Appeal history:
• This Emergency Appeal was initially launched on 23 September, 2011 for CHF 4,158,792 for 12 months to assist 150,000 beneficiaries.
• Operation updates were issued on 20 October, 2011, 31 October, 2011 30 January, 2012 and 12 September, 2012. A 6-month Summary was issued on 31 March, 2012.
• This Operations Update increases the budget to CHF 4,425,791 a (6.4% increase) to cater for additional activities in the water and sanitation component prompted by the acute shortage of water in north-western coastal areas of Somaliland due to failure of the GU (spring) rainy season (April-June, 2012). The Appeal time frame has also been extended to 30 April 2013. Funding for the additional activities has been secured through a hard pledge.
The IFRC Somalia Representation and the Somali Red Crescent are seeking the extension of the time frame of the Emergency Appeal from 30 September, 2012 to 30 April, 2013 to allow for the completion of the planned activities in water sector development, procurement of fishing gears and First Aid Kits. The extension will also allow the National Society to conduct Branch Emergency Response Team (BERT) and National Disaster Response Team simulations. The budget revision will entail an increase of 6.4 percent from the original budget to cover additional activities in water and sanitation sector. In addition, there will be an alignment of budget lines due to increase/decrease of budget allocation for some activities and due to strict earmarking from the donors who earmarked for increased non-food items and food rations allocation. Therefore, there will be an adjustment in some of the appeal objectives as dictated by the reality on the ground.
No Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF) was requested since the response operation was initiated by IFRC in January 2011 as part of the scaled up Somalia Annual Country Plan to respond to the drought situation in Somaliland and Puntland. This is where the funds for the operation were first secured and enabled the IFRC and SRCS to start the operation in April, 2011. However, the general food security situation in Somalia deteriorated in July 2001 which led the UN to declare famine in southern Somalia. The increased hardships in southern and central Somalia coupled with increased insecurity forced many people to move northward seeking refuge in Puntland and Somaliland. The new developments necessitated the scaling up of activities. This led to an Emergency Appeal in coordination with Movement partners.
During the eleven months since the launch of the appeal, most of the objectives related to non-food items, procurement of medical supplies, and procurement of vehicles for the mobile health clinics have been achieved. The remaining activities according to the SRCS priorities will focus on water sources rehabilitation, fuel subsidy to run boreholes, food rations for boarding schools and orphanages to keep children in school, livelihoods support to fishing communities and strengthening the national society response capacity.
The need to have the appeal time frame extended to 30 April 2013 emanated from the fact that the coastal areas of Somaliland and Puntland are still in crisis due to persisting drought conditions. The water sector activities under the current appeal have also taken time to be completed due to the procurement processes and logistical constraints. The procurement of fishing gear for livelihood support to the fishing communities also took time due to importation delays from abroad. Recruitment of a health delegate and a disaster management officer were completed in January and June 2012, respectively, several months after the launch of the appeal. This has affected implementation of planned activities within the initially prescribed timeframe.