Attachments
With this revision of the Early Action Protocol (EAP), Tajikistan Cold Wave, no changes are proposed to the geographical area, targeted population or early action activities. Rather, the major changes are related to the procurement management and timeframe, with activities starting later, but to be completed by the original timeframe and the budget with a slight decrease compared to the initial budget. The project start date was 1 December 2022, however due to audit findings, which was conducted at Red Crescent Society of Tajikistan (RCST), and challenges with procurement system at RCST, the implementation did not commence, and no activities were implemented until 31 December 2023. The RCST was recommended to address the issues raised from the audit, which took some time, and procurement of the items for the activation will be managed by IFRC. In 2024, following consultations, the Regional DREF Team recommended preparing an Operations Update describing all the changes to the outlined activities within the Early Action Protocol since the start of the project. Due to challenges within RCST, no activities were completed in Year 1; the stock prepositioning activities from Year 1 were shifted to Year 2. Since no activities were implemented in Year 1, the Year 1 Readiness activities, including consultancy fees (Committee of Emergency Services and Hydro-met), Focal Point compensation, IFRC Disaster Management Coordinator expenses, awareness raising campaign, communication and office costs were removed from the budget, as these activities were not done. In the initial budget, per diem and accommodation cost for the trips were calculated incorrectly and in addition, the per diem and accommodation rate at RCST were revised. The RCST Focal Points payroll and consultancy fees were increased by 7% and 10% respectively, as it is normal practice of revision of staff compensation, performed annually in Tajikistan. The cost of the communication and stationery were also slightly revised as inflation has affected the cost in Tajikistan. Since IFRC will be managing procurement, part of the 1 month’s IFRC Procurement Delegate cost, who will manage the procurement of items for the project, was added to the budget. Overall, the budget modification results in a decrease of a total of CHF 30,886, from CHF 274,969 to CHF 244,083.