Attachments
The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 181 countries. For more information: www.ifrc.org
In Brief
Appeal No. 01.74/2004; Period covered: January - December 2004
Appeal target: CHF 2,684,669 (USD 2,224,325 or EUR 1,729,015)
Related Emergency or Annual Appeals:
Serbia and Montenegro/Kosovo Annual Appeal 2004. For details, please see the website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual04/017404.pdf
Serbia and Montenegro/Kosovo Annual Appeal 2004 - Programme Update no.1 - Special focus on Kosovo. For details, please see the website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual04/01740401.pdf
Serbia and Montenegro/Kosovo Annual Appeal 2004 - Programme Update no.2 - Special focus on Kosovo. For details, please see the website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual04/01740402.pdf
Serbia and Montenegro/Kosovo Annual Appeal 2004 - Programme Update no.3. For details, please see the website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual04/01740403.pdf
Serbia and Montenegro/Kosovo Annual Appeal 2004 - Programme Update no.4- Special focus on Kosovo. For details, please see the website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual04/01740404.pdf
Civil Violence Information Bulletin no.1. For details, please see the website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?rpts04/kosovounrestib0104.pdf
Civil Violence Information Bulletin no.2. For details, please see the webs ite at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?rpts04/kosovounrestib0204.pdf
Programme Summary:
The Federation, since 2001, has steadily reduced its relief programming, and focussed on the development of sustainable, needs-led services in health, care and disaster preparedness delivered by volunteers through Red Cross branches. This has been supported by an extensive programme of organisational development. The main aim of the Federation delegation in the 2004 Appeal had been the handover of programmes to the Serbia and Montenegro Red Cross Society, together with a significant downsizing of the delegation and reducing support for service delivery. There have been significant steps made in this direction in the second half of the year - the delegation has reduced in size with the responsibility for many activities completely transferred to the national society. However, 2004 being a transitional year for the national society and the country itself in many aspects, it was necessary to adjust the pace at which the handover was going. The Federation is still very much involved with many of the activities of the national society, providing assistance in managing programmes, but is at the same time moving into other areas - helping broker partnerships with interested national societies and international organisations, assisting with the development of capacities etc. Speaking from the wider perspective, the year as a whole was marked by political tensions between biggest political parties, several stressful election cycles and reduced economic development. The noticeable increase of the foreign trade deficit and the decrease of international investments (as well as international donations) seem to have outweighed the economic growth, resulting in the standard of living stagnating or deteriorating. The Poverty Reduction Strategy in Montenegro seems to be very slow in implementation while the Poverty Reduction Strategy in Serbia is only beginning to be implemented, albeit in an environment notably changed compared to the time of preparation of the strategy. The humanitarian needs are still great with large numbers of refugees and internally displaced people depending on assistance that is becoming scarcer. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) food distribution programme has come to an end, not only leaving the final 60,000 beneficiaries with the need to find alternatives, but also ending a secure source of income for almost all Red Cross branches that have participated in this programme. The Federation has therefore focused on the vulnerable population and service delivery more than initially expected. Assistance to the national society needs to remain active and strong while these issues are addressed, and while new opportunities for programme development and partnership in areas such as Commercial First Aid and Municipal Disaster Preparedness are explored. Funding and support for these two projects among others are still needed. The national society, with Federation support, has provided direct assistance to beneficiaries through its Health and Care, Soup Kitchen and Population Movement programmes covering more than 25,000 beneficiaries. Additionally, the National society's capacity to meet the existing humanitarian needs has been enhanced through training, technical support and capacity building. The Disaster Preparedness programme has strengthened the national society and its capacity to respond to disasters, at the same time improving its position in society and helping to address the key issues of overall national disaster preparedness policies. The Organisational Development programme has initiated planning process for the transition of the national society towards better and more efficient models of functioning Partner National Societies and other partners in this period who deserve deepest gratitude are the Spanish Red Cross, Hellenic Red Cross, Luxembourg Red Cross, French Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, British Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, Icelandic Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross, German Red Cross, Italian Red Cross, Belgian Red Cross, Austrian Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross and the Swiss Agency for Development and Co-operation.
For further information specifically related to this Annual Appeal please contact:
Serbia and Montenegro Red Cross Society: email: generalsecretary@redcross.org.yu; phone: ++381 11 30 32 129; fax: ++381 11 2622 965
Red Cross of Serbia: email: serbia@redcross.org.yu:, phone: ++ 381 11 30 32 125; fax: ++381 11 634 348
Red Cross of Montenegro: email: ckcg@cg.yu ; phone :++381 81 241 418; fax: ++381 81 241 613
Federation Delegation in Belgrade: email: paul@ifrc.org.yu; phone: ++381 11 32 82 202; fax: ++381 11 32 81 791
Geneva Secretariat: Erja Reinikainen, Federation Regional Officer, Europe Department, Geneva; email: erja.reinikainen@ifrc.org; phone 41.22.730.43.19; fax 41.22.730.03.95
This Annual Report reflects activities implemented over a one-year period. This forms part of, and is based on, longer-term, multi-year planning. All International Federation assistance seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and is committed to the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response in delivering assistance to the most vulnerable. For support to or for further information concerning Federation programmes or operations in this or other countries, or for a full description of the national society profile, please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org
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