Defender
Celebrating a longstanding partnership with the British Red Cross and IFRC.
About our partnership
2024 marks 70 years of partnership between Defender, the British Red Cross and IFRC, making it one of the longest charity partnerships in the world.
The relationship began with the loan of a Series 1 Land Rover to act as a mobile dispensary in the Dubai desert, in 1954. Since then, the partnership has helped a staggering 2 million people to prepare for, respond to and recover from crisis in more than 50 countries.
The current focus of the partnership is to build community strength, preparedness, and resilience to the unpredictable around the world. With communities facing disasters on top of threats such as food insecurity, conflict and climate change, this work has never been more important.
Defender has also invested in, and have been members of, our Disaster Relief Alliance since 2019 supporting whenever a disaster strikes, anywhere in the world.
Celebrating 70 years of partnership
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of our partnership, we transformed a Defender 110 into an incredible mobile museum, which launched at London South Bank’s Observation Point on 19th and 20th September.
PHOTO: British Red Cross
Our impact so far
Together, we have reached almost 2 million people in over 50 countries through humanitarian projects.
Our global partnership has allowed us to:
- support families and communities recovering from emergencies, in particular helping to build resilience within the community
- help the Australian Red Cross to reach communities and help them prepare for emergencies such as bushfires, lockdowns and floods
- help the Nepalese Red Cross Society establish a disaster awareness programme and protection schemes to the most vulnerable
- support the Italian Red Cross to increase their search and rescue capabilities through training and development
- help REDOG, an arm of the Swiss Red Cross to increase their dog search and rescue capabilities
- facilitate the testing of Defenders as part of ongoing emergency response activities and long-term fleet testing with IFRC teams.
REDOG supporting the search and rescue efforts during the Türkiye-Syria earthquake.
Issie, a volunteer with the British Red Cross, delivering PPE supplies to remote parts of Scotland in a Defender.
Previously, we didn't have our own network. I would have to drive to the top of the hill to be able to get any form of communication. It was very disempowering and frustrating.
Natascha, community responder in New South Wales
Our project in Australia supported the development of a community resilience team in Byrrill Creek. Here, the Red Cross had supported Natascha and the group to introduce several projects and resources to help get them prepare for disasters.
Did you know?
Defender first supported the British Red Cross 70 years ago with the donation of a specially adapted Defender that was used as a medical dispensary in the deserts of Dubai.
Since then, Defender has supplied vehicles to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The capabilities of the Defender continue to enable teams to deliver life-changing support to people in emergencies across all types of terrain.
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