Africa Reportage March 2014 english LR

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www.ifrc.org

Saving lives, changing minds.

Africa reportageThe newsletter from IFRC Africa zone

p.2 A word from the Director | p.3 Strategy 2020 in action Measles outbreak in Guinea • “We are dying of hunger” –Zimbabwe flooding • Assisting Chadian nationals fleeing violence in Central African Republic | p.4 Precarious future

looms as violence leaves hundreds of thousands homeless in east and central Africa | p.5 Together for action IFRC

and African Union talk tech at launch of World Disasters Report • Induction of Red Cross Red Crescent governance

bodies in Africa | p.6 In numbers | p.6 Diary | p.6 Humanitarian diplomacy in action Botswana prepares for the worst

| p.7-8 Working together The argument for making first aid training accessible and compulsory in sub-Saharan Africa |

p.9 All Africa All the Time | p.10 Fundamental Principles

#13March 2014



2 / Africa reportage

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

A word from the Director

InApril, Rwanda will commemorate the 20th year of the geno-

cide which cost close to one million people their lives.

The Rwanda Red Cross Society played a pivotal role following this cri-

sis, ensuring many of the children orphaned during the violence, were

cared for. Twenty years later, staff and volunteers continue to play a

vital role through the Orphan and Vulnerable Children programme.

It is the power of humanity, a tenet upon which the Red Cross Red Cres-

cent Movement was founded, that has helped, and continues to help

Rwanda rebuild. This basic instinct that I believe is inherent in all of us, to want to help those who

are suffering. (For more information on Rwanda Red Cross, please visit www.ifrc.org/africa.)

In the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan, the Red Cross is trying, under very difcult

and challenging circumstances, to assist those affected by the current outbreaks of conict. But we

need access – to people who are hurt, to people who are displaced from their homes, and to the af -

fected areas themselves. It is imperative that parties to both conicts understand the neutral and

independent role of the Red Cross, and grant us this safe access. We do not choose sides. Our mission

is simply to alleviate the suffering of those most vulnerable.

In many other African countries, 700 people are dying needlessly on the thousands of kilometres of

roads that dissect their lands every day. It is in Africa, in fact, that you have the greatest chance of

dying in a car crash. It is why I am personally endorsing a call to make rst aid training mandatory

for all new drivers. You can nd read more about that on page 7.

In places like Zimbabwe, it is unexpected heavy rains and ooding that are threatening to take lives.

Thousands are now heading to a transit camp, their homes washed away by the ooding. Similar

ooding with landslides have also claimed lives in Burundi.

We, as human beings, have the capacity to turn things around. Whether it is conict, car crashes

or disasters, together we can ensure a brighter future for everyone on this continent. It will take a

concerted effort, one where we put aside our differences and celebrate our uniqueness, but it is an

effort worth taking. We cannot afford not to.

With my best wishes

Alasan Senghore

Edition 13, March 2014

Contents: Families arrivein Cameroon after fleeingviolence in the CentralAfrican Republic. Readmore, page 4.

On the Cover






Strategy 2020 in action

“WE ARE DYING OF HUNGER” –

ZIMBABWE FLOODING

Families from the Masvingo area of

Zimbabwe are ocking to a transit camp

after ooding drowned their homes and

maize crops. It means many will miss the

annual harvest in April, leaving a chroni-

cally food insecure population even more

vulnerable. People at the camp say they

are dying of hunger and desperately need

food.

The Zimbabwe Red Cross Society is

responding by providing rst aid and psy-

chosocial support. With support from the

IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund,teams of volunteers will also help erect

temporary shelters for 4,900 people, as

well as 40 latrines, while conducting edu-

cational sessions on proper hygiene.

MEASLES OUTBREAK IN

GUINEA

Guinea has been hit hard by a mea-

sles outbreak with 143 suspected and 38

confirmed cases. Due to the growing num-

ber of cases among children in several

regions, IFRC has released 120,000 Swiss

francs from its Disaster Relief Emergency

Fund to support the Guinea Red Cross

Society (GRCS) in stopping the epidemic.

In coordination with other actors, GRCS

has mobilized 825 volunteers to support

a mass campaign aiming to vaccinate

over 1.6 million children in the country

through education and sensitization ac-

tivities.

ASSISTING CHADIAN NATIONALS

FLEEING VIOLENCE IN CENTRAL

AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Violence in Central African Repub-

lic (CAR) has forced thousands of people

to ee their homes and seek refuge in

neighbouring countries. More than 31,000

Chadian nationals have left CAR, return-

ing to their homeland. Most have been

accommodated in overcrowded health

and social centres, under-equipped and

suffering from lack of qualied staff. IFRC

has released emergency funds to provide

assistance to more than 10,500 people.

Activities are focusing on the provision of

emergency health care, as well as water,

sanitation and hygiene interventions toprevent and mitigate disease outbreaks.

Read more on page 4.



In Africa right nowA look at the key issues across the continent



Since December 2013, the Central African Republic

(CAR) and South Sudan have been rocked by internal

violence and instability. Hundreds of thousands of peo-

ple have been left homeless within their own countries;

hundreds of thousands of others have ed to the safety

offered by neighbouring countries.

In CAR, more than half of the estimated 838,000 inter-

nally displaced have settled in camps at the airport in thecapital of Bangui, where they live in extremely precari-

ous conditions. Close to 47,000 CAR refugees

have crossed borders into Cameroon, the

Democratic Republic of Congo, and Chad,

where they are surviving thanks to the gen-

erosity of locals and the Red Cross.

Volunteers clad in the familiar red vests

have been mobilized to provide rst-aid as-

sistance and psychosocial support, and to

register the new arrivals.

Crisis in South Sudan

In South Sudan, violence has also forced thousands of

people from their homes in Juba and Awerial county.

An estimated 130,000 have ed to neighbouring coun-

tries of Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Uganda where Na-

tional Societies are working in coordination with other

humanitarian organizations to assist the refugees.

Tens of thousands of others are living in camps for the

internally displaced within South Sudan. IFRC is support-

ing the South Sudan Red Cross to conduct health and hy-

giene promotion, and to manage water points at a camp

in Juba.

“We are meeting the demand for water, at 15 litres per

day per person, despite the huge number of

internally displaced persons,” said John Lob-

or, South Sudan Red Cross Deputy Secretary

General. “In addition to distributing water,

our volunteers are carrying out hygiene pro-

motion activities at all the water points in

the camp in order to prevent the outbreak

of water borne diseases.”

IFRC has allocated funds from its Disas-

ter Relief Emergency Fund to support opera-

tions in countries in both regions affected

by these crises.

In South Sudan, the International Committee of the

Red Cross is leading operations with the support of the

Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.


Precarious future looms as violence leaves hundreds of thousands homeless in east

and central Africa

/ "We are meetingthe demand of water,despite the huge

number of internallydisplaced persons."Jhon Labor, SouthSudan Red CrossDeputy Secretary

General /

South Sudanese refugees being registered by Red Cross volunteers upon arriving at a transit camp in Uganda.

Photo: Rose+Sjölander/IFRC






Together for action

Following elections at the General Assembly in Syd-

ney, the Africa Governance Group (AGG) and Africa Gov-

ernance Board (AGB) held a joint induction meeting in

Nairobi in mid-January. It was an opportunity for the

six new members of the AGB to dialogue with the AGG,which was formed after the 2012 Pan African Confer-

ence, on the various issues facing Africa, and its Na-

tional Societies.

Discussions focused on addressing how National

Society leadership can strengthen their voices in the

shifting contexts and environments in which they oper-

ate; and determining what new institutional and gov-

ernance models will be required to transform National

Societies into stronger institutions, capable of confront-

ing various social challenges.

The two-day meeting resulted in eight resolutions

and commitments, including vigorously and routinelyanalyzing the context in which Africa National Socie-

ties operate, as well as their governance and manage-

ment matters; prioritizing four National Societies per

region for capacity building; and re-invigorating, con-

solidating and expanding existing partnerships for ef -

fective resource mobilization domestically.

IFRC and the African Union (AU) jointly launched

the World Disasters Report 2013 Focus on technology

and the future of humanitarian action. “This Report is

an invaluable resource,” said Jeanine Cooper, UN OCHA

representative to the AU. “We turn to it countless times

a year. This year’s focus is timely, as partnerships are

central between humanitarian organizations, technol-

ogy developers and providers.”

The Report explores how humanitarian actors are

using technology. At the Red Cross Red Crescent, this

includes the rapid mobile phone-based survey to gather

information on malaria in Nigeria, Kenya and Namibia;

the Trilogy Emergency Relief Application system in Sier-

ra Leone to reduce cholera, and using phones to deliver

funds to project managers in the eld in Kenya.

“We need to do a rethink on the private sector,” add-

ed Cooper. “They are not the bad guys. They often want

us to tell them how they can help.”

Induction of Red Cross Red Crescent

governance bodies in Africa

IFRC and African Union talk tech atlaunch of World Disasters Report

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Humanitarian diplomacy in action

12.2 mSwiss francs amount of a grant

agreement between IFRC and

the Global Fund for tuberculosis

treatment in Niger

6,055number of people who now haveaccess to safe water in areas of

Cameroon, recently affected by

oods

25,000number of people in Central

African Republic assisted by

the Red Cross since the start of

hostilities

Botswana prepares for the worst Hanna Butler and Ida Marstein, IFRC

Picture this – a large scale disaster hits a country. Hundreds of thousands of people areaffected and in need of immediate assistance. Hundreds of well-intentioned interna -

tional organizations descend on the country to help.How do international agencies send relief items and rescue teams in a timely and co-

ordinated manner? Are international staff waiting for visas to enter the country? Arecritically needed emergency supplies such as food, water and tents waiting at ports forcustoms clearance? Is the aid even appropriate for the local context? These questionswere recently discussed when the Botswana Red Cross Society, supported by the Inter-national Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), launched a report onthe legal preparedness in Botswana for facilitating and regulating international disasterassistance.The report looks at existing laws and procedures relevant to issues of international dis-aster relief assistance in Botswana, nding that the gaps and fragmented nature of regu-

lation in Botswana could lead to difculties in cooperation in the event of a large scaledisaster.“We are beginning to see droughts, storms and oods of greater intensity occurringin new areas and affecting more communities. With the growing number of disasterscomes a greater variety of international humanitarian actors, which makes it muchmore difcult for the affected state to coordinate assistance and to monitor the type andquality of relief offered to its population,” said Titus Makosha, deputy secretary general,Botswana Red Cross Society.The report was presented to local stakeholders from across the country to develop ashared understanding of potential legal challenges. Stakeholders from Air Botswana tothe Botswana Blood Transfusion Service discussed the implications of a large scale dis-aster on their services and how they could better facilitate international assistance.“While the focus of this exercise is to gauge how the current legislative frameworks inBotswana can best facilitate disaster relief assistance into the country, we must alsoconsider the reverse – whether Botswana, as a member of the Southern African De-

velopment Community (SADC) and the international community, has sufcient legalframeworks to facilitate the provision of relief assistance to its neighbours and to theinternational community at large,” said Dr Kennedy Masamvu, a member of SADC.The discussion did not end with the closing of the workshop. The Botswana Red CrossSociety will continue engaging with the government and other stakeholders to strength-

en existing legal systems and develop new legal instruments.

Diary

25 - 27 March

Regional consultation on the food and

nutritional situation in the Sahel and

West Africa Bamako, Mali

5 – 11 April

World urban forum – on disaster risk

reduction in urban settings

Medellin, Colombia

11 – 12 April

DRR working group meeting with theAfrican Union

Abuja, Nigeria

5 – 8 May

Africa DRR platform for National Socie-

ties and IFRC regional and zone DM

Abuja, Nigeria

8 May

Red Cross Red Crescent Day





Working together

658number of people receiving

regular meals from the Red Crosssoup kitchen in Ohangwena

region, Namibia

130,000number of refugees who have

ed South Sudan since the crisisbegan in December 2013

The argument for making first aid training accessible and compulsory in sub-Saharan Africa

20,000number of people left homeless in

Zimbabwe after unexpected heavy

rains caused ooding

Alasan Senghore, IFRC Africa zone director

Africa currently has the worst death rate for road ac-cidents in the world. Road accidents are predicted to be-

come one of the biggest killers of children between theages of ve and 15 in sub-Saharan Africa by 2015. We canshift this worrying trend and reduce the impact of roadtrafc accidents in developing countries in several ways.

First aid

One of the key aspects of reversing this is simple, butambitious – rst aid training for everyone, everywhere.

First aid is a crucial part of saving lives, in all stages oflife and in every section of society. If we are to decreasethe loss of human life, as well as the devastating social,psychological and economic impact road trafc injury hason society in general, access to rst aid training must begiven equal attention and scale of resources, and shouldbe an integral part of a wider developmental approach.

We need to open the debate around making rst aidtraining obligatory for all new drivers in Africa, when ap-

plying for a driving licence.

Stronger laws

In Ghana, around 16,000 people are killed or seriouslyinjured in road trafc accidents every year. In response tothis, the Ghana Red Cross has used its position, as auxilia-

ry to the government and within the National Road SafetyAssociation, to persuade the government to act. New driv-ers are now obliged to undergo a rst aid course beforethey can receive their driving licence. However, these lawshave not gone far enough, as there are no provisions inplace for those who refuse the training. This is where weneed a wider alliance of partners to put pressure on thegovernment to strengthen enforcement.

The Uganda Red Cross is also using its inuence within

the executive decision-making process, as part of the gov-

ernment’s National Roads and Safety Council, to help cre-

ate laws that could save some of the 3,000 people killed onthe country’s roads every year.

Enforcement alone will not sufce for people to abideby these laws. We must encourage people to believe that

compulsory rst aid only takes a few hours and could savetheir life, the life of a loved one, or the life of a completestranger.

In Uganda, voluntary rst aid is taught to 2,000 drivers,schoolchildren and workers annually, and rst aid postsare positioned in notorious danger zones throughout thecountry. In Ghana, more than 85,000 drivers have beentrained since 2011.

Governments, businesses and civil societies have long

been working together to help prevent trafc accidentsfrom occurring, notably through the IFRC-hosted GlobalRoad Safety Partnership. We must now work together toensure rst aid is widely integrated into a developmentalapproach that tackles the root causes of road accidents aswell as mitigating their impact.

First aid awareness is lacking in many vulnerable com-

munities, where even a basic understanding of how totreat an injury or keep someone alive would have a pro-

foundly positive impact.

First aid saves lives and should be available to every-

one, everywhere.

Practicing rst aid in South Sudan

Photo: Juozas Cernius/IFRC











All Africa All the Time

Welcome to the new IFRC Africa webpage.

IFRC has launched a new web page, focusing solely onAfrica. In English and French, it is at www.ifrc.org/Africaand www.ifrc.org/Afrique that you will nd informationrelated to Red Cross and Red Crescent programming in 49countries across sub-Saharan Africa.

Over the past 26 months, Red Cross and Red Crescentstaff and volunteers responded to 122 emergencies acrosssub-Saharan Africa, ranging from oods to drought, dis-ease outbreaks, cyclones and res. Through these opera-

tions, we improved the lives of those most vulnerable byensuring increased access to water and sanitation, health

care, distribution of both food and non-food items, psy-chosocial support, and improved livelihoods, always with

an underlying theme of working with communities to re-

duce their vulnerability the next time disaster strikes.

It is at www.ifrc.org/Africa and www.ifrc.org/Afriquethat you will nd news, photos and video related to bothemergency response and development operations; proles

of Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies acrosssub-Saharan Africa; photo galleries; blogs from staff andvolunteers; information on how we are engaging opinionleaders and governments to improve disaster laws withintheir own countries. From villagers in the hot desert sandsof Mauritania, to refugees eeing violence in the CentralAfrican Republic and South Sudan, to farmers coping withdrought in Zimbabwe, we will introduce you to many ofthe people with whom we are working.

With a volunteer base of 1.6 million people across Af -rica, close to one million of whom are youth, the Red Crossand Red Crescent is well placed to reach even the small-est and most remote communities. You will meet some of

these volunteers at www.ifrc.org/Africa and www.ifrc.org/Afrique. You can also follow the IFRC Africa team on Twit-ter @IFRCAfrica.

The IFRC Africa web page will continue to showcaseglobal operations, providing readers with programming,issues, events and advocacy-related activities they havecome to expect when visiting the www.ifrc.org website.

Screen shot of www.ifrc.org/Africa





voluntary

service

41 year old Francine Kampire is a married mother of two who hasbeen a volunteer with the Rwanda Red Cross Society since 1990.

She was inspired to join the Red Cross by her schoolmates who were already volunteers, caring for tuberculosis patients, who wereoften stigmatized by their families and communities. These volun-teers devoted their free time to visit these patients and carried outtheir household chores when they were too weak to do so them-selves.

Having been sensitized on the Red Cross Red Crescent Move-ment and its Fundamental Principles, Francine decided to join asa volunteer.

“I like to help others and it is heartbreaking for me to see someonesuffering,” said Francine. “That's why I enjoy being a mother and aRed Cross volunteer at the same time. Both require total commit-ment.”

Francine has been able to unleash her potential thanks to the train-ing she has received from the Red Cross.

“I looked after my cousin, who was suffering from HIV and AIDS,after she was abandoned by her entire family. I nursed her back tohealth and she has since completed her undergraduate studies andis now working for a bank,” said Francine with a smile. “I feel proudof the person she has become.”

Through the Rwanda Red Cross, Francine has been able to develop some income generating projects such as farming potatoes, wheat and peas. She uses the funds earned to pay for school fees which allow her children to continue receiving an education. Shehas also been able to provide work for some families in her com-

munity.

Francine still receives training in managing income generation projects, first aid, presentation skills, climate change adaptation, envi-ronmental protection and communication for behavior change.

Francine is currently the volunteer responsible for communicationat the Rwanda Red Cross branch in Karongi District, Western Prov-ince. She wants to be involved in Red Cross activities in variousprogrammes and aspires to be a member of the Governing Board.

“Being a member of the Rwanda Red Cross and helping the vulner-able is rewarding.’’

Credit: Rwanda Red Cross

9 0 0 5 0 0 E 0 5 / 2 0 1 1 A L L P H O T O S

: I F R C U N L E S S O T H E R W I S E S T A T E D

Edition 2, February 2011

For more information, or to suggest an item

for a future issue, please contact:

IFRC Africa communications manager

Katherine Mueller

IFRC Communications Manager, Africa

Tel: +251 930 03 3413

Email: [email protected]

www.ifrc.orgSaving lives, changing minds.

Living the Fundamental Principles in Rwanda

Documents

Africa Reportage March 2014 english LR