Irish Aid and Concern Worldwide provides emergency aid to Somalia. Photo: Mohamed Abdiwahab/Concern Worldwide

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Concern and Irish Aid

Irish Aid is Ireland's overseas development programme, as funded by the Irish taxpayer. Concern and Irish Aid have a long-standing partnership focused on our common goals of tackling extreme poverty and reducing humanitarian need.

Irish Aid is one of Concern’s largest and most valued institutional donors. With the €35.9 million Irish Aid provided to our programmes in 2024, Concern supported over three million people.

In Ireland, Irish Aid also supports Concern to engage the Irish public through awareness-raising and development education. Through initiatives such as Project Us and the Concern Debates, we support members of the Irish public to become active Global Citizens and build an understanding of Ireland’s contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Current partnership with Irish Aid

In 2023, Concern and Irish Aid began a new partnership phase, which is called Ireland's Civil Society Partnership (ICSP). This phase will run until 2027 and aims to reach over six million people in 21 countries. It will enhance Concern's efforts in health, livelihoods, education, gender, and emergency response. Check out the 'What We Do' section below to learn more about Concern's work in these areas.

Hanaano

Hanaano is a strategic initiative that aims to tackle the causes of child malnutrition in the cross-border areas of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia. Irish Aid is providing €15 million over three years for the Hanaano programme, which means ‘to nurture’ in the Somali language.

Led by local partners and communities, the programme targets 300,000 individuals by empowering families to identify and implement solutions to address hunger. The programme ensures access to safe, nutritious food from pregnancy onwards, providing crucial nutritional education, enhancing clean water accessibility to reduce disease, and supporting climate-resilient business opportunities for families.

Hanaano collaborates closely with local partners such as RACIDA, Pastoralist Concern, Lifeline Gedo, research partner Tufts University (Feinstein International Centre), and the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) to achieve these goals effectively.

What we do

A distribution of food and other essential items to Sarıgül village in Adıyaman district, Turkey.

Emergency

Our goal is to respond rapidly to save lives and reduce suffering and this is exactly what we do. In an emergency situation, we act quickly to save lives.

Livelihoods

Secure livelihoods offer the extreme poor a pathway to forge their way out of poverty. We implement our livelihood programmes in some of the most vulnerable places in the world.

Health and nutrition

We work towards the survival and wellbeing of the world's most vulnerable communities, while ensuring they obtain the knowledge and resources to keep themselves and their families healthy and nourished.

Education

Education is key to breaking the poverty cycle. We seek to increase access to education, improve the quality of teachers and improve child well-being by providing safe learning environments.

Gender equality

Gender inequality remains a major obstacle to the eradication of poverty. Gender equality is therefore a key area of focus for all programmes in livelihoods, health and education.

Climate and environment

Climate change is a driver of humanitarian crises. We work to meet the immediate needs of those affected, as well as helping communities to build resilience for the future.

Real stories

How three pigs in Liberia have helped a whole community

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*The contents of this page are the responsibility of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Irish Aid.

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Partner with Concern

Concern has been supporting the world's most vulnerable communities for more than 55 years
We're committed to being transparent about how money is spent - 90.3% of your donation goes directly to our relief and development work
What we deliver collaboratively can improve employee engagement and meet aligned priorities and values

Other ways to help

Corporate support

Is your company interested in working together for a common cause?

Fundraise for Concern

From mountain trekking to marathon running, cake sales to table quizzes, there are lots of ways you can support our work.

Buy a gift

With an extensive range of alternative gifts, we have something to suit everybody.

Leave a gift in your will

Leave the world a better place with a life-changing legacy.

Volunteer with Concern

The lots of ways to get involved with our work as a volunteer

School fundraising

Without the generous support from schools, we wouldn't be able to do the work that we do.