Nepal: Appeal No. MAANP001 - Annual Report 2008

This report covers the period 1 January 2008 to 31 December 2008.

In brief

Programme purpose:

The four-pronged purpose of the International Federation's programme supporting the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) in its four core areas of work, which are aligned with the International Federation's Global Agenda goals, is as follows:

1. Enhance the disaster management capacities of vulnerable communities and provide effective response to disasters, through the strengthening of the preparedness and response systems of the NRCS (Global Agenda goal 1).

2. Improve the health status of targeted communities and reduce their vulnerability through community-based health and care systems (Global Agenda goal 2).

3. Reduce the socio-economic vulnerability of communities, strengthen the capacity of the NRCS at all levels and increase self-reliance to better address needs in the communities (Global Agenda goal 3).

4. Increase awareness and understanding of the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement and humanitarian values, to promote respect for diversity and human dignity through service to vulnerable people (Global Agenda goal 4).

Programme(s) summary:

The NRCS carried out its activities during 2008 in line with its fifth development plan (2008-10), which was finalized during the year. The national society was heavily engaged in relief work in response to monsoon floods that hit the eastern and western parts of Nepal, for which an emergency appeal was launched by the International Federation in support of the NRCS. Besides responding to the emergency situation, the NRCS's disaster management programme continued to focus on strengthening the institutional and community level capacities for disaster preparedness, response and risk reduction. The health and care programme emphasized its community-based first aid,HIV/AIDS and RCS health sector capacity building components, along with a new component on humanitarian pandemic preparedness (H2P). Under the organizational development/capacity building interventions, the community development programme was continued through the Operational Alliance, for which an agreement was signed by the Secretary Generals of its partners. Further, progress was made in the areas of volunteer development, junior/youth Red Cross development and gender development. On the promotion of the Fundamental Principles and humanitarian values, the NRCS continued its radio programme and disseminated international humanitarian law, along with the development of a policy, leaflet, guidelines and documentaries on humanitarian values.

Financial situation: The total 2008 budget is CHF 1,526,961 (USD 1,305,133 or EUR 1,031,257), of which 80 per cent covered. Expenditure overall was 70 per cent.

No. of people we help: During this reporting period, the NRCS provided support to 393,825 people, of which 218,595 (55.5 per cent) were women. A Global Agenda goal-wise breakdown of the total number of beneficiaries is as follows:

Our partners: The NRCS has a long experience of working with bilateral and multilateral partners. During 2008, besides the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Federation, the NRCS worked with more than 10 partner national societies bilaterally. The partners that supported the NRCS multilaterally, through the International Federation, were the American, Austrian, British, Finnish, Japanese, and Swedish Red Cross Societies Owing to improving NRCS capacity for programme implementation, an increasing shift was seen within the national society towards bilateral rather than multilateral programmes, while the International Federation office in Nepal focused its support on strategic issues, coordination, international representation and support for the implementation of the emergency operations.

The NRCS also has partnerships with UN agencies, national/international non-governmental organizations, the Nepal government and community level organizations, based on its ifth development plan (2008-2010) and its Cooperation Agreement Strategy (CAS). The NRCS has joined the Global Alliances on HIV and disaster risk reduction and is the only national society in Asia successfully working with partners in the form of an Operational Alliance. Altogether, the national society is working with more than 25 partners inside and outside of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.

Context

After Nepal successfully held elections in April 2008, the newly formed constituent assembly abolished the monarchy and declared Nepal a republic with the new government being led by the former insurgent Maoists, who formed a coalition with the Communist and main Madhesi parties. Following this peaceful transformation of the power, the security situation in the country improved except for some occasional incidents of violence and strikes in the Terai (southern plains) and in the Kathmandu valley, which have been hampering the development of the country. The end of the long internal armed conflict and the improved political and security situation in the country removed some of the constraints that the Nepal Red Cross Society (NRCS) had been facing in programme implementation during the past years. The national society, together with ICRC, has been continuing to provide support services to families affected by the conflict in the country over the past years. Economically, Nepal faced a setback with the fuel and food crisis in the country severely affecting its people, especially the quarter of the population that lives below the poverty line of USD 1 per day.

In August 2008, a breach in the embankment of the Koshi river in the eastern part of the country caused severe flooding, eroding several kilometres of agricultural land and displacing about 65,000 people. The NRCS took the lead role in rapid assessments and, at the request of the government, for relief distributions and emergency shelter. It deployed its trained volunteers and staff, including members of the regional, national and district disaster response teams, and put its first aid services and blood transfusion services on an alert position. The International Federation launched an emergency appeal to support the relief efforts of the NRCS and activated the emergency shelter cluster. In addition, the NRCS's response to the flash floods that hit the country in the west (affecting about 8,000 families), following the floods in the east, was also included in the emergency appeal.

Despite some constraints and delays in the implementation of some longer-term programme activities during this period, due to the extensive engagement of the national society (supported by the International Federation) in responding to the monsoon floods as well as strained funding coverage of some programme components, most planned activities continued to make progress, the details of which are outlined in this report. These interventions were carried out in line with the NRCS's fifth development plan (2008-10), which was finalized during this period.