Nepal Appeal 2006-2007 No.MAANP001

This appeal seeks CHF 3,236,779(1) to fund programmes and activities to be implemented in 2006 and 2007. These programmes are aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda, which sets out four broad goals to meet the Federation's mission to "improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity".
Global Agenda Goals:

1. Reduce the numbers of deaths, injuries and impact from disasters.

2. Reduce the number of deaths, illnesses and impact from diseases and public health emergencies.

3. Increase local community, civil society and Red Cross Red Crescent capacity to address the most urgent situations of vulnerability.

4. Reduce intolerance, discrimination and social exclusion and promote respect for diversity and human dignity.

The International Federation's is the world's largest humanitarian organization, and its millions of volunteers are active in over 183 countries. Our aim is to build safer communities, able to prevent and respond to human suffering in times of crises and distress, and where people work together to promote hope, dignity and equity. We work to support vulnerable communities through neutral, impartial, independent humanitarian action, in accordance with our Fundamental Principles, the Code of Conduct and the Sphere project’s Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response.

Country context

Nepal is among the poorest countries in the world in terms of economic , health and social development. More than 40 percent of the population live below the poverty line. Approximately 12,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands or more have left their homes due to the ongoing internal conflict. Access to food and basic services, such as health and education, is declining, especially in remote areas. In addition, the country is often affected by natural disasters, such as landslides, floods and earthquakes. Disaster preparedness and response efforts are particularly challenging in the present conflict situation.

The Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) is the leading humanitarian organization in the country, with a wide network of districts and local chapters and 800,000 members. The national society plays an important role in the conflict situation by bringing the needed humanitarian assistance, but most importantly by working towards decreasing the population’s vulnerability to health and other emergencies. NRCS is one of the few organizations that have access to most areas of the country. An important priority for the society is to keep and expand this access through its work on the Red Cross/Red Crescent Fundamental Principles. The national society has developed a sustainable model of working towards reaching and working with local communities. It builds its interventions on its fourth development plan 2003-2007 and it has its own policies and strategies in various programme areas.

Federation Secretariat support to Nepal

The Federation Secretariat over the coming years will continue to assist NRCS in the implementation of its long-term development programmes in the areas of health, disaster management and humanitarian values, as well as in disaster response operations, by helping the national society position itself as a neutral, impartial and independent organization in the current conflict. This will be done in close cooperatio n with the ICRC delegation in Nepal. The Federation office will also continue to support coordination, partnership building and resource mobilization of the national society, as well as capacity building in programme management.

The current situation in the country provides challenges for the NRCS work, but also opportunities to expand services to most vulnerable groups. During the coming two years support to both programme delivery and capacity building is therefore necessary. All programmes as well as support to branches and volunteers need to be adjusted according to the conflict situation.

The Federation Secretariat will support the national society to update and review its strategic development plan and continue coordination with partners through the Cooperation Agreement Strategy (CAS) process.

Strengthening the national society

Health and care

The programme aims at building skills and capacities of communities to deal with health hazards. This is achieved through public education and training of health and first aid volunteers to work with communities. It addresses various health issues, such as HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, hygiene, accident treatment and other basic health problems as identified by the communities. In selected communities and schools water and sanitation infrastructure will be built. The programme also includes a capacity building component in order to help position NRCS as a leading health organization in Nepal and to better align its interventions to the country’s health needs and priorities.

For further information please contact:

In Nepal: Badri Khanal, Nepal Red Cross Society Executive Director; email: badri@nrcs.org; phone: +97.71.427.0650; fax: +97.71.427.1915.

In Nepal: Nicholas Russell, Federation Representative; email: nicholas.russell@ifrc.org or fedrep@nrcs.org; phone: +97.71.428.5843; fax: +97.71.428.6048

In India: Robert McKerrow, Head of Regional Delegation; email: bob.mckerrow@ifrc.org; phone: +91.11.2685.8671; Mobile 91 98 1000 1534, fax: +91.11.2685.7567

In Geneva: Hirito Oyama, Regional Officer, Asia and Pacific Department; email: hiroto.oyama@ifrc.org; phone: +41.22.73.4273; fax: +41.22.733.0395; or Nelly Khrabraya; email: nelly.khrabraya@ifrc.org; phone: +41.22.730.4306; fax: +41.22.733.0395.

Footnote:

(1) EUR 2,094,324 or USD 2,527,746

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