Every year thousands of men, women and children are victims of armed conflicts and natural disasters. It is often the most vulnerable who pay the highest price in terms of lives lost and human suffering. A refugee forced to leave Congo, a Bosnian trying to pick up the pieces of her life after the war, and a Nicaraguan farmer whose livelihood is destroyed in a hurricane, they all have one thing in common: they all need humanitarian assistance.
Day by day, ECHO and COSV work together to face a continuous challenge against the causes of hunger, wars, exploitation, inequities and humanitarian crises.
ECHO, the Humanitarian Aid Office of the European Commission established in 1992 to launch and coordinate humanitarian operations, in these years has funded emergency assistance in more than 85 countries.
COSV, engaged for over 30 years in the field of international solidarity and cooperation to development, cooperates, since 1994, with ECHO to provide assistance to the victims of natural disaster or armed conflict in Africa, South America and Balkans.

In 2001, 12 projects were subsidised by ECHO in order to promote the awareness of humanitarian aid. The initiatives are principally aimed at:
· making even more visible the presence of the European Union in humanitarian crises;
· promoting the solidarity of the European Union towards the victims of natural disasters and other events such as wars and conflicts through awareness-raising and information projects;
· increasing the knowledge of humanitarian problems.

“There are races it’s important to take part in, and others it’s important to win” is the new campaign carried out by the agency Opinion Leader for ECHO and COSV.
Testimonials of this campaign are two international sportsmen, the Spanish motorcycling riders Carlos Checa and the Italian Marco Melandri (for further information about them see websites www.carloscheca.com and www.marcomelandri.it) with a strong credibility and appeal on the target and with a positive image: young riders that convey positive values.
The two champions, who ride for different team, have chosen to leave out the sporting rivalship and to fight together for a better word promoting and supporting the humanitarian operation carried out by ECHO and COSV.
The television campaign on ECHO-COSV are launched on the European channel EUROSPOT on the occasion of the 2002 motorcycling season from May to October. The campaign is aimed at diffusing ECHO’s and its partner’s actions and promoting a “culture of cooperation”, in particular among the young, who represent an important audience of EUROSPORT.

View Marco Melandri's Spot
View Carlos Checa's Spot