Attachments
The Operational Strategy, developed in June 2022, targeted 500,000 people covering the livelihoods, multipurpose cash (MPC), health; water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); education; Protection, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); migration and displacement, risk reduction, climate adaptation and recovery, environmental sustainability, and community engagement and accountability sectors. A needs assessment was conducted by the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) and IFRC in October 2022 and the Operational Strategy is being revised to adapt to the current needs and gaps. The revisions mainly concern the livelihoods, MPC, WASH and education sectors while the remaining sectors continue as originally planned.
As per the recommendations of the assessment, under the livelihoods sector, the revision emphasises a stronger focus on addressing food and nutrition needs to prevent a further deterioration of the situation and adverse impacts on health and nutrition status. A specific focus will be placed on vulnerable and marginalised people and households, including those with pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, people with disabilities (PWD), and female-headed households.
The provision of food assistance in schools will be a priority because of the nutritional benefits, particularly the prevention of malnutrition, the link to school attendance, and the cascade of other benefits that this achieves. Support is integrated as a systematic and well-coordinated programme for intervention and targeted towards prevention of malnutrition, particularly of vulnerable persons and households, while covering all of the country and reaching out to remote and hard-to-reach areas.
Conditional cash grants for smallholder farmers will be scaled down to 10,000 households from 43,000 as farmer communities have regained access to chemical fertiliser following the challenges in June 2022, and farmers were able to start farming as per the seasonal cultivation calendar. Under the MPC sector, the revised strategy proposes scaling-up multipurpose cash assistance for up to 75,000 households from the initial plan of 43,000, considering the urgent needs of the affected population that must be met immediately.
The current crisis has very serious consequences in terms of clinical, public, and community health and the functionality of the health system. There has been a general decline in the physical and mental well-being of the population and the needs assessment confirms that this is a longer-term concern. Thus, under the health sector, support for the Ministry of Health to obtain in-kind donations to alleviate the shortage of pharmaceutical drugs will continue. In addition, the following will be prioritised: scaling-up activities focusing on outbreak prevention and the control of common diseases (malaria, dengue, etc.), a first aid programme; menstrual hygiene promotion; community-based mental health, and psychosocial support activities.
According to the IFRC assessment, 68 per cent of households perceived that access to and availability of menstrual hygiene management products worsened compared to January 2022. The cost of each sanitary napkin packet increased almost threefold during the last three months, making it less affordable to low-income groups. Thus, under the WASH sector, the provision of sanitary napkin distribution together with menstrual hygiene awareness will scale-up in communities and schools in the revised strategy. The provision of water distribution at fuel stations was one of the key activities under the original strategy, considering the long queues and wait times at stations. In the revised strategy, this was discontinued as there are no longer any queues at stations due to changes in government regulations on fuel allocation.
Physical safety and security are still major concerns, and it is apparent that communities are living in severe mental distress, fear, and a creeping sense of hopelessness. The setting up of village/neighbourhood vigilance committees, community-based awareness sessions on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), engaging men and adolescent boys in SGBV activities, providing support to meet the basic needs of PWD, and inclusion of PWDs during programming will be strengthened in the revised strategy. The capacity building of SLRCS staff and volunteers to set-up and follow-up on these activities will be considered under the revision, as well considering the current limited capacity.
The needs assessment further confirms the increased negative impact of the situation on education, in response, the strategy will scale-up the provision of school supplies, such as stationery and learning instruments. At the same time, it will facilitate and support school kitchens and food banks to address the issue of hunger and poor nutrition among children. The migration and displacement sector remains the same in the revised strategy, with the target and activities as in the original. However, the capacity building of staff and volunteers through training sessions to implement the targeted activities will be prioritised and realised.