Ada Hekstra

ZOA

ZOA is a Dutch based Christian international relief and recovery organization supporting vulnerable people affected by violent conflicts and natural disasters in fragile states, by helping them to realize dignified and resilient lives. ZOA operates in more than 15 countries, in difficult locations where our field staff directly provides assistance to the most vulnerable victims of displacement. The countries in which ZOA is present are Afghanistan, Burundi, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Liberia, Myanmar, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Uganda and Yemen. ZOA is active in insecure and volatile regions: serving Syrian refugees in the Middle East, uprooted people in war-torn South Sudan, displaced Yezidis in Northern Iraq and South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia, to name a few. ZOA supports refugees, internally displaced (IDPs), returnees and others affected by conflict or natural disaster in their transition from instability and lack of basic needs towards a situation in which conditions enabling a process of structural development have been (re-)established. In a broken world in which increasing numbers of people are marginalized by conflict, injustice, poverty and disaster, signs of hope and restoration emerge where people experience peace, justice and mutual confidence, regain dignity and have fair and equal opportunities for development, in accordance with God's original aim. Over the years ZOA has been able to support millions of refugees, displaced persons and disaster victims. The organization's basic principle is to stay loyal to her target group, even when the public eye is already focused on yet another emergency situation.