Tearfund takes a comprehensive and integrated approach to disasters and disaster vulnerability, undertaking Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Response and Advocacy work through the activities of Tearfund partners, our direct operational programmes, Tearfund UK teams, local churches and global networks. Tearfund responds operationally to disasters in situations of overwhelming need, where there are no local partners and/or where partners are of limited capacity in relation to the scale of the emergency. Operational programmes are ongoing in Darfur, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Afghanistan and Haiti.
Each programme is led by a Programme Director and a senior management team and each project location is under the responsibility of an Area Coordinator. The Disaster Management Team in the UK Head Office includes Operations staff, Finance staff and Technical Services staff to ensure the programmes are effectively supported, along with a DM Unit which provides wider support to Tearfund staff and partners.
Afghanistan
Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team has been operational in Afghanistan since 2001 in response to natural disasters and conflict.
A major focus for the Afghanistan programme is water, sanitation and public health promotion; specifically child-focused health education. This includes a new livelihoods, food security, water and sanitation project in Jawzjan in the north of the country, where an office was established in 2008.
The second area of focus is disaster risk reduction. DMT is now seeking to mainstream disaster risk reduction into Afghanistan’s development programming to target vulnerable people in disaster-prone areas. The approach aims to both mobilize government ministries and agencies to roll out national disaster risk reduction policy and programmes and to assist communities to prepare for disasters at a local level. For example, flood prevention workshops targeting key decision makers within government bodies and aid agencies have been carried out in each province.
A consortium of NGOs has been established to advocate for increased focus on the importance of preparing for disasters at the government level. At the community level, radio groups have been established in Kandahar and Kapisa to raise public awareness by radio and assessments have been carried out in a number of villages to help communities identify their specific vulnerabilities to disaster.
Projects are located currently in Kandahar, Kapisa and Jawzjan Provinces. The programme employs approximately 100 staff (including expat and national) and has an annual budget of roughly £2 million. The programme is currently assisting around 130,000 people and donors include the governments of Canada (CIDA), UK (DFID) and USA (USAID). Previous projects, predominantly in Kandahar Province, have included winterization projects and distributions, canal rebuilding, schools reconstruction, water and sanitation and health education delivered via radio.
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Tearfund’s Disaster Management Team has been operational in DRC since 2001.
A staggering 4 million lives are estimated to have been lost due to conflict and conflict induced poverty in the DRC. Ongoing conflict in parts of North Kivu province means that people are at various stages of displacement and resettlement. The relative improvement in security in South Kivu and Maniema in recent years has led to the return of some Congolese refugees from Tanzania, and internally displaced people from other parts of eastern DRC, although the peace is fragile.
With funding from the governments of the Netherlands (BUZA) and USA (BPRM and OFDA), the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), World Relief Canada, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and various private trusts, Tearfund is supporting the reintegration process by working with host communities and returnees and helping them to re-establish their lives and their communities. DMT is working in the east of the country; in North and South Kivu and Maniema Provinces. Current projects are based in Uvira and Baraka districts in South Kivu and Kaiilo and Pangi districts in Maniema. New projects are being planned in North Kivu. The programme is currently assisting around 170,000 people, with an annual turnover of £2.5 million, and currently employs around 150 national and 15 international staff.
Tearfund’s current projects include food security, agricultural extension work, schools reconstruction, water and sanitation provision to schools, health centres and communities and public health promotion. Given the high incidence of cholera in the region, Tearfund works alongside communities, building networks of community health-workers and with the local authorities in the formation of cholera response plans.
Darfur
DMT has been operating in Darfur since June 2004, responding to emergency needs generated by the conflict that began in 2003.
Tearfund currently operates in several different project areas across West and South Darfur with support bases in Nyala (South Darfur), El Geneina (West Darfur) and Khartoum. The initial response was launched in El Geneina with an emergency nutrition programme alongside water and sanitation and health promotion.
In November 2004, Tearfund deployed a team to Garsilla in Wadi Salih carrying out water and sanitation activities, health promotion and children’s activities, community development and food security work. In April 2005, following a nutritional survey revealing high levels of malnutrition, Tearfund deployed an emergency team into Ed Daein province to work in nutrition, health promotion, children’s activities and water and sanitation. In July 2009, Tearfund conducted a needs assessment in an additional site in south Darfur and found that water and sanitation service provision, in addition to other needs, was severely lacking in the area. Consequently, Tearfund deployed a team to Kass, starting project activities in October 2009.
Through a programme of water and sanitation, health promotion supporting vulnerable children, nutrition activities, food security work and responding to emergency needs as they arise, Tearfund aims to provide an integrated, participatory, conflict-sensitive and environment-sensitive approach in co-ordination with others. The programme is currently assisting around 420,000 people, with an annual turnover of around £7.5 million and employs over 400 staff.
Tearfund's work in Darfur is funded by donors including the governments of UK (DFID), USA (OFDA) and the Netherlands (BUZA), the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the United Nations, World Relief Canada, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, Tearfund supporters and other Tearfund organisations.
South Sudan
Tearfund first became operational in South Sudan in 1998 in response to famine in the Bahr el Ghazal region.
Since then the programme has expanded to include 4 project sites in the States of Upper Nile, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Jonglei. The programme targets remote and neglected areas affected by conflict and chronic vulnerability and works with the Dinka, Chollo and Nuer tribes; including returnees, Internally Displaced People and the host population.
After 21 years of civil war, the government of Sudan and the Sudanese People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in January 2005. This agreement has started a new chapter in Sudan’s history by bringing the war to an end and has enabled the formation of a new interim government that will be in place for six years. 2010 will be a critical year in moving towards completion of the CPA. The areas in which Tearfund works suffered greatly during the civil war and are prone to drought and flooding. There is very little infrastructure in terms of roads, health facilities and schools.
Tearfund specializes in the areas of household food security, nutrition, community health education, water & sanitation and primary health care. The approach taken is one of developmental relief, with a strong emphasis on community participation, reducing the risk and impact of disasters and building the capacity of government structures.
The South Sudan programme employs approximately 400 staff (including expatriate and national) and has an annual turnover of approximately £4m. The work is funded by a number of institutional donors, including the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), the governments of Canada (CIDA), UK (DfID) and USA (USAID), World Relief Canada and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank.
Haiti
DMT is operating in Haiti in response to the devastating earthquake that struck the southern part of the country on 12 January 2010. Tearfund’s direct relief operation is currently located in the Léogâne and Gressier area, which was close to the epicentre of the earthquake. The project area covers both the coastal lowland and more remote communities in Haiti’s mountainous interior.
The Tearfund project is addressing relief needs and supporting early recovery through a multi-sectoral approach. Given the widespread destruction of homes, shelter is a priority for the project area and the project focus is on both temporary shelter provision in the short term and transitional shelter requirements for the longer term. With no schools currently functioning, the project is helping teachers and community volunteers to start child friendly spaces and children’s clubs. These provide psychosocial support and teaching for the children through songs, games and drama. Adults and children alike are anxious to understand more about earthquakes, how buildings can be made more safe and what to do in the event of an earthquake. The project provides information and training on resilient building design and disaster preparedness. The project also includes distribution of water filters and protection of springs to give access to safe drinking water, provide sanitation facilities and encourage improved hygiene practices.
Other activities include cash for work schemes to help to clear roads blocked by landslides and rubble, and provide much needed income for families. Traditional livelihoods are being strengthened through the distribution of seeds for farming families ahead of the next planting season and through capital grants to restart family businesses.
Tearfund's direct relief operation in Haiti is currently funded by Tearfund supporters, along with Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) funds from the UK public, and funds from Samenwerkende Hulporganisaties (SHO) via Tear Netherlands (the Dutch equivalent to the DEC).
Supporting Tearfund Partners
The Disaster Management Unit (DMU) is a newly established sub-team of the DMT. Its purpose is to support DM policy and practice and to provide practical guidance for Tearfund’s partners in the areas of disaster response and disaster risk reduction. Its work includes:
- Offering guidance and support to partners preparing for and responding to disasters
- Capacity building to partners e.g.
- training
- support in project design
- accessing institutional funding to support partners
- Supporting organization-wide advocacy and policy development in disaster risk reduction and humanitarian issues
- Providing additional capacity to Tearfund teams and partners when responding to new disasters
- Providing support in developing standards on accountability and quality in disaster management approaches. Click here for more information
The DMU is supporting a long term Tearfund strategy to build partner capacity in disaster management in countries that are prone to disaster. The unit also strives to ensure that disaster related activities are consistent with the values of the organization as a whole; e.g that programmes show an awareness of gender, environmental and climate change issues, and that they are clearly accountable to both beneficiaries and donors alike.