Photos by Paul Jeffrey, ACT

Since the launch of the program in June 2004, Action by Churches Togther (ACT) International and Caritas Internationalis have been working together to assist more than 250,000 people in South and West Darfur. The ACT-Caritas Darfur response represents the vast majority of the world’s Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox churches.

Over the past three months, the security situation throughout Darfur has continued to be unpredictable and constituted a major challenge for both the people of Darfur and the humanitarian community. The United Nations Department for Safety and Security (UNDSS) reported a variety of serious incidents including carjacking, targeted attacks and break-ins against aid agencies. Three vehicles belonging to ACT-Caritas members were taken at gunpoint by armed assailants and have not been recovered. As a consequence of the increased insecurity, movement of all UN and NGO vehicles has been restricted. This has slowed down program implementation, but vital and life-saving work to provide assistance to internally displaced persons (IDPs) and host communities has continued.

Milestones October - December 2007

Emergency, Preparedness and Response Unit (EPRU)

• In South Darfur, 1,938 new arrivals in IDP camps and returnees received essential household items and hygiene kits including plastic sheets, plastic mats, blankets, cooking sets, mosquito nets, water containers and soap.
• 5 needs assessments were carried out in South and West Darfur to determine needs of newly displaced persons.

Water and Sanitation

• A total of 13 new boreholes were drilled.
• 50 hand pumps were repaired and 34 additional hand pumps were installed.
• 7 hand-dug wells were rehabilitated.
• 402 household and school latrines were constructed and 150 were rehabilitated.
• More than 250 water committee members, hand pump mechanics and water quality technicians received training on water management and hand pump maintenance, empowering them to have control over their own water supplies.
• More than 8,950,000 liters of chlorinated water were provided in camps through bladder tanks and pumping systems.
• 40 solid waste disposal and household cleanliness campaigns were conducted in various locations in South and West Darfur, involving more than 1,500 participants.
• 788 households received hygiene education messages through house-to-house visits.
• Individuals and school children have continued to be sensitized on health and hygiene education, including topics such as hand washing, personal hygiene and waste disposal.

Health and Nutrition

• 18 primary health care clinics (including one mobile clinic and one rural hospital) supported a total number of 64,463 patients, 5,618 mother and child health clients, and treated 90,077 cases of illness over the three months, in both camps and the host communities.
• A total of 20,475 persons including health workers, community members, caregivers, midwives and nurses received multidisciplinary training in nutrition and health education, capacity building, personal and environmental hygiene, HIV and AIDS prevention, Participatory Hygiene and Sanitation Transformation (PHAST), the importance of antenatal care, prevention of malaria, prevention of diarrhea, causes and prevention of malnutrition, breast-feeding, skin diseases and eye infections.
• ACT-Caritas handed over seven clinics in this quarter and one rural hospital to the State Ministry of Health (SMoH) in South Darfur.
• The supplementary feeding program, which assists malnourished children under five years of age and pregnant and breast-feeding mothers, supported 9,791 persons, who also received nutrition advice, monitoring and supervision.
• 32 people received treatment through the outpatient therapeutic program for persons suffering from severe malnutrition in three locations in South Darfur.
• A key achievement of 2007 was the handover of nine clinics (eight in Kubum and one in Wadi Sali) to the State Ministry of Health (with ongoing monitoring and technical support to continue for the first six months of 2008).

Protection, Psychosocial and Peacebuilding (PPP)

• Awareness raising sessions on gender-based violence were conducted in different locations in South Darfur, involving more than 229 women.
• In Garsila, West Darfur, 200 women attended awareness raising sessions on basic human rights, international humanitarian law, IDP guiding principles, women’s rights and the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women.
• 280 women, men, students and youth attended sessions on child rights.
• Workshops on peace building and conflict transformation were carried out for 150 people, including community leaders, women, youth, teachers and traditional healers.
• A variety of daily activities including income generation, sports, adult education and kindergarten have continued in ten community centers for IDPs in South and West Darfur.
• 2,581 women, children, students and teachers participated in open community days that were organized in Dereig and Mershing camps, South Darfur, during which traditional songs were heard and games were played.
• Five sessions of group counseling to address trauma were attended by close to 300 people (total) in Dereig community centers.
• 25 police officers in Mershing attended a three-day workshop on child rights, child protection during armed conflict and the role of the police in child protection.

School Support

• During this quarter, ACT-Caritas began the rehabilitation of three schools for IDPs and began construction of two other permanent schools for both IDPs and host communities in South Darfur.
• More than 65 classrooms and offices in South and West Darfur were rehabilitated and maintained.
• Close to 20 new offices and classrooms were constructed.
• In Zalingei, West Darfur, five schools in IDP camps were provided with plastic sheets, mats buckets and soap in cooperation with the State Ministry of Education.
• A needs assessment was undertaken in host community schools in Ed Daein, South Darfur, and as a result two schools will be rehabilitated.

Agriculture

• 1,006 IDP and host community households in villages and camps in South and West Darfur received winter seeds including okra, tomato and onion, which are customary winter crops.
• 50 IDP households in Bilel camp, South Darfur, were trained on production and protection of cereal and horticulture crops as well as seed banking.
• 50 selected farmers among the IDPs in Hassahissa camp in Zalingei, West Darfur, received training courses to enable them to train other farmers in production and protection of cereal and horticulture crops as well as seed banking.
  

16 Days of Activism

During November, the Protection, Psychosocial and Peacebuilding (PPP) sector took part in the international campaign for 16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence, coordinating a number of activities in South and West Darfur. Workshops, awareness raising sessions and trainings on various topics including gender-based violence, peacebuilding and human rights were carried out in community centers and at the ACT-Caritas office in Nyala. More than 650 women, men, school students and youth took part to help increase awareness and understanding of these crucial issues.