Setting standards: Leading Nepal children’s charity shows how earthquake appeal funds saved lives
Since a huge earthquake struck Nepal on 25 April 2015, Childreach Nepal have reached over 2,500 households with emergency aid in Sindhupalchowk district.
Childreach Nepal have created24temporary learning centres enabling over 4,000 children to continue their education and be safe from child trafficking and other forms of abuse.
In response to calls for transparency and accountability in the aid and recovery effort and to drive standards in the humanitarian and development community Childreach Nepalare publishing the financial breakdownof their emergency response.
Independent Nepali children’s rights organisation,Childreach Nepal, are publishing their financial accounts for the two months following the huge earthquakes that hit Nepal from 25th April 2015, outlining how they have spent funds donated to their earthquake appeal and the impact of their response.
The move comes after the International Conference on Nepal’s Reconstruction held in Kathmandu on 25th June, which pledged $4.4bn for Nepal’s post-earthquake recovery. Senior government officials, including Nepal’s Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, used the two month anniversary of the 7.8 magnitude earthquake that killed over 8,800 people and devastated 14 of Nepal’s 75 districts, to call for transparency and accountability in the aid and recovery effort.
Calls for openness have also come from Nepal’s civil society and activists who have demanded that lessons are learned from previous natural disasters such as Haiti’s earthquake in 2010. At the recent donor meeting the European Unionlisted monitoring of international capital expenditure one of their priorities, whilst the World Bank has highlighted budgetary support as key to the recovery effort. It is in this context that Childreach Nepal are publishing their accounts for the two month period immediately following the earthquake. The report, which can be found on Childreach Nepal’s website, details our income and expenditure, itemising all costs associated with our relief effort and, most importantly, how this helped those whose lives were destroyed by the earthquake.
As well as getting vital medical supplies, food and shelter to people in Sindhupalchowkone of the worst affected districts,our team was also able to establish eight medical camps and 24Temporary Learnings Centres hosting over 4,000children so their education can continue and they are safe from traffickers and other potential abuse. With our partners, we have reached 2,512 households across 18 Village Development Committees, an estimated 10,852 people.
Childreach Nepal are just one organisation among hundreds who have responded to the immense challenges Nepal faces after the recent earthquakes. As a young organisation, run by young people, for young people, the most inspirational aspect of the response to the earthquake is the way Nepal’s youth organised themselves so quickly and in so many innovative ways.In Childreach Nepal’s case this meant mobilising up to 30 volunteers at a time to get vital aid to remote areas by motorbike, as well as partnering with the Global Shapers Hub Kathmandu to raise funds and source emergency supplies from within Nepal and internationally. Such dedication and collaboration brings great hope for the future of Nepal.
Childreach Nepal and Childreach International believe that as a sector we have a duty tobe as open about our shortcomings as we are about our successes both for the benefit of those who support us and for the people and children in whose name we operate. The tragic aftermath of the earthquake haspresented us with an opportunity to ensure that collectively, we have learnt from previous natural disasters and to show the Nepali people that we are listening to their concerns about how efficiently and equitably the billions that have been pledged and donated from around the world and within Nepal are being allocated and accounted for.