JOINT MEDIA RELEASE

VRCS implements a recovery project in Pentecost Island to enhance the resilience of 11 communities with funding support from the European Union.

 (08 July 2021) North and Central Pentecost - Following the impact of tropical cyclone Harold which severely affected Pentecost Island, Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) has been at the forefront of emergency response providing life-saving services. Recognizing the need for the re-establishment of food security, livelihoods while ensuring gender inclusion, VRCS continues to provide support to the affected communities through the project “Supporting Community Resilience through Household Food Security and Women’s Empowerment”. It is funded by the European Union (EU) in partnership with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC).

The project intends to contribute towards food security by integrating an early warning system and seasonal forecast as a guide for farmers in determining cropping patterns and choosing crop varieties that are either drought or flood-resistant. As experienced with the past tropical cyclones, weather plays a determinant role in the success or failure of crop productions. Providing regular seasonal weather forecasts will enable communities to better adapt to the changing weather patterns.   

Increase awareness in the proper handling and utilization of food to contribute towards health and nutrition is likewise given focus. It is done by providing mothers’ and women’s groups with various opportunities to enhance their knowledge. This includes techniques in improving backyard food production, nutritional values of specific food groups locally available, handling and cooking, and cooking demonstrations in their communities.

The EU-funded project covered Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) measures as an integral approach to women’s protection. In particular, the improvement of access to safe drinking water resources, provision of water transport container and household storage of drinking water, and the provision of latrines are contributing towards a better protection and dignity for women and girls. In addition, for backyard gardens and small crop production farms, water conservation practices and the use of domestic wastewater is promoted and also a small-scale irrigation is provided. 

The promotion of women’s participation is core to the implementation of the recovery project. The project aims to be inclusive and emphasizes economic empowerment of women, protection, and inclusion - through the VRCS Penama Branch working alongside the Penama Provincial Government, the Village Disaster and Climate Change Committees, and local entrepreneurs - creates opportunities for women to be involved in commerce and have leadership roles in local authority structures. 

This project comes at an opportune time after the communities were affected by TC Harold and the consequent economic impact of the COVID-19, both of which have caused the dramatic decrease of economic opportunities across Vanuatu and created a domino-effect down to the level of subsistence economy. Through the project, the partnership between VRCS, IFRC, and the EU will strive to enhance the coping mechanisms of the community, linking recovery to resilience programming.

According to the Interim General Secretary Mr. Dickinson Tevi “To date, the following activities were implemented as the first steps in preparation towards the project activities rollout in the selected eleven communities. Project orientation conducted in selected communities and stakeholders completed the process of signing the Memorandum of Understanding with community leaders in the selected communities”.

The project “Supporting Community Resilience through Household Food Security and Women’s Empowerment” is being implemented in North Pentecost covering the villages of Arongbwaratu, Angoro, Anmalabua, Arevo, and Latano. In Central Pentecost 1 covering Ena, Naruwa, and Lamatete. In Central Pentecost 2 which includes Ilamre, and Melsisi. On the eastern side, the sole community of Varansini.

“We are so happy to see the Red Cross team coming to us build the knowledge of our people in various areas like Covid19 best practices, including hygiene practices, how we can prepare ourselves for any future disaster. We haven’t heard of Red Cross before, but we are thankful to have the Red Cross as a Government partner to assist us. We are ready to support the work of the Red Cross and thanks to the European Union for choosing our island to implement these activities” said Chief Robinson Siba from Angoro village in North Pentecost.

VRCS Branch Board Chairman Derick Bulu and Disaster Management Coordinator Augustin Garae witnessed Chief Hatchinson John Bogiri at Anvoro village signing the Memorandum of Understanding.

Vanuatu Red Cross Society, FAO partner to assist cyclone affected Malo communities

Port Vila, 3 February 2021 — Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) has partnered with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)  to deliver agricultural kits to Tropical Cyclone Harold affected households on Malo Island, Sanma Province.

The agriculture kits – which include gardening tools, seedlings and nursery guidance – are part of a broader program to help affected communities re-establish livelihoods that were destroyed when TC Harold hit the country last year.

Mr Dickinson Tevi, VRCS’s interim Secretary General, said:

“Partnerships like this are an important part of efforts to help communities rebuild and recover after disasters. This partnership combines FAO’s expertise and ongoing work to improve the provision of goods and service through agriculture with Red Cross’s strong community links and experience in recovery.”

“It is part of our commitment to working in these communities as they carry out the long term recovery process, and helping to build their resilience to future disasters.”

Under the agreement between FAO and VRCS, the UN organisation allocated VT1,466, 300 to VRCS as service provider to undertake activities in West and East of Malo Island which were severely affected by the TC Harold.

Teams of VRCS volunteers spent five days at the end January distributing shovels, axes, hoes, knives, seedlings, seedling trays, spades, watering cans to communities across the island. Volunteers on the east of the island reached 533 Households across 12 communities, while volunteers in the west reached 901 households across the five main communities.

Community members told the volunteers that they were gradually recovering from the cyclone, but the lack of equipment to assistant with replanting gardens had slowed the process. They said the gardening equipment provided by Red Cross and FAO would help rebuild their livelihoods for the longer term. 

Vanuatu Red Cross Society’s work with FAO reflects the importance of partnerships in disaster response and recovery, which also includes Red Cross’s “Auxiliary Role” to public authorities including agencies.

“Vanuatu Red Cross’s vision is to be the leading Humanitarian organization in Vanuatu by providing professional, effective and quality services; its mission is to improve the lives of the most vulnerable without discrimination through voluntary service and it is guided by seven Fundamental principles: Humanity, impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Universality and Unity”.

For more information contact:

Olivia Finau, Vanuatu Red Cross Communication and Dissemination Officer,
email: dissemination@redcrossvanuatu.com; Tel: +27418 Mob:+678 731991 or 5363203 

As part of a livelihoods program in partnership with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, Vanuatu Red Cross Society volunteers provided shovels, axes, hoes, knives, seedlings, seedling trays, spades, and watering cans to communities across Malo Island.

Photo: Vanuatu Red Cross Society

Save The Children, Vanuatu Red Cross and ADRA Sign MOU To Strengthen Collaboration

Save the Children Vanuatu signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) to formalize strategic service delivery partners to ensure high-quality service delivery in response to emergencies in Vanuatu.

The signing ceremony on Wednesday was attended by Interim Secretary General of VRCS Dickinson Tevi, Country Director of ADRA Richard Greenwell, and Save the Children Country Director Luke Ebbs.

“We had learned that in Vanuatu we have many and strong local capacities available in the country to respond to emergencies. Some strong local organizations and actors have demonstrated during TC Harold which shows Vanuatu has the local capacity,” said Save the Children Country Director Ebbs.

“We relegalized that our role as Save the Children in Vanuatu in terms of Humanitarian Response, is to strengthen capacity capabilities funding and technical support to local Organization and local actors because of the capacity knowledge on the ground, our communities, their issues and needs during an emergency.”

“We would like to thank Save the Children for this initiative and partner with Red Cross to work together and address emergencies. It is our mandate to provide relief during emergencies. We operate 6 branches in Vanuatu and this partnership will assist Red Cross to build and strengthen its capacity to reach out more effectively during disasters,” said VRCS Interim SG Tevi.

The MOU outlines the roles and responsibilities of each party to share understanding, commitment, roles and responsibilities, and measures of success. By entering this partnership, both parties hope to deliver effective, inclusive, and timely Humanitarian responses in Vanuatu. These partnerships will Support RED Cross and ADRA and other local actors that are under consultation to provide funding and technical support so that these partnerships as front liners to lead response in the future.

ADRA Country Director Greenwell said, “We appreciate the opportunity that we can come together and prepare so that when there is an emergency, we can respond more effectively. This is a way to leverage the expertise that each organization has and ultimately the goal is to be effective in what we do and working in the communities. We are excited to work with Save the Children, work with them and utilize their expertise and the work ADRA does in the communities”

In his closing remarks, Mr. Ebbs continues; “We are excited that we have identified two strong partners with a long history in Vanuatu and demonstrated experiences responding a lot of disasters and we look forward to work with you and your teams to deliver an effective and inclusive humanitarian response in the future whereby we work together to address the needs of the people of Vanuatu during disasters, especially the vulnerable people.”

Source Daily Post

Japan Formalizes Assistance to Vanuatu Red Cross Society

The Government of Japan will assist Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) for the procurement of two brand new 4WD Vehicles under Japan’s Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP) Programme. H.E. Ms. KATSUMATA Harumi, Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Vanuatu, and Ms. Jacqueline de GAILLANDE, VRCS Secretary General, will sign the contract to formalize the assistance at a signing Ceremony that will be held at the Vanuatu Red Cross Head Quarters at 2.00 pm on Thursday, 3rd September 2020. For further queries please contact Mr. Peni Saurara on email address: peni.saurara@fj.mofa.go.jp or eojeconomics@fj.mofa.go.jp and telephone number: (+679) 3304633.

1) Recipient: Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS)

2) Grant Contract Signatory: Ms Jacqueline de GAILLANDE, Secretary General.

3) Details: The Government of Japan will provide funding of up to US$54,701 (VUV 6,093,725), to Vanuatu Red Cross Society for the provision of two brand new 4WD Vehicles.

Santo and Pentecost were among the few islands badly hit by the category 5 TC Harold that passed through the country early April 2020. Being one of the first responders in assistance and damage assessment reporting to the Vanuatu Government, the VRCS played a critical role by closely working with the local communities in recruiting volunteers and operationalizing relief assistance from international donors. It was, however, challenging to reach most remote households in need of aid and essential services due to the poor road conditions and limited availability of road transport. Currently, the VRCS does not own vehicles in the Santo and Pentecost branches; therefore, having volunteers and relief distribution teams heavily dependent on public transport for such emergencies.

The two brand new 4WD vehicles, funded under Japan's Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects (GGP), will address the transport challenges faced by the VRCS in the islands of Santo and Pentecost to enable the provision of the much-needed relief items during emergencies in a timely and cost-effective manner. Besides, it will ensure there is an ease of access to emergency assistance by the households living in remote areas of these islands.

GGP Programme is part of the overall Japanese Development Cooperation implemented by the Embassy of Japan to empower the people from the grassroots level. The GGP Programme in Vanuatu has been widely implemented in areas such as education, water supply, and health since 1996. To date, more than 128 projects have been executed under the GGP Programme, which amounts to an approximate value of US$10.2 million.

Vanuatu COVID-19 UPDATE

For more information on COVID-19 in Vanuatu visit the Ministry of Health COVID-19 website.

Vanuatu Ministry of Health COVID-19 situation reports: LINK

COVID-19 Key Message

Vanuatu Red Cross Society Australia bush fire appeal.

Australian Bush fire Vanuatu Red Cross Appeal:

your Help saves lives!!

Show your solidarity by supporting Vanuatu Red Cross activities to fundraise for Australian families survivors!

- wheelbarrow push this friday 10 Jan and saturday 11 Jan 2020

- Club lit fundraising on Saturday 11 Jan - 5 PM

- Flee Maket at Red Cross office on Friday 10 Jan 2020 from 9 am to 12 PM.

VRCS Australian Bush Fire Appeal starts from 10 January 2020 to 16 January 2020.

For more information call Emma Mesao on 5553056 or 7101463

Vanuatu Red Cross Society National Emergency Response Team (NERT) Training.

Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) has been responding to almost 2-3 Hazard Major Hazards a Year and have been facing all sort of Hazard since 2015 cyclone Pam. Since then the Vanuatu Red Cross has learned a lot and has identified areas of weakness and Gabs for improvement.

Since these year 2019, the Vanuatu Red Cross has done allot to fix these Gabs to improve future responses, these included integrating the standard operation procedures so that all Health and Disaster Management (DM) interventions in a Response are well coordinated and in a synchronized planned of Actions.

Furthermore there was an all Hazard contingency planning that was also conducted to compliment the VRCS Plan of decentralization and also making sure all level of responses are considered, for instance in a Likely case scenario, the response will be between the Community and Branch level and for a most likely case is for the branch and National Head Quarters to respond to and in a Worst case scenario then Donors and IFRC are being notify to assist the response, these measures were being put in place to improve a timely response with the limited resources of the Vanuatu Red Cross and making sure all intervention will have to reach the last mile or reaching the Most Vulnerable People in the Community.

Thus the VRCS has improved its response Structures for all scenarios and have Recruited more Volunteers in the Communities and Branch level and have continuously trained them with the Emergency Response team Training and Community Emergency Response team training and early warning early Actions Training.

However there is a Huge need to improve the Capacity of the National Society staffs and Branch Managers to improve their knowledge and skills on how to write a SMART ( specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and time bound) Emergency Plan of Action ( Taking into consideration all Sectors DM, Water Sanitation & Hygiene (WASH), Health, Logistics, Program Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting (PMER), Information Management, Shelter, Cash Base Intervention and all Cross cutting issues) and also knowing how to create a Budget that is linked to the plan of Action and also knowing how to report on each Operation updates in accordance to the IFRC standards.

VRCS requested IFRC to support the facilitation of their first ever National Emergency Response Team (NERT) training. This is a contribution to one of the key recommendations under the Preparedness for Effective Response (PER) assessment on how to retain volunteers and staff, providing induction and technical training to the staff and volunteers as one of the characteristics of a well-prepared National Society. It is also one of the targets by the VRCS to ensure that their National Emergency Response Team (ERT) is established as part of their preparedness for the cyclone season.

The training was more advance from the ERT and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and was conducted to strengthen the existing disaster response capacities by developing the skills of experienced Disaster Response members from the Vanuatu Red Cross society.

After the one week workshop, 20 staff’s and volunteers have improved their capacity as NERT leaders who can be deployed to assist branch upon their request for humanitarian assistance. As part of this training they were able to understand all the IFRC response tools and procedures and are able to execute all tasks needed inline with the VRCS Standard Operation procedures in Emergencies and abiding with the Seven Fundamental Principles, Core Humanitarian Standards and the Sphere Standards.

Training Date: 6 - 11 October 2019

Training Location: Efate, Pango Village

Participatory Approach for Safe Shelter Awareness (PASSA)

This training was completed as part of the Vanuatu Red Cross Society (VRCS) Building Resilient Communities in Vanuatu (BRCV) program.

 Natural Disasters and the risks and vulnerabilities that it poses to shelter and settlements are on the rise. Adequate funding is not always generated for the reconstruction and the recovery needs of communities that are affected.

 PASSA is a participatory approach preparedness tool that helps develop local capacity to reduce shelter related risk by raising awareness and developing skills in joint analysis, learning and decision-making at community level. The application of PASSA is particularly useful for gender mainstreaming where shelter risks are often viewed through different lenses by men and women. Thus, a more holistic picture of shelter risk is obtained and can in turn be addressed. Furthermore, PASSA by its nature can enhance social capital, reinforcing/strengthening community resilience to disaster.

 PASSA draws upon the well-established practice of community action planning, and the participatory tools/approaches such as Vulnerability Capacity Assessment (VCA), Participatory Health And Sanitation Tranfromation (PHAST) and Community Base Health and First Aid (CBHFA) methodology used by many National Societies. For Vanuatu Red Cross Society, VCA could be the entry point to PASSA in the communities.

 Given the exposure of the archipelago of Vanuatu to natural hazards and the extensive damages to shelter and settlements witnessed during past events, VRCS recognizes the value in investing more in shelter preparedness and has reached out to IFRC for technical and financial support to build capacity of the NS in this area.

 This training for staff and volunteers from all six provinces is the first step in the process on the way to reaching communities in Vanuatu with PASSA programs as a part of the VRCS BRCV program.

The overall objective of this Training of Facilitators was for the course participants to be able to facilitate the PASSA activities and manage the PASSA process at the community level.

 Specifically, this training aims to:

1. Explain the purpose of PASSA and its place in shelter programmes, and describe how it is supposed to work at community level;

2. Describe the PASSA methodology, including the purpose and process of each activity, and the links between activities;

3. Explain essential shelter safety principles and how they apply in the local context;

4. Outline the steps in each of the 8 PASSA activities and the materials required;

5. Demonstrate the skills required for facilitating PASSA activities.

 Outcomes achieved:

Vanuatu Red Cross now has 25 trained PASSA facilitators. Out of these, 21 are from the 6 provinces (Sanma, Torba, Shefa, Penama, Malampa, Tafea) and 4 are from the National Office.

 2 out of the 18 participants from Malampa Province only managed to join the training from the second day of the training (13th of August). They couldn’t join from the first day since they missed the interconnecting flight from Port Vila to Tanna.

 Most participants indicated that they are now more familiar with the PASSA approach and aspects of PASSA, are able to explain essential safety shelter principles and how they apply in the local context, and feel they are able to demonstrate skills required for facilitation of PASSA activities.

 During the training, each of the provinces started to develop their PASSA implementation plans.

Training Date: 12 - 16 August 2019

Location: Tanna Island

Vanuatu Red Cross Society completed its emergency response on South East Ambrym

Port Vila, 08 March 2019 — Over 1500 people on four affected communities and two host communities in South East Ambrym were provided assistance from Vanuatu Red Cross Society.

VRCS deployed its field team on January 8, 2019 for rapid assessment to identify urgent needs in the South East of the island. The team comprised of 6 staffs from the Headquarter, 3 from Sanma RC Branch and 2 from Malampa RC Branch with the main task of verifying the data provided from 2016 census.

The assessment assisted 350 affected families with Non Food Items along with the awareness activities on safe emergency shelter, health and hygiene.

VRCS has worked closely with National disaster management office (NDMO) and Malampa provincial disaster committee; similarly, field teams worked closely with Area council and counsellors, chiefs on  mobilizing the communities to better respond to the situation. 22 volunteers were hired locally for assistance in assessment, awareness sessions and distributions. In addition, awareness sessions on safe shelter, First Aid, health and hygiene were conducted across 14 communities and one evacuation centre at Bossom primary school – Ulei .

With a total population of 2170 people, there are 518 household across all 14 communities, however only 3 communities were identified to evacuate to two host communities; the evacuated families were being placed with specific host families thus both host and evacuees were in need of emergency shelter

The total population targeted with emergency shelter is 1508 with 350 households

VRCS response strategy focuses on three main areas of support- supplying the affected population with essential Non Food Items emergency shelter, ensuring essential information reaches the affected population and providing psycho social support, health &Hygiene and First Aid.

An amount of eight million vatu (VT8, 000,000) from Disaster Response Emergency Fund was released by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)  to support  Vanuatu Red Cross Society operation to supply  a total of 350 shelter tool kits, 700 tarpaulins, 350 hygiene kits and 700 Jerry cans of 10 L were distributed to each 350 households evacuated and  host families.

The VRCS intervention on South East Ambrym ended with a 3 days of Distribution Post Monitoring activity to get feedback from evacuees and host families /beneficiaries.

3 months VRCS activities planned for South East Ambrym communities

Port Vila, 21 January 2019 — Vanuatu Red Cross Society is maintaining its emergency response on South East Ambrym to run various related disaster activities for a period of 3 months.

As part of its first mission, a team comprised of staffs and volunteers from Disaster, Health and shelter sections spent 8 days on the ground to respond to communities affected by the earthquake occurred on the Island on December 15, 2018.

The most affected village is Paamal that encountered numerous earthquakes, and uplift causing damages to houses in the village.

On the ground, VRCS team recruited and trained 24 volunteers to assist in delivering awareness’s, assessments, demonstration of building an emergency shelter and distributions of Non Food items, NFIs.

In partnership with Malampa Provincial Government and the National Disaster Management Office and chiefs, VRCS managed to assess 513 households with 2156 population in total.

The emergency response of VRCS targeted prioritised affected communities of Paamal, Asse, Sameu, and Ulei by distributing 1 Shelter Tool Kit, 1 Hygiene kit, 2 Taps and 2 Jerry Canes (10L) to 321 Household each.

“Our emergency response is only for a period of 3 months, and we will provide more activities to all host and affected communities within that timeframe.

This mean that we will have other activities to be implemented on the ground such as early warnings, early actions, Disaster Risk Reduction, First aid training, hand washing, provide psycho social support to families, how to prepare an Oral rehydration solution, introduction of tippy taps, engaging villagers on a clean-up campaign, distribution dignity kits, also to build additional shelter” explained Disaster Management Coordinator Augustin Garae.

A second team of staffs and volunteers from Headquarter and Sanma Branch will deployed this week to continue with VRCS activities to communities on the island.