3D Fund annual review meeting held
By Aye Aye Myo
GAINING trust and improving people’s lives – these are the accomplishments of the Three Diseases Fund (3DF) over the past year, donors heard last week.
The fund held its 2009 Annual Review Meeting at Sedona Hotel on October 14 to describe its fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.
In 2008, partner agencies provided 6804 people living with HIV with antiretroviral therapy (ART), representing 45 percent of ART treatment in the country. They successfully treated some 27,800 TB patients and around 712,600 malaria cases. HIV prevention reached some 633,500 people and behaviour change communication on TB 131,610 clients.
“The main achievement of the fund is that it proved it worked effectively and contributed to improving and saving the lives of thousands,” Mr Bengt Ekman, chair of the Fund Board and representative of Sweden in the Donor Consortium, said.
Doctors implementing the project have to solve a lot of problems such as transparency and language barriers. “When we survey peoples’ behaviour for HIV/AIDS among sex workers and young people, victims talk only to people they trust. So we have to work through people they are familiar with so that we can know true facts about risk percentage and mis-behaviour,” Dr Aye Sandar Aung from World Vision told The Myanmar Times.
According to Dr Aye Mar Lwin from Malteser International, the only difficulty is the language barrier. Patients talk to the doctors through interpreters. But surprisingly, people in remote areas do not shun clinics as they used to and attend when they feel ill. Only the ethnic minorities in hilly regions rarely come, she said, adding that the organisation is trying to extend their reach further into remote areas.
3DF describes itself as the biggest single-pooled fund in the health sector in Myanmar, with a commitment of US$114 million over the five-year period that began in October 2006 and will end in 2011. Donor contributions have amounted to $71.5 million on behalf of the European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
http://www.mmtimes. com/no494/ n003.htm
Thursday, October 29, 2009
3D Fund annual review meeting held
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Foreign aid continues flowing to Myanmar
http://enews.mcot.net/view.php?id=9842
Foreign aid continues flowing to Myanmar
Hanoi (VNA) – More foreign aid continue coming to Myanmar in order to help cyclone victims for the recovery of their livehood, according to news agencies.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has donated fishery equipment for cyclone survivors to use in fishery recovery work in storm-hit areas in the country, agencies said, citing the weekly 7-Day News in Myanmar on May 7.
The equipment worth 120,463 USD, which included water pumps and engines, refrigerators, fishing nets, oxygen bottles and other fishery-related materials, were handed over to the Myanmar Fishery Department recently by JICA.
The Japanese government will also provide 3 million USD more of aid through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to rebuild the remaining damaged houses in the cyclone-hit regions.
Meanwhile, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) will extend its aid supplies to Myanmar cyclone victims later this month.
The aid supplies for the survivors in four cyclone-hit townships include tractors, cattle, paddy seed and vegetables seedlings, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Myanmar’ Biweekly Eleven.
Earlier this year, FAO donated two batch of poultry and cattle to cyclone victims.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -Ayeyawaddy, Yangon , Bago, Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3. The storm killed 84,537 people, injured 19,359 and left 53,836 people missing. (VNA)
Today In Asia : Last Update : 13:07:15 8 May 2009 (GMT+7:00)
Sunday, April 5, 2009
World leaders pledge US$1-trillon in aid
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1456114
Simon Kennedy and Kitty Donaldson in London, Bloomberg
Published: Thursday, April 02, 2009
Dominique Faget/AFP/Getty ImagesBritish Prime Minister outlines the outcome of the G20 summit in London on Thursday. Leaders signed off on plans to commission blacklists of tax havens and tighten financial rules to bring hedge ...
World leaders agreed on a regulatory blueprint for reining in the excesses that fed the worst financial crisis in six decades and pledged more than US$1-trillion in emergency aid to cushion the economic fallout.
The Group of 20 policymakers, meeting in London, called for stricter limits on hedge funds, executive pay, credit-rating firms and risk-taking by banks. They tripled the firepower of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and offered cash to revive trade to help governments weather the turmoil resulting from the surge in unemployment. They avoided the divisive question of whether to deliver more fiscal stimulus to their own economies.
The statement amounts to an effort to rewrite the rules of capitalism to address an integrated world economy that has outgrown the ability of nations to keep it in check. The assembly echoed -- on an international stage -- the introduction in the U.S. of securities regulation after the 1929 crash.
"By any measure the London summit was historic," President Barack Obama said after the talks. U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, "we have reached a new consensus that we take global actions together to deal with the problems we face."
The measures to fight the recession and reform finance helped push U.S. stocks up, extending a global advance, and Treasuries down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average exceeded 8,000 for the first time since Feb. 10, before settling up 216.48 points, or 2.79%, at 7,978.08, while the S&P 500 rose 23.30 points, or 2.87%, to 834.38. In Toronto, the S&P/TSX composite index rose 131.32 points, or 1.47%, to close at 9,073.14, marking its highest closing level since Jan. 9.
Even as the G-20 leaders said they will maintain power over their own markets and companies rather than cede it to a cross-border regulator, they closed ranks behind "greater consistency and systematic co-operation" to flesh out a new regulatory order first outlined at a November meeting in Washington.
The crackdown is "a major step forward," Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University, said in an interview. "It's a historic moment when the world came together and said we were wrong to push deregulation."
Blaming "major failures" in regulation as "fundamental causes" of the credit crunch, the G-20 said national regulators will be revamped to better monitor threats to the international system.
A new Financial Stability Board will be established to unite regulators and join the IMF in providing early warnings of potential threats. Once recovery is underway, work will begin on new rules aimed at avoiding excessive leverage and forcing banks to put more money aside during good times.
Hedge funds that are "systemically important" will be subjected to greater oversight, as will all key financial instruments, markets and instruments, the G20 said. That signals a setback for German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who wanted all of the investment funds brought under the spotlight.
That didn't stop the funds' lobby from complaining the US$1.4-trillion industry had been made a "scapegoat" for the market meltdown. "Although we agree that any entity that provides banking services should be regulated as a bank, the vast majority of hedge funds do not fall into this category," Andrew Baker, chief executive of the London-based Alternative Investment Management Association, said in an interview.
Principles will also be introduced on pay and bonuses to create "sustainable compensation schemes" after concern that executive remuneration rewarded short-term risk-taking over the long-run interests of companies. Accounting-standard setters were urged to improve valuation methods and credit-rating companies will be forced to meet a code of good practice.
Having proved a sticking point at the talks, the G20 said it will impose sanctions on tax havens that do not provide enough information. Officials split over the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development publishing a list of such nations, agreeing in the end not to block it after Mr. Obama and Mr. Sarkozy hashed out a deal with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
After bilateral meetings around London on Wednesday, Thursday's summit was held at East London's barn-like Excel Center, within sight of the Canary Wharf, which houses Citigroup Inc.'s Citibank, Barclays PLC, HSBC Holdings Plc and Bank of America Corp. After a one and a half hour breakfast meeting, the group spent most of its time in a circular room, taking breaks for one-on-one chats in a separate lounge, a U.K. official said.
During the plenary sessions, the leaders wore microphones and got simultaneous translations for any of the 13 languages spoken. When one wanted to speak, he or she pressed a button, set off a light and waited for his or her turn.
After a lunch of filet of beef and talks that went 30 minutes beyond schedule, the room erupted in applause when the final text was agreed upon.
The G20's pact to impose tougher regulation marks a narrowing of differences after Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy entered the summit demanding Mr. Brown and Mr. Obama endorse a more detailed response to the crisis than that initially planned.
"We never thought we would find an agreement this large," Mr. Sarkozy said. Ms. Merkel called it a "victory for common sense."
Having committed US$2-trillion in fiscal packages to save their economies, the leaders said Thursday they would "deliver the scale of sustained fiscal effort necessary to restore growth," while ensuring sustainable budgets and price stability in the long term. With banks still bogged down by toxic assets, the G20 promised "to take all necessary actions" to restore the availability of credit and protect major institutions.
Mr. Obama and Mr. Brown have pushed for more spending, only to run into resistance from Ms. Merkel and Mr. Sarkozy, who argue they've done enough, have bigger social-safety nets and don't want to bust budgets. The IMF will gauge the policies taken, which should accelerate the recovery of the global economy to its long-term trend, the G20 said.
Inundated with record requests for loans from troubled economies, including Pakistan and Hungary, the IMF was told its war chest will be boosted by US$500-billion and it will receive another US$250-billion in special drawing rights, the agency's synthetic currency. Multilateral development banks, including the World Bank, will be enabled to lend at least US$100-billion more.
"It's historic, there's no question about it," said Colin Bradford, an economist at the Brookings Institution in Washington.In return for their contributions, emerging markets such as China and Brazil will receive more of a say in the fund, the G20 said. The IMF will also use revenue from sales of its gold reserves to aid the world's poorest countries, and its next leader will no longer automatically be a European.
The G20 members are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Turkey, the United States, the U.K. and the European Union. Officials from Spain and the Netherlands were also present. The leaders will meet again in New York in September, Mr. Sarkozy said.
Bloomberg News
Close
Presented by
U.S. donates rice for Myanmar cyclone survivors
http://www.reuters.com/article/homepageCrisis/idUSBKK209031._CH_.2400
LABUTTA, Myanmar, April 2 (Reuters) - The United States has donated more than 16,000 tonnes of rice to help survivors of last year's devastating cyclone in military-ruled Myanmar, officials said.
The rice is part of a $28 million American food aid package distributed through the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) to survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which left 140,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million people severely affected last May.
"The United States government is the WFP's single largest donor for the cyclone victims," said Chris Kaye, the U.N. agency's country director, speaking to Reuters on Wednesday at a WFP distribution camp near Labutta in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy Delta. Nearly a year after the cyclone struck, many people are still living in temporary shelters and access to food and clean water remains a challenge.
The U.S.-donated rice is expected to benefit 350,000 people. Some of it is being distributed under food-for-work projects managed by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to support the rebuilding of roads and dykes.
Larry Dinger, U.S. charge d'affaires in Myanmar, said Washington had provided a total of $74 million in humanitarian assistance to Nargis survivors "as part of America's commitment to the welfare of the Burmese people". Over the years Washington has tightened sanctions on the military, which has ruled the former Burma for more than four decades, to try to push the regime toward political reform and improving human rights.
But sanctions have not worked, and neither has a policy of engagement by Myanmar's regional neighbours.
The Obama administration announced in February that it was conducting a review of its policy towards Myanmar to find new ways to sway one of the world's most reclusive regimes. (Reporting by Aung Hla Tun; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Myanmar gets China's help for hydropower project
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/energy/100077635-1-myanmar-gets-china%2527s-help-hydropower.html
YANGON, March 30 - China is to help Myanmar build a big hydropower plant on the River Irawaddy in the north of the country, adding to a string of joint hydropower projects, and a huge gas pipeline to China is also planned, officials in Myanmar said.
The latest hydropower project, under a deal reached with a Chinese delegation last week, involves a plant in northern Kachin State, at the confluence of the Malikha and Maykha rivers on the upper reaches of the Irawaddy.
Located about 20 miles (32 km) north of Myitkyina, Kachin's state capital, and about 50 miles (80 km) from the Chinese border, officials say the plant will generate electricity to be used domestically and for export.
Sources in the region have said that feasibility studies for the project were carried out last year around the confluence, raising concern about the possible relocation of nearby villages and the ecological impact.
To cope with growing demand, Myanmar has pushed ahead with dozens of hydropower projects across the country, mostly with the assistance of China, one of the few allies of the army-ruled Southeast Asian country.
At present 15 major hydropower projects are still being implemented.
On completion of these projects, total installed electricity generation capacity will be 10,400 megawatts. According to official data, total capacity in the whole country has been 1,690 megawatts since fiscal 2005-2006 (April/March).
PIPELINE
China said last week it had signed a contract with Myanmar to build cross-border oil and gas pipelines. [ID:nPEK68191]
A senior Chinese energy official said one project involved a gas and oil pipeline running more than 2,000 km (1,240 miles) through Ruili and Kunming in Yunnan province to Chongqing municipality in southwestern China.
It would help China cut out a long detour through the congested Strait of Malacca and strengthen China's access to rich energy reserves in Myanmar itself.
Officials in Myanmar said the pipeline would start from its western deep-sea port in Kyaukphyu Township in Rakhine State.
A senior Energy Ministry official told Reuters last year the consortium that had developed two major offshore gas blocks off Rakhine had already agreed to sell gas from the block to China through a pipeline.
Construction of the pipeline is scheduled to start in the first half of 2009, they said.
Located in the A-1 block off Rakhine, the Shwe gas field has proven reserves of 4 to 6 trillion cubic feet (TCF).
Myanmar has at least 90 TCF of gas reserves and 3.2 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil reserves in 19 onshore and three major offshore fields.
According to official data, Myanmar exported gas worth $2.53 billion, mainly to neighbouring Thailand, in fiscal 2007/2008 (April/March), up from $2.03 billion in 2006-2007.
Myanmar's gas exports in the first nine months of the current fiscal year totalled $1.78 billion.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Report urges more relief funds for Burma
http://www.mizzima.com/news/regional/1871-report-urges-more-relief-funds-for-burma.html
by Salai Pi Pi
Friday, 20 March 2009 22:08
New Delhi (Mizzima) –The international community should take up the opportunity of the ongoing relief process in Burma to inject more funds needed for humanitarian assistance of the impoverished Southeast Asian nation, a new report urged.
US-based Refugee International (RI), in its new report, entitled ‘Burma: Capitalizing on the Gains’ released on March 18, urged the global community including the United States, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Burma is a member, to increase funding for development work in Burma.
Jake Kurtzer, who conducted the assessment on Burma’s humanitarian situation, in the report said, though Burma’s ruling military junta initially blocked humanitarian aid, with relief now being mobilized in Cyclone Nargis hit areas of the Irrawaddy delta, the international community should take advantage of the opportunity to inject more funds for humanitarian aid, in other parts of the country.
In its recommendation, the report urged the United States to join other donor nations in making a significant appropriation for humanitarian aid in Burma.
“It should allocate USD 30 million for FY10, with plans to increase its contribution to USD 45 million in FY11 and USD 60 million in FY12,” the report said.
The report said, while the Irrawaddy Delta remains the main focus of humanitarian assistance, after it was hit by Cyclone Nargis, other regions also need similar attention as they too were reeling under humanitarian crisis.
The report said it was necessary that the funding for INGOs’ operation to do assessment in the areas, outside the delta regions, such as drought prone areas of Magwey, Mandalay, Bago Division and the home of Rohingya people in northern Arakan state and the southern part of Chin state, which faces a shortage of food due to being infested by rats.
According to the report, northern Arakan State in Burma, which is home to the Rohingya Muslim minority, continues to be one of the areas of greatest concern.
“Deteriorating living standards, news of increased forced relocations, continuous restrictions on all aspects of normal life, and the expulsion of Rohingya refugees from asylum countries in the region, have focussed the attention of the international aid community there,” the report explained.
The report also urged ASEAN to apply the Tri-Partite Core Group model for use in the discussion of other issues of concern regarding Burma, such as the Rohingya.
RI also urged Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, by hiring a senior humanitarian advisor to strengthen support to the UN Country Team to receive support and adequate guidance.
Why aid workers put their lives on the line
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20090321.waidessay21/BNStory/International/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20090321.waidessay21
The recent kidnapping of Canadian nurse Laura Archer and four colleagues serves as a stark reminder of just how dangerous this work can be. Steve Dennis of Médecins Sans Frontières sheds light on why he keeps revisiting the world's most troubled places
Article Video Comments (14) STEVE DENNIS
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
March 21, 2009 at 12:05 AM EDT
When I first applied six years ago to work overseas with Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders), I wrote on my application that my goal was to help the world become a better place. I didn't really know what that meant or how I would do that, but it sounded like a good answer at the time.
I hadn't even arrived at my first project location before I started seeing the dark side of my chosen line of work. A month before I left on my first mission in 2002, MSF worker Arjan Erkel was kidnapped in Dagestan, a troubled Russian republic on the Caspian Sea. For the next 20 months while he was held hostage, I met anxiously with my team members to discuss the weekly updates about either progress on his release or silence about his fate. I felt outraged and betrayed because the risk Mr. Erkel faced went beyond what I had expected when I signed up.
This feeling came back to me last week when I heard about the kidnapping of Canadian nurse Laura Archer and four other staff with MSF in the Darfur region of Sudan.
How could this happen to people bringing aid to a country in distress?
Laura Archer is seen in a July, 2007 photo.
Videos
00:00:00.000
Canadian nurse kidnapped in Darfur
Laura Archer one of the first westerners ever kidnapped in troubled part of Sudan
Play Video
Related Articles
From the archives
Release of aid workers prompts calls for action on Darfur
Sudan says aid workers released
‘She's the closest thing to being an angel'
Doctors Without Borders removing staff from Darfur region
Canadian nurse kidnapped in Sudan
When Arjan Erkel was finally released, I breathed a sigh of relief, as did many of my fellow aid workers. Still in my early years of humanitarian work, I felt order had been restored. But that feeling was short-lived.
Just two months later, five MSF staff members were ambushed and killed in Afghanistan. My outrage turned to disbelief and cold numbness. For me, the illusion I had been living of bulletproof principles had been shattered, and order would not be restored this time.
As aid workers have increasingly fallen victim to kidnappings, sexual assaults and killings over the past decade, it's only natural to wonder how we justify taking such risks. The answer is far from simple.
THE PAYOFF
One fact that many aid workers will tell you is that being part of an organization that is in the business of saving lives and restoring dignity feels good; you are reminded that success is possible. This was reaffirmed for me in 2006, when I was in Ivory Coast working on a large hospital project.
Since the prevalence of HIV is as high as 15 per cent in some parts of the country, MSF started many HIV activities there. We established a voluntary counselling and testing centre, but in the first couple of months, fewer than a dozen people came. We worked hard to tell the community about these services, and this number quickly rose. We optimistically set the budget for an average of 300 consultations per month over the year. We reached that number in March, and by October more than 900 people were visiting the centre for counselling each month.
The demand for other activities related to HIV/AIDS rose as well.
We started a program to stop mother-to-child transmission of the virus, so HIV-positive mothers could safely deliver and care for their HIV-negative babies. And antiretroviral drugs were offered to an increasing number of patients, turning around their deteriorating conditions.
In the town, we made contact with people at school assemblies, orphanages, rebel battalions and local groups providing non-medical care for people living with HIV/AIDS. And on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day, more than 600 people came out for the events, including races, speeches from local authorities, live music, dramas and game-show-style quizzes all about HIV.
I believe that our HIV/AIDS intervention in that community significantly improved the lives of thousands of people.
But after working in various projects for six years and seeing the longer-term results of what I had been part of, I realize that it isn't always apparent how our efforts make a difference. I remember one cold day on vacation when I received three e-mails with disheartening news about how my previous work had been erased. One described how a compound I had helped build in south Sudan was looted and destroyed, another how the international team of a tuberculosis project I had started had to be evacuated for their safety, and the third one reported that fighting had broken out, ending a four-year ceasefire in Sri Lanka, where I had earlier helped wrap up our mission in peaceful times. The world I had worked so hard to make a better place had taken two steps backward.
I had a similar feeling when I heard that MSF withdrew staff in Darfur after the kidnapping of the MSF staff members last week. This act will be a devastating blow to the survival of hundreds of thousands of people there.
To many people in towns, villages, refugee camps and city slums, aid organizations do more for the populations than provide food, clean water or health care. For many people defeated by the effects of a conflict, the presence of aid organizations gives hope and restores some dignity by recognizing their plight. Conversely, the evacuation of an aid organization from an area needing its service and recognition, can extinguish that light.
TOO GREAT A RISK
In my most recent posting with MSF, I took over as co-ordinator of an emergency surgical program in Kismayo, Somalia, when three MSF staff had been killed there. In the months after the incident, after the memorials and funeral services, the organization made the difficult decision to end the project. The risk was too great.
The surgical program had given women with labour complications life-saving Caesarian sections. During the eight-month duration of the project, more than 400 (principally obstetric) surgeries and 1,200 emergency consultations were performed by the MSF team of six international and 35 Somali staff.
After MSF closed the program, patients had to pay $350 U.S. for a Caesarian section. For many Somalis, this lifesaving service became financially inaccessible, so a population of 100,000 people were left without this essential service.
We feared that many women would probably die.
Imagine in your home country a collapse of all systems and structures of authority and governance. Imagine violence chasing you and your family out of your homes to walk 100 kilometres to a safer, but desolate area. Imagine carrying some clothes, some food and a cooking pot. Imagine food running out. Imagine drinking water from a dirty river. Imagine children dying from diarrhea. Imagine simple infections leading to amputations or death. Imagine women dying in childbirth. Imagine that all of this is happening while people with the power to do something hold meetings and decide not to intervene.
People shouldn't die from the lack of a 50-cent medication or vaccine. People shouldn't die from the lack of clean water or soap. People shouldn't die from the lack of a proper shelter. But they do.
Over the years, I have seen that a medical and logistics team of just five people supplied with basic medicines, and materials can save the lives of thousands of people.
I have begun to realize that our simple actions do change the world from the perspective of each individual patient who is carried into a clinic and walks out some days afterwards.
The troubles of the world will continue, and my contribution is to be engaged in bringing life-saving aid to individuals in desperate need. The reason for taking action couldn't be any clearer. I accept a degree of personal risk, because I can't accept standing aside in the face of another person's suffering.
I fear that Laura Archer and her colleagues may not be the last aid workers to be kidnapped or harmed, but fortunately their ordeal ended with their release. For most of the aid workers going overseas every year, no critical security incidents will occur and they, too, will return home safely. Though, because of the risks they take, millions of people in precarious situations will be given a better chance of surviving that year. Walking away from this kind of accomplishment would be too hard for many people to justify.
Steve Dennis is an aid worker with Médecins Sans Frontières. When he is not working abroad, he lives in Toronto.
Regime Stops Fast-Tracking Visas for Relief Workers
http://www.abitsu.org/?p=4243
March 21, 2009
Irrawaddy News: Foreigners involved in the Cyclone Nargis relief effort will no longer be given preferential treatment when applying for Burmese visas, according to diplomatic sources in Rangoon.
The sources said that shortly after agreeing to extend the mandate of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) in late February, the Burmese junta ended a program to expedite visa applications for foreign aid workers involved in Nargis-related projects.
The TCG, which consists of representatives of the regime, the United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is the main body responsible for coordinating Nargis-related relief efforts.
The move means that foreign employees of international NGOs must now follow the complicated and time-consuming visa application process that was in place before and immediately after Cyclone Nargis struck the Irrawaddy delta last May.
Permission for NGO staffers to work in Burma must come not only from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but also from other key ministries, including the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.
Relief workers and diplomats said the visa fast-track program and other measures to streamline the relief effort were put in place by Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu, who was also the acting chairman of the TCG.
In early February, Kyaw Thu was reassigned to head the Civil Service Selection and Training Board, an inactive ministerial position.
At the recent Asean Summit in Thailand, Burmese Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein and Foreign Minister Nyan Win told delegates that the regime agreed to extend the TCG’s mandate for one more year, to July 2010.
The announcement was welcomed as a sign of improved cooperation between the junta and the international community. But aid workers said the decision to tighten visa restrictions on foreign experts was a serious setback for the relief effort.
Topics: Daily News |
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
MYANMAR: Beyond the delta, aid projects miss out
http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportID=83543
A young girl shields herself from the sun by placing an empty rice bag on her head. Despite millions of dollars in cyclone assistance, much of the country has yet to receive the development aid it needs
YANGON, 19 March 2009 (IRIN) - The positive aspects of the Cyclone Nargis response in the Ayeyarwady Delta have yet to translate into better access or more funds for aid operations in the rest of Myanmar, where needs are great and often unmet, according to aid workers.
“The needs in the country are large and very little is done,” said Frank Smithuis, country director of Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Holland. “Myanmar is the lowest recipient of overseas development aid in the world. Much more money is needed for the health of the people.”
After a frustratingly slow start, aid agencies say the humanitarian response to Cyclone Nargis, which struck Ayeyarwady Delta in May 2008 and left close to 140,000 dead or missing, has been highly effective.
Much of this is credited to the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), comprising the government, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN, whose mandate has been extended for another year.
The government eased bureaucracy and restrictions on access for humanitarian agencies in the delta, and money and resources have poured in.
Outside the cyclone area
More on Myanmar
Coordination mechanism extended for one year
Majority of under-five deaths preventable - UNICEF
Water shortages loom in delta
NGOs cut smoother path in the delta, but challenges remain
Three-year cyclone recovery plan launched
However, this is not the case in the rest of Myanmar, where more than 100,000 children under five die each year, most of them from preventable diseases.
One third of under-fives are underweight, says the UN, and malnutrition is a contributory factor in about half those deaths.
“When Nargis happened it was impossible to focus elsewhere,” Chris Kaye, the head of the World Food Programme (WFP) in Myanmar, told IRIN in Yangon. WFP had a huge US$115 million programme to feed those who had lost their livelihoods in the cyclone.
“That was at some cost it seems now, because we have not been able to follow through and get the attention of donors elsewhere [in Myanmar].”
Last year, WFP raised half of its funding needs for areas such as Northern Rakhine State, near the border with Bangladesh.
“We had to cut back on certain activities – a very difficult decision to take – and in the end decided to cut support for vulnerable households through schools,” said Kaye.
This Food for Education project provided a family food ration to a child who attended school 80 percent of the time, often forming a major component of the daily diet during the lean June-October monsoon season.
Ongoing restrictions
The TCG mechanism does not apply outside the delta, and long-standing government restrictions on aid agencies are unchanged. Aid workers must seek permission to travel to project sites, which takes three weeks.
Photo: Stacy M Winston/ECHO
A young boy in Myanmar's cyclone-affected Ayeyarwady Delta carries a bag of donated rice. WFP says it has reached nearly one million people in the Delta and Yangon area
Some NGOs have not been able to secure agreements to work in Myanmar at all, and operate informally through local partners. Many UN agencies do not have access to much of the country.
“There are huge developmental deficits,” said Kaye.
Such constraints have added to the reluctance of donors to provide aid to Myanmar, which receives far less assistance than other countries in the region with similar poverty levels.
Laos, for example, receives $50 per person per year, and Cambodia receives $40. Myanmar, by contrast, receives $2-$3.
Healthcare needs
But the needs are great. MSF Holland estimates there are between five and 10 million malaria patients each year, in a country of 53 million. Only a small proportion receive effective treatment and thousands die each year.
“As a consequence, the people of Myanmar suffer, in particular the poorest, who can't afford to pay for their healthcare,” said Smithuis.
He argues that MSF’s 17 years in Myanmar, plus the more recent cyclone response, prove that aid can be delivered effectively.
“If there is a good monitoring system that guarantees the population benefits directly, then there is absolutely no reason to withhold large-scale assistance to Myanmar people,” he said.
Mark Canning, the British ambassador to Myanmar, said the relative success of the Nargis aid operation could inspire greater confidence among major donors such as the UK.
“The issue of confidence is fundamental,” Canning told IRIN. “A virtuous circle can be created - the more donor money is used effectively, the more money is drawn in. But the reverse also applies. Assistance needs to be whiter than white.”
contributor/ds/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Food Security, (IRIN) Natural Disasters
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Friday, March 20, 2009
The Ambassador of Japan from Bangkok opened the mobile Burmese Migrant Learning Center
http://democracyforburma.wordpress.com/2009/03/18/the-ambassador-of-japan-from-bangkok-opened-the-mobile-burmese-migrant-learning-center/
On March 16th His Excellency Kyoji Komachi, Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Thailand attended the opening ceremony of Burmese Migrant mobile Learning Center which he officially opened that afternoon by cutting the ribbon.
This learning center, located in Tit Tit rubber plantation of Takua Hton District of Phang Nga Province in Southern Thailand, was established by Grassroots-HRE and has been financially supported by the Embassy of Japan in Bangkok, Thailand. The Ambassador of Japan said during a speech made at the ceremony that “I’m very proud to have the opportunity to attend the opening ceremony of this learning center as the Ambassador of Japan. Unfortunately, many children living in these communities are not receiving even a basic education and health service. I’m very glad to support the Learning Centers for the children’s education in this remote region.”
Mr. Kraisak Choonhavan, Chairman of Grassroots-HRE said during his speech speech that “In Thailand, the only Burmese director of a legally recognized Thai foundation is Htoo Chit and he is working together with Thai, Burmese, Mon, Rakaing, Karen, Tavoy, Karenni and many other foreign staff in order to help the Burmese Migrant community. I thank the Japanese Embassy so much for the financial support of our Learning Centers and also I thank the Thai Land owner for giving us the land on which to build the Learning Center”.
Phi Chindaphon, the Thai Land owner, said “I’m very happy to see the learning center for Burmese Children on my land. I’m ready to donate more of my land if necessary to build another”.
Furthermore, Director Mr. Htoo Chit said “Education is very important for our Burmese people. The important thing is that we can open the learning centers with the help of Thai people. We can’t survive without the help of Thais. That’s why I would like to request to the parents to be with disciplined and respect Thai Law”.
This Learning Center opening ceremony was attended by The Ambassador of Japan to the Kingdom of Thailand, Mr. Kraisak, Chairman of GHRE, Mrs. Charida Tajalang Sak, a board member of GHRE, The Local governor of Takua Hton district and other local authorities.
The opening ceremony represented the opening ceremony for 4 learning centers, all located in remote areas, which are supported by the Japanese Embassy under the mobile education program. Before getting the support from the Japanese Embassy for these 4 Learning centers, the so called mobile education program was run by GHRE staff and teachers who went to teach the children in those remote areas every weekend. Often, teaching was done under the shade of a tree.
Up till now GHRE has built 4 learning centers in these remote areas with 150 students attending there in regularly.
Grassroots http://www.ghre.org/en/
Medical interpreters key to improving health care
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/article/20090312/NEWS0201/903120334/1002/NEWS
March 12, 2009
Medical interpreters key to improving health care
Mark Hare
Effective communication between doctors and patients is essential to improving medical care, says Eric Candle, the New York state representative for the International Medical Interpreters Association.
While Candle is an advocate for programs to train and certify medical interpreters who can assist those with limited English ability, he says the problem of failed communication extends well beyond immigrants.
Perhaps as many as half of all American adults are not "medically literate" and "cannot successfully navigate the medical care system," he says.
Candle, of Fairport, owns ECdata, Inc. a Brighton computer services company. Having immigrated years earlier and settled in Rochester, Candle brought his parents from Russia in 1993. Candle speaks German and Russian — which he says allows him to communicate with Ukrainians and others from former Soviet republics.
In 1988, as immigrants from Eastern Europe and Russia began to arrive in larger numbers, word of his language skill spread and "people started asking me for help," he says.
Immigrants with little or no English proficiency delay seeking medical care as long as possible and then opt for more expensive emergency room care, he says.
Citing research by The Joint Commission, an Illinois-based medical research and accreditation organization, Candle says the annual cost of "misdirected, misunderstood medical care is $73 billion. The price tag includes everything from the cost of illness prolonged by patients' inability to follow care instructions to the cost of redundant testing and procedures performed because of insufficient record-keeping or patients' inability to explain their medical care or history."
Language and cultural barriers present real problems, says Kathy Miraglia, director of interpreter services for the University of Rochester's Strong Memorial Hospital. Miraglia, an American Sign Language interpreter, says the hospital has sign language and Spanish interpreters on staff 24/7 and can call in other translators as needed, or use a telephone translation service with access to interpreters in any of more than 170 languages.
There is a need for trained interpreters, and a program to train and certify interpreters through one or more area colleges would be welcome, she says.
Representing the IMIA, Candle has been reaching out to Rochester area colleges in hopes of beginning such a program.
It's not easy. Finding start-up funds is the first hurdle, he says. And, says Miraglia, there needs to be a source of money to pay interpreters once they are trained.
A certification program, backed by national standards, would guarantee providers access to interpreters whose abilities are proven. And face-to-face contact is far superior to telephone or video services as a way to build trust and detect subtle evidence of confusion or doubt.
In Monroe County alone, he says, there are 120,000 people who speak little or no English. The need is great. Hospitals have many pressing needs, he says, "but it's important that they see this not as an investment, but as a way to curbs expenses and provide better care."
This and many other communities are again being remade by new waves of immigrants — from China, Vietnam, Burma, Africa and Eastern Europe.
Their health, and potential contributions to our community, depend on their access to quality care, and on their ability to understand and participate in their own treatment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Japan to help Myanmar upgrade public transportation in Yangon
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/12/content_10997978.htm
www.chinaview.cn 2009-03-12 11:17:29 Print
YANGON, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will help Myanmar upgrade the urban public transportation of Myanmar's former capital of Yangon to international standard as part of the cooperation program between Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The JICA, which is Japanese government's overseas aid agency, had conducted research for two times in Myanmar with a workshop being held on the move last year and the findings will be based to seek ways of improvement of the urban transportation, the Yangon Times weekly quoted the Myanmar Engineering Association as reporting Thursday.
According to statistics of the Yangon municipal authorities, there is a total of 310 bus lines with 6,330 buses transporting over 3 million passengers per day in the city.
As part of its efforts to reduce traffic jam and ensure safety in traveling, the Yangon traffic police authorities have started removing a total of 370 very-old-aged buses running in the former capital, which were left behind by the Second World War, and replacing them with modern ones. Of the total, 207 have been transferred to the remote suburban areas.
Instead, about 300 modern buses have been imported to reinforce the city's public transportation, the authorities said.
Meanwhile, except for authorized persons, motor cycles are banned for running in the municipal areas in Yangon division.
According to statistics, the number of motor vehicles operating in the whole of Myanmar stood at 1.9 million as of the end of last year, up from over one million correspondingly in the previous year.
Of the total, motor cycles accounted for 1.1 million, or 75 percent of the total, while passenger cars remained at 200,000, or 15 percent.
Editor: Wang Guanqun
Monday, March 16, 2009
Norway NGO plans to build 6,000 houses in Myanmar cyclone-hit areas
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90856/6610945.html
A non-governmental social organization of Norway has planned to build 6,000 houses for cyclone victims in Laputta township, Myanmar's Ayeyawaddy division,the local Weekly Eleven News reported Tuesday.
The organization will start to build 300 houses as well as 10 basic education schools in the first phase as agreed with the government, the report said.
The report also quoted a post-Nargis joint assessment report of Myanmar, ASEAN and the United Nations as saying that the Myanmar government has arranged to build 20,847 houses in cyclone-hit regions.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government will provide 3 million U.S. dollars more of aid through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to rebuild the remaining damaged houses in the cyclone-hit regions following its aid of 2 million dollars throughthe Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) earlier to help in agricultural restoration work in the Ayeyawaddy delta after storm,according to the Japanese embassy.
Besides, the European Union (EU) will also give Myanmar humanitarian assistance of 40.5 million euros (52 million USD) this year, earlier report said.
Moreover, another Malaysian humanitarian organization, the Mercy Malaysia, will also provide help to rebuild a dozen healthcare facilities in Dedaye in the same Ayeyawaddy delta.
Statisitcs show that cyclone Nargis, which swept Myanmar in Maylast year, destroyed a total of nearly 800,000 houses in Ayeyawaddy and Yangon divisions worth of 686 million U.S. dollars.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states - Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3 last year, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.
The storm has killed 84,537 people, leaving 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to official death toll.
Source:Xinhua
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
IT-themed fiscal stimulus plan worth ¥6 trillion being drafted
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/mail/nb20090301a1.html
Kyodo News
The government is drafting a ¥6 trillion information technology-related fiscal stimulus plan that includes subsidies to citizens who replace their appliances with new energy-saving models, sources close to the matter said Saturday.
The three-year plan offers to pay ¥5,000 for each new purchase of an energy-efficient appliance, such as an air conditioner or refrigerator, the sources said.
It will also offer ¥10,000 subsidies for antennas designed to receive terrestrial digital TV broadcasts in an attempt to encourage electronics purchases to bolster the flagging economy, they said.
It also calls for sending Internet content to elementary and junior high school students residing in mountainous areas or remote islands to improve their knowledge of foreign languages and other subjects they might come across during entrance exams.
The details of the ¥6 trillion stimulus plan will be settled around late March after consulting a council that advises Prime Minister Taro Aso.
The IT program will constitute part of a larger fiscal policy package being drawn up by the ruling coalition. Some legislators have proposed boosting the size of fiscal expenditures under the larger package to ¥20 trillion or more.
The IT plan will be the core of the larger package, but it is expected to be financed by a supplementary budget for fiscal 2009 and subsequent measures expected to be taken for the three-year period lasting through fiscal 2011, the sources said.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
TCG unveils three-year plan to rebuild livelihoods in delta
http://www.mmtimes.com/no458/n002.htm
By Thet Khaing
A THREE-YEAR recovery plan for cyclone-damaged areas in Ayeyarwady and Yangon divisions was launched last Monday and will focus on rebuilding the livelihoods of about 2.4 million people.
The government has welcomed the Post-Nargis Response and Preparedness Plan, which also provides for building houses and cyclone shelters before the start of the next cyclone season in May.
The plan, released in Bangkok, was compiled by the Tripartite Core Group and is based on a needs survey it conducted late last year.
The TCG was formed soon after Nargis hit last May to oversee relief and recovery work and comprises representatives of the Myanmar government, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United Nations.
“The close collaboration between the government and the international community over the last nine months has been vital to the relief and early recovery efforts,” the chairman of TCG, U Kyaw Thu, who also heads the Civil Service Selection and Training Board, was quoted as saying in a statement released by the group after the launch.
He said the plan, which was commissioned by the group, was a result of the collaboration on all sides.
The group had also promoted complementarities between the government’s reconstruction plan and the Post-Nargis Response and Preparedness Plan (PONREPP), said U Kyaw Thu, who attended the launch along with ASEAN Secretary General Mr Surin Pitsuwan, other TCG members, and international aid donors and members of international NGOs working on cyclone relief in Myanmar.
The recovery plan outlined by the post-Nargis plan identifies eight areas of activity, including rebuilding houses, as well as educational and healthcare infrastructure, and providing microfinance and other income-generating schemes, until the end of 2011.
The plan says at least US$691 million would be needed for rebuilding work, which will be in addition to other funding appeals by the UN and international aid organisations.
“[PONREPP] underlines the importance of cash grants and micro-credit as components of recovery assistance. It highlights the urgent need to continue the construction of improved household and community shelters, as well as disaster risk reduction initiatives before the onset of the next cyclone season in May 2009,” the statement said.
The UN resident/humanitarian coordinator, Mr Bishow Parajuli, who represents the UN on the TCG, said education and healthcare were other major areas of recovery identified by the plan.
“The recovery strategy further aims at restoring the local education and health systems, through the repair of damaged and destroyed schools and health facilities, and improving household and community facilities and access to safe water and sanitation,” Mr Parajuli was quoted as saying in the statement.
“It addresses the specific needs of children, women, elderly and the disabled, as well as issues such as psychosocial support and return, resettlement and re-integration,” he said.
In an interview with The Myanmar Times last week, Mr Parajuli said the plan signals the continued smooth cooperation between the government and the international community in helping cyclone victims.
“The strategy proposed in the PONREPP has been embraced by the national authorities, humanitarian community and the donors,” Mr Parajuli said.
“I think the launch [of PONREPP] emphasised that there has been good cooperation with the government and also that huge needs exist, so there is still need for assistance and international support is necessary,” he said.
“It is important to note that the success of this plan can only be achieved if the stakeholders remain committed to support and implement the strategy proposed,” Mr Parajuli said.
He said the level of support from international aid donors so far was better than many had anticipated.
“Myanmar received good support, and the international donor community has been very generous,” Mr Parajuli said, adding that the UN had received 65 percent of the $477 million targeted in the UN Revised appeal launched last July.
He said managing the recovery effort would require the continued effective role of the TCG, the mandate of which expires in July.
“The whole coordination of the PONREPP will depend on the TCG, so it is definitely expected that TCG should continue its work,” Mr Parajuli said.
“Its role will continue to be to facilitate the delivery of relief effort and advocate on the need and to ensure transparency, accountability and efficiency,” Mr Parajuli said.
The government said it would consider on extension of the group’s mandate in June. The TCG’s continuation is also one of the conditions set by many international aid donors to provide further funding support.
The British ambassador to Myanmar, Mr Mark Canning, whose country is the largest single donor to the cyclone relief effort, has praised the role of the group.
“The TCG has demonstrated the value of a mechanism which is able to make rapid decisions and to cut through problems when they arise,” Mr Canning told The Myanmar Times last week.
“It has helped to promote understanding of how the development community works and, I hope, has also showcased to those that were perhaps unfamiliar with its excellent work what it can do,” he said.
Mr Canning said Britain was considering providing more assistance for rebuilding livelihoods, as well as for healthcare and education.
“Our role in the delta was consistent with what we have been doing in the humanitarian sector here for some time,” he said.
“We have never subscribed to the view that it is not possible to deliver humanitarian support in this country,” Mr Canning said.
He added that apart from $90 million for cyclone relief work, Britain has also contributed $40 million to the Three Diseases Fund, to combat tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria in Myanmar.
Mr Canning said he hoped the release of the post-Nargis plan would encourage more potential donors to provide funding.
“It has in effect a menu from which donors can choose, according to their resources and priorities but in the knowledge that their contribution will be in sync with what others are doing. It should therefore maximise the impact of every donor dollar,” Mr Canning said.
He said Britain would encourage other donors to increase their support to meet the growing need for humanitarian assistance in Myanmar.
“It may not always be the easiest place to operate but good work can, and is, being done,” Mr Canning said.
The plan has proposed the establishment of three bodies under the supervision of the TCG to ensure that the relief effort is efficient, accountable and effective.
They include a Recovery Forum, whose members will comprise representatives from the government, donors and the UN and other aid agencies. The RF’s role will include information sharing, minimising the duplication of tasks and fund mobilisation.
“The RF would be a deliberative, not an executive body, but its recommendations should carry considerable weight in related policy-setting bodies,” the plan said.
Another proposed body is a Recovery Coordination Centre, which will be based in Yangon and provide information to aid agencies on international funding support and areas where there are shortfalls.
The plan said the third proposed body is a Township Coordination Committee, to supervise field operations by aid agencies.
Friday, February 13, 2009
UN to help Myanmar replant forest in cyclone-hit area
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/12/content_10808823.htm
www.chinaview.cn 2009-02-12 17:23:59 Print
YANGON, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will help Myanmar replant forest in Laputta, one of the cyclone-hard-hit areas in Ayeyawaddy division, the local Biweekly Eleven reported Thursday.
Of a total of 400 acres (162 hectares) covered by the project planned for the next tree-planting season, 300 acres are for forest plantation, while 100 acres are for kitchen crops.
Not long after the storm, the UNDP provided aid for cyclone survivors in Laputta to rebuild their storm-ravaged houses, offering each survivor with maintenance cost to rebuild their houses lost in the storm, according to earlier local report.
Laputta township suffered the biggest damage out of those in the Ayayawaddy delta, an assessment of a tripartite core group involving the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Myanmar and the U.N. said.
Due to the storm, over one million acres (405,000 hectares) of farmland in 7 townships in Ayeyawaddy division, 3 in Yangon division, 2 in Bago division and 3 in Mon state were flooded by sea water with more than 200,000 cows and cattle killed, according to the report.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states --Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3 last year, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.
The storm killed 84,537 people, left 53,836 missing and injured 19,359 people, according to official death toll.
Editor: Fang Yang
Japan to provide more aid to rebuild houses in Myanmar cyclone-hit areas
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6591399.html
The Japanese government will provide 3 million U.S. dollars more of aid through the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to rebuild the remaining damaged houses in Myanmar cyclone-hit regions, the Yangon Times weekly quoted the Japanese Embassy as reporting Thursday.
A total of 374,391 houses in Ayeyawaddy division and 371,373 in Yangon division were destroyed in the cyclone that hit Myanmar last year, the report said.
Early this month, the Japanese government had provided 2 million dollars through the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) to help in agricultural restoration work in the country's Ayeyawaddy delta after storm.
Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) will also give Myanmar humanitarian assistance of 40.5 million euros (52 million USD) this year, according to earlier report.
Of the total, 22 million euros will be spent for those who had suffered disastrous cyclone Nargis last year, while the rest 18.5 million euros will be used for people who have difficulties with their living.
Besides, another Malaysian humanitarian organization, the MercyMalaysia, will also provide help to rebuild a dozen healthcare facilities in Dedaye, one of Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas in the Ayeyawaddy delta, the earlier report said.
Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states - Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3 last year, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.
The storm has killed 84,537 people, leaving 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to official death toll.
Source:Xinhua
Thursday, February 12, 2009
MYANMAR: NGOs cut smoother path in the delta, but challenges remain
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82865
YANGON, 11 February 2009 (IRIN) - Last year's Cyclone Nargis dramatically altered the humanitarian landscape in Myanmar, with almost double the number of NGOs now operating in the Ayeyarwady Delta.
In the weeks and months following the 2 and 3 May disaster, about 40 international NGOs were given permission to operate in the Nargis-affected areas.
“That almost doubled the number of NGOs here, in a short space of time,” said Kerren Hedlund, the NGO liaison officer in Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital.
Much of this is credited to the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) comprising the government, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the UN, which has helped build trust between the various parties working to help those in need.
The experience of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which runs a US$10 million programme building schools and shelters in Labutta Township, is typical.
"We came here after Nargis in June and made an assessment, came back in July and followed up, and then back in August and signed an agreement with the minister [of Social Welfare], ” NRC country director Joern Kristensen told IRIN. "It was a very smooth process," he said.
While most of the NGOs operating in Myanmar before the cyclone did so under agreements with the Ministry of Health, the new NGOs working in the delta liaise with the Ministry of Social Welfare, which has coordinated post-Nargis rehabilitation.
"We have been very impressed with the cooperation and support from the government," said Kristensen. "No stumbling blocks - it's been like this ever since we started."
Better access
Photo: Contributor/IRIN
Save the Children workers in front of a water catchment container, Ayeyarwady Delta (file photo)
Existing NGOs have also seen an easing of restrictions in the delta, the result of new arrangements negotiated within the TCG.
"The TCG has been critical in improving access," said Andrew Kirkwood, country director for Save the Children, which runs a recovery programme in the delta as well as health and education programmes across Myanmar, where it has operated for 14 years.
"International staff can travel alone to the delta, without a government liaison officer, and permission takes one week. In the rest of the country permission to travel takes four weeks and we still travel with a liaison officer," Kirkwood said.
In addition, some agencies without official permission to operate in Myanmar have channelled funds to a growing number of local NGOs that have been given greater freedom to operate under agreements reached by the TCG, say aid workers.
Challenges
"The infrastructure is poor. It is an aquatic environment and difficult to move goods and materials around there," said Kristensen. In addition, agencies often struggle to recruit qualified staff.
However, the number of people employed in the humanitarian sector has probably doubled since the cyclone struck, say aid workers.
Save the Children's staff numbers increased to 1,600 from 500 and dozens of international staff were relocated to Myanmar, both on long and short-term contracts.
"Most of our new staff had never worked for NGOs or done humanitarian work so there was a huge amount of learning and training," Kirkwood explained.
“One of the legacies of Nargis is a much broader base of humanitarian workers in the country," he added.
Outside the delta
One of the legacies of Nargis is a much broader base of humanitarian workers in the country.
The issue for many humanitarians is whether positive aspects of the Nargis response can bring a permanent improvement to the operating environment across Myanmar.
Expected donor funding for a three-year $691 million recovery plan for cyclone-affected communities, launched on 9 February, will be largely contingent on the extension of the TCG mechanism beyond June 2009 and possibly to other areas of the country.
"Donors will be concerned that the freedom to operate will shrink without the TCG, and they won't have the confidence that their donation would have the same impact," Hedlund noted.
Yet access is not the only factor marking out the delta from the rest of the Myanmar.
Other needy regions receive little development aid. "In money terms, a little over $100 per person per year is now being spent in the delta. That compares to $2.50 per head in the rest of the country," Kirkwood noted.
"While it's right and proper that we spend that money in the delta we also need to focus on increasing that $2.50 figure. The needs are overwhelming," he said.
rr/ds/mw
Theme(s): (IRIN) Aid Policy, (IRIN) Natural Disasters
[ENDS]
[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
TCG work not to be affected by Kyaw Thu's transfer: UN
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/1677-tcg-work-not-to-be-affected-by-kyaw-thus-transfer-un.html
by Mizzima News
Tuesday, 10 February 2009 14:14
New Delhi (Mizzima) - The Burmese military junta's reshuffle of its ministry last week that saw Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu dumped to an inactive minister level portfolio will have no impact on the chairmanship and the work of the Tripartite Core Group, which he heads now, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in Burma said on Monday.
Bishow Parajuli, during a press conference in Bangkok on Monday, said the transfer of Kyaw Thu, who leads the UN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the Burmese government's Tripartite Core Group, will make no differences to the work of the TCG.
"I don't think this will seriously affect the work of TCG," Parajuli told Mizzima.
Last week, Burma's military regime secretly transferred Kyaw Thu from his post of Deputy Foreign Minister to the Civil Service Selection and Training Board, which is a minister level post with little to do.
While the junta made no official announcement regarding the reshuffle, its official mouthpiece the New Light of Myanmar on Thursday mentioned Kyaw Thu as the chairman of the Civil Service Selection and Training Board.
The New Light of Myanmar report showed photographs of Kyaw Thu at Wednesday's 61st anniversary of Sri Lanka's Independence Day in Rangoon.
Parajuli, however, believes that the changes will not impact TCG's work. Rather he believes it will help Kyaw Thu to be more dedicated to his responsibilities as the Chairman of the group.
"I hope he can put in more effort for TCG as he's been transfered to another position which will makes him less busy," Parajuli told Mizzima on the sidelines of a Press Conference held after the TCG's review meeting in Bangkok.
The TCG said it will require nearly US $ 700 million to reconstruct the damage caused by Cyclone Nargis that left about 140,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million lives devastated.
Kyaw Thu, on Monday was seen attending the TCG's work review but failed to make an appearance at the Press Conference held after the meeting.
Reporting by Zarni, writing by Mungpi
Myanmar: UN Launches Post-Cyclone Recovery Plan
Tuesday, 10 February 2009, 9:52 am
Press Release: United Nations
Myanmar: UN Launches Post-Cyclone Recovery Plan
Speaking at the launch of a plan to rebuild the lives of millions in Myanmar affected by last year’s Cyclone Nargis, the top United Nations official to the region today stressed that strong foundations need to be in place to move beyond emergency relief to restoring economies and social services.
The three-year Post-Nargis Response and Preparedness Plan (PONREPP) provides the blue-print for the reconstruction of communities devastated by the cyclone, which battered the country in early May, leaving around 140,000 dead or missing and displacing 800,000 from their homes.
SEARCH NZ JOBS
Massey Enrolments close Feb 15
Search New Zealand Business
“Strong institutions, effective mechanisms and accountable processes are needed to plan and orchestrate the various components of the recovery effort,” said Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.
Noting that the process of recovery, from humanitarian relief to economic development, would take several years, Ms. Heyzer said the importance of the right “architecture” could not be overemphasized.
“The PONREPP provides us with a framework for the medium- and long-term post-Nargis recovery effort, including the priorities of supporting food security and livelihood recovery, improving public health, restoring economic and social infrastructure, and integrating disaster risk reduction into the recovery process,” she said.
The recovery plan was developed by the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) which consists of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Government of Myanmar and the UN.
To ensure that the Plan translates into real support for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis, “the continued engagement of the international community is essential,” Ms. Heyzer stressed in her message delivered at ESCAP headquarters in Bangkok.
ENDS
Posts
