Humanitarian occasions
Seven days about relief work, refugees, volunteering and charity, with dates and messages that support the people doing the work rather than applauding from a distance.
Seven United Nations and Red Cross observances, all of them about people who turn up when something has gone badly wrong.
World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day on 8 May marks Henry Dunant's birthday. World Refugee Day is on 20 June, World Humanitarian Day on 19 August commemorates aid workers killed in the line of work, and International Volunteer Day falls on 5 December.
The rest are the International Day of Charity on 5 September, which is the anniversary of Mother Teresa's death, International Migrants Day on 18 December, and International Human Solidarity Day on 20 December.
What a useful message looks like
Aid workers and volunteers get a great deal of applause and not much else. The most useful things you can put in a message on these days are a name, a number and a link.
Name the organisation doing the work where you live, not the global brand. Say what a specific amount buys. Say what you did, if you did something, so that it reads as an invitation rather than a lecture.
Do
- Give one concrete way to help: an organisation, an amount, a shift, a donation link.
- Talk about migrants and refugees as people with jobs and families, not as a crisis.
- On World Humanitarian Day, name aid workers who were killed. That is what the day is for.
Avoid
- Don't use disaster imagery to sell anything.
- Don't post about charity in a way that centres the giver.