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South Asia: Appeal No. MAA52001 Annual Report

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This report covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2010

Programme outcome: As outlined in the 2010-2011 plan the aim of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is to coordinate and support efforts at country and regional level to assist South Asian national societies to scale up their work to improve the lives of vulnerable people.

Programme(s) summary: The South Asia regional programmes have continued to focus on the work towards an integrated programming approach and tackling cross-cutting issues. In disaster management, the programme continued to scale up disaster management/disaster risk reduction (DM/DRR) approaches to improve the quality of national societies’ community-based preparedness and mitigation programming methodologies, materials and tools including addressing issues on recovery, emergency health and climate change – all under the “building safer communities” umbrella. The capacities of disaster response teams at the regional, national and branch levels were improved to respond effectively and function as response networks during emergencies. Through the Disaster Management Working Group (DMWG) of national societies, the eighth meeting of which was held in November 2010, a regional DM/DRR framework was advocated for guiding effective DRR programming in South Asia.

The regional health and care programme focused on assisting national societies in their endeavour to reduce vulnerability due to poor health by enhancing their capacity to respond to HIV and other public health issues in emergencies and in normal situations, through partnership, advocacy and resource development initiatives. Furthermore, the focus was on the scaling up of community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) activities and rolling out the global CBHFA in action across the region.

Country specific tailor-made organizational development assistance was provided to national societies in the region, mainly for strategic planning processes, strengthening branch capacity for resource mobilization, income generation potentials and an Operational Alliance on organizational development to Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS). Looking at Strategy 2020 – to do more, do better and reach further – in South Asia, a regional organizational development forum was held in Kathmandu in August 2010 during which discussions were focused on continuation and innovations of organizational development interventions. Two planning, monitoring, evaluation, reporting (PMER) workshops were organized for the national societies of India and the Maldives. To strengthen the cross cutting organizational development/capacity building of national societies of South Asia, a project proposal was developed on organizational development in emergencies. The organizational development team, together with the regional disaster management team, attempted to analyse a case on the reality of the regional disaster response team (RDRT) activation in the region in order to strengthen its significance and its well functioning in South Asia region.

The regional communications team aims to position the regional office, its country offices and national societies, as the primary, credible sources of information on humanitarian issues and disasters in the countries in which they operate. It also works on enhancing the overall content quality of all communications products, and ensures there is clarity and coherence among all messages.

The communications regional office promotes the capacity building in the region through knowledge sharing, collaborative working and outreach among national societies. It also supports IFRC’s global campaigns.

The principles and values programme has been integrated with other programmes and formed a part of most of the trainings conducted by the disaster management and health programmes in the region. A youth as agents of behavioural change (YABC) peer education training was conducted to support the internally displaced people (IDP) project of Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) in December 2010. The aim of this training was for SLRCS to develop a proposal under the IDP project on promoting peace in the community by using these trained youth volunteers.

Financial situation: The total 2010 budget was CHF 2,012,490 based on the programmes’ work-plan and funding situation. Coverage is 110 per cent while expenditure from January to December 2010 is 71.8 per cent of the total 2010 budget.

No. of people we have reached: The South Asia regional office supports the seven national societies and seven IFRC country offices in South Asia. The region includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, out of which national societies exist in all except Bhutan. The direct beneficiaries of the disaster management programme are principally disaster management staff members and volunteers in the national societies and country offices in the region. An estimated 4,500 staff and volunteers from six national societies, partner national societies, DIPECHO partner agencies and IFRC staff in South Asia were reached to improve their operational and implementation capacity. The disaster management programme is also working with the authorities in Bhutan in providing disaster risk reduction (DRR) and community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) interventions, along with assistance during emergency operations.

A total of 110 people have directly benefited and an estimated 1,400 people indirectly benefited from the Secretariat-supported organizational development/capacity building programme interventions during 2010.

Some 240 people have benefited directly and an estimated 1,500 people indirectly benefited from the Secretariat-supported principles and values programme (including health and disaster management programmes) interventions during the reporting period.

Our partners: The key partners of the South Asia regional office programmes are: British Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross, Swedish Red Cross, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), AUSAID, and the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid Department (ECHO/DIPECHO). In addition, working relationships have been initiated or further strengthened with the South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) disaster management centre, Bhutan Government, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Response (UNISDR), World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and non-governmental organizations in the region.

Health and care: Canadian Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross, Swedish Red Cross, Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, Eli Lilly, World Health Organization (WHO), region networks of people living with HIV, government ministries and civil society organizations under the regional health and care programmes.

Organizational development and principles and values: The key partners for the year 2010 were Japanese Red Cross and Swedish Red Cross.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, on behalf of the national societies in the South Asia region, would like to thank the above mentioned partners for their generous and continuous support.