In Brief
Appeal coverage: 160%
Appeal target: CHF 1,743,194 (USD 1,365,946 or EUR 1,128,362)
Related Emergency or Annual Appeals: Guyana: Floods (05EA001), Caribbean: Hurricanes Dennis & Emily (05EA015), Bahamas, Cuba and Mexico: Hurricane Wilma (05EA024), Pan American Disaster Response Unit Annual Appeal (05AA040), Haiti Annual Appeal (05AA042).
Programme summary: As an added impetus to the scaling up of HIV/AIDS activities and in order to support the implementation of the flagship "Together We Can" methodology, additional support to National Societies was provided in the form of seed money. The Nobody has the truth written on their face.
Protect Yourself. Use a Condom. campaign was translated and adapted for the Caribbean, and was launched regionally on World AIDS Day. The British Red Cross commenced a bilateral First Aid project supporting three National Societies. A meeting of Caribbean Red Cross Disaster Management Directors led to the revitalization of the Caribbean Disaster Management Network and facilitated the development of Response and Contingency Planning Guidelines. Regional Intervention Teams (RITs) were continually strengthened during 2005 through training in logistics and general relief and the added impact of improved selection criteria for participants. The regional organizational development network, having completed training sessions in early 2005, examined ways in which it could provide support to the region, focusing particularly on volunteer management. Humanitarian Values were promoted internally through a Law and Fundamental Principles meeting and and Ideals in Action Training of Trainers (ToT), as well as externally at a workshop for journalists.
The funding of the 2005 Annual Appeal stands at 160 percent of the appeal target as a result of the incorporation of balances from the 2004 hurricane response operations. Nevertheless, this funding came too late to benefit the Humanitarian Values programme and, in particular, anti-stigma and antidiscrimination activities.
Operational developments
2005 saw an unprecedented North Atlantic hurricane season with a record 27 named storms which required the additional use of letters of the Greek alphabet for the first time. The Caribbean was most affected by Hurricane Dennis which hit Cuba, Haiti and Jamaica; Hurricane Emily which hit Grenada and Hurricane Wilma which struck the Bahamas and Cuba. The Emergency Appeal for Hurricanes Dennis & Emily (05EA014) came to an end in October 2005, and the Emergency Appeal for Hurricane Wilma (05EA024) will close at the end of December 2006.
During 2005, significant funds remained from the 2004 hurricane season operations in response to Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne. With operational activities at an end by mid 2005, a Plan of Action (PoA) on how to incorporate these balances into the 2005 Appeal was shared with donors in September. Some donors agreed with the PoA, two chose to have their funds returned and others gave no response: their silence was interpreted as agreement after three months. Therefore, by the end of the year, the Caribbean Appeal was in a healthy financial position with no deficit reported. However, the funds came too late for the Humanitarian Values programme to benefit, particularly activities related to anti-stigma and anti-discrimination.
The Norwegian Red Cross gave an unexpected financial contribution to the Caribbean Annual Appeal in November for a six-month period. The funds were distributed between organizational development (OD), psychosocial support, HIV/AIDS campaigns, the container project (pre-positioning of relief stocks) and general management. These funds will also allow the Federation to implement priority activities in 2006, particularly volunteer management.
At the 15th session of the General Assembly in Seoul Dr. Raymond Forde, President of the Barbados Red Cross was elected Federation Vice-President and the Haiti Red Cross was elected to the Federation Board. The Sub Regional Office faced challenges in staffing with the departure of the disaster management and finance/administration officers. Although two replacements were found for the latter, the former proved to be a difficult position to fill since none of the candidates fit the profile of a disaster management specialist with knowledge of the Caribbean region. This vacancy jeopardizes the upcoming DiPECHO V community based disaster management (CBDM) project, as the disaster management officer is the project manager.
This Annual Report reflects activities implemented over a one-year period. This forms part of, and is based on, longer-term, multi-year planning. All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of National Societies profiles, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org
For further information specifically related to this operation please contact:
- In Trinidad and Tobago: Julia Brothwell, Sub Regional Office Coordinator, Port of Spain; email Julia.Brothwell@ifrc.org, phone (868) 627-2665, fax (868) 627-9627
- In Geneva: Luis Luna, Federation Regional Officer, Americas Department, Geneva; email luis.luna@ifrc.org, phone 41- 22-730-4274, fax 41-22-733-0395
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