Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Plan and budget no. MAAKP002 31 December 2010 Two EMWAT water purification units produced over six This report covers the period million litres of clean drinking water to the flood affected 1 July to 31 December 2010. population in Sinuiju city. Photo: Hong Yong Chol/DPRK Red Cross In brief Programmes’ outcome: The programmes supported by the international Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) are all streamlined with the strategic aims of IFRC’s Strategy 2020: Strategic aim 1: Save lives, protect livelihoods, and strengthen recovery from disasters • Effective preparedness capacities for appropriate and timely response to disasters and crises • Reduced deaths, losses, damage and other detrimental consequences of disasters and crises Strategic aim 2: Enable healthy and safe living • Better personal and community health, and more inclusive public health systems • Reduced exposure and vulnerability to natural and man-made hazards • Greater public adoption of environmentally sustainable living Strategic aim 3: Promote social inclusion and a culture of non-violence and peace • Greater public support for the fundamental principles and reduced stigma and discrimination Programmes’ summary: The IFRC supports the DPRK Red Cross in four areas: health and care, water and sanitation, disaster management, and organizational development. The provision of essential drugs to 2,030 clinics nationwide remains the largest component of Federation support. The ministry of public health (MoPH) to transfer this responsibility back to the government was expanded, as discussions were held with the MoPH’s statistics task force to agree on a set of indicators to measure the impact of the essential drug distribution programme. The slow but steady implementation of the community-based health and first aid (CBHFA) programme has increased the feeling of ownership among the Red Cross branch people and community volunteers. The ongoing construction of an additional 19 water and sanitation systems will bring the total number of people supplied with clean drinking water over the past ten years to 610,000. During the flood season, four water treatment units have been successfully deployed on two locations. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (MAAKP002), Programme Update no. 2 The response to the floods between July and September showed effective preparedness measures were in place at all levels, as well as proper contingency planning from the DPRK Red Cross headquarters, provincial and county branches. The constructed mitigation structures, a part of community-based disaster risk reduction (CDRR), have proven their impact, as flood damage was limited. The disaster management programme puts a stronger focus on tree planting as a long-term mitigation measure, as well as on livelihood-improvement to reduce vulnerability. At the same time, road safety is becoming increasingly important with the rapidly growing number of cars on the road. The application of vulnerability and capacity assessments (VCAs) as a community-based planning tool for all programmes has been transferred to the organizational development programme, as a means to further strengthen branches as well as the management of volunteers. Financial situation: The total budget for 2010 was revised down from CHF 10.2 million to CHF 9.23 million and as of November 2010, is 95 per cent covered. Expenditure over income received from January to November is 70 per cent. The decrease in all revised programme budgets is due to changes in soft pledges. The 2010 country plan continues to be implemented accordingly, despite minor budget revisions. Click here to go directly to the attached financial report. No. of people reached: Up to 8.25 million target beneficiaries are community residents in rural areas, with focus on the most vulnerable groups. Our partners: The DPRK Red Cross works in the framework of a three-year cooperation agreement strategy (CAS) with nine partner national societies, including the Australian Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, Danish Red Cross, Finnish Red Cross, German Red Cross, Netherlands Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross, Spanish Red Cross and Swedish Red Cross. The current CAS agreement up to 2012 was signed in October 2009. The DPRK country plan and budget is supported by Danish Red Cross/Danish government, Finnish Red Cross/Finnish government, German Red Cross/German government, Japanese Red Cross, Netherlands government, Norwegian Red Cross/Norwegian government, Spanish Red Cross, British Red Cross and Swedish Red Cross/Swedish government. Three EuropeAid-funded projects are underway: the disaster management programme in making 51 communities safer from natural disasters through the Danish Red Cross; the water and sanitation programme provides ten communities with proper water and sanitation systems through the Swedish Red Cross; and the health and care programme in implementing CBHFA and supplying hospital equipment in two counties through the Finnish Red Cross. In response to the floods, IFRC supported DPRK Red Cross by releasing CHF 378,714 from its Disaster Relief Emergency Fund (DREF), which was partially replenished by the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection Office (DG ECHO). All DPRK Red Cross programmes work at the community level: first aid posts depend greatly on the community clinics, while corporative farms and local government are the main players in the community disaster management committees as well as the committees set up for the design, construction and maintenance of the water and sanitation schemes. At the county, provincial and national levels, the ministries of public health, city management, people’s security, and land and environmental protection contribute with technical advice and material support to the Red Cross programmes. Collaboration with UN agencies consists of the exchange of information as well as the agreement on the contents of the medical kits, the role division in disaster response situations, and training initiatives in the different areas. The Red Cross also benefits from the specialized expertise from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) active in the DPRK, where they are called European Union project support (EUPS) units. IFRC, on behalf of the DPRK Red Cross Society, would like to thank all partners and donors for their support. Context The DPRK celebrated the 65th anniversary of the foundation of its workers’ party in September, and the supreme governance body of the party was elected at the party’s conference. There have been no visible changes within the socio-political system so far. 2 Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (MAAKP002), Programme Update no. 2 The tense situation on the Korean peninsula after the explosion of the South Korean naval ship earlier this year, was severely aggravated due to a shooting incident on Yonphyong island, in the west sea of Korea in November. As a result of the incident, South Korea suspended all pledged aid to DPRK and postponed Red Cross talks between North and South. Torrential rains and tropical storm Kompasu seriously affected most areas in the DPRK between July and September 2010. Many landslides and mudflows were caused by the dramatic levels of deforestation in the mountainous parts of the country, showing the importance of a stronger focus on tree planting/reforestation. The DPRK Red Cross promptly responded to the emergency, distributing relief supplies and dispatching four mobile water purification units to the affected areas. The number of cars and mobile phones has multiplied by more than two-fold in the past six months. The mobile phone network Koryolink now covers large parts of the country, although most phones are still used in the cities. In Pyongyang, the traditional traffic person system for the regulation of traffic has been replaced with traffic lights. Car drivers are slowly getting used to the new system, which still has many flaws, such as green light for cars and pedestrians at the same time. Progress towards outcomes Disaster management Outcomes Programme component 1: Disaster management planning Outcome: Improve ability to predict and plan for disasters, and to mitigate their impact on vulnerable communities Programme component 2: Organizational preparedness Outcome: Developing human, material and financial resources for effective disaster management Programme component 3: Community preparedness Outcome: Improved self-reliance of individuals and communities to reduce their vulnerabilities to public health emergencies and disasters Programme component 4: Disaster response Outcome: Improved disaster assistance to meet the needs of people affected by disasters Programme component 5: Recovery Outcome: Restore or improve livelihoods of disaster victims to pre-disaster conditions, and reduce future disasters Achievements Disaster response and relief Torrential rains and tropical storm Kompasu caused extensive damage all over the DPRK between July and September. More than 30,000 families were affected as their houses were totally destroyed or partially damaged by floods and landslides. The Red Cross provided support to 6,124 of the most vulnerable families (28,683 people) with emergency items (see table below). A total of 6,450 Red Cross volunteers were mobilized for evacuation, rescue, first aid, and distribution of relief items to the flood victims in close cooperation with the local authorities and other public organizations. Over 90 Red