This report covers the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011

In brief

Programme outcome

Effective and timely service delivery and support to vulnerable and people in need in Bangladesh through strengthened and enabled National Society in accordance to the principles and mandates of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. To achieve this outcome, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is supporting Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) to develop the capacity of the National Society as well as in implementation of various relief and response programs, disaster preparedness and risk reduction, health and care interventions and development initiatives for most vulnerable people and communities.

Programme(s) summary

In 2011, BDRCS/IFRC implemented various relief, response, recovery and development programmes in line with the annual plan of action and existing strategic guidance of both the National Society and the Federation. The disaster management programme constitutes several projects/components like climate change adaptation (CCA), cyclone preparedness, disaster preparedness and response with main focus on increasing the community awareness on disaster hazards and improving community‟s disaster response capacity. It also manages disaster response operations as and when required. In 2011, four emergency response operations were launched, in which three were Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) operations for flash floods and cold wave and one Emergency Appeal for monsoon floods). A multi year project for CCA was initiated in 2011 with the financial support from Canadian Red Cross. A recovery project for cyclone Aila affected people was implemented with the support from Hong Kong branch of the Red Cross Society of China. Meanwhile, the first phase of the enhancement of cyclone preparedness program (ECPP) that focuses on rehabilitating radio network and further strengthening cyclone early warning system has been completed and the second phase is in process.

A new community development initiative (CDI) programme has gained prominence in BDRCS in 2011. CDI programme is another milestone in BDRCS programmatic history with an integrated approach to address socio-economic vulnerability of targeted communities. BDRCS health programme under the annual appeal was small in 2011 with only two activities in limited areas like anaemia prevention and road safety. The organizational development (OD) programme focuses on activities to enhance the institutional capacity of BDRCS and brings about required structural changes for a well-functioning National Society, which includes key activities like (i) revision of the existing BDRCS constitution, (ii) reformation of the present human resource (HR) policies, and (iii) preparation of a five-year strategic development plan. Two of the three activities were completed by end of 2011, while the constitution revision is presently awaiting approval from the government.