Attachments
This report covers the period 01/01/08 to 30/06/08.
In brief
Programme purpose: As outlined in the 2008-09 Plan, the aim of the International Federation South Asia regional delegation (SARD) is to increase the capacity of South Asian national societies to provide services that improve the lives of vulnerable people.
Programme(s) summary: The key areas of support in the first half of 2008 were conducting a midterm evaluation of the regional HIV/AIDS programme and final evaluation of the disaster risk reduction (DRR) DFID II programme; and constant promotion of a regional initiative on "Building Safer Communities" in South Asia through an integrated programming approach. Extensive support to countries in the region in their preparation of Federation Secretariat plans for 2009-10; organising of a Secretary Generals' forum in Nepal in June 2008; initiating a consolidation process between SARD and the India office; and strengthening internal and external communications also featured heavily on SARD's work load. To help us communicate more effectively, a monthly e-Newsletter from SARD and a South Asia site on Youtube were launched as well as the production of high quality visibility materials.
SARD's funding situation remained quite bleak, especially for the region's organisational development activities, which has a funding coverage of less than 15 per cent. Some areas under the regional health and care programme, such as public health in emergencies and community based health are also poorly covered at less than 20 per cent. The overall budget was revised slightly upwards from CHF 3,765,233 (approximately USD 3,429,800 or EUR 2,323,440) to CHF 3,826,176 (approximately USD 3,488,255 or EUR 2,360,555) due to various modifications of 2008 programme budgets. The major revisions are explained in the respective sections.
Financial situation: The total 2008 budget is CHF 3,765,233 (USD 3,59 million or EUR 2.3 million), of which 42 per cent covered. Expenditure overall was 23.7 per cent. Expenditure was low due to the low funding for regional programme activities.
No. of people we help: The South Asia regional delegation (SARD) supports the six National Societies (NSs) and seven country offices of the International Federation in South Asia. This year we are also actively working with the authorities in Bhutan in providing disaster management and risk reduction training for their leadership. The region includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka out of which NSs exist in all except Bhutan and the Maldives where the process of establishing a NS is underway. Please refer to the country reports for the beneficiary numbers for these countries.
Our partners: The main partners supporting the regional programmes during the reporting period were the Swedish, Danish, Japanese, British, American and Finnish Red Cross Societies, along with the European Commission/ECHO and DFID. Technical partnerships/relations were also maintained with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, the SAARC DM centre, UN/International Strategy for Disaster Response, World Bank (through the ProVention consortium), other UN organisations, governmental and non-governmental organisations under the regional DM programme; and with the World Health Organisation, networks of people living with HIV, government ministries and civil society organisations under the regional health and care programmes. SARD also maintained strong cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross and links with WFP, UNDP and USAID. Further, close cooperation was continued with international media agencies like Reuters, BBC and CNN, for efficient information flow especially during disasters.