Source: International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC)
Date: 18 May 2005
Armenia: Annual Appeal No. 01.76/2004 Annual Report
In Brief
Appeal No. 01.76/2004; Period covered: January – December 2004
Appeal target: CHF 780,182 (USD 656,167 or EUR 503,830)
Related Emergency or Annual Appeals:
Armenia Annual Appeal 2004. For details, please see the website at
Armenia Annual Appeal 2004 – Programme Update no.1. For details,
please see the website at
Armenia Annual Appeal 2004 – Programme Update no.2. For details,
please see the website at
Overall analysis
To help the Armenian Red Cross achieve its objectives, as laid down
in the appeal 2004, the Federation raised CHF 1,226,269. The main
donors were the Norwegian Government, the Norwegian Red Cross,
Japanese Red Cross and the Federation’s Capacity Building Fund. The
big advantage was that there were funds available – 631 per cent of
the appeal budget – from the beginning of the year to start most of
the planned activities. Additional funds – CHF 70,000 – arrived from
the Federation’s Capacity Building Fund in April 2004. The Norwegian
Red Cross allocated another CHF 376,000 in June 2004. In December
2004, a further contribution of CHF 93,500 arrived2 increasing the
appeal coverage to 157 per cent.
This was more than the Federation appealed for 2004. The income
exceeded the total appeal budget. There are two issues, however, that
should be considered: firstly, the funding was not evenly distributed
among all the projects; while some received over 100 per cent of what
was required, others – the integrated management of childhood
illnesses, first aid and population movement, for instance – did not
have any income. These projects have not received support from
partners. As a result some of the important activities were not
implemented. The Armenian Red Cross has been trying to fill the gap
through bilateral partnerships, establishing contacts with in-country
organisations, national agencies and businesses, but the funds raised
locally have not been sufficient to cover the needs.
Secondly, the excessive contribution has been accepted with the
provision that the balance, CHF 412,983, will be carried forward to
2005 to cover the continuation of activities until the end of May
2005. Hence, the percentage of the expenditure, if calculated against
the income, is low (66 per cent) although the implementation and
consequently, spending, in general, followed the plan of action as
designed from the outset. If we look at the expenditure vis-à-vis the
budget, it stands at 104 per cent.
Table 1. Appeal budget, income and expenditure per each project
Programmes/Projects Appeal budget (CHF)
Total income (CHF)
Appeal coverage (%)
Expenditure (CHF)
Expenditure (% of the income)
Expenditure (% of the budget)
Balance (CHF)
Health and Care programme 186,793
236,055
126.3
171,790
72.8
92
64,263
Prevention of HIV/AIDS 40,549
55,276
136
30,486
55
75
24,790
Prevention of TB 14,465
30,080
207
12,986
43
85
17,0933
Social services for vulnerable people 131,779
150,699
114
128,318
85
97
22,380
Disaster Management programme 207,668
168,345
81
119,063
71
57
49,281
Disaster preparedness and response 142,361
168,345
118
119,063
71
84
49,281
First Aid 30,265
0
0
0
0
0
0
Population Movement 35,042
0
0
0
0
0
0
Humanitarian values programme 20,001
51,352
257
32,314
63
162
19,0374
Humanitarian Values 20,001
51,352
256
32,314
63
162
19,037
Organisati onal development programme 365,716
686,400
188
411,949
61
113
274,449
Branch development 194,478
356,265
183
215,973
61
111
140,291
Financ ial management and development 39,020
69,948
179
44,278
63
113
25,670
Youth development 132,218
260,187
197
151,698
58
115
108,488
Field Management –
84,114
–
78,165
93
–
5,948
Total 780,182
1,226,269
157
813,286
66
104
412,983
Despite funding gaps, the Armenia n Red Cross had remarkable
achievements in 2004: about 30,000 children (10,000 more than in
2003) were reached with messages on HIV/AIDS. Another 60,000 children
and their teachers were educated on disaster preparedness. Over
31,000 lone pensioners, refugees and orphans were provided with
social and health care.
Progress has been made in strengthening the National Society
capacities too. The Red Cross is better prepared now for disasters.
Its response teams have demonstrated that they can be quick and
effective. The teams responded to a number of alarm calls, many of
which were about car accidents and fire. National Society regional
branches work better as well. They have stronger links with the local
population and have implemented responsive and relevant programmes.
Measures have been taken to improve volunteer management too. The Red
Cross has a viable plan on how to reorganise its structure so that it
can recruit more volunteers, better manage and retain them. Financial
management has also improved because procedures are now clearer and
more transparent.
Challenges, however, remain. The most acute one is how to ensure
sustainability in the environment of dwindling international support.
The national society has to continue to provide better services and
explore more local funding sources to break with the recent tradition
of external support that is set to decrease. It needs to priorit ise
its work according to pressing needs and the capacity of the Red
Cross, strengthen links with the communities, and improve planning
and marketing. These are the issues that emerged in a recent
self-assessment. The National Society has started addressing them,
but more needs to be done. The Federation is committed to support the
Armenian Red Cross in achieving its objectives. Its support strategy
for 2005 has been designed to help the member national society
confront the remaining challenges in a consistent way (for more
details , see the Federation’s Appeal 2005 at
Footnotes:
1 CHF 490,115, the balance from the 2003 operation, was carried over
to support the continuation of projects in 2004.
2 According to the internal procedures in the Federation, CHF 93,500,
a donation from the Norwegian Red Cross, was channelled through the
2004 accounts, although the amount was earmarked to support the
projects in 2005. Hence, the amount was registered as an income of
the 2004 appeal increasing the appeal coverage. If we deduct the
December income from the equation, the appeal coverage would stand at
145 per cent.
3 The amount will be reallocated to PAM 537, prevention of HIV/TB
project.
4 The amount will be reallocated to PAM 540, the population movement
and PAM016, branch development projects to support the publication of
a brochure on the Red Cross work and public awareness campaign on
human-trafficking.
For further information please contact:
Anna Eghiazaryan, secretary general of the Armenian Red Cross, email:
[email protected], phone: +374 1 538367, fax: + 374 1 583630.
Gun Raikkonen, Federation representative in Armenia, email:
[email protected], phone: + 374 1 539443; + 374 1 539217; fax: + 374
1 539217.
Sylvie Chevalley, regional officer, Europe department, Federation
Secretariat, Geneva email: [email protected] phone: 41 22 730
4276; fax: 41 22 733 03 95.
The International Federation’s mission is to improve the lives of
vulnerable people by mobilizing the power of humanity. The Federation
is the world’s largest humanitarian organization, and its millions of
volunteers are active in over 181 countries. All international
assistance to support vulnerable communities seeks to adhere to the
Code of Conduct and the Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in
Disaster Response, according to the SPHERE Project. Please access the
Federation’s website at
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