of the 350 locations from which the organization operates around the world will have to close, particularly in areas that can be covered by another office or where other humanitarian or development entities can take over, the ICRC said. .
“It has been a difficult decision given that the central ambition of our request to donors for 2.8 billion euros in contributions by 2023 was to maintain the same level of services to communities compared to last year,” he explained when making the announcement.
That amount was the highest that the organization had requested so far, but in reality it only represented an increase of 0.3% compared to its annual appeal for funds of the previous year and with which it intended to address new critical situations, such as the escalation of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
“That modest increase hid the hard decision that it had already made to absorb 160 million francs (same amount in euros) of additional costs projected by inflation,” he explained.
In the restructuring plan, the organization assured that it will try to minimize the reduction of jobs, freezing new hires and through the natural departures of employees.
The Red Cross will close some of its programs
At the same time, the size of certain operations will be reduced and some programs will be closed, measures with which the International Red Cross said it wants to focus its activities in areas that are difficult to access, close to the combat lines and in disputed areas.
“Our priority is to have the most effective and positive impact for the communities that are going through an armed conflict or violence,” he specified.
The explanation for the decision that has had to be made is not only that the organization has not received all the funds it requested for 2023 -something that has already happened in the past-, but that it is the consequence of several problems that have coincided.
The ICRC accumulates several requests for funds at the end of the year that have not been covered and costs skyrocketed in the fourth quarter of 2022 due to inflation, which led it to start this year with a deficit of 140 million euros.
In addition to this, it has become increasingly difficult to obtain funds that could be used flexibly, that is, without being attributed to a specific operation as a condition of the donor. As a direct consequence of this, several crisis situations have suffered from a lack of resources.
