Attachments
HUMANITARIAN IMPLEMENTATION PLAN (HIP) Emergency Toolbox
AMOUNT: EUR 11 500 000
The present Humanitarian Implementation Plan (HIP) was prepared on the basis of financing decision ECHO/WWD/BUD/2016/01000 (Worldwide Decision) and the related General Guidelines for Operational Priorities on Humanitarian Aid (Operational Priorities). The purpose of the HIP and its annex is to serve as a communication tool for ECHO's partners and to assist in the preparation of their proposals. The provisions of the Worldwide Decision and the General Conditions of the Agreement with the European Commission shall take precedence over the provisions in this document.
0. MAJOR CHANGES SINCE PREVIOUS VERSION OF THE HIP
Modification 7 (06/10/2017)
Due to the large earthquake in Mexico on 19/09/2017 and subsequent earthquake on 23/09/2017 an internal transfer within the Emergency Toolbox instrument is proposed of EUR 8 096.69 from the Epidemics instrument (available balance EUR 8 096.69) to the Small-Scale Response instrument (available balance EUR 150 478.25). This is intended to support education following the earthquake, given the needs in this area that have been identified, particularly in less developed and remote areas. Following the transfer, the final amount available under the Small-Scale Response instrument will be EUR 158 574.94.
Modification 6 (15/12/2016):
Due to the high number of recent emergencies, the recently restocked Small-Scale Response Instrument was already fully earmarked by 05/12/2016. In order to ensure the response capacity, an internal transfer within the Emergency Toolbox instrument of EUR 450 000 to the Small Scale Response instrument is proposed from a double source: 1) EUR 350 000 from the Specific Objective 5 (Complementary & thematic activities & transport); and 2) EUR 100 000 from the Epidemics instrument.
Modification 5 (15/11/2016):
Given the high number of emergencies in 2016, most of the funding under the Epidemics and Small Scale Response instruments has been already committed for responses to a number of crises such as floods in Philippines or cholera in Yemen. For the purpose of being able to respond quickly to new small scale emergencies and outbreaks of epidemics worldwide until the end of the year, this amendment aims at replenishing the HIP with EUR 1 000 000 from the Operational Reserve (EUR 500 000 for the Small Scale Response and EUR 500 000 for the Epidemics instrument).
Modification 4 (06/10/2016):
Due to a range of urgent humanitarian needs, the amount available for the Small-Scale Response Instrument was fully allocated by 30/09/2016. As the need to respond to new outbreaks of epidemics worldwide has been less than foreseen, an amount of EUR 550 000 is transferred from Epidemics to the Small Scale Response Instrument. This transfer will leave the Epidemics Instrument with total 2016 funding of EUR 3 100 000 (and an available balance of EUR 1 015 980) and the replenished Small-Scale Response Instrument with total 2016 funding of EUR 4 050 000 (and an available balance of EUR 850 478).
1. CONTEXT
The Emergency Toolbox consists of three instruments:
- Epidemics
- Small-Scale Response
- Support to the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF)
Epidemics
Epidemics pose great risks to the health, lives and livelihoods of people in developing countries. Communicable diseases which have appeared or reappeared in recent years have demonstrated their great epidemic potential and their capacity to significantly exceed national resources and boundaries, causing major, even regional emergencies.
This is due to a number of reasons, including the high burden of endemic and epidemic-prone diseases; the existence of concurrent and complex emergencies resulting from natural disasters, climate change and/or conflict, increasing the vulnerability to infectious diseases and reducing the ability of countries to respond to public health risks, especially if pre-existing health systems are poorly resourced. The vaccination coverage in developing countries is generally low and the risk of transmission of infections is thus enhanced. Poverty, lack of basic sanitation facilities, low hygienic standards and malnutrition in post-emergency or structurally weak countries increase the vulnerability to communicable diseases. Disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes increase the already existing vulnerability to epidemics.
ECHO has been requested to support response operations to fight against epidemic diseases such as Cholera, Meningitis, Dengue Fever, Yellow Fever, Measles, Leptospirosis, Ebola, and Malaria but also other emerging or new pathogens representing a serious risk for all the affected population.
Small-Scale Response
Small-scale disaster events affect a relatively limited number of people but have a serious negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of these populations. Small-scale disasters often occur in remote or isolated areas, rarely trigger a declaration of emergency and usually do not figure prominently in the news despite the serious humanitarian needs they create locally.
In the context of larger disasters, even in countries with relatively developed disaster management capacities, national response to disaster events may leave gaps of uncovered needs, related to social inequality, isolation, under-reporting of events and/or inadequate capacity at local level, where only a limited humanitarian intervention is needed.
These events do not only cause considerable suffering, death and damage but also the loss of household assets and livelihoods. An accumulation of shocks, even if each is relatively small, can push vulnerable populations into a vicious circle of destitution and further vulnerability, from which they struggle to recover.
Those most affected by disasters are vulnerable populations suffering from exclusion or extreme poverty. This also holds equally true for countries which seem to be relatively well off from a macro-economic perspective but where inequality is significant and vulnerability concentrated in given geographical areas (i.e. rural, remote, urban) or social groups (i.e. indigenous or ethnic groups). Thus, while disaster response capacity may exist at national level, pockets of unmet emergency needs may well remain.
Climate change increases disaster risks, changing the magnitude and frequency of extreme events, thus eroding further coping and response mechanisms, as well as exceeding disaster management and planning patterns.
The Small-Scale Response instrument allows ECHO to provide a rapid response to events where a limited response is appropriate. This can be related to a disaster affecting a relatively limited number of people, restricted to a limited geographical area, or, in the context of larger disasters, a response to cover unmet needs. All types of disasters – natural and man-made – are included.