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NewZAID updates you in brief on key issues and events on the NZAID agenda. Please click on the useful links included in this newsletter to explore issues in greater depth.
In early October NZAID’s Education Advisor, Myra Harrison, joined NZAID Manager John Egan on a visit to five newly constructed early childhood classrooms in Tay Son and Vinh Thanh districts of Binh Dinh province, Viet Nam. Set on its own fenced area of land, each classroom has electricity and water which ensures that lighting, ceiling fans, toilets and hand-washing facilities are readily available. There are also separate store-rooms for the early childhood teacher to use.
“Everyone is happy with these new facilities – kids, teachers and parents,” says John. “You can see it in the faces of the children. They are interested, involved and are producing some wonderful work, which can now be pasted on the brand new walls of their classrooms or taken home to show Mum and Dad.”
NZAID has provided funding for 69 classrooms to be built in 67 remote and disadvantaged communes across the province. All except two were finished in time for the first day of the new school year on 4 September 2008. The other two classrooms and 11 larger complexes, each with three to five classrooms, a music room, a kitchen and an administration block, will be completed by early January 2009.
Robyn Muriel, a VSA volunteer assisting with in-service training of early childhood teachers in Binh Dinh, joined John and Myra on their visit. After spending a couple of hours observing teaching practice in Nam Giang village of Tay Son district, Robyn offered a few ideas to the teacher and her colleagues from other remote classrooms in the same commune.
The contrast with two years before was great. “The children are animated because they have a range of learning options whereas before they had only one – sitting in a circle repeating after the teacher,” says John. “There is space to play, they can sit at desks and draw pictures, they have picture books that will help with learning to read – it’s great to see this.” The project also helped parents to understand the importance of early childhood education and encouraged them to send their children to class.
The project will supply each facility with teaching aides and outdoor toys over the coming months. Robyn Muriel is developing a programme to upskill teachers and ensure that they can maximise the new facilities and equipment so that children are well prepared for their first year of primary school. For more information contact john.egan@nzaid.govt.nz or myra.harrison@nzaid.govt.nz
The World Food Programme (WFP) has appealed for emergency funding for its work aimed at bringing food security to the most vulnerable people in Afghanistan. NZAID will contribute $1 million to the appeal as part of a global effort that aims to avoid a repeat of the situation in 2002 when drought conditions resulted in massive population displacement as people left their homes in search of food and work to buy food.
Afghanistan currently faces a massive decline in agricultural production caused by a severe drought, and compounded by the ongoing armed conflict. In addition to the expectation of a poor harvest, sharp increases in the price of global food staples such as flour pose difficulties for the estimated 12 million people in Afghanistan who are already unable to purchase enough food to guarantee the global standard minimum daily food intake.
The WFP aims to assist the most vulnerable through the coming winter by ensuring access to minimum food requirements for the most vulnerable, in particular women and children and those displaced by conflict. This needs to get underway immediately before snow closes roads to remote areas.
NZAID's Afghanistan programme has an annual budget of $7 million for activities focused primarily in Bamyan, where the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team is based. The programme aims to promote sustainable development, reducing the need for humanitarian response. Programmes focus on development of sustainable rural livelihoods through supporting health, education, capacity development of provincial government and non-government organisations, and, more recently, eco-tourism. For more information contact suzanne.loughlin@nzaid.govt.nz
United Nations Disaster Assessment & Coordination (UNDAC) team members from Australia, New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Fiji, Tokelau and Solomon Islands came together in Sydney, Australia on the 5 October to discuss ways of strengthening and supporting disaster response in the Pacific Region.
UNDAC members are disaster management professionals selected for the skills that they can bring to a disaster response team at a moment’s notice. Should another large scale tsunami, earthquake, flood or volcanic eruption occur, particularly in the Pacific or Asia region, Pacific members from UNDAC may be on the ground within 48 hours utilising their assessment and coordination skills.
Sara Carley, NZAID Polynesia Team Leader is one of the nine New Zealand UNDAC team members. She was pleased with the meetings in Sydney. “The meeting in Sydney is an opportunity for Pacific UNDAC to exchange knowledge and information on new methods and technical equipment. Working together and keeping in close contact is important because if there is a disaster in the Pacific, we will be the ones to respond.”
UNDAC members work closely with national governments and other agencies by providing support to activities through humanitarian coordination and operational advice. Ultimately the aim is for the combined efforts of all concerned to save lives and livelihoods. Many of the initial difficulties inherent in large scale disasters, such as logistics and access to affected populations, can be overcome through strong communication, coordination and the sharing of information and resources.
NZAID and the Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Management (MCDEM) provide funding support to UNDAC which is designed to strengthen disaster response in the Pacific region. This includes supporting Pacific UNDAC members to undergo training. For more information contact michael.hartfield@nzaid.govt.nz
The NZAID Africa Strategy was launched by Peter Adams at the conclusion of the NGO/NZAID Annual Meeting on 17 October.
The strategy has generated a lot of interest from a number of groups within the international relations and development community and many of them attended the launch.
Paula Van Dyk (International Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Finance) and Sabelo Gwala (Department of Foreign Affairs) from the South African Government attended the function, as well as members of the reference group including Rosslyn Noonan (NZ Human Rights Commissioner), Alphaeus Onyke and Benjamin Paradza (African Diaspora reps), and NGO representative Paul Martell from World Vision.
The two reference groups – from Africa and New Zealand, were involved at key points for more than a year in order to capture the views and experience of these groups and individuals.
The resulting strategy builds on what was working well in the current NZAID programme in Africa, and focuses NZAID’s engagement on a few long-term partnerships. A new Africa-New Zealand learning initiative recognises that New Zealand has plenty to learn from African experience, and as a new donor, South Africa has expressed interest in learning from NZAID. For more information contact debbie.player@nzaid.govt.nz
Following the flooding of the Koshi River in the district of Sunsari, Nepal, the United Nations Resident Coordinator deployed a four-person United Nations Disaster Assessment and Co-ordination (UNDAC) team to provide surge capacity and coordination assistance for the flood response.
New Zealander Jim Stuart-Black (National Manager Special Operations, New Zealand Fire Service) was one of the invited team members and was joined by representatives from Holland, Russia and UN OCHA, Geneva.
The Nepalese government estimates that some 70,000 people in the Sunsari and Saptari Districts have been affected and significant pressure has been put on existing coordination mechanisms within Nepal. The disaster has also caused extensive flooding and displaced several million people south of the Indian border in Bihar.
UNDAC teams respond to disasters by deploying into affected countries to support the national government and co-ordinate the international response. For more information contact michael.hartfield@nzaid.govt.nz. Further information about the flooding is available on the UN’s website, “reliefweb”
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