This report covers the period 1 January to 30 June 2010.
In brief
Programme outcome: The aim of the International Federation is to coordinate and support efforts at country and regional level to assist South Asian national societies to scale up their work to improve the lives of vulnerable people. Programme(s) summary: The focus of the South Asia regional programmes continues to be to work towards and integrated programming approach to cross-cutting issues. In disaster management, the programme continued to scale up disaster management/disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches to improve the quality of national societies' community based preparedness and mitigation capacities that include issues on recovery, emergency health and climate change under the "building safer communities" umbrella.
During the reporting period, the regional health team focused on scaling up of community-based health and first aid activities and rolling out the global community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) in action across the region. The regional HIV programme has created a common approach to respond to HIV in the region and contributed to the commitment of all South Asia national societies.
Organizational development continued the strategy of country specific tailor-made support which included support to the strategic planning process in Pakistan, input into developing an activity aimed at strengthening the resource mobilisation capacity of branches in India, recently to commit support to the operational alliance (light) on organisational development in Nepal and a feasibility study for the Maldivian Red Crescent Society (MRCS) building headquarters and income generation potential, strategic planning and human resource review in the Maldives.
Humanitarian values: To map all the activities by the national societies promoting the principles and values of the Red Cross Red Crescent to assist in understanding and sharing humanitarian values in practise.
Financial situation: The appeal budget has been revised down to CHF 2,152,729 (USD 1,856,729 or EUR 1,518, 535) from CHF 2,396,690 (USD 2,067,145.25 or EUR 1,690,625) in line with the funds available. Appeal coverage is 92 per cent. As of 31 May, overall expenditure was 33 per cent against the budget.
Click here to go directly to the attached financial report1.
No. of people we have reached: The direct beneficiaries of the disaster management programme are principally disaster management staff members and volunteers in the national societies and country offices in the region. An estimated 3,000 staff and volunteers from six national societies, partner national societies and International Federation staff in South Asia were reached to improve their operational and implementation capacity.
The South Asia regional health team supports the seven national societies and seven country offices of the International Federation in South Asia. This year, the South Asia regional health team was actively working with the authorities in Bhutan in providing CBHFA training for building their capacities. The region includes Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The process of establishing a national society is underway in Bhutan and Maldives.
Our partners: The key partners of the South Asia regional office programmes are: AUSAID, British Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross, Swedish Red Cross, British Department for International Development, ECHO/DIPECHO and Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre. The working relationships have been initiated and or further strengthened with the South Asia Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) disaster management centre, Bhutan Government, United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Response, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) and other non-governmental organisations in the region.
On behalf of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in South Asia, the International Federation would like to thank all partners and contributors for their response to this appeal.