The Federation's mission is to improve the lives of vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. It is the world's largest humanitarian organization and its millions of volunteers are active in over 185 countries.
Executive summary
In Myanmar, the tsunami killed 61 people and affected between 10,000 and 15,000. The Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) as the country's leading disaster response organization demonstrated its reach and effectiveness distributing relief to 3,000 people, providing first aid to many more as well as putting families in touch with missing loved ones. Once the initial rush was over the national society contemplated the need to be better prepared in future for emergencies and pre-positioned 8,500 family sets ready for quick distribution.
The disaster demonstrated to the national society the need for scaled-up community initiatives to reduce vulnerability, particularly around pre-existing plans in health and hygiene promotion, water and sanitation, community-based disaster management as well as new initiatives around water safety and life-guard training.
MRCS, with its strong tradition of committed and effective volunteers, undertook to further build the competency of its key resource and this has been apparent in all programme approaches.
Essentially for MRCS, the tsunami operation has been and remains an opportunity to reinforce its competency in strong areas as well as to fill gaps revealed by its past performance.
During 2006, the tsunami recovery strategy was incorporated into the established capacity building support provided to MRCS. Programmes are fully funded for 2007. The capacity building support falls within a broad framework incorporating:
- Disaster risk reduction
- Sustainability
- Community participation
- Communication & advocacy
- Quality & accountability
- Coordination & collaboration
- Organizational development
- Organizational learning
It is unclear what impact the major changes within the national society leadership in October 2006 will have on programme implementation around the tsunami operation. The Federation stands ready to support, advise and mentor the new leadership to maintain their national society's existing momentum and hopefully even increase the potential impact of programming.
Background/Operational context
Myanmar remains a country vulnerable to natural disasters. This was amply demonstrated on 28 April 2006 when Cyclone Mala struck many townships in the Rakhine state and Ayeyarwaddy divisions. Once again MRCS was central to the response. The cyclone was the most destructive to hit the region in 50 years. USD 6.7 million worth of damage was reported to industrial infrastructure alone. The cyclone was just one of many hazards. The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology reported 200 earthquakes in 2004 and more than 300 in 2005. In January 2006 alone, there were 28 tremors.
The government's release of new Cooperation Guidelines for International Organisations, INGOs, and NGOs created much discussion. The impact of these guidelines as yet to be fully realised. Initial reaction from the international community, led by the UN, has generally been that an understanding of humanitarian principles needs to be safeguarded especially in terms of independence and impartiality.
Indeed, Myanmar remains a challenging context in many respects because of a myriad of internal and external factors. In March 2006, MSF France announced that 'due to protracted difficulty in project activities implementation' it was closing its offices in Myanmar. Such developments make the MRCS' role as a leading humanitarian actor in the country – with nationwide reach – even more crucial. For many organizations, access to programme areas remains a genuine issue, especially in the eastern states.
In 2006 world attention was drawn to Myanmar as Ibrahim Gambari, the UN undersecretary general for political affairs visited the country. He was the first senior UN official permitted to visit for over two years. Mr Gambari met with senior government officials and was also allowed rare meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi. In a statement, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said that this was a 'potentially important opportunity to assess developments in the country first hand, and to see what more can be done, including by the United Nations….' Mr Gambari briefed the UN security council after his initial visit, only the second time that Myanmar has been a subject of such a briefing.
In addition, both the European Union and United States made separate decisions to extend sanctions against Myanmar for another year. Meanwhile, a UN report announced a significant drop in opium poppy cultivation worldwide (22% in 2005) and attributed the decline to cutbacks in the three main source countries of Myanmar, Laos and Afghanistan. The report announced: 'Within a few years, Asia's notorious Golden Triangle, once the world's narcotics epicentre, could become opium-free.' On the administrative front, ministries finalized the move to the new capital of Naypyidaw signalling the end of Yangon's 120 years as the principal city. The MRCS branch near the new capital is already acting as a useful communication link for MRCS headquarters and Movement partners.
The international media continued to report extensively on the concerns of UN human rights investigators and NGOs regarding the continuing stream of Myanmar refugees arriving in border camps in neighbouring Thailand.
The cost of living continued to rise in Myanmar. Public servants welcomed an announcement of increased government salaries in 2006. However, the Asian Development Bank noted that an eightfold increase in fuel prices and a rise in tax revenues have 'prompted higher prices for some basic commodities'.