Today on World Refugee Day the number of displaced people is at it’s highest ever. Though the impact of this refugee crisis will be felt for many years to come but we will continue to look for ways to contribute.
We must address this global crisis with sustainable solutions to empower refugees with dignity and opportunities.
On this day lets stand #WithRefugees as one community, beyond beliefs and borders.
Strengthening financial management skills in small-scale organizations
A proper understanding and application of financial concepts is becoming essential to professionals working in the nonprofit sector as donor agencies increasingly prefer organizations that have good financial management systems in place. Held from 10-13th of May in Peshawar, this three-day training is the second of its sort specifically designed and organized by Community World Service Asia to strengthen the financial management skills of participants belonging to small-scale organizations. The training aimed to equip participants with knowledge and skills to help them utilize financial management tools efficiently. It was attended by a total number of 23 participants comprising of six women and seventeen men from nine organizations.
The training imparted specific skills on the fundamentals of financial management such as developing effective financial policies and internal controls, streamlining accounting system as per organizational policies, preparing budgets, preparing financial reports as per donor requirements as well as facilitating audits to ensure transparency.
Masood Ahmed, the trainer, helped the participants in developing projects and consolidated budgets using activity-based budgeting techniques, simple cash flow forecasts and learning to use them. The significance of financial policies and procedures was highlighted.
Participants got a clearer understanding of the financial management roles and responsibilities of board members, managers, finance team, and program staff. They became better aware of the importance of budgets in planning, control, and decision-making, the key components and language of accounting systems and the link between budgets, accounting records, and financial reports. One of the participants Shahzad From SSEWA PAK said, “The resource person had full command on the topics discussed and had a grip on the entire session.” Another participant, M. Akbar from Dehi Ijtimai Tarqyati Social Workers Council (DITSWC) said that he appreciated the resource person’s way of handling participants working in both finance and programs and found the session inspiring.
Furthermore, brainstorming, individual exercises, lectures, role-plays, group work, interactive discussions, power point presentations were conducted while handout materials were distributed and discussed with all participants.
Twenty members of sixteen Village Disaster Management Committees (VDMCs) established by Community World Service Asia in rural Sindh visited the Pakistan Meteorological Department in Karachi this May. The members of this hazard-prone community, which is regularly and severely affected by seasonal flooding, were able to observe the ways in which the government department processes and responds to information on weather, climate and geophysical phenomena with the aim of ensuring safety in the air, land and sea. They also observed how these measures mitigate the impact of climate change on agriculture, the main source of employment and income in the province of Sindh.
Chief Meteorologist, Abdul Rasheed, and his colleague, Sarfaraz, introduced the visitors to the effects of climate change, weather forecasting and early warning systems for heavy rains, heatwaves and flooding.
Rasheed shared. “The role of DDMA [District Disaster Management Authority] should be strengthened to reduce disasters at the local level, however our unconditional support is always there.”“It’s a matter of great pleasure for us that Community World Service Asia is taking such brave steps to educate communities at a grass-root level,”
Gul Hassan, a VDMC member, added,
Hanif Nooh Waliro, another VDMC member, said,“It is a good opportunity to learn how government machinery works. We would also like to request the Chief Meteorologist and his team to educate us in the villages.”
“We have learnt a lot; although the presentation was quite tricky, visiting observatory stations was very informative.”
With support from Christian Aid, Community World Service Asia is working to empower local communities to take action so that they can protect themselves from the impact of natural disasters. Activities such as this visit enable community members to learn about the causes of natural disasters and the mechanisms which are in place to anticipate them. Such activities build links between government departments and local organizations which contribute to effective coordination for preparedness.
NTRODUCTION
The Livestock Emergency Guidelines and Standards (LEGS) are a set of international guidelines and standards for the design, implementation and assessment of livestock-based livelihood interventions to assist people affected by humanitarian crises. The LEGS handbook was first published in April 2009 with the second edition published in 2015, and a series of Training of Trainers (TOT) courses are being rolled out worldwide. The TOT trains participants to be able to deliver the 3-day LEGS training course. To date, the LEGS Project has run 21 TOTs, training over 360 people.
Applications are now invited for a cost-share LEGS TOT in Bangkok, Thailand. The TOT runs for 6 days, from 26th September to 1st October 2016. Participants may apply for the first 3 days of the course (26-28th September) if they are only interested in the LEGS training course rather than the training of trainers..
WHAT IS A LEGS TRAINER?
On completion of the 6-day training of trainers course, trainees become ‘LEGS Trainers’ and are equipped to carry out the 3-day LEGS Training Course in their own country or region. They will have spent 3 days being trained on the LEGS approach and 3 days being trained in adult learning and how to train others in the LEGS approach.
For more details please download brochure and application form
The first ever Training of Trainers on the Sphere standards was conducted in the city of Iran this May. Funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and planned in collaboration with the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS), the training was thoughtfully designed and facilitated by Community World Service Asia considering the Iranian context. To promote effective humanitarian response in Iran, ICRI has conducted a series of Sphere trainings in Iran during recent years in coordination with NRC. Following the three day basic Sphere trainings, the key stakeholders involved recognized the need of creating a larger pool of Sphere trainers in the country to join existing three member sphere trainers’ team.
Community World Service Asia has been providing humanitarian support to programs assisting refugees in Iran since June 2015. However, this has been the organization’s first experience in its quality and accountability interventions in the country as they provided technical support to conduct this first-ever Sphere ToT. Participants at the training belonged to various sectors of the humanitarian community present in Iran. These included Red Crescent staff, government officials, UN representatives and national aid workers. This event proved essential in providing a joint platform for key stakeholders of the humanitarian community to collaborate on understanding the Sphere handbook and its application.
Discussions are underway to support the selected ToT graduates to become expert Sphere trainers. As an immediate outcome of the ToT, one of the participants introduced the Sphere Standards in his recent lecture at the Iranian Red Crescent’s research institute. The respective agencies are looking forward to having a joint strategy in building the national capacity in Iran through the use of the Sphere Minimum Standards.
Every year, Global Earth Day is celebrated across the globe to call for action against harmful environmental practices and to help spread awareness about protecting the Earth’s natural environment. To mark the importance of this day and the cause it represents, Community World Service Asia, with support from Christian Aid, pledged to plant 4000 trees in various localities of districts Thatta and Sujawal in Sindh. The team collaborated with Plan International, Action for Humanitarian Development (AHD) and Voice of Youth Group to make this possible.
Titled ‘One Family, One Tree,’ the campaign ran for an entire week (18-22 April) and was inaugurated by chief guest Mr. Abdul Latif Brohi, Assistant Deputy Commissioner , who planted a tree at the DC office in Thatta. Over the five days of the campaign, trees were planted by men, women and children in schools, government offices, roadsides and villages. Youth volunteers and teachers also participated in the activity.
The government in Sindh is considered as the main provider of preventive care throughout the province and a major provider of curative services in most of its rural areas. Health services in the public sector are provided through a tiered referral system covering a range from primary, to secondary and tertiary medical facilities. Primary care facilities include basic health units (BHUs), rural health centers (RHCs), government rural dispensaries (GRDs), mother and child health (MCH) centers and TB centers.
Unfortunately, most of these facilities lack the provision of a broader range of preventive and curative health services. The Taluka (Administrative division) and seventeen district headquarter hospitals in rural Sindh are responsible for providing medical care to the people of these areas. However, many are unable to benefit from these health care institutions due to the lack of technical assistance and the poor infrastructure.
The public health system in Sindh is unable to cope with the mounting health challenges that people are facing in the province. The province’s district of Umerkot faces the highest national statistics on human and material health care shortages.
Community World Service Asia has been working in the health sector in Pakistan for the past thirty years. Through this experience, the organization has learnt that project interventions must work towards strengthening the existing government structures regardless of its weaknesses. This approach results in a more sustainable impact instead of working in isolation or parallelly to the system.
Based on a recent rapid assessment carried out by Community World Service Asia, development of three RHCs in villages Nabi ser, Dhoror Naro and Hyder Farm were proposed and approved. These RHCs aim to benefit a combined population of around 98,341.
To ensure long-term sustainability, the project’s plan is to work in close coordination with the government health department thus aiming to bridge the gaps in services such as provision of human and material resources. This includes working closely with female medical officers and para-medical staff, provision of essential medical supplies/equipment, necessary maintenance and repair of existing medical facilities as most of them have been damaged due to the floods that hit the province in years 2010 and 2013. Through this project, preventive and curative services will be developed, as well as the capacity of the government health staff will be enhanced.
In Umerkot, three RHUs in Hyderfarm Taluka Umerkot, Nabisar Taluka Kunri and town committee Dhoronaro have already become operational providing curative and preventive health services to the communities. At the initial stage, the infrastructure of the dilapidated RHCs was worked upon and these units were provided essential equipment required to cater to the health needs of the community. In the health facilities located at Hyderfarm and Nabisar, an outdoor patient departments (OPDs) providing free consultations and essential medicines to patients has also been set up. Additionally, labour rooms have been made operational at all the three health facilities. Medical services are provided by health staff including female medical officers, lady health visitors (LHVs), medical technicians and social mobilizers at these facilities.
These health services are focusing on the reproductive health of women of child-bearing age. Disease Early Warning System (DEWS) and Health Information System (HIS) have also been established at both the health facilities. Information from these centres is regularly shared with the district government and Community World Service Asia’s head offices.
For the second consecutive year, an extreme heat wave has hit South Asia. To prevent the loss of lives, we have been working towards spreading awareness via social media and radio. Our health centers running in various parts of Sindh have been equipped to provide immediate care to those suffering from heat-related illnesses. In this video message, we would like to appeal to our partners and donors to support us further as we continue to save lives of the vulnerable.
Thank you to the support of all our international partners who have helped launch the response to this life threatening natural calamity! Y Care International The United Methodist Church Church of Scotland CWS Start Network UMCOR – United Methodist Committee On Relief
A result of global warming, an extreme heat wave has hit India and Pakistan for the second consecutive year. In India, more than 100 people have lost their lives due to severe heat with temperatures soaring as high as 40°C and above. The worst affected areas include western Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, eastern Rajasthan and some parts of Madhya Pradesh.
While last year, the heat wave struck Karachi and other parts of Sindh in June, this year it has hit the province even earlier. A heat wave alert for Karachi had already been issued by the Meteorological Department for three days starting from today (Friday).
Doctors have just confirmed the first death from heatstroke near Manghopir Mazaar, as reported by Geo TV.
In this time of need, we have issued an appeal to our partners and are still receiving pledges to provide life saving services to communities in Sindh province.
Our social media campaign will be starting from today and is aimed at creating awareness regarding heatstroke and necessary precautions that must be taken during the heat wave.
Other than spreading awareness, we will also be setting up health centers to provide immediate care to those suffering from heat-related illnesses.
Picture: bloem.getitonline.co.za
In June 2015, a terrible and unexpected heat wave claimed the lives of more than 2,000 people in Karachi and interior Sindh. As the death toll went up, many others were brought to major hospitals in the port city of Karachi for treatment. The majority of these patients had been affected by heat-related illnesses such as dehydration and heat stroke. In the South Asian region, India also suffered unbearably hot temperatures. According to TIME magazine, an extreme heat wave in India has already resulted in casualties across the country for the second consecutive year, with temperatures rising above 40°C in some areas.
This year, Community World Service Asia has initiated a support program for awareness aimed at spreading information about heatstroke. This will be carried out through social media, radio, and IEC (Information, Education and Communications) materials. By educating at-risk communities about the causes, symptoms, and preventive measures of heat/sunstroke, we can aim to reduce the mortality and morbidity rate among people affected by the heat wave in Sindh.
Other than spreading awareness, we will also be setting up first-aid health centers in six districts of Sindh to provide immediate care to affected communities. This will include medicines and ambulance service for critical patients.
We would like to thank our communities, donors and the government for their continued cooperation in this regard.
Contacts:
Muhammad Fazal
Associate Director
Emergencies/DRR/Climate Change
Email: fazil.sardar@communitryworldservice.asia
Cell: +92 332 5586134
Alison Sneddon
Head of Communications
Email: alison.sneddon@communityworldservice.asia
Prev