‘Providing Aid and Giving Hope’: An Airline for the World’s Most Isolated People — Global Issues

The World Food ProgrammeExecutive Director Cindy McCain said the UN Humanitarian Aviation Service (UNHAS), which is managed by the UN food agency, enabled humanitarian organizations to respond quickly to crises in the ‘deep field’.

Cindy McCain and UNHAS Chief Aviation Officer Franklyn Frimpong discussed the importance of the life-saving service.

Cindy McCain: UNHAS makes WFP and other agencies work. UNHAS gives us the ability to reach the deep field and parts of the world that would otherwise be absolutely impossible to reach, and also deliver goods and transport people to wherever they need to go. I don’t think WFP would be complete without UNHAS. And it’s something that not only we value; I know the other agencies do too. When people see a UNHAS plane landing, they know that help has arrived. That’s what we do: give help and give hope.

Franklin Frimpong: UNHAS has been at the forefront of many humanitarian emergencies since its creation 20 years ago. Examples that immediately come to mind are the Ebola outbreak in West Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic to health emergencies, natural disasters such as tsunamis, and the many conflict-related crises and emergencies we now find ourselves in.

Currently serving over 600 organisations, UNHAS is a critical link in some of these complex humanitarian responses.

Cindy McCain: It’s also important to remember that the collective work of WFP and other UN agencies is about bringing stability to regions. That’s a really important part of UNHAS: our ability to help with stability and to make sure that communities, and the world, understand the importance of stable states: not just stable communities, but stable governments.

Franklin Frimpong: But UNHAS, and indeed WFP, cannot do this alone. It requires partnerships and collaboration with stakeholders such as governments, the donor community, sister UN agencies and other aid agencies to truly achieve the desired response to complex humanitarian emergencies.

UNHAS’s success is rooted in collaboration. UNHAS is a testament to what can be achieved when organizations come together with a shared vision.

Cindy McCain: What I see for UNHAS is, I hope, growth and new opportunities for science and technology when it comes to aeronautics, which is very important, especially when we are talking about trying to meet a global need, which we are doing.

I think our ability to make sure we can fly safely, remain neutral and be part of a global strategy that helps rather than harms is a huge part of what UNHAS does.