Central Europe: Annual Appeal No. 01.75/2004 Annual Report
In Brief
Appeal No. 01.75/2004; Period covered: January - December 2004
Original appeal target: CHF 2,613,516 (USD 1.990,000 or EUR 1,680,000) Revised appeal target: CHF 2,798,286 (USD 2,453,985 or EUR 1,812,740)
Related Emergency or Annual Appeals:
This document reports on and analyses achievements within the International Federation's 2004 annual appeal Central Europe. The activities supported within this appeal fall within the Federation's longer term support for Central Europe 2004-2006 is continuing in 2005 and is being supported by the Regional Europe Annual Appeal 2005. The regional delegation based in Budapest also supports Federation assistance range of programme areas through its offices in Serbia and Montenegro, Kosovo Bosnia and Herzegovina
Overall Analysis
The regional delegation (RD) for Central Europe, based in Budapest, began the year 2004 covering 15 National Societies (NS): Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia & Montenegro including Kosovo, Slovakia and Slovenia. However for the eight National Societies in the countries which joined the European Union (EU) on 1 st May 2004 (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia), 2004 was a year of transition. This meant recognition, that from 1st January 2005, they would meet future challenges with the same support as that offered to their sister EU societies, looking to the secretariat's Europe department in Geneva and the Brussels EU/EU office for that support. In 2005 the regional delegation will focus on the seven National Societies in the south eastern part of the region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania and Serbia & Montenegro) while still providing organizational development (OD) support to the change processes in Latvia and Poland.
The year 2004 was therefore a turning point in many respects: for the NS in the countries which acceded to the EU; and for the Federation Secretariat in redefining roles and functions in view of EU accession. Emphasis has been placed on building capacity to access new sources of funding (including EU) and the required organizational and programme management capacity to implement projects funded in this way. The potential for cross learning for NS in EU and non-EU countries and common training opportunities will be further developed.
Within this context, the RD has focused on providing NS staff and volunteers with new skills and tools to manage the organization and programmes, to find resources, and to advocate on behalf of the marginalized and vulnerable on key issues including human trafficking, Roma, migration and HIV/AIDS. Responding to the upsurge of HIV/AIDS & TB, in a region where its spread is among the fastest in the world, has been a key element of the health programme: prevention, harm reduction and awareness campaigns were a priority. In Disaster Management (DM) the focus has been on supporting the positioning of NS within national disaster preparedness plans, building local capacity and ensuring that this can feed into a regional response mechanism when necessary. Through the OD programme a range of services have been provided in financial and human resource issues, branch / community development, statutory and legal issues, according to specific NS needs, and longer term planned change processes.
Although delayed contributions and some funding imbalances between programmes have been a cause for concern, the understanding and support of long term donors to the regional programmes have provided a degree of flexibility to carry forward unspent balances to ensure key activities could go ahead in 2005. The regional disaster response team training, blood donor recruitment and psychological support activities were hardest hit by a lack of funding in 2004. Although a number of planned activities had to be cancelled or pushed into 2005, the Appeal was revised upwards in spring, to reflect Capacity Building Fund grants to the Latvian and Polish Red Cross, Nordic -Baltic cooperation support, population movement activities in Croatia, extra issues of The Bridge, and the extension of the combined DM and OD delegate position to the end of the year.
Both Strategy 2010 and the Movement Strategy emphasize the role of national societies as central actors within the Federation. As the societies have become more aware of their role of service delivery, they expect the secretariat to play a stronger role in co-ordination and in ensuring coherence. In 2005, the RD will continue to develop its facilitation and support role rather than implementation, in partnership building, advocacy and the facilitation of expertise, recognizing the overall responsibility of the national societies for their own programmes and their own development. This approach is firmly based in the Europe Implementation Plan of the Strategy for Change 2002-2005 and the Central Europe Strategy 2004-2006. This continuing shift in the Federation's attitude and structure will also call on the secretariat, including the RD, to look beyond the existing regional groupings, to ensure that experience and knowledge exchange is driven by shared common interests and effective use of resources.
For further information please contact:
Anja Toivola, HoRD, Regional Delegation for Central Europe, Phone: 361 248 3300, Email: ifrchu05@ifrc.org
Erja Reinikainen, Regional Officer, Europe Department, Secretariat Geneva, Phone: 41 22 730 43 19, Email: Erja.Reinikainen@ifrc.org.
The International Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. Federation is the world's largest humanitarian organization, and its millions of volunteers are active in over 181 countries. international assistance to support vulnerable communities seeks to adhere to the Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response, according to the Sphere Project. Please access the Federation's website at http://www.ifrc.org
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