Refugees and locals trained with double purposes
Nepal Red Cross Society has successfully completed skill development trainings to refugees living in various refugee camps in eastern Nepal and nearby local community people with the objectives of enhancing the living standard of the refugees as well as of the local people and developing cordial relationship between two communities.

The eight-month long trainings were conducted in three different modules which included carpentry, stitching and modern agriculture training.

The carpentry training was targeted to refugees and local men, while stitching was targeted to refugees and local women. The participants of carpentry training gained knowledge to make simple chair, bed and table. The women learned to stitch simple dress like bhoto, suruwal and petticoat.

Modern agriculture training was conducted targeting both male and female of the refugee and local population. Seven sessions of this training were conducted. Each session was two-day long. The participants learned about food preservation, compost making, pest management, seeds preservation etc.

350 refugees and 250 local community people benefited from the training programmes.

More RCMs exchanged
More Red Cross messages (RCMs) have been distributed in support by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Nepal in the recent months.

Due to conflict in many parts of the country many family members have been separated. In time of conflict, as postal and telephone communication are often disrupted direct contact may be impossible. In these circumstances, anyone who wishes to do so may send news of a strictly personal nature to his or her family and receive such news by means of a Red Cross message (RCM).

Such type of correspondence will continue until normal means of communication are restored. To strengthen this programme, Nepal Red Cross Society has conducted five regional level workshops the 5 regional of the country. The tracing network has already been established all over the country and it has worked effectively. Nepal Red Cross Society and the ICRC in Nepal have jointly exchanged more than 1,000 RCMs up to February, 2004. Likewise, many people have been traced in response to the tracing requests received by the NRCS.

CAS consultative meeting held
Nepal Red Cross Society organized a consultative meeting on Cooperation Agreement Strategy (CAS) with various partners in Kathmandu on 12 March. The meeting was held with the objectives of familiarizing partners about the Nepal Red Cross approach to cooperation and to explore possibilities of cooperation partnership between Nepal Red Cross and other organizations in order to improve lives of vulnerable people.

The meeting was attended by the representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation, representatives of UN agencies, governmental and non-mental organizations, and also a few sister National Societies. Speaking on the occasion Residential Coordinator of the UN Matthew Kahane thanked the NRCS for taking the UN system as one of the partners in its humanitarian activities. He also mentioned that disaster preparedness, mitigation and response, IDPs, conflict and health were the major issues the UN agencies would like to cooperate in.

Chief Guest member of the National Planning Commission Dr. Yubaraj Khatiwada focused on the need to work in a cooperative way to reduce poverty and vulnerability. He said, "Development is not exclusively a government agenda." He further mentioned the need to coordinate among the similar organizations to avoid duplication and waste of resources. Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the government would invite all the related agencies for cooperation to address humanitarian issue in Nepal.

Dev Ratna Dhakhwa, Secretary General of the NRCS gave a brief presentation on the need of CAS document and also highlighted major aspects of the document. The focused that CAS document was basically for working together. He added, "No single agency can achieve its objectives alone, that is why the NRCS has taken initiative to involve all the related agencies as partners in its humanitarian works."

Giving his concluding as the chairman Ramesh Kumar Sharma, Chairman of the Nepal Red Cross, expressed his satisfaction on the cooperation that NRCS has achieved from government as well as other agencies. He also said, "The civil society has generously supported us in our work."

World AIDS Day celebrated with fanfare in Nepal

The World AIDS Day was celebrated in Nepal with fanfare. Nepal Red Cross Society mobilized its headquarters staff as well as branches for the celebration of the Day. A number of rallies, street dramas, talk programmes, and documentary shows were organised throughout the country on 1st December as a part of the global campaign against the discrimination and stigma against the people living with HIV/AIDS.

The World Aids Day has been observed in Nepal since 1994. With the increase in the number of HIV/AIDS infected people in the country and the threat of its transmission, and again the need of fighting against the stigma creating a favourable environment for those affected by the HIV/AIDS, the World AIDS Day has been of more importance in the country. National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) coordinated the celebration of the Day in the kingdom in which many other governmental and non-governmental organizations took active part, Nepal Red Cross Society being one of the first and major participants.
Nepal Red Cross Society played a vital role in celebration of the Day being a member of the World Aids Day celebration committee. More than this, Nepal Red Cross itself has been implementing programmes on HIV/AIDS control in different districts in support of different sister societies like Swiss Red Cross, Norwegian Red Cross, and different development agencies like Swiss agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC),German technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) and Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in coordination of the Federation. At the same time, celebration of World AIDS Day was an integrated component of all other programmes of Nepal Red Cross.

NRCS has organised special programmes in 19 districts. Including these, NRCS is celebrated World AIDS Day in 50 districts out of 75 in the country. In the rest 25 districts the NRCS celebrated the Day in coordination with GOs and I/NGOs mobilizing its volunteers. NRCS reached 100 thousand community
people throughout the country With the World AIDS Day activities.
Experiences have shown that the World AIDS Day program is an excellent way to transfer information to the community on HIV/AIDS related issues. It has helped mobilize Junior/Youth Circles, Red Cross volunteers and community in the campaign against HIV/AIDS.

The World AIDS Day got a bigger coverage in the national media. It's taken as a day of a big importance. It was disseminated through every means of media: print, audio and audio-visual. National dailies carried out the news on the Day. Different articles were published on HIV/AIDS related issues.
Televisions also highlighted on the Day's activities. Local F.M. radios organized several talk programmes on HIV/AIDS referring to the Day. Nepal Television, the government TV channel recently organized a crucial talk programme on breaking the stigma barrier inviting an HIV positive person who is the chairperson of his organization that has been running rehabilitation centre for the HIV positives.

NRCS gave due importance to publicising its programme so that it could add energy to the campaign to raise awareness on HIV/AIDS and stigma related to it.

Ambulance in Rupees 10
Two new ambulances these days run on the roads of Makwanpur district due to 10 rupees campaign launched by the district branch of Nepal Red Cross.
“I have been driving ambulance for last twenty years. But this year I am very happy with my new ambulance. New blood has been circulated in my body with ease since we received this new ambulance,” Says Dabal Maharjan, the head ambulance driver in Makwanpur district branch of Nepal Red Cross. This could happen as the district chapter launched a public appeal for support to run community welfare ambulance service in the district contributing only rupees 10.
It was nothing but just a 10 rupees contribution from each individual in the district. “Money is not a big problem for the humanitarian service, but a generous heart and the idea is the must,” says Suryachandra Neupane, President of Makwanpur district branch.
The ten rupees campaign has brought cheers in the faces of the people in Makwanpur. Now Makwanpur Red Cross has two new ambulances under the ten rupees donation campaign. "We were in a deep need of money to buy new ambulance to render cheaper ambulance service to the patients in the district. And the main problem was the money. But finally we got an idea that would burden no one and was sure to get a very big support," he further adds. Finally the chapter started receiving money: rupees 10 at a time per person from different sectors. Even junior/youth members contributed a lot in the movement. Under the campaign, the branc0

Disaster Preparedness Pays in Nepal
By Kedar Babu Dhungana

In the years 2002 and 2003 Makwanpur district faced very big disasters. Many villages were swept away and the floods and landslides killed more than 130 people. "But nothing happened to our village. We were the lucky. Even the stiff mountain of our village suffered no landslides," says Surya Bahadur Sintan, a community leader of Lawati village of Makwanpur district. "It was the result of our common effort of the Community Based Disaster Preparedness Programme," he further adds.
The plantation in the stiff mountains, well managed use of firewood from forests, ban in cutting tree from disaster-prone areas, constructions of check dams in hazardous places, well managed use of land for planting crops and the public awareness about the disaster, mitigation and preparedness were all that kept the village far from disaster.
This depicts the reality of Lawati, the village where community based disaster preparedness program was implemented in participation of the community people. This is just an example of how people safeguarded their village from disaster. There are many such success stories coming out from different villages.
Nepal is a disaster prone country. It faces many natural disasters every year suffering a big loss in the human and physical properties. Floods and landslides heavily disrupt lives. Plain area mainly suffers by flood. In this area of Nepal, riverbank erosion and water, logging leads to flood and in the mountainous area landslides and flash floods cause high loss of life and destruction of properties.
Nepal was highly affected by the disaster: floods and landslides in the year 2002. The cruelty of nature again hit the country this year, 2003 also. The floods and landslides affected altogether 62 districts out of 75 this year. The disaster killed 300 people, and 353 were injured. 59 persons were reported missing. 10,474 families were badly affected and 2,198 families were displaced. 1,578 houses completely and 4,318 houses were destroyed partially. Thousands of people were forced to live under open sky. Many villages and some cities were submerged in rain water. According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology the heavy monsoon rains from the 30th July to 2nd August were the highest recorded in the past three decades, exceeding the record of last year 2002.
However, it is a good thing that Nepal Red Cross Society was able to provide rescue and relief services to almost all affected people. And it could manage everything mobilising local resources. Nepal Red Cross started its relief service with search and rescue. Red Cross volunteers were in the front to provide relief service to the affected people. Nepal Red Cross provided household kits, food and shelter along with first aid service. “All these were possible due to a very good preparedness from sub-chapter to the National Headquarters level and a better network of the Society all over the country with trained and well-equipped volunteers and staff,” Says Dev Ratna Dhakhwa, Secretary General of Nepal Red Cross Society.

Community based disaster preparedness programmes, being implemented by the Society have brought a big change in the capacity to respond to local disasters. It has been a breakthrough in the field of disaster management in Nepal. Nepal Red Cross has been implementing Community Based Disaster Preparedness programme since 1997. To date, it has covered twenty-four districts. Among them, the programme has been completed in two districts and the rest districts have been implementing the programmes. The programme has covered 247 communities in these districts giving direct benefit to around 1,785 families. By this programme community itself is made capable to respond to disasters having proper preparedness and the mitigation on time. Under the programme communities identify local hazards, risk and vulnerability and work by preparing a disaster preparedness plan (DP Plan). They are made aware and conscious on disaster management. They are provided with basic trainings on disaster management and first aid. With all these things, community’s capacity is increased and they can better manage local disasters.
Nepal Red Cross has also made necessary stocks of relief materials available at 27 different depots and warehouses located at strategic parts in the country. Immediate supplies of relief materials are made from the depots and warehouses. Almost all district chapters have their own stock of relief materials at least for fifty families in their DP stock. Every district chapter with its own trained volunteers for rescue and relief are found able to provide the service. The trained volunteers are well equipped with basic working kits. As a result of all these timely efforts, Nepal Red Cross has been able to manage the situation by mobilising its local resources. Many communities themselves have become able to manage the situation on their own. It has become a good lesson learnt from the Relief Operation 2002 jointly implemented by the NRCS and the Federation. It has again been a lesson that the disaster preparedness is very much essential to cope with any natural disaster. Furthermore, after learning from all these experiences, Nepal Red Cross has emphasised more on the disaster preparedness, and a step ahead on the community-based disaster preparedness.