Appeal History:
Mid-December 2013: Escalation of fighting in the Republic of South Sudan resulting in massive cross border population movement.
January 2014: CHF 170,000 allocated from the IFRC’s Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) to support the Uganda Red Cross Society (URCS) in delivering immediate assistance to 25,000 beneficiaries from South Sudan in refugee settlements across Arua and Adjumani districts of West Nile Sub Region of Northern Uganda.
11 February 2014: Emergency Appeal launched for CHF 1.7m for 25,000 beneficiaries.
February and March 2014: Implementation of planned activities (and progress reported through Operations Updates n°1 and n°2.
September 2014: Revised Emergency Appeal issued and budget increased to CHF 2.3m to support 25,000 beneficiaries until March, 2015.
Summary:
The background for this emergency appeal is rooted in the escalation of armed conflict in the Republic of South Sudan from mid-December 2013. An appeal was launched on 11 February, 2014 seeking CHF 1.7M to support URCS in the emergency response to the influx of refugees from South Sudan. The response operation sought to support 25,000 refugees in dire need of emergency medical care, shelter, food, water and adequate sanitation facilities.
Insecurity and violence that flared up following the armed conflict uprooted thousands of South Sudanese from their original homes, provoking mass population displacement within South Sudan with hundreds of thousands of the displaced seeking safe haven within the neighbouring countries. Uganda which shares a common border with Sudan had by end of June 2014 received more than 120,000 South Sudanese refugees. The operation is focusing on refugee settlements in Northern Uganda (West Nile Sub Region, Arua and Adjumani districts.
URCS, through its branches in Arua and Adjumani and with support from International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), as part of response has been supporting the newly arrived refugees in the transit centres and settlements with Restoration Family Links (RFL) activities. The provision of RFL services has been complimented by support from the appeal through which URCS has rolled out hygiene promotion activities, registration of new arrivals, psychosocial support activities in the transit centres and settlements. Further support from the appeal has enabled the deployment of one full WatSan kit 5 with support from Norwegian Red Cross and two water treatment units with storage facilities from German Red Cross and activities to further prevention of communicable diseases with final touches on rolling out of emergency shelter provision and an ambulance for referrals.
Once vaunted for its excellent technical capacities, and prominent role in civil society, the Uganda Red Cross Society was thrown into turmoil in 2013 following corruption allegations against its then Secretary General. At an extraordinary General Assembly in November 2013 the National Council of the URCS dissolved the Central Governing Board, electing an Interim Central Governing Board (ICGB) to sit for a year. The former Secretary General was dismissed and an Interim Secretary General recruited with the support of the IFRC and other Movement partners. As has been evidenced in other national societies, the institutional recovery process continues to take longer than desired. Not surprisingly, such disruption of the leadership and management of the National Society challenges the institution’s ability to serve its usual roles, including the implementation of the current Emergency Appeal operation.
Acknowledging the humanitarian imperative, the IFRC and all Movement partners continue to support the mission of the URCS, and the responsibility of the RC/RC Movement in the face of the continuing humanitarian needs of those displaced from South Sudan. The IFRC has taken extra measures to ensure the credible and accountable implementation of the emergency operation by creating an enabling environment for field level implementation. IFRC and URCS have designed operating modalities that include a more diligent and comprehensive IFRC support and engagement in the operation in Uganda than is normally the case.
Going forward, to ensure the implementation of the operation, the IFRC is strengthening its in-country structures with a more robust support team in the Operations Support Unit (OSU). The team will comprise an Operations Support Delegate as team leader, responsible for the implementation of the operation; a logistics delegate and a local finance officer. In addition to supporting the implementation of the operation, the role of the OSU is to conduct due diligence and oversight in operations management, including in particular in minimizing risks in relation to financial and logistics management. From the outset of the operation funds were channelled to URCS accounts with the IFRC structure mandated to safeguard the contributions from donors and promote transparency/accountability, including in procurement. In addition, an increase in support and monitoring visits from the IFRC regional office Planning, Monitoring and Reporting Delegate will be implemented.
In August 2014, it was found necessary to consider working on revising the appeal and increase the appeal budget as well as extend the operational time frame following updated information on the needs from new assessments conducted. The revised emergency appeal was consequently issued in mid-September and increased the budget to CHF 2.3m to support 25,000 beneficiaries until March, 2015.
To date the appeal is only 23% covered despite the urgent needs of the still increasing number of South Sudanese refugees in Uganda. Contributions have so far been received from American Red Cross, British Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross/Government, Japanese Red Cross, Japanese Red Cross (Panasonic Corporation), Red Cross of Monaco Swedish Red Cross and Canadian Red Cross (Canadian Government).IFRC on behalf of Uganda Red Cross would like to thank all partners for their continued support as well as encourage more partners to support this appeal.