By decision of Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs has granted 47.3 million Euros from the early 2010 humanitarian aid appropriations to the victims of crises and natural disasters in the world. The current sum is in addition to the 5.4 million Euros allocated in January for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The total humanitarian aid budget for 2010 is 69.7 million Euros.

Humanitarian needs

The humanitarian aid granted by Finland is based on the joint appeal for needs-oriented assistance published annually

Period covered by this Operations Update: 4 December 2009 to 20 March 2010 Appeal target (current): CHF 3,635,713 (USD 3.58 million or EUR 2.4 million);

Appeal coverage: 98%

Appeal history:

- A Revised Emergency Appeal was launched on 13 November 2009 for CHF 3,635,713 (USD 3.58 million or EUR 2.4 million) to support the Pakistan Red Crescent (PRCS) in assisting 42,000 people (6,000 families) until March 2010.

- The emergency appeal budget was revised down to CHF 7,974,802 on 6 July 2009 to assist 91,000 displaced people (13,000 families).

- Emergency Appeal was launched on 4

Appeal Target: US$ 1,916,904

Balance Requested: US$ 1,771,904

This appeal is launched to follow-on from the response by ACT members to assist people amongst over 1.8 million women, men and children displaced by conflict in 2009 (including ACT appeal PAK091), now with a focus on enabling the long-term recovery process for returnees and those who stayed behind during the fighting in their places of origin in the Swat and Buner Districts of the North West Frontier Province (NWFP). The proposed programme is for rehabilitation of basic water, sanitation

Success Story

Denied an education herself, one local woman works tirelessly for her local school with USAID support

Gul Laila, a resident of Dharian Bambian, Pakistan, can't read or write, but she still arrives at the local school early every morning. Before heading off to her job as a domestic worker, she stops by the school to ensure all the teachers have shown up for work. Faculty absenteeism has no longer been an issue since the School Management Committee elected Laila as its chairwoman.

Denied an education herself, Laila now

DISASTER RESPONSE

USAID's Chief Operating Officer Visits Northern Sri Lanka

From March 15 to 19, USAID's Chief Operating Officer Alonzo Fulgham, along with USAID/Sri Lanka director Rebecca Cohn, USAID/Sri Lanka office director of Humanitarian Assistance and Transition Initiatives Mike Desisti, and USAID/OFDA principal regional advisor (PRA) for South Asia Bill Berger, traveled to Kilinochchi, Jaffna, and Vavuniya districts in northern Sri Lanka for a first-hand look at the country's post-conflict situation. Fulgham conducted interviews with conflict-affected

Education facts

- At least 6 million primary school-age children are out of school and 42% have never gone to schools.

- At least 188 schools have been destroyed in the conflict in Malakand (NWFP), 70% of these are girls' schools. A further 137 have been damaged.

- The vocational education system provides only 600,000 places for a youth population of 40 million.

- Only 52% of primary aged girls are enrolled in schools compared to 59% of boys.

- Only around 10% children complete secondary education.

- Half the adult population is illiterate

On 18 January, the United Nations Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, allocated nearly US$100 million through the Under-funded window of the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). This is emergency money to plug critical gaps in funding to life-saving humanitarian interventions.

Of this allocation, agencies working in Afghanistan received $11 million, while the UN country team in Yemen received $7 million. In the beginning of April, Pakistan received close to $10 million through the Rapid Response window of the CERF.

In Afghanistan, the three main interventions

Contents

- FOCUS: Relief work in Haiti

- ACTED committed to economic development to prevent emigration (Afghanistan)

- ACTED helps vulnerable populations to overcome the winter season (Tajikistan)

- Moving On: Lives in Transition (Pakistan)

- Fishing resumes in the Gaza Strip (oPT)

- Addressing the water challenge in IDP camps in Northern Sri Lanka

- Successful start off for the blacksmiths of Goré (Chad)

- Regional coordination of ACTED's teams in Naivasha, Kenya

- Bactria Cultural Centre fosters regional cooperation

- PSF Deux Savoie and Isère: The struggle