Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Government of Cape Verde wants to strengthen cooperation with the Cape Verde Red Cross, recognizing the institution’s fundamental role in responding to crises and supporting populations. Olavo Correia was speaking during the opening of the 13th General Assembly of the Red Cross in Cidade Velha.
The government official stressed that the Red Cross is of great use to Cape Verde and that the Executive intends to strengthen cooperation with the institution.
“We are open to working with the Red Cross to improve this partnership framework. We saw, for example, during the calamities in São Vicente, Santo Antão and São Nicolau, but also in Santiago do Norte, during the Covid-19 pandemic and during droughts, that the Red Cross has always been present, a leader, not only mobilizing financial resources, mobilizing volunteers and acting together with the Government. And, therefore, it is a permanent partner of the Government of Cape Verde and we want to do everything to ensure that this partnership is strengthened and improved,” he emphasized.
In turn, the president of the Cape Verde Red Cross, Arlindo Carvalho, emphasizes that the Red Cross is not defined by its structures, but by the volunteers and professionals who have been working on the front lines of humanitarian action.
“No achievement would have been possible without the true heart of this institution, our volunteers. It was you who were present. It was you who were in the soul of the people of Cape Verde. And it was you who stayed in the right place. The Red Cross is not buildings, it is not structures. The Red Cross is people. And these people are our brave volunteers and our professionals,” he reinforces.
Arlindo Carvalho comments that the organization has moved from reaction to prevention, by implementing changes in community health.
“We have faced successive crises, pandemics, epidemics, economic pressures, food insecurity, climate challenges, etc. But it is important to clearly state that we were not just an institution that reacted; we were an institution that always evolved. We evolved because we decided to. We evolved because we took risks. We evolved because we put the institution above everything else. Today we are a more structured, more credible, and more respected Red Cross, both internally and externally,” he says.
The 13th General Assembly of the Cape Verde Red Cross began today and will run until March 21, with the highlight being the election of the new governing bodies for the next term.
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