Our Network

The work of Johanniter International Assistance would not be possible without our network. Alliances with other organizations also enable us to share knowledge and work more efficiently. That is why we are an active member of
various networks and alliances.

We are involved in the umbrella organizations VENRO, VOICE, ICVA and in the Humanitarian Coordination Platform of the German Federal Foreign Office and jointly develop positions on important issues of humanitarian aid and development cooperation. We are also a member of various specialist networks in order to contribute our expertise on topics such as humanitarian aid, health and logistics.

In 2021, for example, we joined the German Health Alliance, a network of more than 100 leading German players in the healthcare sector. We have also been a member of the Center for Humanitarian Action (CHA) since 2023. The CHA is the first German think tank on humanitarian aid. Logistics also works better together. That is why we are involved in the Global Logistics Cluster, the UN Humanitarian Response Depot Network (UNHRD) and the Humanitarian Logistics Association.

German Networks

Aktion Deutschland Hilft (ADH) was founded in 2001 and unites 23 German humanitarian NGOs.

Main Focus
- Joint appeal for donations during emergency/disaster
- Provision of disaster relief fund for member organisations
- Enhancing publicity about people’s needs
- Follow-up analysis of the activities, independent external experts check for compliance with quality standards
Working Groups (* Johanniter participates)
- WG Projects*
- WG Fundraising*
- WG Media* - WG Online *
- WG Quality Assurance*
- WG Humanitarian Logistics*
Here you can find ADH's Homepage.
The Center for Humanitarian Action is the first German think tank on humanitarian aid. The CHA is an initiative of humanitarian non-governmental organisations to strengthen German, local and international humanitarian action.
- it engages in independent analysis
- it initiates debates and spreads the word about humanitarian action and principles amongst the general public
Here you can find the website of the CHA
The GHA was formed by the union of the German Healthcare Partnership (GHP), the German Healthcare Export Group (GHEG) and the German-Sino Healthcare Group (GSHCG) and consists of more than 100 leading German players from all sectors.

Main focus
- International cooperation in the healthcare sector and expansion of international activities
- Representation of interests and public relations
- Access to more than 50 partner organizations and to the sectors of development cooperation in health as well as KfW, GIZ and AWE
  Shaping of framework conditions in the field of international cooperation in health and cooperation in composing strategy papers and position papers
Here you can find the German Health Alliance Homepage
The Koordinierungsausschuss Humanitäre Hilfe (KoA), co-chaired by the German Federal Foreign Office (AA) and VENRO, meets three times per year,ad hoc and for retreats.

Main Focus
- Coordination among German actors on humanitarian policy and operations
Working Groups (* Johanniter participates):
- M+E*
- Core Humanitarian Standard / AAP* (Lead)
- Localisation*
- Simplify Bureaucracy*
- Humanitarian Advocacy
- Preparedness* (Lead: German Red Cross)
Learn more about the KoA.
The Verband Entwicklungspolitik und Humanitäre Hilfe (VENRO) was founded in 1995 and has 130 member organisations.

Main Focus
- lobbies with the German parliament, German Chancellor, Federal Foreign Office, Federal Ministry for Development Cooperation BMZ and European Commission to raise development and humanitarian assistance on the political agendas and take into account the expertise and interests of civil society
- a platform for exchange among German NGOs on trends, challenges and common interests in development and humanitarian assistance
- develops standards and codices for development and humanitarian work of its members
- is a member of CONCORD, the European network of development NGOs
- coordinates with German networks of environmental, peace, unionist sector
- publishes factsheets, reports and position papers
- offers trainings, workshops and conferences
Working Groups (* Johanniter participates)
- Humanitarian Aid* (focus on AA and BMZ ÜH)
- Fragile States*
- Co-financing* (focus on BMZ and EU)
- Disability and Development*
- Gender*
- Child rights*
- Health*
- Social Security
- Transparency*
- Impact monitoring*
- Agenda 2030
- Global structural policy
- Climate change and development
- Local-global education
Current donor-funded Projects of VENRO
- Agenda 2030: to strengthen implementation of the agenda in and by Germany
- Quality and Impact: Trainings for NGOs on a broad range of current tools and topics
- Civil 20: coordinate the participation of international civil society in the 2017 G20 process and C20 forum
- GFMD: coordinate the participation of international civil society in the 2017 Global Forum on Migration and Development in Berlin
- NGO IDEAs: a participatory tool for impact monitoring
Here you can find VENRO's Homepage.
The WASH network was founded in 2011 and has 25 member NGOs that are active in the sector of water, sanitation and hygiene.

Main Focus
- Professionalisation through continuous exchange of knowledge and experience
- Linking emergency relief and development
- Advocacy, public relations, development aid education
- Interface to German public organisations (BMZ, GIZ, KfW, THW)
- Regional training workshops on WASH preparedness and emergency, e.g. July 2017/Philippines, Oct 2017/Senegal and Training of Trainers in 2019 in Myanmar and online 2020
Here you can find the WASH network's Homepage.

International Networks

The 36 international NGO signatories committed to implement the 8 point Charter for Change, endorsed by more than 140 Southern-based national or local humanitarian organisations.

Main Focus
- An initiative, led by both National and International NGOs, to practically implement changes to the way the Humanitarian System operates to enable more locally-led response
- Signatories commit to increase direct funding to national NGOs, to provide capacity building and to advocate for and promote the role of local actors to donors, media and public
- C4C lobbies with donors to support charter
Here you can find C4C's Homepage.
The CHS-Alliance wasFormed in 2015 and has more than 240 member organisations.

Main Focus
- improve the effectiveness and impact of assistance to crisis-affected and vulnerable people
- lead and facilitate the development, promotion and maintenance of the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) on quality, accountability and people management which sets out Nine Commitments that the humanitarian sector can use to improve the quality and effectiveness of their assistance
- the CHS has been devised to clarify the responsibilities of aid organisations and their staff, make the implementation of humanitarian standards simpler and easier, and contribute to better humanitarian responses
- develop, maintain and promote the CHS Verification Scheme that is independently audited by the Humanitarian Quality and Assurance Initiative (HQAI)
- provides training and capacity building
- webpage with numerous free tools and resources
Here you can find the CHS-Alliance's Homepage.
The Global Interagency Security Forum (GISF) was Formed in 2006 and has 126 member organisations. The independent NGO peer support network provides a platform for global security focal points of international NGOs to share experiences, knowledge and learning.

Main Focus
- Improving the safety and security of operations and staff
- Disseminates good practice in security risk management to improve policy and practice
- Enhancing access to and impact for, crisis- affected populations
- Research, biannual forum meetings, regular workshops, information sharing, publications
Here you can find the GISF's Homepage.
The Logistics Cluster is made up by all humanitarian actors who contribute to the main goals to provide coordination, information management, trainings and operations to the humanitarian
community. The lead agency is the World Food Programme (WFP).

Main Focus

The Global Logistics Cluster provides
- strategic and policy guidance to broaden knowledge and improve decision making in humanitarian logistics
- system-wide preparedness and contingency planning
- logistics surge capacity and support to the humanitarian community reinforcing operations
- Trainings: Log Emergency Team, Log Response Team, Cluster Induction, Information Management
- provides maps, logistical information and Logistics Capacity Assessments (background information available for many countries)
- Relief Item Tracking Application
- Access to UNHAS (via cluster website)
- biannual Global Logistics Cluster Meetings
The Logistics Clusters at field level
- coordinates logistic operations of organisations responding to humanitarian emergencies response
- facilitates access to common logistics services made available by WFP and other organisations
- regular meetings in country (monthly etc.)
Here you can find the Global Logistics Cluster's Homepage.
Founded in 2009, the HLA is a non-profit NGO based in the United Kingdom whose members work on an individual basis or in partnerships to respond faster to global emergencies.

Main Focus
- Empowering logisticians to deliver humanitarian and development aid more effectively
- Facilitating a better connection between supply and demand, enabling cross-sector learning, innovation and partnerships, supporting market transparency
- Ability to post job advertisements and tenders for the procurement of goods, services, and consultancy advice
- Advertising of events and trainings
Here you can find the Homepage of the Humanitarian Logistics Association
The International Council of voluntary agencies (ICVA) was formed in 1962 and has more than 100 member INGOs, NNGOs, NGO consortia.

Main Focus
- Facilitate NGO engagement in the shaping of global humanitarian policies on:
  Forced Displacement
  NGO access to humanitarian financing
  Humanitarian coordination
  Cross cutting issues: Civil Society Space, Nexus, Localisation, Diversity
- Amplify the NGO voice towards UNHCR, IOM, UNOCHA, IASC and increasingly WFP and UNICEF, and engage in:
  the Comprehensive Refugee Response Framework + Global Compact on Refugees development
  the Grand Bargain workstream on harmonizing and simplifying reporting
  the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Humanitarian Financing Task Team, IASC Principals, IASC Emergency Directors Group
- Offers trainings (including online) on humanitarian financing and coordination, conferences and workshops, publishes statements + studies
Here you can find the ICVA's Homepage.
Sphere was established in 1997 and is a membership organisation and a community of humanitarian response practitioners. The board is composed of representatives of global networks of humanitarian agencies. Johanniter is part of the German Sphere Focal Point.

Main Focus
- The Sphere Project is a voluntary initiative that brings a together around a common aim - to improve the quality of humanitarian assistance and the accountability of humanitarian actors to their constituents, donors and affected populations.
- The Sphere Handbook, Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response, is one of the most widely known and internationally recognized sets of common principles and universal minimum standards in life-saving areas of humanitarian response.
Here you can find Sphere's Homepage.
The UN Humanitarian Response Depot Network (UNHRD) is a network of 6 depots in strategic locations around the world, serving close to 90 partners ranging from UN agencies, governmental and non-governmental organisations.

Main Focus
- procures, stores, and transports emergency supplies for the humanitarian community
- offers routine management of stock in depot + services provided to partners upon request and on the basis of full cost recovery
- depots in Brindisi, Dubai, Panama, Accra, Kuala Lumpur and Las Palmas equipped with training facilities to host classroom training and simulation exercises
- able to facilitate specialized humanitarian operations training, emergency drills and other practical exercises for governments, UN and NGOs
- ECHO-certified Humanitarian Procurement Centre
Johanniter has 50 Emergency Wheelchairs and 500 tarpaulins on stock and access to stock list of all other actors for borrowing stocked relief items from them (and restock/pay).

Here you can find the UNHRD's Homepage.
VOICE was founded in 1992 and has 88 members from 19 European states.

Main Focus
- collective NGO positioning towards DG-ECHO on funding and operational practice
- increase recognition of NGOs as key actors in the delivery of humanitarian aid
- promote the humanitarian principles and the quality and effectiveness of humanitarian action
- follow-up Grand Bargain implementation at EU level
- regional round tables in EU countries, events, conferences, studies, position papers
- trainings on ECHO requirements (FPA, etc.)
Working Groups
- FPA Watch Group DRR Working Group
- Grand BargainTask Force
Here you can find VOICE's Homepage.