- Who are we?
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)’s regional office for South Asia has existed since 1997 to support the work of its member National Societies and country offices to improve the lives of vulnerable people in the region. The support provided focuses on capacity building and technical assistance and advice. Increasingly we aim to adopt an integrated approach in programming which we can present as a working example to the membership.
The region includes the countries – Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – where Red Cross Red Crescent National Societies work as auxiliaries to their respective governments and provide targeted and needs-based services to the most vulnerable communities, in close collaboration with Red Cross Red Crescent Movement partners and external partners including United Nations (UN) agencies and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Another country in the region, Bhutan, which has no Red Cross National Society at this stage, dialogue is being undertaken and limited support is provided to the government on needs basis.
South Asia regional delegation (SARD) also plays an important role in the mobilization of international assistance for IFRC programmes in the region and in the promotion of the humanitarian diplomacy agenda and beneficiary communication. As part of the regional delegation’s role, strategic management support to South Asian countries is four-fold:
1) Strategic guidance, management and monitoring of programme performance at country level;
2) Provision of technical support to programmes as required, in particular those with no in-country technical delegates;
3) Ensure regional coordination, networking – including partnership building, mutual learning, optimising the utilisation of regional resources and knowledge sharing;
4) Ensure that global initiatives are disseminated, understood and prioritised within the region, and that the required support is given to roll out such initiatives to all national societies including partnering National Societies.