Disaster Response Pakistan Project #6348

Oxfam providing immediate relief in Pakistan

by Oxfam America

Project Report | Apr 13, 2011
Oxfam Partners in Pakistan

By Elizabeth Stevens | Humanitarian Communications Officer

Oxfam’s partners
Pakistan flood response

Below is a list of the partner organizations that Oxfam is working with in response to the flooding in Pakistan. This list was last updated in September, 2010.

The Doaba Foundation (DF) aims to improve the quality of life among disaster-prone communities through optimal utilization of resources. Using a rights-based approach, DF seeks to build the capacity of communities for disaster risk management and sustainable development. DF is also working to expand its influence through strategic partnerships and policy interventions. www.doaba.org.pk (Punjab Province)

The Foundation for Integrated Developmnet (FIDA) aims to mobilize and build capacity within existing political and social structures and to act as a link between civil society and marginalized communities. FIDA works to bridge the gap between traditional and modern systems of governance. Its areas of work include social mobilization and advocacy, health and education, community infrastructure, renewable energy, and environmental protection. www.fidapk.org (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

HELP is a non-governmental organization based in southern Punjab that works with marginalized and vulnerable groups to build their capacity for disaster response and risk reduction. (Punjab Province)

Human Development Organization Doaba (HDOD) is a development organization that aims to empower rural communities. Its areas of work include ecology, education, environmental protection, health, infrastructure development, poverty alleviation, rural development, and women’s empowerment. (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Integrated Regional Support Program (IRSP) is a development organization whose mission is to empower local communities to pursue and attain their own developmental goals through integrated development and participatory approaches. www.irsp.org.pk (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Laar Humanitarian and Development Program (LHDP) is a development agency focused on areas of Sindh province that are vulnerable to disasters. Its areas of focus are sustainable livelihoods, disaster risk reduction, emergency response, and the development of marginalized communities. (Sindh Province)

The Lasoona Society for Human and Natural Resource Development aims to support poor and marginalized communities through social mobilization, strengthening local capacity, and managing natural resources. It is committed to environmentally sound development in remote areas of Pakistan. www.lasoona.org (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Pakistan Community Development Program (PAK-CDP) aims to improve the health status of women, men, and children through safe drinking water, sanitation, and hygiene education. (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum (PFF) is dedicated to upholding the rights of indigenous fishing communities in Pakistan. It aims to bring about a change in the socio-economic conditions of these communities by ensuring the restoration of their historical rights in relation to water resources. PFF is working toward a future in which fishers have lives of dignity, can realize their right to life and livelihoods, and are empowered to promote democracy, equity, social justice, sustainable development, and the responsible use of natural resources. http://www.pff.org.pk (Sindh Province)

Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI) is a youth-led NGO focused on promoting participatory, pro-poor, sustainable, environmentally friendly, and gender-balanced development. PDI is engaged in advocacy, campaigning, community awareness, mass mobilization, participatory community development, and participatory research, as well as networking on local, national, and global issues that negatively affect the poor – particularly women. www.pdi.org.pk (Sindh Province)

The Pirbhat Women’s Development Society is a non-governmental organization led by women activists in Upper Sindh, Pakistan. It promotes women’s empowerment and - through advocacy and campaign work - fights gender-based violence and discrimination. Other major program areas include education, health, and emergency relief. www.pirbhat.org (Sindh Province)

The Research and Development Foundation (RDF) is a non-governmental action research and social development organization. Its aims include improving livelihoods through conserving and promoting natural resources, developing skills for generating and diversifying employment, reducing environmental hazards, conserving bio-diversity, and promoting climate change adaptation. www.rdfoundation.org.pk (Sindh Province)

The Sindh Agricultural and Forestry Workers Coordinating Organization (SAFWCO) aims to support communities to carry out sustainable development and achieve equitable economic, social, political, and cultural development through grassroots development institutions. SAFWCO is dedicated to social change that will reduce the vulnerability of the rural poor. Social mobilization and development interventions are two of its core activities. www.safwco.org (Sindh Province)

The Social Action Bureau for Assistance in Welfare and Organizational Networking (SABAWON) is a civil-society organization dedicated to combating poverty and discrimination. SABAWON aims to provide access to primary education and health resources, to prevent the spread of disease, to promote development, and to build local capacity. www.sabawon.org (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) focuses on democratic governance, social justice, and building peace through action research, raising awareness, building capacity, advocacy, policy dialogue, dissemination of information and literature, mobilization of communities, and supporting peace movements. SPO also responds to disasters. www.spopk.org (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Sungi Development Foundation (SDF) is working to bring about policy and institutional changes by mobilizing communities to transform their lives through sustainable use of resources, without discrimination based on social origin, gender, race, caste, or religion. SDF promotes good governance and the eradication of poverty. www.sungi.org (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province)

The Thardeep Rural Development Program (TRDP) is an organization dedicated to reducing poverty and enlarging the choices of marginalized people, focusing on women and working children. Its goal is to help vulnerable groups benefit from the development process through participatory, gender-balanced approaches, and to eliminate poverty and child labor in arid zones of Sindh province. www.thardeep.org (Sindh Province)

Youth Action for Pakistan (YAP) is an organization that promotes the participation of young people in decision-making processes by organizing trainings and workshops, as well as dialogue with policy makers. YAP is working to end violence against women through education and activism, and by partnering with aid providers to offer health care and awareness sessions. www.yap.org.pk

(Sindh Province)

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Jan 27, 2011
Six months into the floods

By Oxfam staffer | Writer

Jan 26, 2011
Six months later: Pakistan floods

By Maura Hart | Humanitarian Press Officer

The crisis in Pakistan is far from over and could get worse, international aid organization Oxfam warned today, six months after the nation’s devastating floods.

In a report, Six months into the floods, Oxfam warns that millions of people are still in dire need and that the situation could deteriorate further. According to the report, although the aid effort has reached millions, it has struggled to match the immense scale of human need.

The report says that although Pakistan’s floods are the biggest emergency of recent times with more than 20 million people affected, the funding for the response has been woefully slow. The UN appeal for $2 billion to rebuild Pakistan remains only 56 percent funded.

Six months after the rains, hundreds of thousands remain in camps and thousands are living in tents beside their destroyed homes. Sub-zero winter temperatures have increased the incidence of chest infections including influenza and pneumonia, with over 200,000 cases reported in the second week of January alone. In the south, swathes of land – both homesteads and agricultural – remain under contaminated water, and Oxfam is concerned that already worrying pre-flood malnutrition rates have risen.

Neva Khan, head of Oxfam in Pakistan, said:

“Six months later, millions of people are still facing flood water, shivering in temporary shelters, and struggling to find food. Oxfam is currently helping nearly 1.9 million people – one of our biggest programs worldwide – but this is dwarfed by the number of people who are in need. The aid community has done a tremendous amount – but given the immense scale of this disaster, we have only scratched the surface of human need.”

Oxfam asks the government of Pakistan to extend the emergency period until peoples’ needs are met. The Pakistan government is due to stop emergency relief operations in most areas on January 31, 2011, but Oxfam warned that this could put at risk large numbers of people who still need assistance.

Oxfam urges the Pakistan government and the international community to learn the lessons of this disaster and seize the chance to re-build Pakistan better, specifically by providing land for landless labourers, providing better facilities for girls in schools, and investing more in disaster management down to the local level. Many landless farmers are scared to go home due to debts owed to their landlords, often for the crops that were washed away in the flood.

Khan said:

“Pakistan could salvage a new beginning from the debris of this disaster. If the country invests in disaster risk reduction, then the devastation wrought by this disaster could be consigned to history. With bold steps – like redistributing land – a fairer and stronger country could emerge. We must seize this chance to address the causes of inequality and poverty to build back a better and more resilient Pakistan.”

Oxfam also warns that action is needed now to prevent a secondary food crisis. Agriculture was particularly hard hit in the flood with more than 2.2 million hectares of crops lost. Most farmers missed the last planting season in November, some because their land was still underwater, but others because they did not get seeds and other agricultural supplies in time. The April farming season is likely to be missed unless urgent action is taken now to rehabilitate the fields that can be planted and distribute seeds and tools to farmers.

Oxfam also said that a disaster-prone state like Pakistan should have been better prepared to deliver an adequate and timely response, and criticized the aid community for focusing on Khyber Pakhtunkwa province in the north, at the expense of Sindh province in the south. Oxfam was in Sindh province from the outset, but many aid organizations did not extend their coverage there until two to three months later.

Links:

Link to the report on our website

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