GOAL Milestones: responding to humanitarian tragedies

for the past 32 years

Scroll down to learn how we have helped the poorest of the poor since our inception in 1977.

To see some of the ways in which we made a difference in the Developing World during 2009, click here.

1977: GOAL began a feeding programme on the streets of Calcutta, establishing itself as a Third World relief and development agency. Later the same year, GOAL began mother and child healthcare programmes in the villages of West Bengal.

1978: Acting upon advice from two local paediatricians, Dr Chaudhuri and Dr Pappu, concerned about the high prevalence of infant mortality, GOAL moved beyond its street feeding programme in Calcutta to establish a mother and child healthcare training centre on the outskirts
of the city, courtesy of a IR£30,000 grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs. At the centre, under supervision from the two doctors, mothers would be advised on best hygiene practices for themselves and the welfare of their infant: such as always using clean implements to sever the umbilical cord; the vital necessity of using only clean water; advice on breastfeeding and when a baby should be introduced to solid food, and so on.


1979: GOAL was one of the first Western agencies to enter Cambodia after genocide had claimed over two million lives, bringing essential medicines and food supplies to a traumatised population.
In the same year, GOAL established operations in Uganda in the wake of the Karamoja famine, where over 20 per cent of the population starved to death.

1980-1983: While continuing its emergency and development interventions in India and Ethiopia, GOAL began supporting health, nutrition and education programmes in the Philippines. GOAL also continued to support missionary organisations in Africa.


1984: Having been given early warning by Irish missionaries based in Ethiopia of an impending famine there, GOAL already had medical teams in the country when a humanitarian crisis began that would eventually claim over one million lives, and directly threaten eight million more. GOALies went immediately to the worst affected areas of a human catastrophe of barely imaginable scale. GOAL medical teams worked seven days a week for months on end on the frontline in extremely harrowing conditions, to keep thousands of starving adults and children alive. A massive vaccination programme for vulnerable children was implemented and 20,000 families and innumerable children were fed on a daily basis. In so many different ways - emotionally, psychologically, and in terms of its sheer scale - the Ethiopian famine was by far the greatest challenge that GOAL had faced since its inception.


1985: GOAL began emergency operations in Sudan, bringing relief to Chadian refugees who were displaced in camps in Darfur, in the Western Geneina province.


1986: GOAL programmes in Sudan were expanded substantially to provide health and nutrition support to displaced populations living in the capital city Khartoum.


1987-1988: GOAL medical and nutrition programmes continued apace in Ethiopia and Sudan, providing vital assistance to those most in need, by directly implementing programmes with GOAL doctors and nurses and via missionary organisations.


1989: GOAL delivered emergency life-saving supplies and assistance to over two million people left homeless by devastating floods in Khartoum.


1990: Health, nutrition and development programmes in Ethiopia and Sudan were extended further still to provide more relief to displaced people and indigenous populations.


1991: GOAL delivered emergency food and medical supplies to a Kurdish refugee population living in camps in Iraq. GOAL also established itself as an implementing agency in Cambodia.


1992: GOAL provided food and medical assistance to thousands of people in Somalia who were plagued by conflict, devastated by famine and ignored by most of the international community.


1993: GOAL began primary health care and HIV and Aids awareness programmes in Angola, after hundreds of thousands of displaced people poured into the capital city of Luanda to escape fighting in the countryside.


1994: GOAL provided emergency aid and assistance after the Rwandan genocide in which 800,000 people were slaughtered. When 40,000 people died in a cholera epidemic in the refugee camps around Goma, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)) GOALies organised the burial of bodies. GOAL worked with Rwandan populations who were living in DRC and Tanzania.


1995: GOAL established itself as an implementing agency in Mozambique.


1996: GOAL implemented primary health care, nutrition and school construction projects in Vietnam. After serious flooding in the Tuyen Quang province, GOAL provided over 1,000 people with enough rice to sustain them until the next harvest.


1997: In Bosnia-Herzegovina, GOAL repaired infrastructure in Gorazde town by completing water and sewage systems for refugee centres. GOAL also built 68 new apartments for displaced people and renovated a pharmaceutical distribution centre and a sports hall.


1998: GOAL brought emergency aid into Honduras after Hurricane Mitch devastated the country and claimed the lives of almost 6,000 people.


1999: GOAL took responsibility for a camp for displaced people in Sierra Leone where a vicious civil war had left 20,000 people dead and a devastated population in its wake. Later that year, GOAL provided emergency assistance in Northern Albania and Bosnia-Herzegovina and assisted in the repatriation of two million refugees. As the year ended, GOAL provided emergency aid to East Timor, where occupying Indonesian forces had forced two-thirds of the population to flee their homes.


2000: GOAL brought emergency relief aid to Mozambique after flooding devastated the Gaza and Maputo regions.


2001: Just hours after Hurricane Michelle devastated El Salvador, GOAL distributed emergency food and non-food supplies. GOAL also mounted a major aid effort in Afghanistan distributing urgently needed food to hundreds of thousands of starving people, and began a programme to rebuild infrastructure.


2002: GOAL provided emergency assistance to those affected by the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Medical programmes were subsequently initiated to provide health care for thousands of vulnerable people. In the same year, GOAL established itself as an implementing agency in both Malawi and Zimbabwe.


2003: GOAL began implementing health and nutrition programmes in Darfur, Western Sudan, providing emergency support to hundreds of thousands of displaced people.


2004: In response to the tsunami on December 26th that devastated South East Asia, GOAL immediately mobilised emergency relief teams to India, Sri Lanka, the Andaman Islands and Indonesia. €20 million was allocated for the relief of suffering in these regions by GOAL.
The Sri Lankan recovery programme was the largest undertaken in GOAL’s history and earned the organisation universal praise for the speed, quality, and extent of its work, as well as for its cost effectiveness and judicious use of aid funding. Along with emergency provision of food, water and sanitation to 30,000 families, the GOAL projects involved the building or rebuilding of 65 schools, the building of 300 houses, the maintenance of 1,350 shelters, the rehabilitation of six bridges, and the repair of 51 kilometres of road. GOAL also built four fully equipped fish markets and four fishery community centres, renovated 500 boats, rebuilt 40km of irrigation canals, repaired sluice gates, pumps and culverts, and planted 80,000 hardwood trees and 76,000 mangroves. Referring to GOAL’s school building programme, the Sri Lankan education minister was moved to remark to John O’Shea that it would have taken the Sri Lankan government 20 years to achieve what GOAL had managed in only 10 months.


2005: GOAL deployed emergency teams to provide food, medical attention, and water and sanitation facilities to famine-hit Niger in West Africa. After a massive earthquake had ravaged Pakistan-controlled Kashmir and left up to 3.5 million people homeless, GOAL travelled to the remote, mountainous Bagh region to provide relief and help rebuild communities.


2006: GOAL expanded its programmes in Ethiopia in response to the worsening famine situation.


2007: Due in no small part to pressure from GOAL, the Irish government ceased giving direct budgetary support to Uganda. GOAL expanded its projects into several more districts in Zimbabwe to provide emergency feeding programmes and support for displaced people.


2008: GOAL responded to humanitarian crises in Burma and yet again, Ethiopia. Since late 2008, GOAL has been assisting people to recover from a cholera outbreak in Zimbabwe. Cholera-response activities carried out by GOAL included distribution of essential non-food items, repair and maintenance of latrines, treatment of water sources and good hygiene promotion. GOAL also helped build the capacities of communities to deal with further outbreaks of the disease.


2009: GOAL emergency nutrition and health response programmes in Ethiopia are expanded to meet growing food insecurity throughout the country. GOAL completed the construction of its 1,000th house for families who are affected by HIV and AIDS in Uganda. GOAL built 100 homes for vulnerable orphans, and built over 40 schools in Malawi. In India, 120,000 children benefited from the provision by GOAL of improved water and sanitation facilities in slum-area schools, a programme that is continually being expanded to encompass other slum areas.