Annual Report 2011 ZOA RELIEF HOPE RECOVERY ZOA HULP HOOP HERSTEL ZOA HULP HOOP HERSTEL

Transcription

1 Annual Report 2011 ZOA HULP HOOP HERSTEL ZOA HULP HOOP HERSTEL ZOA RELIEF HOPE RECOVERY

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3 Contents 3 1. Introduction 5 8. Our programmes Who we are 7 9. ZOA Worldwide 34 Afghanistan Executive s Report 9 4. Report from the Supervisory Board Report from the Works Council 19 Burundi 40 Cambodia 44 Democratic Republic of Congo 48 Ethiopia 52 Haiti 56 Liberia 60 Myanmar (with CDN) 64 Pakistan Organisation Funding, awareness raising and communication 25 South Sudan 72 Sri Lanka 76 Sudan 80 Thailand 84 Uganda Financial report 93

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5 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Introduction Looking back at the year 2011, I am pleased to conclude that it was a good year. We may well call it a year of harvesting. Processes that were started in the years before generated wonderful results in 2011, like the introduction of our new motto Relief I Hope I Recovery and the start of implementing the Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation programme. We experienced growth in our annual budget, enabling us to reach more people that needed our assistance. I am very happy with our capable and motivated staff, who often work in very difficult, sometimes dangerous situations. There were no major set-backs, no serious security incidents or other challenges that might have been detrimental to the programmes or the organisation. Reason for gratitude and satisfaction. Still, ZOA s work will always generate mixed feelings. Along with all the good results we can report, there are still so many people who suffer from violent conflict or natural disaster. It makes me modest in reporting successes, and ever more committed to ZOA s mandate; to support people who suffer due to armed conflict or natural disasters, by helping them rebuild their livelihoods. Johan Mooij Chief Executive Officer While reporting good results, there are still so many people who suffer from conflict or disaster. It makes me very committed to ZOA s mandate: to support people who suffer due to armed conflict or natural disasters, by helping them rebuild their livelihoods.

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7 7 2. Who we are Our name ZOA was founded in 1973 in The Netherlands. The three letters ZOA are the abbreviation of the Dutch translation of South East Asia, the area where the organisation started its initial activities. Our mission ZOA supports people who suffer due to armed conflict or natural disasters, by helping them rebuild their livelihoods. We call on our constituency and partners, in the North and in the South, to take responsibility and become involved. We provide maximum added value to those we support and those who support us. Our mission can be summarized in three words: Relief, Hope, Recovery. Relief We provide relief to people affected by conflict or natural disasters. Hope We contribute to a new perspective of hope in which people work together for a promising future in dignity and mutual trust. Recovery Together with the affected communities we work on recovery of their livelihoods. Our vision In a world full of conflict, injustice, poverty, and disaster, we want to contribute to signs of hope and restoration. We see this coming about where people experience peace, justice, and mutual trust once again, and where they regain personal dignity and confidence. ZOA acts and contributes from the biblical perspective of God s Kingdom, which will bring reconciliation and restoration to its full potential. Meanwhile, God calls us to seek justice and be faithful to those who need our support. Our key values Human dignity All people are different, but everyone is made in God s image. We treat all people equally. We dedicate ourselves to promote respect, mutual understanding and cooperation. Faithfulness Faithfulness means providing support that our beneficiaries can count on, honouring our commitments and being dedicated and accountable to them. Faithfulness means that we remain involved in conflict affected communities until they are ready to walk on their own again. Stewardship Stewardship encompasses both people and their environment. We promote solutions that are sustainable for both the people and their habitat. At the same time we seek to be good stewards of the resources delegated to us by using resources effectively and efficiently. Justice ZOA stands up for vulnerable and marginalized people. Through our programmes we combat injustice in the South. In the North we promote awareness of injustice and we call on our constituency to do right.

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9 CHAPTER 3 Executive s Report 9 3. Executive s Report Looking back at the year 2011, it can be called a year of harvesting. Several processes started in the years before generated results in The average size of our programmes grew with around 20 percent. Change of name ZOA changed its name in 2011 from ZOA Refugee Care to ZOA. The reason is that ZOA works with a much broader range of target groups than just refugees. Having refugee care in our name caused confusion about our mandate among both donors and target groups, since our target group is not refugees only. ZOA s mandate is to assist the rehabilitation of victims of natural disaster or armed conflict, whether they are displaced or not. New motto ZOA added the new slogan Relief I Hope I Recovery to make clear at a glance what our mandate is. Relief relates to disaster response, being more emergency related. Recovery relates to rehabilitation, because our commitment is to help people rebuild their livelihoods. The central word hope points to ZOA s vision; we want to contribute to signs of hope and restoration and offer new perspectives. Programme areas After we started programmes in two new countries in 2010 Haiti and Pakistan -, in 2011 we focused on establishing and continuing the existing programmes. We also initiated two new programme areas in Sudan (North Dafur and Gedaref), a new programme area in Uganda (Nwoya), in DR Congo (Lubero, North Kivu) and with CDN in Myanmar (Northern Rakhine State). In Cambodia we are in the phase-out process, preparing to hand over activities to local partners and to close our programmes at the end of Quality of programmes In 2011 we began to work in accordance with the new strategy document Signs of Hope that was adopted in the previous year. The document meant a substantial step towards more emphasis on improving livelihoods in our programmes, which now accounts for some 75 percent of our programmes. In early 2011 we were accepted as a member of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership ( The implementation of the HAP Standard will help us improve the quality of our programmes by giving additional attention to accountability to our target group. We started to implement the guidelines in Sri Lanka. In 2012 further implementation of the HAPguidelines will continue in Sri Lanka and also in other programme countries. Another aspect of improvement in quality of our programmes in 2011 is the renewed definition of the programmatic approach. We now systematically include all important aspects of the approach in assessment, implementation and evaluation of our programmes. Security Due to our mandate we work in fragile and often insecure situations. And yet we always succeed in finding committed people who want to do this work and to support those who are faced with these insecure situations in their daily lives. As an organisation it is our utmost responsibility to protect our staff. We appointed a full time security advisor in 2011, working on security policy, protocols, security training, security briefing, local security plans, advice in change of situation and support in case of security incidents. Twelve security incidents were reported in ZOA was directly involved in ten of these. Robbery and accidents were reported three times, ambush twice, explosives, armed attack, threats and robbery attempt all once. Even though injuries were reported in five instances, there were no deadly fatal casualties among ZOA-staff, for which we are very grateful. An attractive employer Worldwide, despite the difficult circumstances we work in, we were still able to find the right people for vacancies. In 2011 we paid special attention to the quality of management staff in the country teams. We started with the development of a training programme especially for them, which will be implemented in The trainee programme for young expat professionals, launched in 2009, gives young adults a chance to acquire professional experience and gives ZOA a chance to recruit experienced staff within a reasonable period of time. In 2011 seven trainees were active for ZOA. Six former trainees now work in junior staff positions, a good result of the investment in young professionals. Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation ZOA is lead agency of the Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation (DCR, with three other members: CARE Nederland, HealthNet TPO and

10 10 CHAPTER 3 Executive s Report Save the Children Netherlands. DCR receives funds in the co-financing system of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the so called MFS-2. The DCR started implementation of a five year programme in DCR works on rehabilitation programmes in six fragile states in Africa: Burundi, Democratic Republic Congo, Liberia, Uganda, Sudan and South-Sudan. The consortium partners work in complementarity. Through cooperation we will be able to achieve better results. Together we work in essential sectors for rehabilitation of communities: health care, education, water and sanitation, food security, development of economic activities and re-enforcing civil society. We can so contribute to greater stability and sustainable economic growth, and a society where people are self-sufficient and have access to basic services. It has been a complex process with four consortium members working in six countries and with several local partners, focusing on several sectors. Still, it all started up well, and we can look back on a successful first year in which much work was done. Five working groups, consisting of members from all participating organisations, make sure that cooperation and learning from each other is optimally realized. These thematic working groups are: advocacy monitoring and evaluation knowledge network communication programmes From March 2011 thousands of refugees arrived in Liberia from Ivory Coast. Though the ZOA Liberia team did an assessment in August, we lacked capacity and money to start assistance. For the year 2012 we plan to make operational the in 2011 started Disaster Response Unit, which will give more flexibility in situations like the one on the Liberian border, to respond quickly to occurring needs. In Thailand we changed our initial plan to hand over our activities to the local NGO U-sa Khanae Development Foundation. During the process, both ZOA and UK-DF realised that the burden would be too much for the young local NGO. ZOA has decided to phase out of Thailand in 2014, and is no longer seeking funding for the period afterwards. We are lobbying for other international NGOs to take over our work. Financial instruments ZOA does not use financial instruments to cover financial risks if they occur. Looking forward to 2012 In the coming year coming we will pay special attention to: strengthening the management teams in the country organisations by training and reviewing the job requirements; starting up the Disaster Response Unit; continuing improvement of the quality of the programmes, with special attention to the implementation of the programmatic approach and HAP-guidelines. Setbacks in 2011 In general there were no major organisational set-backs, no serious security incidents, or other challenges that might have been detrimental to the the programmes or the organisation. However, we did encounter difficult and sometimes disappointing situations.

11 HOOFDSTUK 1 PROFIEL VAN ZOA 3.1 DE ORGANISATIE 11 8 I am very happy that in the programme area all 15,000 families now have sufficient food throughout the year, even the vulnerable families. Bernie O Neill, Country Director ZOA Cambodia

12 RELIEF We provide RELIEF to people affected by conflict or natural disasters. HOPE We contribute to a new perspective of HOPE in which people work together for a promising future in dignity and mutual trust.

13 RECOVERY Together with the affected communities, we work on the RECOVERY of their livelihoods.

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15 CHAPTER 4 Report from the Supervisory Board Report from the Supervisory Board The Supervisory Board is a body that represents the constituency. The members contribute expertise from various fields. The Supervisory Board has formal responsibilities, such as appointing the CEO and approving the budget, it provides general supervision and advice. The Supervisory Board also ensures that the policy implemented by the board corresponds with the (multi-annual) policy plans and budgets that have been adopted and approved. The management of ZOA, headed by the CEO, is responsible for executive decisions and daily management. Members of the Supervisory Board The Supervisory Board members serve a term of five years, and can be re-elected once, making their maximum term ten years. Our website lists the members by name and indicates their period of service, as well as indicating additional offices that members hold. Dr. ir. H. Paul MPA, chairman. Mr Paul works with ABD Topconsult of the Dutch Ministry of Internal Affairs. J.W. Boogerd, retired banker. Drs. B. Brand MCM, town clerk/general director of the municipality Oldebroek. Drs. J. Kamphorst, independent interim manager and management consultant. Mr. B.J. van Putten, a retired mayor. Ing. K.A. de Vries MEd, geography teacher at Prins Maurits Christian Highschool in Middelharnis. Drs. A.W. Westerveld, MPH, physician. Works on preventive healthcare for Provincial Health Care Fryslân. Drs. W.J. Adema, RA MBA was a Board member from 1 September September 2011 and not eligible for re-election. Subjects discussed in 2011 The Supervisory Board met five times in Among the items on the agenda were: Approval of the annual accounts for 2010 Budget and annual plan for 2012 Salary and additional offices of the CEO Quarterly reports from the CEO Good governance check Identity Risk analysis and risk control Long range budget Meeting with the Works Council (twice) and the Management Team (twice) Members of the Supervisory Board met the International Management Team during the Inter Regional Meetings in March and October. Once a year a delegation of the Supervisory Board visits one of ZOA s programme countries. In 2011 two board members visited South Sudan. The audit committee focuses mainly on strengthening the internal audit function. The audit committee met four times in 2011, twice together with the external auditor KPMG. A three Board member selection committee was appointed to fill the two vacancies on the Board. Salary and additional offices of the CEO The remuneration committee appoints the CEO and conducts performance interviews with the CEO. This committee also sets the salary of the CEO. The remuneration committee meets at least once a year. The Supervisory Board has upon the recommendation of the Remuneration Committee determined the amount of the management remuneration and additional benefits to be paid to the CEO. The remuneration policy is regularly reviewed, most recently in In determining the remuneration policy and remuneration, ZOA adheres to VFI s advisory scheme for the remuneration of the management of charitable organisations

16 16 CHAPTER 4 Report from the Supervisory Board [Adviesregeling Beloning Directeuren van Goede Doelen] and the code of governance for charitable organisations [Code Wijffels] (see Under the advisory scheme, a maximum annual remuneration is determined on the basis of weighted criteria. At ZOA this weighting was performed by the Remuneration Committee. This resulted in a so-called basic score for management positions [Basis Score voor Directiefuncties BSD] of 495 points and a maximum annual remuneration of 124,000 (1 fte / 12 months). In 2011, the actual income of the CEO ( 95,557) was within the maximum set by VFI. For an exact overview, we refer to the financial statements, chapter 10, page 120. Each year the Supervisory Board examines whether the additional offices held by the CEO correspond with those of CEO of ZOA. The Board has found that the additional offices of the CEO are compatible with his responsibilities for ZOA. Approval Annual Report 2011 The audit reports prepared by the auditor KPMG were presented in the meeting of the Supervisory Board on 23 April The audit committee reviewed these reports comprehensively in the presence of the independent auditors and internal auditor. The independent auditors reported that there were no major weaknesses in the organisation, internal audit work or risk management systems. We concur with the results of the audit. Following the definitive findings of the examination by the Audit Committee and our own examination, we have raised no objections. In view of our approval, the Annual Report including the financial statements prepared by the Board are accepted as submitted. The Supervisory Board would like to thank all the ZOA employees in the North and the South for their good work and commitments during In 2011 the additional offices of the CEO were: Board member of EU-CORD Board member of the Bakker- de Jong Fonds (a fund which enables young people to study at a Bible school) Financial compensation Supervisory Board members receive no financial compensation for their work. They can claim expenses incurred in the course of their duties as Board members. The same rules apply to their claims that apply to ZOA employees.

17 HOOFDSTUK 1 PROFIEL VAN ZOA 3.1 DE ORGANISATIE 17 8 We both feel that the conflict that put us in this position lasted too long, so we agreed to share our plot. Our produce is greatly stimulated by manure, fertilizer and improved seeds that we received from ZOA. Now it is a win-win situation for both of us. Gordian Heberi and Norbert Bitaboneka, Burundi

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19 CHAPTER 5 Report from the Works Council Report from the Works Council The Works Council represents ZOA staff members with a Dutch employment contract and stands up for their interests. The Works Council regards members of the management teams in the programme countries as constituents as well, regardless of whether they hold Dutch or local employment contracts. The Works Council as a representative of ZOA staff is involved in several organisation and policy developments within ZOA. The Works Council has a diverse range of rights. It has the right to be informed about issues concerning the organisation, such as financial policy. It has the right to approve or disapprove measures concerning staff policy. In other aspects they have an advisory role. The Works Council consists of five members. Three work at head office in The Netherlands, and two work abroad (Uganda and Congo). An existing vacancy was filled in The main subjects the Works Council was involved in in 2011 were the biannual review of the Terms of Employment and the preparation of the Employee Satisfaction Review, to be implemented in The Works Council was also presented with the financial statements, the results of 2010 and the budget for 2011.

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21 CHAPTER 6 Organisation Organisation Organisational structure See figure on page 23. The country organisations have their own Country Management Teams and operate largely independently, enabling them to accommodate local developments. The International Management Team meets half-yearly during the Interregional Meeting. The meeting is instrumental in sharing best practices and policy development. The head office in The Netherlands supports the country organisations with policy cohesion and continuity, quality control, exchange of knowledge, financial management, fundraising, communication and staff recruitment. Support teams at head office ensure support for the country programmes. Each support team is comprised of members from the three operational departments: Programmes, Finance and Funding, as well as one member from the Monitoring and Policy Development department. Upon request a member from the Human Resource department will attend support team meetings. Staff In people worked at head office in Apeldoorn (approx. 52 fte). Male-female ratio is Expats work in fourteen programme countries. ZOA-staff in total is nearly 800, with local staff accounting for the majority of this group. Volunteers Seventeen volunteers work at head office, nine of them on a regular basis. Thirty volunteers were available for short term work abroad. Nine auditors from Alfa Accountants in The Netherlands were available for unpaid internal audits in the programme countries. In The Netherlands 554 local volunteers organised a door-to-door collection in their community. During a one week collection-period 17,230 people nationwide went door-to-door to collect money for ZOA. Statement of accountability ZOA subscribes to the following principles: Within the organisation, supervision (adopting or approving plans and carefully reviewing the organisation and its results) is kept separate from governance i.e. execution. The organisation strives continuously to allocate resources optimally to enable ZOA to operate effectively and systematically to achieve its objectives. This is set forth in our quality and control model. The organisation aims to optimize relations with stakeholders. ZOA focuses on information provision to gather and register wishes, questions and complaints. Both in the Netherlands and in the areas where ZOA operates, the organisation is in contact with stakeholders to make ZOA s work possible. The detailed statement of accountability appears in full on our website (in Dutch). Quality standards and codes ZOA has committed itself to the following codes of conduct and standards: Code of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and NGOs in Disaster Relief Sphere Standards People in Aid Code of Best Practice in the Management and Support of Aid Personnel The Good Governance Code for Charities (Wijffels code) The VFI fundraising code of conduct Standards of the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP). ZOA s quality management is certified according to the ISO 9001:2008 standard. Re-certification was realized for ZOA Netherlands in A learning organisation The Department for Monitoring, Policy Development and Evaluation facilitates ZOA as a learning organisation. Research, development of implementation tools and training are aspects for continuous improvement of the quality of the programmes. Main subjects the department worked on in 2011: A positioning paper on Private Sector Development, and subsequently integrating the resulting Private Sector Development policy into the Households Food Security and Livelihoods policy; Research on ZOA s experiences related to partnering with local organisations and capacity development in Liberia, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo; An ex-post evaluation in Albania, Angola and Rwanda (continuing into 2012). Environmental responsibility As stewardship is one of our key values, ZOA focuses on being responsible in the resources we use. In our

22 22 CHAPTER 6 ORGANISATION programme countries, our target group is affected by environmental degradation in their daily lives. In chapter 8 we describe how and why we include environmental protection in our programmes. At head office in The Netherlands we include environmental consciousness in our office management, among other resulting in use of FSC-certified paper and environmentally friendly waste management and power consumption. In 2011 ZOA decided to engage in a long term project aimed at the compensation of CO2 emissions caused by ZOA s intercontinental travel. The project focuses on tree planting and maintenance in Ethiopia. Together with Woord en Daad ZOA started the Wees Eerlijk (Be Fair)- campaign, an awareness raising campaign at high schools on sustainability and impact of our lifestyle on other parts of the world. Risk management Risk management has been formalised within the organisation s operational procedures. Risks, including the mitigating measures taken, are registered and classified. Implementation risks are carefully monitored by close supervision of compliance with internal procedures. Compliance risks are carefully monitored. Projects with a budget of more than 400,000 are subject to a comprehensive audit. A full-time security officer was appointed in 2011 to deal with safety risks. Security procedures, training courses and day-to-day contact with field staff in risk areas are given full priority. A continuity reserve offsets financial risks, and continuing efforts are made for diversification of donors. ZOA assesses each situation of possible reputation risks. Anti-fraud and anti-corruption Anti-fraud and anti-corruption policies are in place. In serious incidents, external auditors will carry out investigations. Five cases were reported in In Sri Lanka a project officer forged signatures of recipients for 3,150 Euros. After investigations the staff member paid back a sum of 2,000 Euros and his employment was terminated. In Sri Lanka a project officer also took money from the beneficiaries with false promises about what ZOA would do for them and put the money in her own bank account. After investigations she paid back the full amount of 880 Euros and her employment was terminated. In Ethiopia one of the project managers sent in false reports. The issue was followed up by management and the contract of the staff member was ended. In Liberia one of ZOA s partners issued a fake invoice. The issue was investigated and errors were corrected. Based on the procedures performed the financial impact was zero. The cooperation with this partner has been terminated. In the Democratic Republic of Congo we found a cash deficit of 2,000 USD. The investigation into the reason for the deficit was not yet completed at the end of Partnerships ZOA is a member of HAP, ICVA, EU-CORD, Dutch Security Network (member of steering committee), PSO, Prisma, Partos, VFI and IS-Academy on Human Security in Fragile States. ZOA is the lead agency within DCR (Dutch Consortium for Rehabiliation, with Save the Children, CARE Nederland and Healthnet TPO). ZOA works with DCU (Dutch Consortium Uruzgan, with Cordaid, Dutch Committee for Afghanistan, Healthnet TPO and Save the Children), with CDN (Consortium of Dutch ngo s, with Red een Kind in Myanmar) and with Dorcas, Red een Kind, Tear and Woord en Daad in a Dutch Emergency Relief cluster. Together with Aqua for All, AKVO, Simavi and AMREF Flying Doctors ZOA forms the leading group that organises the annual fundraising and education activity Walk for Water at primary schools. ZOA has a Memo of Understanding with CRWRC and with Medair, and with Stromme (in preparation). ZOA partners with other international organisations such as World Concern, TearFund UK, CARE, Save the Children, TBBC, Food for the Hungry, and with members of the EU-CORD network in the implementation of projects and in applications for funding.

23 CHAPTER 6 ORGANISATION 23 Supervisory Board CEO Internal Audit Department Dutch Consortium for Rehabilitation (MFS-2) Human Resources Department Security Support Monitoring and Policy Department Programme Department Fundraising and communication Department Finance Department Disaster Response Unit Programme Countries Haïti Pakistan Afghanistan Burundi Cambodja DR Congo Ethiopia Liberia Myanmar Sri Lanka Sudan South Sudan Thailand Uganda

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25 CHAPTER 7 Funding, Awareness Raising and Communication Funding, awareness raising and communication Funding ZOA is funded by more than 40,000 private donors in the Netherlands, by institutional donors, partner NGOs and external fundraising organisations (third party campaigns). Overall we experienced a 20% growth in our annual budget last year. Though the economic crisis is certainly being felt by companies and individuals, donations from private donors continued to increase in Emergency relief income decreased somewhat compared to 2010, the year of the earthquake in Haiti and the floods in Pakistan. Among our institutional donors we find the Dutch government, the European Commission including ECHO, the US government as well as multilateral agencies like UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP. In 2011 we were happy to welcome AusAID among our donors. We were also able to start the implementation of the MFS2-programme, a multiyear contract for with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, we continue to observe a decline in the available funds. It is a challenging environment for our ambition to continue to grow, stemming from our heartfelt desire to reach more people that need our assistance. In 2011 we put extra effort into broadening our network of partner organisations, especially in Europe, Australia and the United States. Such relationships result in win-win situations, as the partner organisation has the possibility to use their available funding in a rewarding manner through ZOA as a reliable partner, while ZOA can expand existing programmes with the extra funding to reach more beneficiaries. ZOA is pleased to maintain good relationships with partners that organise external fundraising campaigns for ZOA-projects, like DEL, EO-Metterdaad and Happy Gift. Reporting The manner and frequency of reporting to institutional donors, partner organisations and partners in external campaigns is usually laid down in the contract. Regular reporting as well as possible field visits by donors are usual ways to inform them about progress and results. The website gives more general information and updates on ZOA s programmes. Partners in external campaigns like DEL (connected to a Christian newspaper) and EO-Metterdaad (connected to a Christian broadcasting organization) are invited to visit projects. Private donors such as companies, schools, trust funds and major donors committed to a specific project, receive progress reports, according to the agreements made. Awareness raising ZOA wants to raise public awareness in The Netherlands regarding the plight of victims of violent conflict and natural disasters. We want to inspire our constituents by relating these facts to a Biblical vision of care and responsibility for the wellbeing of our neighbours. We offer constituents ways to become personally involved in ZOA s work; by donating money, becoming a volunteer or participating in events and campaigns. Expenses ZOA in 2011 Spent on objectives 91,7 % Fundraising costs 4,5 % Cost of management and administration 3,8%

26 26 CHAPTER 7 Funding, Awareness Raising and Communication ZOA has four region coordinators who give lessons about ZOA s work at elementary and high schools. Usually these lessons are followed up by fundraising activities. The region coordinators are also involved in recruiting and supporting volunteers for organizing the door-todoor-collection in their cities. An intensive raising of awareness is achieved through field trips to projects for specific groups like Business Ambassadors and high school students (winners of fundraising competition). Last year ZOA invited a Member of Parliament to visit the Dolo Ado area in Ethiopia. After his return he raised awareness for the plight of the Somalian refugees and the victims of drought, in the political arena as well as in the Dutch media. Business Ambassadors are entrepreneurs who are closely involved with ZOA s programmes. Besides a yearly contribution they share their expertise in marketing and business during field trips (at their own expenses), with the country director and the beneficiaries. In The Netherlands they share their commitment and raise funds in their own personal network. In 2011 we were pleased to welcome five new Business Ambassadors. The Business Ambassadors Network had 39 members at the end of Events and campaigns ZOA organizes two events around World Water Day in March to raise awareness about the lack of clean drinking water throughout the world: locally organised walks for water. In 2011, 2231 pupils from 48 primary schools walked 6 kilometers with 6 litres of water, having found sponsors to support them. the event Walk4Water. The event in 2011 attracted 785 participants, who could choose between walking 8 or 22 kilometers with a full jerry can of water, or run the 8 kilometers distance, carrying a jerry can. Together the school children and Walk4Water participants raised around 180,000 for a water project in Myanmar (including 16,800 from Aqua for All). During lessons at the schools and information panels along the Walk4Water route children and participants learned about the need for clean drinking water and the lack of it in many places. Be Fair (in Dutch: Wees Eerlijk), a campaign aimed at young people aged 14-16, is a cooperation between Woord en Daad and ZOA. The campaign that started in 2011 will last until Objective is to inspire young people to live sustainably and fair, and to translate Biblical concepts like justice and stewardship to everyday choices. In 2011 ZOA became a participant in the Micha Campaign, part of the international Micah Challenge. The Micah Challenge is a global coalition of Christians who hold governments accountable for their promise to halve extreme poverty by We empower Christians to speak out for justice and to turn compassion into action. Communication In this chapter we focus on our communication with public groups in The Netherlands. Communication and reporting with (international) institutional donors and funds is described under the caption Funding. The year 2011 will be remembered as the year ZOA lost the Refugee Care - part of its name. ZOA does not work exclusively with refugees, so the name caused confusion about our mandate. The communication department was intensively involved in the choice of a new slogan, that would make clear at a glance what our work is. The three words Relief I Hope I Recovery show that ZOA s target group includes all victims of natural disaster or armed conflict, and that our work goes beyond emergency relief. By having a clearer profile, a clear message and a strong appeal, we want to expand our public support base, because we believe that expanding our constituency will directly benefit our target group in the South. Annual research about how well the organisation is known among Dutch Christians shows that 58 percent know of ZOA. We aim to raise this percentage in the coming years. The public groups we focus on are families, schools, churches, companies and trust funds. Reporting The website and accounts on Facebook and Twitter are available for the general public. Especially the intensification of social media in 2011 has helped us to interact more directly with private donors and other people interested in our field of work. Using detailed mail request registration, we serve our constituency with information according to their wishes. All private donors can receive the ZOA magazine three times a year. Each issue has a circulation of about 50,000 copies and informs the donors about the situation of our target group, the progress of ZOA programmes and ZOA-activities in The Netherlands. People on our address list (about 15,000) can receive a monthly newsletter by , with information about fundraising campaigns, emergency relief and other ZOA-related news. In 2011, in cooperation with the Dutch Emergency Relief cluster, two information events were organized as a follow up on emergency relief campaigns of the year before. Around 400 visitors came to the information meeting about Haiti, organized by Woord and Daad and ZOA. The four participating organisations involved in the campaign for Pakistan organized one meeting in different locations throughout the country, so constituents could easily visit a meeting near them. Some 200 people attended one of the meetings, with over 30 visiting ZOA

27 CHAPTER 7 Funding, Awareness Raising and Communication 27 head office. These were very positive events where we could meet our constituents face to face and respond to many questions. Reports about the first year of relief in Haiti and in Pakistan were also published, in print and on the website. The report Haiti, two years after the earthquake, was in preparation to be published in January Complaint management ZOA has a formal procedure for dealing with complaints by Dutch constituents. In 2011 ZOA-Netherlands received 176 complaints. Main categories were about mailings, tele-marketing, donations, the door-to-door collection and the spicy nuts-campaign. In general ZOA will respond by telephone. Explanation of a situation and swift resolution of the problem usually proves to be satisfactory. Complaints mechanisms are also in place in the various countries where ZOA is active. The commitment to the HAP Standard has stimulated us to further improve on effective complaint and feedback mechanisms for beneficiaries and partners. Income ZOA in 2011 Income own fundraising activities 25% Income from third party campaigns 3% Project grants 72% Income designation in 2011 Income without specific designation 58% Income with specific designation - emergency relief 20% Income with specific designation - other 22%

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29 CHAPTER 8 OUR PROGRAMMES Our programmes Fragile environments ZOA works in countries known as fragile states, where society has been disrupted by conflict, violence and natural disasters. Factors that determine whether to start working in a country are: Conflict and instability as well as the lack of capability in communities and on the part of authorities in dealing with local conflicts constructively. Lack of access to basic resources and services, particularly among poor and vulnerable groups. The level of support that the local authorities or organisations are able to provide for the population. The number of persons affected. Programmatic approach In 2011 we redefined our programmatic approach. Without aiming to be exhaustive, the following characteristics of the programmatic approach can be mentioned: Focus on a specific geographical area, and awareness of its specific context Ownership and community participation including accountability to beneficiaries Shared vision between ZOA, beneficiary groups and partner organisations on desired changes Focus on outcome defined as change at community and beneficiary level Added value of collaboration with other actors Building local capacities and resilience for future risks. To program, monitor and evaluate change at community level ZOA uses a three-dimensional change framework. The three dimensions enable us to remain focussed on what our work is all about. Access to basic resources and services Community governance and inclusion Peace and stability Communities in fragile settings are confronted with a variety of common social issues and problems that go beyond sector-specific areas of attention. ZOA pays specific attention to gender equality with respect to these so-called cross-cutting issues. Core sectors ZOA s sectoral focus is on livelihoods, WASH and education. In the context of conflict affected fragility, livelihoods comprise how people access and mobilise resources that enable them to pursue the goals necessary for their survival and longer-term well-being, thereby reducing the vulnerability that is created and exacerbated by conflict. We support our target group in restoring their livelihoods, getting them back on their feet and becoming self-sufficient again. Livelihoods relate to a wide range of interventions varying from agricultural improvement, vocational training, micro-credit and marketing support. To restore livelihoods, ZOA s primary focus is to improve food security and economic growth, in a conflict sensitive manner. The two other main sectors in ZOA s focus are WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) and education. Shelter is an additional sector often included in disaster response projects and ZOA has significant experience and expertise in this regard. Disaster response ZOA has many years of experience in providing support soon after a disaster. With the start of a Disaster Response Unit in 2011 we created additional emergency response capacity and put our policy into practice to extend emergency relief with a prolonged period of early recovery. The first countries where the new approach was implemented are Haiti after the earthquake of January 2010 and Pakistan after the floods in August The initial emergency phase is followed by a three year programme to support recovery. In 2011 a Disaster Response programme was started in eastern Ethiopia, during the severe droughts that hit the Horn of Africa. The Disaster Response Unit supported ZOA Ethiopia in scaling up the Dolo Ado programme in response to the acute needs. Besides distribution of emergency items (in this case wood saving fuel stoves), the basic principle here is also to support livelihoods. Not only those in the camps but also the neighbouring villagers were affected. They suffered from the drought as well, and also from the effects of a massive influx of refugees in this vulnerable environment. They received support through small scale irrigation and agricultural improvement.

30 30 CHAPTER 8 OUR PROGRAMMES Environment Many of the target group s problems arise from being extremely vulnerable to forces of nature. Drought, floods and scarcity can cause upheaval. Exhaustion of soil and depletion of wells is averted by protecting the natural environment and by diversifying sources of income. ZOA supports the target group by providing fuel saving stoves, teaching methods for irrigation and long term water storage and erosion protection. Multi-stakeholder approach ZOA applies a multi-stakeholder approach: ZOA formulates programme objectives together with all of the stakeholders. In each situation ZOA determines how best to work towards these objectives and complement what is already there. ZOA works with local authorities, with local organisations, companies or groups of farmers, while in other situations it works primarily with its own staff. ZOA Sri Lanka volunteered to act as a pilot country for implementation of the HAP Standard. After a self-assessment to establish the current level of accountability practice, the team developed an action plan to lift its beneficiary accountability to a higher level. Main priority in Sri Lanka has been to set up effective complaint and feedback mechanisms for beneficiaries and partners. A draft Humanitarian Accountability Framework has been developed. This HAF needs fine-tuning with staff in the countries, followed by field testing and full approval of the ZOA Management Team. This will take place in Local presence with own staff generates a major advantage in the development of knowledge about, and sensitivity to the local context and the dynamics between all actors present. A local presence also provides us with the flexibility to launch and implement programmes in areas where no suitable partner organisation is present. Humanitarian Accountability Partnership ZOA became a full member of HAP International in March The objective of Humanitarian Accountability Partnership is to give the target group a voice. ZOA intends to use the HAP Standard as a tool to assess and improve accountability and interaction with its beneficiaries.

31 CHAPTER HOOFDSTUK 8 1 PROFIEL VAN ZOA OUR 3.1 DE PROGRAMMES ORGANISATIE 31 8 In the camp I forgot my dignity and begged in order to feed my children. But ZOA brought me back home. I received seeds and an ox and together with my wife I am cultivating our own land. My children are in school. I am a proud father now. Muhammad Ahmad Ali, Somali region, Ethiopia

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35 35 Almost 40 years of experience in fragile environments. 9. ZOA Worldwide Nearly 800 dedicated people working for ZOA. The majority is local staff. Our total income in 2011 was 40,9 million euros. AFGHANISTAN HAITI LIBERIA SUDAN PAKISTAN ETHIOPIA MYANMAR CAMBODIA THAILAND SOUTH SUDAN UGANDA SRI LANKA DR CONGO BURUNDI

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37 CHAPTER 9 37 Afghanistan Supporting victims of war, drought and floods towards better livelihoods ZOA has been active in Afghanistan since After over thirty years of wars and natural disasters, Afghanistan s already underdeveloped infrastructure has nearly been destroyed. In the last few years many refugees are returning after many years of absence, further straining the resilience. In the two programmes in the North and in the South, we focus mainly on WASH activities and capacity building of local NGOs and local government. Activities Besides the normal program, ZOA is occasionally involved in emergency relief in the northern programme since the area suffers from both flooding and severe droughts. It was clear for quite some time that the drought in 2011 would come and have a serious impact. Despite of lobbying, the donor community was slow to act at the same time the drought in the Horn of Africa was a fact. ZOA, however, carried out a Cash for Work project to assist people in Saripul, affected by the drought. Most of ZOA s activities are executed utilizing the Community Development Committees. Each CDC represents on average 25 families with 7 members per family. The training and cooperation with these CDCs in the past few years is bearing fruit; their capacity in managing projects has been enhanced. We also see other donors starting to work through them, e.g. WFP and UNOPS. With the current implementation of the New Roll Out we are working with 54 CDCs in Saripul. Due to the drought the Horticulture and Livestock Project (HLP) had a hard time. The farmers are so poor that training and saving groups alone can hardly help them to achieve better living circumstances. A smaller scale Kitchen Gardening Project was quite successful, however. Many farmer groups received good quality seeds and training and were able to get a better diet and some income from their vegetables. In Uruzgan three local partners have been implementing ZOA s activities, and 48 CDCs have been directly involved in the project activities. Training was given to them in Tarin Kowt or in Kabul. Training of the female staff was much appreciated. ZOA s partners improved substantially in all of the trained aspects, such as Project Cycle Management, Monitoring and Evaluation and hygiene education. Much work in the WASH sector has been accomplished. Besides hardware, much energy was put into hygiene awareness raising. It is encouraging to see that there are more opportunities for women to be involved in hygiene training, both women who are allowed to train and women of the households to receive such training. The availability of water for agricultural use has improved due to the restoration of karezes, culverts and dams. Toothpaste sold out Among other, ZOA s programmes in Afghanistan contribute to access to basic services. After ZOA put much energy into hygiene awareness raising in the past few years, in 2011 ZOA staff in the Southern Programme area noticed signs that the communities were starting to pick up on the importance of hygiene. Local bazaars, for example, ran out of toothpaste, and the number of public bath houses increased greatly.

38 38 CHAPTER 9 AFGHANISTAN ZOA Afghanistan Worked in: Focused on: Results included the following: Worked with: Southern Programme: Uruzgan province Northern Programma: Jawzjan and Saripul provinces WASH, capacity building, kitchen gardening and occasionally emergency relief Facilitated National Solidarity Programme for 54 CDCs 44,000 persons received assistance through Cash for Work and water tinkering in North Afghanistan (ERF OCHA) 800 male and female farmers received seeds and training 25 male and 15 female farmer groups(each consisting of 20 farmers on average) received farmers training in North Afghanistan 60 wells were constructed in Uruzgan 120 wells were restored 4,500 families given access to clean water 358 latrines constructed 12 km of irrigation canals were restored 8 culverts were constructed 4 diversion dams were constructed 180 communities were taught about hygiene The local departments of the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) and the Ministry of Agriculture Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) in all three provinces. ZOA s South Region staff works with three local NGOs: ANCC, ARPD and NERU, under the umbrella of Dutch Consortium for Uruzgan (DCU). For reporting purposes ZOA reports to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economy. In the North there was cooperation with People in Need for an emergency Cash for Work programme. Staff 31 December 2011: 75 Received donations from: WorldBank (via MRRD and MAIL) Royal Netherlands Embassy ZOA Netherlands, ERF (OCHA) Expenditures in 2011: 1,744,480 Budget 2012: 2,337,534

39 CHAPTER 9 AFGHANISTAN 39 From scepsis to happiness; from a small bag of seeds to a great harvest Small bag of seeds When ZOA s agronomist Tahir distributed small bags with 66 seeds in each bag, Ghalam Rassul was very sceptical. He explained that last year he had received 1 kg of seeds, but the quality was so low it did not yield much crop. Tahir reassured him that he had tested the seeds and they germinated well. Ghalam Rassul decided to trust Tahir and the result pleased him a lot: he was able to harvest 70 kg of squash! He happily added that he would use the seeds that came from this year to plant next year. Thank you - letter! Province Jowzjan Ministry of Education Name of the school: Yaraghli Girl s Secondary School Date: 1390/09/06 Thank you - letter Dear honorable friends, I hope all of you will be fine. ZOA office, residing in Jowzjan province, dedicated one water tank which has the capacity of two thousand liters water and for the foundation five hundred bricks, two bags of cement and one truck of sand for Yaraghli School on 1390/9/3. We are very thankful from ZOA office that they helped us, we hope their success in the future. Kind regards, Principle of Yaraghli School