Overview
The countries in the Indian Ocean Islands (IOI) region namely; Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles are prone to frequent disasters especially cyclones, floods, health epidemics, droughts, food insecurity and climate change challenges. They are also at risk of high prevalence of HIV AIDS, urban risks (manmade disasters due to the urbanization) and high level of tidal waves increasing levels of seawater leading to cyclones and ocean tsunami. Consequently, the mandates for the 4 National Societies in Indian Ocean Islands Region revolve around preparing the communities to effectively respond to disasters while reducing the impacts of these disasters to the most vulnerable populations. The National Societies in Comoros, Madagascar, Mauritius and Seychelles have a large volunteer base working at the community level to strengthen community resilience to disasters and are always available and ready for mobilization in case of disasters and emergencies.
The IFRC IOI representation office is based in Madagascar under East Africa Regional Representation Office and has the mandate to coordinate and facilitate the National Society development projects including; organizational development, disaster management, health and care, reduction of risk and catastrophes, health in emergencies, youth and volunteers development and resource mobilization. All these efforts are geared towards strengthening the capacities of the National Societies in delivering their humanitarian missions. In 2014, the main programme activities accomplished by the 4 National Societies included projects in reduction of risk and catastrophes, youth and volunteer management, organizational development, resource mobilization, communication and planning, monitoring and evaluation as well as reporting.
Through the support of the country office, all 4 four NSs celebrated the world Red Cross/Crescent day with “My Red Cross/Crescent Story”. In Comoros Red Crescent, newly recruited volunteers were inducted and trained in basic first aid skills. The information and public relations strategies for Malagasy RC were developed during the reporting period and informed their participation in public and radio shows, dissemination through the television spots as well as updating of the NS website with relevant information including branch activities. This has seen the internal and external communications capacities of the NS improved. The Mauritius Red Cross new governing board was inducted with the support of the country office regional development delegate. In Seychelles, newly recruited volunteers were inducted and introduced to the RC movements’ principles and values, structure and functions of the NS.
Through the support of the Tsunami Legacy Funds project, the Malagasy RC has enhanced and improved the capacity building initiatives in reduction of risk and catastrophes as well as awareness creation activities, Seychelles RC conducted an awareness survey and did contingency planning activities while Malagasy RC and Seychelles RC purchased IT tools and equipment. Through the support of the ICRC, all 4 NSs throughout the year carried out activities to promote Humanitarian Value and Principles. Malagasy and Seychelles resource mobilization activities focused on commercial First Aid kits, ambulance services and First Aid training to companies NGOs.In Mauritius, the Government is more involved and supported the National Society in its resource mobilization activities. The Comoros RC, resource mobilization policy was developed and ready for implementation with support from partners. The country office conducted organization development technical supports visits to support the NSs in implementation of their strategies to improve NS governance and management capacities as well as strengthen their understanding of the roles of NSs as auxiliary to public authorities.Additionally,the country office conducted a finance training workshops in Madagascar and Seychelles. Mauritius RC, Malagasy RC and Seychelles RC conducted the 2013 audits as well as additional audits to specific projects as per donor requirements. National Society staff drawn from all 4 NSs benefited in various trainings in organization development, finance management, disaster management, health and care, community resilience, resource mobilization and First Aid in order to improve and enhance their skills and capacities in the various fields.
The major challenge that the country office faced in the year was inadequate funding. The office however supported the National Societies to initiate projects which had stalled due to the lack of partner support especially in Comoros, Mauritius and Seychelles.