On the 20th of june 2000 a cargo took off Brindisi airport bringing to Asmara 36 tons of humanitarian aid material and a mobile hospital a gift from Italian International Cooperation to assist Eritrean population suffering for the ongoing border war with Aethiopia.

That was the first air shipment by the newborn base devoted to humanitarian aid

United Nations Humanitarian response depot (UNHRD) in Brindisi, created in the previous weeks, in a strategic position in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, thanks to a joint idea of the Italian Government and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

This initiative has proven to be forward-looking and, on what was then said as the ‘Barindisi model’, the WFP created other bases, in strategic regions of the world, which together form the UNHRD Network: Accra (Ghana), Dubai (EAU), Kuala Lumpur (Malesia), Panama City (Panama) These bases offer a wide range of logistical services that the MFP and partner organisations use to prepare and respond to humanitarian crises. Currently, UNHRD Network has agreements and provide services to 97 organisations, among other UN agencies, governmental entities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The exhibition dedicated to UNHRD Brindisi developed as a result of a change of awareness  about objects sent to populations affected by humanitarian emergencies. Suddenly, things that often pass unnoticed in our daily lives, become very important to those who have lost everything as a result of a natural disaster or conflict. They have gained their own living space, so that they deserve a nearly museal exhibit area. The transparency of display cases in which they are placed allows to see what the six UNHRD bases store and transport to areas affected by humanitarian emergencies.

Exhibition space then expands to show WFP activities, the UN agency to which UNHRD belogs. The WFP is the main UN humanitarian organisation and agency, which is committed to saving and improving lives, providing food assistance in emergencies and working with communities to improve their nutrition and build up their resilience. With more than 50 years of experience in providing food assistance in some of the most remote and least safe regions of the planet, MFD is a global leader of humanitarian logistics and therefore incorporates and manages services, including UNHRD, which makes available to communities and support their preparedness and response  to humanitarian crises. For its efforts to combat hunger, its contribution to improving the conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and its action in steering efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict, MFD has been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Finally, the focus is on the UN presence in Italy, one among the world’s countries with the highest concentration of headquarters of organisations and entities of the United Nations system, offering the opportunity to better know the themes and activities of cooperation, multilateralism and partnership that are crucial to achieving the objectives of sustainable development of Agenda 2030.

The exhibition will be conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.