The Round-up offers a weekly sample of what our sister Red Cross Societies are working on around the world.
ETHIOPIA: The Ethiopian Red Cross Society is getting ready to start distributing food and water to drought affected communities. An emergency appeal was launched to request funding for these life saving activities, and it will also fund projects that help communities get back on their feet when the rains finally come. Seeds and tools will be distributed, along with money so they can buy the things they need. Sustainable water sources will be developed so if the rains fail again they have something to fall back on.
CÔTE D’IVOIRE: The Red Cross of Côte d’Ivoire, with support from the IFRC, has rolled out the first phase of its emergency assistance to some of the people affected by the crisis that followed the controversial results of the 2010 presidential elections in the country. Though the first phase of the operation was meant for relief distribution based on earlier assessments, it was discovered that the need for shelter was more extensive as residents who fled have started returning and looking to their National Society and IFRC for assistance.
MALAWI: In Malawi, branches of the National Red Cross Society are finding new ways of spreading the message about the importance of bed nets and insecticide in the fight against malaria, a disease that kills almost one million people each year, 90 per cent of them in Africa.
GLOSSARY:
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies