This report covers the period 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2011
In brief
Programme outcomes
Lives of affected people are saved and improved through timely and effective disaster response and increased community participation in risk reduction activities, supported with corresponding organizational strengthening.
Safe and healthy living conditions are provided through community-based health and first aid, health and care promotion, and water and sanitation.
Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) is well structured and organised at all levels so that it delivers quality community-based services to the vulnerable in Myanmar.
MRCS’ communications capacity is increased in order to promote the society’s activities as well as to support proactive and effective communications during disasters.
Programme summary
The disaster management programme exceeded its targets for 2011 due to an expansion of disaster risk reduction activities as well as responses to a number of disasters and small-scale emergencies. Overall, the programme has seen its disaster response capacity strengthened through strategic training and re-training of staff and volunteers, followed by their deployment to disaster operations. In reference to disaster risk reduction activities, monitoring indicates that targeted communities continue to respond positively to initiatives, particularly by using the knowledge and materials gained to save themselves in times of emergencies or reduce their risks in everyday situations.
In the health programme, the most significant achievement in 2011 was the progress made within communitybased health initiatives. The CBHD project which had begun a few years ago has generated a significant amount of positive impact among targeted communities, while newly-launched CBHFA initiatives have seen good planning and implementation in the introductory stages comprising advocacy, training and assessments.
The water and sanitation unit focused on the regrouping of equipment and human resources, in the wake of the transition of water and sanitation capacities from the Nargis Operation to the society’s annual programme.
Efforts towards its community-based programme were focused on introductory aspects comprising assessments and the early stages of PHAST.
In organizational development, main initiatives comprised the revision and launch of the branch development model aimed at enabling Red Cross township branches to have the capacity to provide appropriate support to community-based programmes being implemented in their locations. Finance development was undertaken to complement the aims of the branch development model. Significant efforts were also made towards the society’s resource mobilization aspirations i.e. a revitalization of existing efforts at headquarters and field levels including the preparation of appropriate guidelines, and an expansion of efforts through the sourcing of new means of fundraising. Good progress was also made in reference to several aspects of human resource development.
The society’s humanitarian values initiatives saw continued efforts in training branch volunteers in communications and reporting, following the positive results from previous years’ initiatives. Engagement with the media was also a top priority, and resulted in an impressive amount of publicity.
