With this revised emergency appeal, the budget has been revised down from CHF 803,347 to CHF 409,154 in cash, in-kind, or services to support the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) to assist 1,529 drought-affected beneficiaries. From the initial plan of assisting six of the total of fifteen affected atolls/islands, the operational focus has been reduced to three. The appeal timeframe has been extended by two months. The operation will therefore end in January 2014, and a final report will be made available by May 2014 (three months after the end of the operation).
Summary
This emergency appeal was launched in June 2013 in response to the declaration of a state of disaster by the Government of the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) in April and May 2013, as a result of an extended period of drought affecting some 6,400 people across 15 atolls/islands north of the capital Majuro.
In support of the RMI government’s ‘Immediate and Near-term Drought Response Plan’, this operation is now revised to target the affected atolls/islands of Namu, Likiep and Mejit, supporting a total population of 1,529 people to recover from the drought and develop greater resilience to future droughts. This is done through the installation, repair and improvement of community and household water catchments (rainwater tanks and guttering) engaging the community in water catchment maintenance and promotion of good water and hygiene practice.
The need to prioritize interventions based on available resources necessitated the plan to scale-down this operation from the originally targeted six atolls to three. At the same time, IOM has faced funding constraints for the implementation of similar catchment programmes in the remainder of the drought-affected atolls. Thus, although the emergency phase is over, communities in these locations are faced with the threat of further water shortages in the coming dry season, due to the inadequate quantity and quality of household and community catchments. In response, the RMI government intends to develop a recovery plan, in collaboration with donors and humanitarian partners, to identify the areas of greatest concern and will seek further funding from the international community. A meeting was held on 11 December with the government and key partners to discuss the way forward.
Since the last operations update issued on 31 August 2013, the following progress has been made:
· Finalization of the IFRC in-country team recruitment. In addition to the operations manager, early recovery/watsan delegate, and admin/finance officer, the programme has locally recruited an early recovery/watsan officer, several community mobilizers and deployed a short term-term logistics delegate from American Red Cross for a period of six weeks.
· Completion of detailed community and household surveys on all three target locations, using a format jointly developed by the WASH cluster partners. The surveys were conducted by IFRC personnel with the full participation of communities and the information formed the basis of detailed operational plans for the implementation phase, as well as baseline data for later monitoring and evaluation. Surveys were also undertaken by the IOM in other affected atolls.
· Commencement of installations of community and household catchments in the first target location of Namu atoll. A total of 24 rainwater tanks, guttering sets, tool kits and additional materials were transported by ship to several islands of Namu atoll and the installation process has commenced, involving the IFRC team and community volunteers. Community information sessions were held to ensure a clear understanding about the programme, and to disseminate key messages about water and hygiene as well as water catchment maintenance.
· Partnerships. Continued coordination and close collaboration with the RMI government and major implementing partners, in particular the Secretariat of the Pacific Communities (SPC) and the IOM, and WASH cluster lead, with active participation in ongoing coordination meetings and inter-agency planning.
· Establishment of a new Marshall Islands Red Cross Society. On 26 November, the Red Cross Recognition Act was formally adopted, establishing the Marshall Islands Red Cross Society (MIRCS). The IFRC delivered a statement in support of the Act at a public hearing, and has been providing additional support for the finalization of the Constitution, raising public awareness and visibility and supporting the planning process towards a Movement recognition of the new National Society. The IFRC admin/finance officer recruited for this operation, has also been appointed as the first administrator for the MIRCS and will undertake both roles on a part time basis, at least until this operation is complete.
· Communications and public information has been an area of key focus for this operation, with opportunities taken to capitalize on the Pacific Islands Forum, hosted in RMI during September, as well as through various local and regional forums. At the local level, there have also been two-way communications with officials and communities in all the target locations, including capturing specific individual feedback from programme beneficiaries.
Logistics remains the most significant operational challenge for this operation, in particular the complexity of procurement and transportation to the outer atolls. These factors have significantly impacted on the time taken to implement this operation and the costs involved but have been mitigated to some extent by good cooperation from the government, IOM, SPC and the WASH cluster.