This report covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2010.
In brief Programme outcome:
The 2010 disaster management (DM) programme was designed around the disaster management strategic plan of Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) (2009-2012) which focussed on:
• Building the capacity of staff and volunteers, disaster response teams, branches and headquarters;
• Strengthen national disaster preparedness and response mechanisms;
• Emergency operations centres at state level;
• Contingency planning for various specific scenarios;
• Implement procedures to initiate early recovery activities;
• Expand warehousing and stocks at state, district and national levels; and,
• Further develop professional technical training in disaster management.
In addition, disaster risk reduction (DRR) focused on building capacity for community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) programmes to build safer communities; targeted activities on DRR; promoting awareness advocate DRR and knowledge sharing within and outside IRCS.
The overall outcome of the health and care programme aligns with the Strategy 2020, and facilitated the development of IRCS’s capacity in planning, raising awareness on the preventive health needs and responding to public health emergencies. The IRCS health programmes have gained considerable pace and have adapted to the emerging needs of the country.
Trained staff at state and district branches significantly contributed in the project development and implementation. This has resulted in improved project management in terms of conducting training at various levels, regular monitoring and submission of reports. New projects initiated in 2010, like the humanitarian pandemic preparedness (H2P) programme and India tuberculosis (TB) programme, have enhanced IRCS’s role as auxiliary to the government. This was done through the respective national society health units working closely with the government health programmes,
Organizational development and capacity building are high priorities for the national society, hence a high level of integration of both these elements within IRCS programmes can be seen during the reporting period.
IRCS in the process to further strengthen the organisation and has geared up its efforts this year towards continuation and innovation. Finance system development and branch development at national and branch level respectively where integrated as a continium of existing programmes. Youth development, capacity building in fundraising and branch development through integrated programme approach became new initiatives to be strenghtened in 2011. Strengthening community preparedness and in the process achieving community development is another of its new initiatives and shift in focus of IRCS. Capacity building of staff has also gained momentum by more regular representation and exposure to international forums and meetings