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Croatia: Petrinja Earthquake Response - Operation Update Report – 6 Month Update - Emergency appeal n° MDRHR004

Countries
Croatia
Sources
IFRC
Publication date
Origin
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Summary of major revisions made to emergency plan of action:

The Emergency Appeal (EA) was revised at the end of April, with the Emergency Plan of Action (EPoA) issued on 22 June, the result of a lessons learning exercise in the initial phase of the operation, as well as a review of resources and capacity assessments. The revision included operational changes, the largest being the removal from the EA of cash assistance grants to 10,000 people, and changes to the budget that reflect CRC’s bilateral cash and in-kind contributions. The EA funding requirements are reduced by around CHF 2.72 million.

The majority of activities remain as initially planned in the EPoA published on 5 March 2021, when the medium-term plan for post-earthquake recovery, with the clear CRC role within it, was established. Some smaller adjustments have been made under shelter, livelihoods, Health and WASH sectors to reflect the materials already covered from in-kind assistance, as well as activities covered by projects funded from other sources.

Operational changes in the revision of the EA:

• The target of 10,000 people to receive unconditional-multipurpose cash grants to address livelihoods needs and the procurement of a financial service provider, was taken out from the emergency plan of action, reducing the overall budget by CHF 2,466,000. The disbursement of the one-off cash grants is covered by CRC domestic fundraising and bilateral cash contributions. Given the importance of this cash assistance, the IFRC Regional Office for Europe CVA team will continue providing support as requested. The lesson learning workshop, to be informed by the post allocation monitoring of beneficiaries, for the operation is scheduled for the closing months of 2021. Specific CVA lesson learning initiatives are also being considered.

Beside CVA sector significant budget decrease, further budget cuts in sectors of PSS and WASH sectors reflecting funding from sources outside EA, funding for PSS newly recruited field staff and WASH activities on cleaning the water wells.

• Three quad bikes are to be purchased replacing two vehicles initially envisaged for the delivery of humanitarian aid to remote villages, as they are more appropriate for the off-road conditions; as well as fully equipped kitchen containers will be procured to increase CRC’s capacity to deliver hot meals. Procurement will start in quarter three but is challenged by a key component in the vehicle manufacture shortage. Three CRC staff positions were added – a Coordinator of Restoring Family Links (RFL) and Psychosocial Support (PSS) field teams for identification of affected people, a Warehouse Manager and a Humanitarian Coordinator (to lead an NGO Coordination Forum) for 6 months.

Budget changes included in the revision of the EA funding requirements:

• Under Shelter, CRC has received a substantial amount of in-kind donations reflected in the revised EA budget.

• Under Livelihoods & Basic Needs, four new van vehicles and five forklift trucks will be covered by contributions from CRC bilateral partners. The reduction in the budget is partially offset by increases in the cost of sorting and packing food and hygiene assistance, procurement of quad bikes and equipped kitchen containers and four local branch DM Coordinators for 11 months (these staff are moved to Livelihoods & Basic Needs from Strengthen NS in the revision of the EA).

• Under Health, some PPE and hygiene materials and four local branch coordinators of PSS activities are covered by contributions from CRC bilateral partners. This will be partially offset by the printing/reprinting of PSS manuals for school and kindergarten children and their teachers.

• Under WASH, costs related to the procurement of one vehicle, equipment and running costs of the WASH team for the cleaning of water wells will be covered by contributions from CRC bilateral partners.

• Under Protection, Gender & Inclusion, costs related to the procurement of emergency kits for the RFL team are now to be covered by contributions from CRC bilateral partners. The reduction in the budget will be offset by the addition of supplies and materials to arrange activities for older people in collective shelters, and communitybased protection activities, such as establishing child-friendly spaces.

• Under Strengthening National Societies, the budget for volunteer and staff transport and per diem to the operational site have been increased as these were significantly under-estimated at the beginning of the operation; mobile phones and laptops for local branches and one Finance Assistant costs will now be covered by contributions from CRC bilateral partners; and costs associated with developing the Preparedness for Emergency Response (PER) Plan of Action are reduced.

• Under Ensure a Strong IFRC, the level of planned support from ROE is reduced and the requirement for a timebound in-country Operations Manager is extended. During this deployment, other appropriate modalities of support from IFRC will be established for the remainder of the operation.

Modifications to the planned activities saw the respective budget lines adjusted in the revision of the EA and Operational budget. However, planned outcomes, outputs and targets remain the same, with the exception of cash grant targets. A Federation-wide approach, to paint the holistic picture of the operation CRC conducts, is being used for this Operations Update, and subsequent reports.