UNICEF as an agency originally created to support children and women during emergencies has been addressing children’s rights in natural disasters, conflicts and wars. Kyrgyzstan has been hit by several shocks since 2007, with a convergence of food, energy and financial insecurity, a compound crisis and a political uprising in Bishkek in April 2010. Furthermore, longstanding ethnic tensions climaxed in intense and targeted inter-communal violence in the southern provinces of Osh and Jalal-Abad in June 2010, causing a major humanitarian crisis in the area. Directly after these events took place, UNICEF was on the scene to provide immediate relief. A UNICEF zone office and an Osh warehouse were rapidly opened; 200MT of most urgently required supplies were airlifted in, which included tents, diarrhoea kits, sprinkles, water tanks, school-in-a-box etc. and clusters were activated with other aid agencies; all benefitting over 300,000 people. UNICEF’s response touched different sectors: Health and Nutrition: A focus was placed on child and maternal hospitals, where supplies were brought in, including nutrition supplies and a cascade of training seminars were organised to build the capacity of staff, mothers, families and communities. Furthermore, to prevent a polio outbreak, 2 rounds of polio immunisation were organised and reached 95% of all children up to the age of 15 years old. In total, health and nutrition interventions have directly benefited hundreds thousands of children, tens thousands of pregnant mothers. Education: During the June 2010 events, three schools were destroyed – two in Osh Province and one in Jalal-Abad Provincet. Several other schools in the affected areas suffered damages. The education of 83,000 students in 490 schools were directly affected. UNICEF’s primary goal was to ensure that education was not interrupted, and therefore led a Welcome to School Initiative which provided a safe school environment for students to return to. This meant providing essential supplies and small grants to schools, introducing peace-building components to the curriculum, supporting safety measures and establishing and equipping temporary learning locations for students who could not return to their own schools. Nearly 100,000 children benefitted. WASH: Many of those affected by the 2010 humanitarian crisis were left with destroyed houses and with no access to water or sanitation. Furthermore, the emergency shed light on the dire sanitation situation, particularly in schools and hospitals. UNICEF therefore provided supplies to schools, child-friendly spaces, hospitals and affected communities and continues to construct latrines in communities and schools, to rebuild the infrastructure and to promote hygiene, particularly in schools. Child Protection: Forty-five Child Friendly Spaces were set up in the most-affected communities where over 6,000 children could have access to daily psycho-social services. This enabled women and children to return to normalcy and start rebuilding their lives. A Gender Based Violence referral system was also put in place as well as 33 Women’s clubs. Government and NGO Partners were supported to provide the best possible services to affected communities. Youth: Sixteen Youth Clubs have been established since the 2010 crisis under the Peace-Building programme to provide alternatives for vulnerable youths. Social Protection: Urgent social assistance measures provided additional cash transfers to families and children with missing, deceased or injured bread-winners. UNICEF continues to work on emergency relief throughout the country, and more specifically in the southern parts of the country. It works with the Government and other agencies to maintain the sustainability of its efforts and to strengthen the country’s emergency preparedness, this includes taking the lead in the WASH and Education Clusters and in the nutrition, child protection and gender-based violence sub-clusters. Essential, life-saving equipment and trainings continue to be provided to Mother and Child Health Facilities; the micronutrient deficiency prevention programme is being scaled up throughout the country; UNICEF is improving the technology of sanitation facilities, particularly in schools and health facilities, and peace building and tolerance is being introduced in school curricula. Women building their lives together - Six months after the June 2010 emergency Reaching out to children in the South - Polio immunization in rural Kyrgyzstan Child-friendly spaces for reading, drawing, playing together without fear UNICEF helps displaced families start afresh after violence in Osh
Disaster Risk Reducation Since these June 2010 events, UNICEF has been working on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) so as to prepare the people of Kyrgyzstan against potential Disasters.Kyrgyzstan’s geographic location and mountainous terrain make it very susceptible to natural disasters. These include avalanches, droughts, floods, glacial lake outburst floods, earthquakes, landslides and mudslides, epidemics, pests, crop diseases and river erosion. Every year, the country incurs around $35 million worth of damage[1]. However, the budget does not provide the country with enough resources to be able to cope with these disasters, thus increasing the population’s vulnerability, particularly people living in remote areas. The greatest victims of such disasters are children under the age of 18 years old. To add to the traumas incurred, these disasters often interrupt education. Thus the Ministry of Education and Science, in collaboration with the Ministry of Emergency Situations and international partners such as UNICEF are working to strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction within communities. Funded by the European Commission, UNICEF is supporting a project that promotes DRR in 38 preschool institutions of Batken and Leilek Province. It is working both at local and national levels. · Local level: UNICEF is working to insure a safe environment for preschool children, promoting behaviour change by improving children’s, parents’ and teachers’ knowledge, skills and tools to effectively prevent, cope and recover from disasters. In order to achieve this, a range of disaster preparedness activities are conducted within preschools and schools. These include establishing a school/preschool disaster management committee and developing preparedness plans (including hazard, risk, and vulnerability assessments, warden systems and plans for disaster preparedness exercises). · National level: UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Emergencies to mainstream DRR into policy documents and develop educational preschool and school standards and programmes and incorporate DRR in the pre-school curriculum. These efforts should mitigate the impact of disasters and result in saving the lives of many children. [1] UNICEF, Situational Assessment of children in the Kyrgyz Republic, 2011, p36
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