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Appeal no. 01.54/2003; Appeal target: CHF 13,067,443 (USD 8,945,708 or EUR 8,868,215); Budget revised to CHF 12,862,905 Programme Update No. 1; Period covered: January to June, 2003
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 180 countries. For more information: www.ifrc.org

In Brief

Appeal coverage: 90.7%; please refer to the attached Contributions List for this appeal, also available on the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org/cgi/pdf_appeals.pl?annual03/1-2-3%20-%20ap015403.pdf.

Outstanding needs: CHF 1,194,827

Related Emergency or Annual Appeals: India rehabilitation appeal 20/01

Programme Summary: The Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) along with the Federation has achieved satisfactory process on the Annual Appeal during the reporting period. Most of the planned activities for January to May have been approved and scheduled for implementation towards the end of the quarter.

The flood operation (Appeal 24/2002) was closed with an assessment and learning review held in Patna (Bihar) on March 2003 in follow up with the Assam review held in November 2002. The three-year Gujarat Recovery and Rehabilitation Appeal 20/01 which was launched on 9 July 2001, ended on 31 December 2002.

Operational developments

The Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) hosted the third India Earthquake Rehabilitation Operation Partnership meeting on 23/24 January 2003 in Delhi. The meeting was attended by representatives from the American, British, Canadian, Finnish, German, Hong Kong and Spanish Red Cross Societies, the Austrian-Belgian-German Red Cross private housing 'consortium', officials from the IRCS, and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The major outcome of the meeting was to transform long term planning into tangible and daily activities. Participants agreed that major expectations had been met. Improving communication between the IRCS and its partners was explored while global issues such as fundraising were addressed.

The IRCS has focused on agreed objectives of the Appeal and has launched several initiatives in the field of Health and Care, Disaster Management and Organizational Development to meet the key priority areas. The foremost priority was the development of national strategic development plan through the "Cooperation Agreement Strategy" (CAS). CAS has been implemented as part of managing the change process at the national headquarters (NHQ) level to align with global organizational development priorities. The Society is now focusing on a country strategy to reduce suffering of the vulnerable population through enhanced capacity of the Society to respond to and prepare the communities for disasters.

Under the CAS implementation, the Society held three consecutive zone meetings in Amritsar, Kolkata and Chennai to get input from the IRCS district branch secretaries from all over India. The Development Plan of the Society and CAS will be used by the IRCS in future to develop branches as well as the National Headquarters. The overall process will be managed by a committee of four state branch secretaries and one representative from the IRCS National Headquarters. It will be supported and facilitated by the Organisational Development Delegate at the India Operations Centre in Delhi.

Natural and man-made disasters were experienced in the early part of 2003, with earthquake after shocks and communal clashes. Several small shocks measuring 4.2 to 0.7 on Richter scale were felt in various parts of Gujarat state on 12 February 2003.

Communal clashes occurred on 14 March 2003 on the eve of Moharram affecting the cities of Vadodhara and Fatehpur.

According to the Indian Government at least 12 states have suffered from drought conditions for the past year. Drought has affected some areas for the past four-and-a-half years. This has severely impacted on the agricultural sector and the people who depend on it for their livelihood.

The IRCS launched an International Appeal for the Rajasthan drought on 16 June 2003. The Appeal is seeking to assist 75,000 beneficiaries over six months in the form of food.

In addition there was a heat wave in May/June that resulted in 1,563 heat-related deaths across the country. The heat wave also caused outbreaks of fire in most districts in the state of Andhra Pradesh leading to loss of property and possessions. The Andhra Pradesh state branch was quick in providing relief supplies in the form of assorted clothes and kitchen sets.

The official launch of SPHERE took place on 6 February in New Delhi. The Federation's Programme Manager for SPHERE presided over the meeting attended by representatives from leading national and international NGOs. The Federation's Disaster Preparedness delegate has been the focal point for the SPHERE project.

Mobile Disaster Unit (MDU) consultation for IRCS staff took place in Bahadurgarh from 9 -- 13 April. This field training on MDU and emergency warehousing had a good level of participation.

The IRCS along with the Federation has achieved satisfactory process on the Annual Appeal during the reporting period. Most of the planned activities for January to May have been approved and scheduled for implementation towards the end of the quarter. The flood operation (Appeal 24/2002) was closed with an assessment and learning review held in Patna (Bihar) on March 2003 in follow up with the Assam review held in November 2002. The three-year Gujarat Recovery and Rehabilitation Appeal 20/01 which was launched on 9 July 2001, ended on 31 December 2002 with the launching of the India Annual Appeal 2003-2004 on 12 December 2002. The final narrative and financial report covering the period from July 2001 to December 2002 was posted on the Federations website in March 2003. The external evaluation report of the Gujarat operation was presented at the Earthquake Rehabilitation Operation Partnership meeting in January (picture above: MDU training in Bahadurgarh).

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