When the Netherlands Red Cross (NLRC) reached out to RedRose, it was to explore going digital with a small pilot. The project would use e-vouchers to provide food aid on the islands of Aruba and Sint Maarten. The next thing we knew, Covid brought the tourism-based economy to a standstill. Thousands more required urgent assistance from the Red Cross and its partners on the islands.

The digital pilot was going well, and therefore NLRC jumped on the opportunity to quickly scale up using the RedRose solution. NLRC and its partners on the island were able to swiftly respond to the sudden, significant increase in need by expanding their network of food and hygiene vendors and increasing the provision of e-vouchers.

Because the islands have a good communications network, RedRose was also integrated with the NLRC’s communications management system. This allowed beneficiaries to query their balance at any time using SMS or WhatsApp.

RedRose is proud to be a part of the NLRC response supporting 24,000 families during the Covid crisis. You can read more about NLRC’s response here.