CHAD HUMANITARIAN UPDATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NDJAMENA 000482 SIPDIS SENSITIVE STATE FOR AF/C, S/USSES, AND PRM/AFR USAID FOR OFDA KHARTOUM FOR OFDA NSC FOR GAVIN LONDON FOR POL - LORD PARIS FOR POL - KANEDA ADDIS ABABA FOR AU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREF PREL PHUM SU CD SUBJECT: CHAD HUMANITARIAN UPDATE NDJAMENA 00000482 001.2 OF 003 ¶1. (U) The following is an update of RefCoord N'Djamena activities for the period of 12 to 23 OCT, 2009. -------------- RET'S SUDAN CURRICULUM EXAMS FOR GRADES 8 AND 11 -- PILOT CONTINUES IN 2010 -------------- ¶2. (SBU) RefCoord met 12 OCT with Refugee Education Trust (RET) Global Programme manager Guillaume Villard and outgoing Country Director Jennie Taylor (en route to take on RET's programs in Burundi). RET is providing education services in life skills and French/English instruction, Secondary Education through Distance Learning (SEDL),as well as formal secondary education, in the Oure Cassoni, Touloum, Am Nabak, Bredjing, Gaga, Treguine, Farchana, Djabal, and Goz Amir refugee camps, and the local communities of Hadjer Hadid, Kourkourgin, Farchana, Goz Beida, Koukou and Aradip. Regarding the 2010 administration of Sudanese curriculum grade 8 and 11 leavers' exams for Sudanese refugees in Chad, in cooperation with Sudan's Ministry of Education, the RET team sought to clarify that, though school programs other than those that RET managed would be producing grade 8 leavers, RET would only have the capacity to organize the grade 8 and 11 exams for pupils in the RET-managed programs. RET expects to have some 500-800 8th grade leavers at the end of the school year, out of roughly 4,000 completing the grade in all programs. At the grade 11 level, RET, in conjunction with partner IRC, expect to graduate 78 students. ¶3. (SBU) RET will only be able to push forward the pilot exams for their 8th graders, and the combined RET-IRC 11th graders, because the exams must be administered in a central location -- likely Abch -- due to the limited number of exam administrators that Khartoum is to provide. All pupils who will take the exams must be transported to that location from the camps where they reside, with the rainy season already in full swing. This meant, in 2009, that RET organized for the pupils to be transported by air, and provided lodging in Abch. RET has made certain all other organizations managing education programs in the camps are aware that these constraints will mean that, for the coming academic year, they will need to organize their own exams under UNICEF certification. ¶4. (SBU) The RET team also reported that they have found what may be an excellent site for their secondary school pilot in Hadjer Hadiid, very near to their current compound. However, the structures and land are privately-owned, bringing up the question as to whether RET would be in the position of purchasing the site with donor funding. Last, RET brought up the subject of the need to replace their vehicles in order to have sufficient transport to mitigate their security risks -- the vehicles purchased in 2006 are currently falling increasingly into disrepair -- and asked for guidance on budgeting for additional vehicles. -------------- PLANNING FOR WFP/UNHCR JOINT ASSESSMENT MISSIONS TO SOUTHERN CHAD -------------- ¶5. (SBU) RefCoord attended planning meetings on 13 OCT for subject Joint Assessment Missions (JAM). Two teams were originally set to travel simultaneously from 15 through 21 OCT, one to the five refugee camps in the Danamadji and Gore areas, and the second to the populations in motion in the area of Daha and Haraze. In both cases, the focus of the missions was to assess the level of food security in each of the areas; develop an understanding of possible self-reliance strategies that may be encouraged among the host populations and old CAR refugee caseloads in the Danamadji and Gore region; and explore the needs for essential services among the newer caseloads in the Daha / Haraze region. RefCoord determined that, with upcoming visits from Accra RefCoord and a Khartoum/Washington OFDA team beginning 16 OCT, joining one or the other of the JAMs was not appropriate. Results of the assessments will be released as part of WFPs overall assessment of needs in the coming weeks. -------------- MINURCAT READY TO SUPPORT LODGING NEEDS FOR FUTURE DHS CIRCUIT RIDES -------------- ¶6. (SBU) N'Djamena and Accra REfCoords began two weeks of work on NDJAMENA 00000482 002 OF 003 admissions issues with a 19 OCT meeting at MINURCAT headquarters with Guy Siri, Chief of Support Services. Mr. Siri's engineering staff has been the locus of assistance to PRM and all other USG travelers lodging in Abch during missions to Eastern Chad. Under the Embassy's current security policy which limits lodging for USG personnel in Abeche to a military base, maintaining cooperation with MINURCAT on lodging is essential for all staff overseeing the use of USG funds in the East and particularly important for the refugee resettlement program. Accra RefCoord, seeking to plan for a probable requirement to lodge up to six DHS Circuit Riders for several weeks to conduct admissions interviews of Sudanese refugees, sought Mr. Siri's guidance as to how we might best be able to expand the existing cooperation with MINURCAT to accommodate a more intensive use of the base's facilities. Mr. Siri stated that organizing lodging for these numbers was entirely within the base's capacities, given that by end-November, some 170 pre-fabricated housing units would be fully operational with en suite baths (vice some six units at last Embassy visit to the camp in September). He suggested that, in order to regularize the arrangement, a fee-for-use agreement would need to be worked out to cover the significantly greater costs to MINURCAT of lodging several visitors for a period of time beyond a night or two -- right now, USG visitors have lodging for free. Siri will consult with MINURCATs lawyers on the next steps to establish an appropriate mechanism for funds transfer. -------------- ACTED PREPARING FOR 2010 SUBMISSIONS FOR SOUTHERN CHAD -------------- ¶7. (SBU) RefCoord met 22 OCT with Regional Director Benoit PIOT, and Country Director Norik Soubrier of the NGO Agency for Technical Cooperation and Development -- "ACTED" to discuss the organization's intention to submit project proposals for PRM funding to benefit CAR refugees in southern Chad. ACTED staff believe that current self-reliance strategies will soon have diminishing returns, as nearly all fallow land in the region is now under cultivation. They believe that work done now to ease relations among refugees -- who do not appear to be preparing to return to CAR -- and host populations will help in a de facto integration strategy for the near future. ACTED sees the most pressing needs to be in water and sanitation for the coming year, with continuing work on agricultural production and economic recovery also needed. ACTED believes that projects can be appropriately formulated to meet the PRM requirement for focus on refugees, while allowing for conflict-mitigating benefits to host populations. They said they are working closely with UNHCR on proposal concepts. -------------- REF COORD FACILITATES RSO TRAVEL SECURITY ASSESSMENT -------------- ¶8. (SBU) RefCoord has joined with RSO to develop a field assessment strategy to review and update Post's travel security policy to areas commonly visited by USG travelers within RefCoord's areas of responsibility. RefCoord drafted a summary of current "best practices" used for travel in the areas of Abch and further east that are based on Post's current travel security requirements, as a starting point for review and update. RefCoord has used contacts within the humanitarian community to introduce RSO to security officers from UNHCR, UNICEF, UNFPA, MINURCAT contractor PAE, and UNDSS, as well as to help set up briefings in N'Djamena with MINURCAT's chief of security. N'Djamena and Accra RefCoords will travel to Abch 27-29 OCT to establish contacts with field security officers at UNHCR, WFP, IOM and MINURCAT (see calendar, below). -------------- CAM MAKING A GOOD START IN IRIDIMI AND TOULOUM CAMPS -------------- ¶9. (SBU) RefCoord met 23 OCT with Comit d'Aide Mdicale (CAM) Chief of Mission Adolf Bushiri Lukal to discuss the first months' work of this new PRM partner. CAM is providing services to maintain access to primary health care for the populations of the Iriba Health Distict, in the Touloum and Iridimi refugee camps, after the departure of MSF -Luxembourg (MSF-L) in June 2009. Mr. Bushiri NDJAMENA 00000482 003 OF 003 reports a successful hand-off of staff, including 33 refugee health assistants staffing pharmacies, vaccination units, and consultation rooms, and nine Chadian medical staff. MSF-L transferred a two-month supply of essential medications and supplies; CAM ordered another two-months in supplies in July, and once PRM funding was availlable at end-September topped up to a six-month stock. Current health problems among the population are dominated by watery diarrhea, particularly among those who take water from ouaddis near farm fields far from fixed water points. Mr. Bushiri noted he had the impression in these first weeks of real engagement in the camps that CARE Canada, working on water and sanitation in the camps, has had some difficulties with drawing supplies from existing bore-holes providing for the host population, with output at times only seven liters/person/day. He also noted that the IMC-run hospital at Iriba appears easily overwhelmed with referrals from both the Iriba Health District and as far afield as Bahai and the Oure Cassoni camp populations. ¶10. (SBU) Mr. Bushiri reports that CAM is conducting a case study in conjunction with CAM USA on primary health care delivery and the health environment in the camps and host community to determine whether a change in the mix of the MSF-L health program is necessary. He said the study will be completed by end-NOV, and will be shared for feedback with the Health Cluster in Abch, and then used as a basis of a conference of partners in the Iriba Health District for services coorcdination. Mr. Bushiri noted that CAM has had to establish a health data collection system brom scratch, having not received access to the MSF-L data system and collection in the hand-off. CAM has also been struggling to take on staff payment standards of UNHCR, requiring a reduction in payments to the refugee health assistance of up to 30 percent from the levels MSF-L had provided. CAM has sought to give some additional incentives to the refugee staff in the form of some non-food items. Last, Mr. Bushiri reports that UNHCR is encouraging CAM to pursue at least limited cost recovery, initially by charging a fee to refugees for their health care treatment booklet. CAM has delayed implementation until new refugee health committes can be orgainzed to sensitize the populations to the change in procedures. -------------- VISIT OF OFDA TEAM M'BARECK AND SIASOCO -------------- ¶11. (SBU) RefCoord provided basic assistance to OFDA/Khartoum's Oumar M'Bareck, and OFDA/Washington's George Siasoco, during their one-week visit to Chad, including help with scheduling appointments with FAO and the NGO Solidarits, in- and out-briefs with Ambassador Nigro, obtaining flights between N'Djamena and Abch, and filing requests for their lodging at the MINURCAT base there. Of particular interest was their finding that most humanitarian agencies appear to be following the lead of UNHCR's reorganization, and intend to relocate from Abch to N'Djamena, in an apparent effort to support increased humanitarian coordination. OFDA colleagues found that, although the planned move may have funding and program implications, agencies are indicating that none have a clear plan for operations yet, and planning remains ongoing. OFDA has drafted cables on these and other findings of their visit, to be transmitted septel. ¶12. (SBU) Calendar -- 15 -- 30 OCT: Visit of Accra RefCoord Emily Mestetsky -- 27 -- 29 OCT: Security Assessment Travel to Abch of N'Djamena and Accra RefCoords, N'Djamena RSO -- 02 -- 10 NOV: (Proposed -- TBC) RefCoord Monitoring Travel to Iriba, Farchana Areas NIGRO