The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 183 countries. For more information: http:www.ifrc.org
Appeal total: CHF1,955,000

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Secretariat Programmes	2006 budget (CHF)	2007 budget (CHF)	Total (CHF)
Health and care	407,000	352,000	759,000
Disaster management	250,000	208,000	458,000
Organisational development	389,000	349,000	738,000
Total	1,046,000	909,000	1,955,000

Bosnia and Herzegovina context

More than ten years after the end of the war, Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is still faced with severe political, social and economic problems. The international community made efforts to establish long term peace and prosperity in the Balkans and is still providing the resources necessary for BiH to become a well functioning state. The country's economy was totally ruined during the war.

Even if Bosnia and Herzegovina has taken some serious steps towards peace and reconciliation serious challenges still remain on BiH's path to prosperity and integration into Europe. Almost half of its population is poor, not having benefited much from the transition process. Many people have experienced a sharp fall in their living standards and chronic poverty; others still face displacement; in the country or elsewhere. The extremely high unemployment rate is expected to rise due to the privatisation of giant state-owned companies . The stagnant economy is desperately in need of significant foreign investment. In addition to slow economic growth an alarming brain drain has seen many well educated young people emigrate.

Federation Secretariat support

The Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RCSBiH) is the only humanitarian organisation to cover the whole country; the establishment of the RCSBiH 2000 has been described by people outside the national society as one of the most important steps so far in the reconciliation process. The Federation support over the last ten years has focused on training of staff and volunteers, advice, and facilitation in regional cooperation and networking. In order to consolidate achievements in programme areas, more emphasis has been placed over the last three years on organisational development, particularly governance and management, statutes, financial management and fund-raising. This concept has been primarily funded through contributions to the Federation BiH country appeal for specific programmes, from the ICRC and from sister national societies.

However, the new national society is not yet self-sustainable and will in the coming four years be facing major challenges, both financial and organisational, which it can not tackle without support from the Federation Representative Office, ICRC and sister national societies. The focus for the Federation support the coming two years will be, besides programme support, to support the RCSBiH regarding strengthening the structure of the society which is essential for future funding possibilities . If there is no changes in the structure of the society and possibilities for the society to raise funds internally in BiH a major financial crisis in the RCSBiH is obviously coming when the international funding is withdrawn.

Health and Care

The overall goal for the RCSBiH Health and Care programme is that the health and social situation of the population in BiH is improved. Through targeted Red Cross health and welfare services , vulnerability is reduced and awareness of population about health issues is increased. Activities are:

- The Home Care Programme (HCP) is one of the most visible of the RCSBiH programmes providing quality home care services to vulnerable elderly people. The programme reaches more than 10, 000 beneficiaries and it is supposed that the needs for this type of programme will stay for many years to come. This programme works in close collaboration with the Population Movement programme.

- The First Aid programme aims to have an impact on the reduction of morbidity and mortality rates, particularly with regard to traffic accidents. This programme has good potential to become an income generating tool for the RCSBiH.

- HIV/AIDS and TB prevention and harm reduction. Assistance will be continued in public health educat ion, in particular the peer education health project, which has by the end of 2004 reached 8.000 young people. The aim of this project is to influence young people's behaviour regarding the prevention of STDs, especially HIV/AIDS, unplanned pregnancy and gender violence. The RCSBiH has made big efforts to inform the public about tuberculosis. The increasing incidence of tuberculosis is indicative of the social conditions of the population and lack of appropriate treatment.

- Blood donor recruitment is another traditional programme of the Red Cross in BiH, and the government and WHO recognise the important role RCSBiH plays in it.

- The RCSBiH is presently considering introducing the Participatory Community Development approach into the health programmes and it is assumed that a couple of branches from each entity Red Cross will start using this method as of 2006.

Disaster management

Based on a vulnerability and capacity assessment (VCA) in 2000 the RCSBiH established a community based disaster management (disaster preparedness / disaster response) network throughout the country. This network includes the build up of strong response mechanisms by establishing Disaster Response Units and basic warehouses in both entities of the RCSBiH as well as establishment of disaster management bodies in both entities. The DM network within RCSBiH will continue to work in full co-operation with governmental authorities, carry out DM assessments, identifying the RCSBiH role with other partners in the country, developing program me policy, regulations, structure and resources.

RCSBiH has a community based approach to disaster management and contingency planning. This is a part of the development of national response mechanisms. People of BiH have benefited - and will continue to benefit - as a result in times of emergency, as BiH is a country often hit by floods, landslides, droughts, forest fires, earthquakes etc.

Population movement, including trafficking

The population movement programme is one of the most important activities of the RCSBiH giving support to more than 8.000 beneficiaries. The programme is focus ing support on: positioning the RCSBiH in civil society vis-à-vis the government; legal issues; regional networking; volunteers' information-networks in priority areas of return; and assisting the Mobile Social Integration Teams in BiH. The integration of projects with new vulnerable groups, such as victims of human trafficking is important to the national society. It is also important how these projects are integrated into ongoing RCSBiH programmes (ie a cross cutting element between health/care and humanitarian values).

In BiH population movement will continue to be high up on the agenda for many years to come and the Red Cross will continue to be main actor in this important field.

Organisational development

The development of the organisational structure of the RCSBiH is probably the most important issue for the national society the coming years. This issue will have an impact on the future funding possibilities for the RCSBiH.

Other tasks are:

- Finalisation of the RCSBiH strategy

- Implementation of the new RCSBiH statutes electing a President and two vice-Presidents of the RCSBiH as well as employing a Secretary General

- Human resource recruitment based on qualifications, management and development for staff and volunteers to ensure skilled staff in the right positions; organisational restructuring

- Recruitment, retention and activities for youth members and volunteers

- Fundraising strategies and developing new funding sources. One important issue is the implementation of the provisions in the Red Cross law for Governmental support to the RCSBiH

- Assessment methodologies and expertise, including participatory approaches such as VCA and participatory community development (PCD).

- Skills development in project planning, reporting and fundraising

- Establishing communication with the government in order to have full recognition of the RCSBiH and its role and tasks within the country

Humanitarian values

The RCSBiH communication initiative aims at development of high and positive profiles for the society and raise awareness of humanitarian values and principles. The RCSBiH presently has a very limited capacity to fulfil this task and is to a certain extent depending on the Federation and the ICRC. The RCSBiH will focus on making best use of ICRC and Federation information channels (such as FedNet, Federation publications and other information services) to promote humanitarian values in the country, and to benefit from the networking and knowledge sharing opportunities these services can provide. Important tasks are:

- Advocacy with donors to ensure external funding in the absence of local sources or where local sources are being developed for activities promoting humanitarian values programmes.

- Advocacy with governments and ministries to recognise the added value of the work of the Red Cross through secured and long term funding for key health and care and disaster services, and cooperation in these areas.

- Advocacy with international organisations on the Red Cross work with vulnerable groups promoting humanitarian values.

- Training programmes for RCSBiH and entity Red Cross governing board members and members of staff on humanitarian values.

Implementation and management

The role of the Representat ive Office is changing from previously being one of implementation to today (and in the future) being one of technical support to programmes and change processes in the national society on the central but also entity level. The Representative Office priorities are:

Organisational Development: governance and management skills, structure of the national society, human resource management and development with a focus on volunteer management and development, image building, strategic planning, project design, management, monitoring and evaluation support to other programme areas. Support for the implementation of a new structure is the most important task.

Fundraising: With the new funding trends, it is clear that much less international programme funding will be available from sister national societies through the Federation or bilaterally. This funding has to be replaced with national funding. The long-term aim of the Federation is that RCSBiH should manage its own donor relations. This is the basic premise on which the Representative Office is working. However, before this is reached the Representative Office will assist the RCSBiH in resource mobilisation, both by building : good relations with partner national societies ; and knowledge of funding opportunities, both international and domestic.

Health and Care: tackling discrimination and stigma, HIV/AIDS and TB prevention, harm reduction, community based approaches (PCD) to first aid, safe blood supply, psycho-social support and the home care programme for elderly people aligning with the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

Disaster Management: community based approaches to disaster preparedness and response, disaster response and contingency planning and developing national response mechanisms, such as the disaster response units. In BiH population movement will continue to be high up on the agenda for many years to come and the Red Cross will continue to be main actor in this very important field.

For further information:

Red Cross Society of Bosnia and Herzegovina: Dr. Sonja Kostic (Office Manager); email: sonja@dckbh.org; phone: +387 3320015; fax: +387 33200148.

Federation Representative Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mr. Sune Follin (Federation Representative); email: ifrcbih02@ifrc.org; phone: +387 33666009; fax: +387 33666010.

Federation regional delegation in Budapest: Anja Toivola, Head of Regional Delegation; email: ifrchu05@ifrc.org ; phone:+ 361 248 3300; fax: +361 248 3322

Federation Secretariat in Geneva: Erja Reinikainen, Regional Officer; email: Erja.Reinikainen@ifrc.org; phone: +41 22 730 4319

This appeal seeks to fund programmes to be implemented in 2006 and 2007. These programmes are aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity":

Global Agenda Goals

1. Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

2. Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

3. Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability. 4. Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.

The International Federation's is the world's largest humanitarian organization, and its millions of volunteers are active in over 183 countries. Our aim is to build safer communities, able to prevent and respond to human suffering in times of crises and distress, and where people work together to promote hope, dignity and equity. We work to support vulnerable communities through neutral, impartial, independent humanitarian action, in accordance with our Fundamental Principles and in line with the Red Cross Red Crescent Code of Conduct, the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, and the SPHERE Project.

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