ReliefWeb

Executive summary

All information as of 21 February 2014 “UNICEF helped us so much because they gave us tent, school supplies, materials, water for hand washing and many more. That’s why we’re very grateful to UNICEF.” Erwin, 10, of Palo Central School in Leyte Four months after ‘super typhoon’ Haiyan hit the Philippines, signs of the devastation still line the scenery across affected communities, serving as reminders of how much remains to be done. Other signs however – children heading back to school, health workers back at work, or water flowing again through community taps – convey a growing, albeit tentative, sense of recovery. Today, children’s needs remain great, and it will take years for communities to fully recover, yet real and significant progress has been made in the aftermath of the Typhoon.

From day one, UNICEF put children at the centre of the response, working with communities, government counterparts, civil society and a wide range of local and international partners. Four months on, UNICEF reached 930,000 people with access to safe water, while 430,000 children received basic education materials as part of a wide-ranging back-to-learning campaign. Some 83,200 children were vaccinated against measles, and 55,300 supplemented with vitamin A through a combined campaign that also screened 97,000 children for malnutrition. With elevated risks of abuse and violence, UNICEF also worked to build a protective environment for those children most affected, reaching 17,000 with psychosocial support.

Recognizing the strong resilience of communities themselves, and the government’s commitment to disaster risk reduction even prior to Haiyan, UNICEF’s efforts aimed at building back better with future emergencies in mind. Work focused on how to reinforce communities and basic social services providers so they are more resilient today and tomorrow – through installing cold chain equipment that can operate in case of emergency, supporting safer designs for schools and water systems, training first responders and promoting life-skills and behaviours that make a difference during and in the aftermath of disaster. While striving to meet the continuing needs of those still displaced, UNICEF also expanded its focus to longer-term recovery, working under the Inter-Agency Strategic Response Plan running until November 2014, and coordinating with the government and its plan for reconstruction for 2015 and beyond.

In the face of the devastation wreaked by Haiyan, the world responded with tremendous solidarity to assist the women and children of the Philippines. UNICEF sought US$119 million for its 12-month appeal and four months on, initial financial requirements have been met thanks to an incredible show of support from all of UNICEF’s donors, including private individuals, National Committees, governments, private sector partners and many more. UNICEF is exceptionally grateful for such tremendous generosity. As the recovery phase begins, more funds will be needed beyond 2014 to help those most affected emerge from this disaster and to build back safer, more resilient communities

UNICEF mobilized globally to meet children’s needs on the ground. Resources from across the organization were made available with the activation of Level 3 emergency procedures which allowed for the rapid scale up of human resources and operational capacity. Two field offices were established – in Tacloban and Roxas – with an outreach post in Guiuan to be closest to those most in need. A logistics hub was set-up in Cebu to accelerate movement of supplies to affected areas.

Delivering on its cluster lead agency mandates in WASH, nutrition and education (co-lead with Save the Children) and its role in the child protection area of responsibility, UNICEF also scaled up coordination and information management capacity in the most affected areas, in close collaboration with national and local level government partners. Within a week, close to 30 staff were on the ground, including to cover cluster coordination needs.