INTRODUCTION
A combination of hill torrents, flash floods and riverine flooding has resulted in over 5 million people being affected in three provinces across central Pakistan. In support of the national response and recovery efforts, Save the Children has launched humanitarian programs in five districts to meet basic needs of the most vulnerable children and families. Save the Children is closely coordinating with the local administrations and has conducted initial observation studies of the affected areas.
In view of the requests received from multiple sources within the government of Pakistan, and based on the findings of our own observation studies as well as inter-agency assessments, Save the Children is initiating a six-month response to the current humanitarian crisis in Pakistan that aims to meet key shelter, health, nutrition, food, hygiene, protection and livelihood needs in villages where Save the Children has both presence and capacity. The overarching focus of the strategy will, however, remain on improving long-term coping mechanisms for communities with a proven vulnerability to violent climate change and flooding episodes.
Focusing on Jacobabad, Shikarpur, DG Khan, Rajanpur and Jaffarabad districts, this strategy outlines how Save the Children will work with the local administrations and other key partners in Pakistan and internationally to assist at least 1 million children and their family members with timely provision of aid. At the same time, the program will help build resilience to reduce the risks of future climate change-induced floods and droughts.
Save the Children’s experience in Pakistan since 2009 illustrates that families begin to resort to negative coping mechanisms within days of the floods, and continue to do so for several months. Parents are faced with the fact that crops and food stocks become depleted and livelihood opportunities have become scarcer. As the disaster becomes protracted, children are increasingly at risk, and become more vulnerable to child labor, early marriages, dropping out of school, and becoming sick and malnourished.
In many of the flood affected districts in central Pakistan, malnutrition rates are already above emergency thresholds, and deficits in literacy combined with chronic levels of poverty mean that shocks caused by flooding push thousands of families and children further into deprivation and hunger.
Save the Children’s emergency response to the 2010 Pakistan floods was implemented in many of the same villages that have been affected this year. While Save the Children implemented DRR programs in a number of these communities, early recovery needs from that disaster remain unmet in many areas. Many people have not been able to rebuild their homes, and communities have not been able to rebuild their schools, health clinics, or roads.
Save the Children in Pakistan, with technical and financial support from Save the Children Members around the world, will launch a robust response in line with lessons learned from the 2010 and 2011 flood responses. Save the Children in Pakistan will work with the SC Members to approach key advocacy targets including the broader donor community, with the aim of leveraging commitment for DRR programming in all of Pakistan’s development plans and policies.
Save the Children will maintain a leading role in the humanitarian community within Pakistan and the region, and will respond to this emergency as a Scale 2 – Category Large Response. All relevant Save the Children International protocols for Scale 2 will be followed. A low profile approach towards external relations will be adopted, while continuing to work with in-country partners at the Islamabad and provincial level to ensure that the safety and security of staff and beneficiaries is guaranteed, and that aid is delivered to the most vulnerable children and families in time and with quality.