The overall budget is 309,799,407 Swiss francs, including the Emergency Response Units (ERUs) value. The current appeal target without the ERUs value is 274,947,157 Swiss francs.
Appeal coverage: 90%.
Summary: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) intensified its collaboration with the Haiti Red Cross Society (HRCS) and other Movement partners in the country to increase assistance to the most vulnerable populations affected by the 2010 earthquake and other disasters in the country. This quarterly operation update is based on the IFRC revised operational plan of action covering the period from July 2011 to December 2013. The quarterly progress report is focused on the Integrated Neighbourhood Approach (INA) activities, IFRC water, sanitation and health programmes in Leogane as well as the progress on support to the National Society development which focuses on institutional, operational and branch capacity strengthening.
Through INA, the IFRC/HRCS has assisted 2,142 families to relocate from camps to safer shelters in Port-au-Prince and in the provinces bringing the total number of assisted families to more than 9,000. INA livelihood programme has assisted 466 persons. Amongst them are beneficiaries of the relocation programme and host community members with start-up kits after their skill acquisition training. Feedback from some of the beneficiaries showed that they now feel more secure and ready to restart their lives outside camps. In addition, 14 households have benefitted from the Red Cross retrofit and house repair project with nine of them having their houses repaired during this quarter. The house repair programme has also worked to improve 27 sanitation facilities in INA neighbourhoods as of December 2012.
The repair works were enhanced with increased awareness on good hygiene practices in the target communities. The hygiene promotion team provided four schools with 25 plastic buckets with lid and tap which were installed in strategic points for hand washing purposes; in addition to the awareness campaign on good hand washing practices carried out in public places including markets to commemorate International Hand Washing Day in November. During December, communities in Delmas and Carrefour Feuilles were supported with cleaning tools and paint to clean and beautify the streets.
The IFRC/HRCS has trained 25 members from INA team in community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) in preparation for implementation of CBHFA activities in INA neighbourhoods. The Red Cross is also providing support to communities in disaster risk management activities including training in early warning systems and processes for creating vigilance committees. Two communities that have their community response plan in place are being supported to be able to put the plans into action during disasters. The operation has increased the number of households targeted for protection-themed education activities to 650 from the initial 250 because of the increased interest from beneficiaries.
INA, through the camp mitigation programme in 15 camps, has constructed and rehabilitated 253 latrines and supported some of the camp residents affected by the Hurricane Sandy with tarpaulins, shelter tool kits and timber to repair their damaged shelters. The camp mitigation team has reached 12 camps with awareness activities on disaster risk reduction (DRR) including the distribution of 550 waterproof DRR plastic sleeves and the training of 75 individuals in DRR.
With the intervention of other stakeholders in rubble removal and processing, and the reduced need of concrete products by INA construction team, IFRC has decided to scale down the rubble removal and processing activities and eventual closure of the rubble processing factory during 2013. INA has removed and recycled 15,630 cubic metres of rubble as of December 2012.
The IFRC/HRCS INA team continues its collaboration with partners national societies engaged in INA activities. With support of the IFRC, the French Red Cross (FRC) has reached 55 percent of its target households with safer housing solution in Delmas 9 area. Then FRC is working with the HRCS to pass on the lead in health related activities within Delmas 9. With IFRC support, the FRC has constructed 84 ECOSAN latrines in Croix-des-Bouquets, Ouest Department with 53 of the latrines being completed during the last quarter of 2012.
The Leogane water, sanitation and health team increased service delivery to the target population with the provision of additional 23 water points and boreholes and 360 new latrines. Twenty-six additional water committees were formed to make a total of 87 committees as of December with 52 of them already trained in water point management. Eighty-five per cent of the constructed latrines have been equipped with hand washing points and garbage bins while the hygiene promotion activities were also intensified during this reporting period. Health activities carried out focused on CBHFA activities with increased in the number of persons reached through homes visits and group awareness sessions. The Leogane team assisted some of the families and individuals affected by the Hurricane Sandy with the distribution of relief items and sensitization on cholera prevention measures.
The IFRC in collaboration with the HRCS scaled up support to DINEPA (government authority in charge of potable water and sanitation). The Red Cross through the Technical Movement Coordination (TMC) water and sanitation unit supported DINEPA in the procurement and delivery of hydraulic equipment for the construction and rehabilitation of 43 water kiosks and network extension in Port-au-Prince.
The Communications and Beneficiary Communications team continues to support the programmes and other services with communications tools like sound trucks, Telefon Kwa Wouj and production of information dissemination materials like leaflets and posters. The team supported the preparation for the 3-year anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake through several communications activities including organizing press interviews and facilitating media field visits. The Communications department also responded during the Hurricane Sandy disaster in the country. The sound truck has made 1,738 visits to camps to deliver several awareness messages as of December while the Telefon Kwa Wouj information line has recorded more than 700,000 calls since its launch in May 2012.
In pillar 2, the newly recruited Head of National Society Support and Knowledge Development (NSKD) in November has been contributing to moving forward the capacity development plan of the IFRC secretariat to the HRCS starting with fact-finding initiatives with major stakeholders including the National Society, PNS and IFRC. In addition to supporting the National Society in finalizing its 2013-2015 operational plan of action, IFRC continues to support HRCS in its health and care, and disaster risks management programmes. The health and care department increased the number of trained Red Cross volunteers in epidemic control for volunteers (ECV) from 885 to 1,125 as of December. The department also expanded its CBHFA activities to reach three other branches while 74 additional supervisors for community volunteers were trained during this reporting period. The department also carried out activities in its psychosocial support and violence prevention components. However, HIV and AIDS activities scaled down due to funding constraint.
In disaster response, IFRC and other Movement partners supported HRCS to assist some of the families and individuals most affected by the Hurricane Sandy emergency. The support continues with an emergency appeal lunched by IFRC. The HRCS Training Centre trained 642 persons on disaster risks management topics during the last quarter of 2012.
As the operation enters its third year, the Haiti Earthquake operation team plans to revise the frequency of the operation update to twice yearly effective from 2013. This will allow for the update report to capture enough progress towards activities planned as the new revised plan of action focuses on long-term recovery and development initiatives since July 2011.