Attachments
Executive summary
The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been supporting the Red Cross of Chad (RCC) under the Sudanese refugee operation for the past 4 years. In the beginning of the operation in 2003, partners and donors were fully committed and the level of contributions both in cash and in-kind offered opportunities for building a substantial standard level of assistance to the refugees in all sectors. There is a strong recognition of the significant contribution and the role played by the Red Cross Movement in delivering assistance to the Sudanese refugees in Treguine and Bredgine camps during the first two years of the operation. The Federation's Delegation in Chad has supported the RCC in the fields of programme coordination, service provision and multilateral cooperation development with donors for fundraising.
Unfortunately, the scale of the humanitarian situation in eastern Chad continues to increase as a result of the volatile, unpredictable and complex nature of the crisis in the sub region. Internally, Chad has experienced a deterioration of its socio-political environment over the past years and national authorities continue to face challenges in tackling the increasing number of security threats. On the international side, developments in the neighbouring countries of Sudan (Darfur) and the Central African Republic (CAR) have also impacted negatively on Chad.
Because of the ongoing security concerns, refugees' have not been able to voluntarily return to Sudan. Many humanitarian organizations, including the Federation and Red Cross of Chad, were obliged to continually readjust their operation's timeframe as well as plans of action to integrate areas requiring further attention and additional resources. As a consequence, the Federation and the RCC have confronted serious funding constraints over the past three years. Having recently assessed the situation on the ground, the International Federation's Zone Office, has decided to reinforce the team of expatriate delegates in N'djamena and Abeche. The objective is to enhance the Federation's support to the RCC and its presence in the field with new human resources, including one programme coordinator in Abeche, one camp manager for the Treguine and Bredgine camps, and one expatriate health coordinator for Treguine's refugee health centre in Hadjer Hadid. The recruitment of these new staff did not take place until mid-2008.
Considering that security in the country remains an issue and given the need for increased cooperation with the RCC, the Federation's support under this plan will be mainly concentrated on improving coordination in the refugee operation To this end the Federation will carry out intensified capacity building and organizational development for the National Society at headquarters and branch levels in order to improve decision making, commitment and accountability at all levels.
More specifically, the Federation's support for improving assistance to the Sudanese refugees will be carried out through the sectors of basic health care, water and sanitation, relief items distribution, construction of semi-permanent shelters, provision of social welfare services, etc.). In addition to this, the Federation's continued support in community-based disaster management, livelihoods, organizational development and humanitarian values outside the refugee zones will be ensured by marketing all the National Society development initiatives which have been delayed in the previous years in order to better satisfy the Chadian vulnerable communities' vital needs. Further efforts will be concentrated on the identification of communities' needs, by conducting additional vulnerability capacity assessments (VCA) and training on project implementation, programme planning, and local fundraising. Training of governance and management bodies will be consistently supported by the Federation's Zonal Organizational Development department and constitutional meetings will be conducted to raise the National Society's profile as a prominent organization within Chadian civil society.
The total 2009-2010 budget is CHF 8,411,686 (USD 7,688,926 or EUR 5,357,761)