UNICEF ANNUAL REPORT for Sri Lanka

2 

 

 

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Achievements 1) Addressing humanitarian needs among IDPs and returnee communities in conflict-affected areas in the North and East has been a priority for UNICEF, Government and civil society partners in 2010. Results include:

• 360, 000 people reached in mine risk education through community-based dramas, school activities and media awareness-raising;

• 93,000 people provided with safe drinking water, including 14,000 children in 122 schools;

• 80,000 internally displaced children attended school and received basic education materials;

• 43,000 children supported through 538 community-based structures, such as children’s clubs (270), safe play areas (91), and village child rights monitoring committees (177);

• The nutritional status of more than 24,000 returnee children under five years of age improved.

2) The Government’s November 2010 Budget highlighted tackling poor nutrition among vulnerable children and women as a priority. That nutrition improvement is a public policy, and a priority for achieving social equity is partly attributable to UNICEF Country Office advocacy. The evidence-based advocacy drew from the findings of a Nutrition and Food Security Survey 2010, conducted by UNICEF jointly with the Ministry of Health and World Food Programme (WFP). 3) UNICEF advocacy led to the Government launching an Annual National Early Childhood Care and Development Week. Shortfalls 1) Security issues and limitations on partnerships with NGOs were constraining factors

in the Northern provinces resulting in lower than expected implementation rates. 2) Although services are being rapidly restored for resettled populations, shortages of

qualified human resources contribute to gaps in service delivery.

2 

 

2. COUNTRY SITUATION AS AFFECTING CHILDREN AND WOMEN

Sri Lanka has undergone significant changes since 2008. In May 2009, almost 30 years of conflict ended and the country moved to recovery and development. Its achievement of a middle-income country status, together with the end of conflict, has already resulted in lower receipts of grants from donors.

According to the World Bank, GDP growth in Sri Lanka was 8.5 percent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2010, the highest quarterly growth rate since 2002, indicating Sri Lanka is bucking the trend of economic constraints experienced in the developed world. In response, UNICEF is shifting its focus from emergency to development with a more upstream policy-oriented programme including equity-directed investments for children, in line with government policy.

National budget allocations for the health, education, social services, and child development sectors have increased in absolute terms and as percentages of the total budget. An increase of 0.4 per cent is recorded in the health sector over the last year. The total budget for 2010 was USD 16 billion. Allocations were: health 3.04 per cent, education 1.54 per cent, water and sanitation 1.41 per cent, social services 0.04 per cent and child development 0.04 per cent. The water and sanitation sector allocations indicate a slight decrease, from 1.64 per cent in 2009 to 1.5 per cent in 2011. Sri Lanka is currently ranked 16th, out of 134 countries, in the Global Gender Gap Report 2010 compiled by the World Economic Forum. The report measures economic, political, education and health-based criteria. More than a million people, many of them women, are reported to have migrated from Sri Lanka to find work abroad and concerns exist about adequate care for their left-behind children. Sri Lanka has a good track record on Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 2 and 3 and has one of the highest literacy rates in South Asia at 92.3 per cent for males and 90 per cent for females. The country has achieved gender parity in primary schools and gross enrolment rates at primary level are above 90 per cent. The completion rate in primary education is 89.9 per cent and the survival rate is 99.5 per cent for both girls and boys. Although participation rates are high, further enhancement of quality of education is required. Geographical disparities in education achievement at all school grades/classes can be attributed to teacher capabilities and deployment, student attendance, classroom practices, and school leadership. Sri Lanka is on track to achieve MDG 7, target 7c, for water supply and sanitation with a national average of improved water supply of 85 per cent and improved sanitation of 87 per cent. However, water and sanitation coverage are below the national average in the Northern, Eastern, Central and Uva provinces, and in some peri-urban areas. The main challenges are to improve the low coverage rates in certain districts. Sri Lanka has achieved a relatively high status of healthcare as observed by the low levels of infant (16/1000), child (21/1000) and maternal mortality (39/100,000), high immunisation coverage (97 per cent), high deliveries by skilled health professionals (98 per cent) and ante and post natal care showing high performance in the health sector. Continued government support for free health for the entire population is a major contributory factor in achieving the current levels in health indicators

3 

 

3. CP ANALYSIS & RESULT 3.1 CP Analysis 3.1.1 CP Overview: Please refer to sections 3.1.2 and 3.1.3

3.1.2 Programme Strategy 3.1.2.1 Capacity Development: UNICEF Sri Lanka capacity building plans included a series of training programmes for professional staff and partners, including community members. They were based on evidence and analysis of needs and designed to increase partners’ capacity through various forms, from a Child Protection Diploma requiring more than 400 hours of learning over 18 months, to exposure visits within and among provinces to promote sharing of Child-Friendly School practices or through regular technical support, such as the one provided to the National Board of Water Supply and Drainage (NWSDB) in the investigation and siting of boreholes after UNICEF pinpointed the growing need to use groundwater. In the education sector, principals, teachers and education officers were trained in school management and in facilitating the processes of School Self Assessment (SSA) and School Development Plans by school communities. The SSA process became an effective capacity building tool at school community level, especially among students and parents, not only enabling them to be actively involved in school development activities but also to improve their knowledge, particularly in the areas of participatory planning, implementation, monitoring and child rights. UNICEF assisted communities by supporting the establishment of the Rural Water Supply Units which provide technical repair and maintenance support to community-based organisations as they operate and maintain their respective small scale water supply systems, providing access to safe drinking water supplies for thousands in rural communities. UNICEF targeted more than 1,500 key social and legal protection officers to promote the required knowledge, attitudes and skills for their jobs. Programmes were conducted in partnership with the Ministry of Justice to brief officials on the Children and Young Persons Ordinance, which is the main procedural law related to children in contact with the law in Sri Lanka. Following the 2009 humanitarian situation, UNICEF identified the need to support the Ministry of Health, various NGOs and UN agencies in building the capacity of their staff to manage “Nutrition in Emergencies”. An extensive course was designed with a focus on situation assessment, planning and implementing nutrition interventions during emergencies, with a special focus on vulnerable children and women.

4 

 

3.1.2.2 Effective Advocacy: UNICEF continued to provide a strong and consistent voice for children. As co-facilitator of the Education cluster, UNICEF contributed to the stabilisation and improvement of education in the Northern Province, encouraging authorities to prioritise space for schooling in IDP camps and advocating for IDP students to attend schools outside the camps. Advocacy with the Ministry of Justice on children’s issues led to improvements in how children are treated in the School of Youthful Offenders, wherein children are now dressed in civilian clothes and not in ‘prisoner’ uniforms. Another achievement was acceptance by the police of child protection training in their regular curriculum. Advocacy embedded in a ‘sport for development’ partnership resulted in resources mobilised to help the rehabilitation of children affected by conflict. A celebrity cricket match organised with the International Indian Film Academy and Sri Lankan cricket Board raised 250,000 USD. These funds will be used to fund on-going cricket life skills/peer leader training undertaken by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLCB). Already the SLCB has trained 96 children as ‘Cricket Peer Leaders’. UNICEF played a lead role in launching the regional Healthy Hat-Trick (nutrition, improved sanitation and girls’ education in south Asia) initiative at the Asia Cricket Cup, in partnership with the Asian Cricket Council. Advocacy tackled equity-based water and sanitation issues, including partnering the Government on Global Hand-Washing Day (October) and Water Safety Week (December). These events helped to secure decision-makers’ support for funding water safety issues. UNICEF advocacy led to the Government prioritising Early Childhood Care and Development and dedicating a national week (December) to ECCD social mobilisation. Advocacy on the risk posed by mines contributed to the Government establishing a National Mine Action Centre. Advocacy on immunisation successfully targeted key decision-makers, persuading them to conduct research into why trust in immunisation has been eroded. A comprehensive immunisation campaign begins in 2011. UNICEF advocacy was enhanced by visibility generated by 16 press releases, five human interest stories and four videos. This resulted in more favourable coverage for UNICEF in the domestic media: 94 per cent in 2010, compared with 50 per cent in 2009.

3.1.2.3 Strategic Partnerships: UNICEF Sri Lanka strengthened its relationships with key partners to deliver harmonised assistance to Sri Lanka, taking into account the evolving context. UNICEF, in its role as cluster facilitator for WASH, Nutrition, and Education with Save the Children, and facilitator of the Child Protection sub-cluster, plays a critical role in enabling communication among partners, coordinating areas of intervention and leveraging capacities and resources for vulnerable children and women. UNICEF collaborated with the World Health Organisation and the World Food Programme in the health and nutrition sector and with the Asian Development Bank and World Bank in health and education interventions. Through its facilitation of WASH sector coordination mechanisms, UNICEF has built an excellent partnership with the Government and the NWBSD, contributing to progress

5 

 

required in the Country Programme Document and related UNDAF results. One achievement of the WASH sector forum has been the development of Emergency and Resettlement guidelines, which are being used by all partners in the implementation of their respective programmes. The child protection programme has developed partners and leveraged support for disadvantaged children among NGOs, five Ministries and the Sri Lankan Security Forces; in this instance specifically for Mine Risk Education. Other partnerships have been formed with law enforcement services, judicial bodies and the Vocational Training Authority for the reintegration of children affected by the armed conflict. The Country Office has nurtured donor relationships to secure additional programme funds. The Government of Netherlands and AusAID conducted two comprehensive reviews of their interventions with a special focus on Education. This provided positive feedback for future collaboration. The WASH, education, and health & nutrition programmes have successfully implemented a project in the Eastern Province, financed by the European Union, for conflict-affected populations, and they have developed an innovative partnership with the Irish National Committee to implement a rehabilitation project in the North financed by the Cathal Ryan Trust. Preparing for the 2011 Cricket World Cup, UNICEF has partnered with UNAIDS, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board and the International Cricket Council, using the tournament as a vehicle for raising public awareness on HIV and reducing stigma and discrimination.

3.1.2.4 Knowledge Management: UNICEF Sri Lanka worked closely with partners to generate and share knowledge in order to improve the lives of women and children living in disadvantaged zones, such as former conflict-affected areas or remote rural and plantation areas. UNICEF supported capacity development for education officials on basic education indicators, data analysis, and interpretation in an exercise on absenteeism data. Findings of studies on catch up education (CUE) and school dropouts provided the basis for merging Basic Literacy and CUE programmes in which 1,221 out-of-school children were enrolled in 2010. The UNICEF Education Section undertook a comprehensive study on Child-Friendly Schools (CFS) and findings revealed that the CFS process improved children’s participation, access and retention, and increased community participation in school development. This will enable the Ministry of Education to institutionalise CFS based on best practices and lessons learned. In parallel, baseline data for 541 CFS in Central, Uva, and Eastern provinces was collected and monitoring mechanisms established to incorporate data into the Education Management Information Systems and to mainstream the CFS monitoring system of the Ministry. UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health, in the development of District Investment Case Analysis (DICA) in pilot districts to identify potential bottlenecks in the health system and to improve planning. As a result of the exercise, DICA reports will be available for evidence and equity-based planning and management in 2011. Further, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health to document ‘Health and Nutrition Profiles’ for 25 districts to enable equity-based analysis across districts to inform decision-making and resource allocation within health and nutrition sectors.

6 

 

UNICEF is supporting a database on information on water supply and sanitation coverage, especially in the rural areas, that will also act as baseline for monitoring. As WASH cluster co-facilitator, UNICEF supported generation of knowledge through documentation on lessons learned and experiences of partners engaged in humanitarian assistance. UNICEF successfully advocated for the College of Forensic Pathologists to declare ‘Child Protection’ as their theme for the Annual Academic Sessions for 2011. It is expected practitioners will conduct research related to child protection and this will be disseminated at a forthcoming academic forum.

3.1.2.5 C4D Communication for Development: UNICEF Sri Lanka C4D strategy supports programme section needs by targeting desired behavioural changes, while simultaneously addressing cross-cutting issues identified and defined by mapping the confluence of programme section work. The strategic focus of C4D rests on i) system strengthening aimed at enhancing the capacities of units and departments in key government institutions, and ii) generating and managing knowledge to further improve communication interventions. Particular focus was put on WASH activities that target child-friendly schools as points for engagement in the importance of access to safe drinking water. It resulted in schools and media campaigns for “Global Hand Washing Day 2010”, which contained five key messages on hand washing while interpreting the global theme in the local context. The approaches, strategies, key messages and specific communication materials were jointly developed by education and health authorities with the partnership of UNICEF. Social mobilisation activities took place in 94 schools and were relayed by many mass media to promote hand washing and its impact on life among many social layers. UNICEF developed a Communication campaign in the context of Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI) in Sri Lanka. UNICEF first conducted primary research to ascertain the barriers which prevent parents from immunising children, researching among families and using focal group discussions. The findings are to be used in a communication campaign that will bolster trust in immunisation. In the continuing effort to raise public awareness on the danger of mines in the Northern and Eastern Province, the Child Protection programme made significant progress in promoting mine-safe behaviour. It produced 80,000 posters on Mine Risk Education in Sinhala and Tamil languages which were disseminated among IDPs and returnee communities. PSAs for local radio and a community theatre road show, both promoting key messages on mine risks, were produced in partnership with InterNews. UNICEF developed teacher training ‘accelerated learning’ materials to assist out-of-school children and drop-outs and provide them with the opportunity to complete their education. This documentation familiarises teachers with the compressed curriculum and gives them indications on how to adapt teaching methods to the needs of older age groups.

7 

 

3.1.3 Normative Principles 3.1.3.1 Human Rights Based Approach to Cooperation: UNICEF’s continuous engagement, founded on human rights principles, at national and provincial levels has resulted in progress in reaching the most vulnerable children. UNICEF supported the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation to ensure the protection, rehabilitation and reintegration of children leaving armed groups was in line with international legislation. As of May 2010, 568 children formerly associated with armed groups as child soldiers who were provided with protection and support in three Rehabilitation Centres, rejoined their families to revert back to a normal life. During the period of transition to early recovery in conflict-affected areas, UNICEF provided schooling for approximately 80,000 IDP students (95 per cent of children aged 5-14 years) as well as school supplies to help ensure the right to education of IDP children as stipulated in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. UNICEF also ensured Health and Nutrition services to IDPs and returnees were in line with the human rights-based approach. In September 2010, a Sri Lankan Government delegation met the Committee on the Rights of the Child, following submission of the Committee’s report in 2008. The Committee issued its conclusions in October 2010. These focused on: a) family tracing of missing, unaccompanied and separated children; b) mine risk education; c) rehabilitation programmes for children affected by war; d) psychosocial assistance for victims of conflict; e) designing a comprehensive national data collection system, with the support of partners, to analyse data as a basis for assessing progress in the realisation of child rights and to help design policies and programmes to implement the Convention; f) school occupation; g) community participation throughout all stages of implementation of the CRC; h) juvenile justice and i) system reform. The national child rights monitoring committee has developed an action plan for addressing these recommendations and UNICEF has been asked to support its implementation.

3.1.3.2 Gender Equality and Mainstreaming: UNICEF Sri Lanka embedded gender equality in its activities and communication tools in order to address, equitably, the rights and needs of all. The UNICEF office Gender Task Force drafted a strategic SLCO Action Plan for Gender Mainstreaming (2010-2012), subsequently endorsed by the CMT, which outlines the key priority actions and planned activities at a programmatic and operational level. The UNICEF supported WASH in Schools programme focused on integrating gender through participatory planning, community-based construction and participatory hygiene promotion. Focus group discussions ensuring a gender and age balance provided an opportunity to understand users’ perceptions leading to the provision of adequate gender-segregated facilities integrating privacy and gender-sensitive considerations. UNICEF continued to be an active member of the UN joint gender working group and supported Gender-Based Violence Forum activities including a communication campaign around the theme of sexual and gender-based violence in public transport. UNICEF is also an implementing partner in the UN Joint Programme on Prevention of and Response to Gender Based Violence in Sri Lanka which will be initiated in 2011.

8 

 

In all studies and assessments supported by UNICEF, information collected was disaggregated by sex and where applicable, gender aspects were included in the analysis. Most social indicators in Sri Lanka do not indicate high disparity among sexes. In relation to welfare indicators such as school enrolment, literacy, under nutrition, and immunisation, parity is reached. This is reflected in the 2010 Global Gender Gap Report which ranks Sri Lanka at 16 amongst 136 nations. However, challenges remain to ensure gender equity. For example, sex disaggregated data analysis by the Ministry of Education indicates that with increasing age, a higher proportion of boys drop out of schools than girls. Similarly, the quarterly Labour Force survey shows that employment rates are higher for males than females indicative of inadequate higher education and vocational training opportunities available to the female adolescent group in the country leading to the difference in rates. UNICEF support has been extended to provide vocational training to adolescents. In addition, all trainings supported by UNICEF targeted women and men equally and facilitators paid special attention to negate gender stereotyping.

3.1.3.3 Environmental Sustainability: The Child-Friendly School (CFS) process increased community understanding of the importance of creating conducive and eco-friendly environments for children. The CFS process also helped stakeholders understand their socio-economic circumstances and initiate action using local creativity to produce change. Through the School Self Assessment and School Development Plan processes, communities organised themselves to take collective action by developing their own plans and strategies (e.g. increased access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation facilities, improved rubbish disposal practices and protective school environments). Local communities were motivated, as part of the CFS process, to plant school gardens promoting greener, environmentally appealing learning environments. UNICEF-supported water and sanitation community level programmes were also designed in a manner to ensure environmental sustainability and reduction of contamination of ground water by ensuring sewage from sanitation facilities were properly disposed of. Hygiene practices promoted contributed to proper disposal of rubbish and environmental sustainability at welfare centres, among resettled communities and in schools. Once the population moved out of welfare centres, the toilets were decommissioned with UNICEF support to reduce future contamination of ground water. UNICEF supported the Ministry of Disaster Management with capacity development on planning and monitoring enabling the district level centres to assess risk, and identify short-term mitigation and longer-term sustainable strategies to reduce environmental damage and risks to population.

9 

 

3.2 Programme Components: Title: Education Focus Area:

Purpose: The programme goal is to increase access to quality basic education for vulnerable and disadvantaged children and to improve school facilities and school-based management. This develops greater community ownership and participation within the Child Friendly School concept. This goal will encourage more children to remain in school for their entire compulsory schooling period and complete their basic education. The programme comprises of three key components: improved access, increase in quality of learning and provision of education services to children in emergencies to continue with their education. The results planned for 2010 included:

• Standardised basic literacy and numeracy (BL) programme is operational for out-of-school children aged 5-10 to reintegrate and retain them in formal schooling;

• Mechanisms and strategies exist in school communities which successfully identify boys and girls out of school and children at risk of dropping out;

• 2,000 students gain sufficient essential learning competencies to be reintegrated into formal school;

• Girls and boys in resettlement areas with lower than age-appropriate learning achievements have access to an Accelerated Learning Programme to enhance learning competencies;

• Capacity of national, provincial and zonal education authorities developed to manage transitional education and emergency responses;

• The national child-friendly school framework is strengthened with increased awareness on the concept, standardised training, and streamlined monitoring and data collection;

• Teacher training programmes for pre-service and in-service key stage 1 (grades 1-2) strengthened with standardised course materials, modules, e-learning courses and trained teacher educators;

• 80 resettlement schools have an improved child-friendly learning environment through the provision of supplies, furniture and repairs of classrooms and educational buildings.

Resources Used (in US dollars): Total approved for 2010 as per CPD: 5,500,000 Total available for 2010 from all sources: RR 97,500; OR 6,093,297; Total: 6,190,797 List of donors: Government of Netherlands, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), European Union, Government of Denmark, Central Emergency Response Fund, Hong Kong National Committee for UNICEF, German National Committee for UNICEF and Global Thematic Fund. Result Achieved: The Education programme of UNICEF made progress in emergency, transition and development, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and Provincial Education authorities in the North and East during the year, and enabled 80,000 internally displaced children to continue attending school with the minimum of disruption

10 

 

during transfer from welfare centres to original places of settlement and within IDP welfare centres. With UNICEF support, the Education For All Unit improved coordination for implementing Inclusive Education (IE) in primary classrooms across Sri Lanka through the distribution of the IE toolkit to teachers and training of 90 primary education professionals. Inclusive training and CFS have been further strengthened with UNICEF support whereby the National Institute of Education developed a framework for teachers for grades 1-2 as well as undertook a revision of the National College of Education pre-service teacher training curriculum. More than 1,135 newly appointed primary teachers have participated in a crash training programme implemented by PDEs. The success of UNICEF-supported capacity development for education officials on basic education indicators, data analysis and interpretation was demonstrated through an exercise on data analysis on absenteeism and planned interventions, Findings of studies on catch up education (CUE) and school drop outs, provided the basis for merging Basic Literacy and CUE programmes in which 1,221 out-of-school children were enrolled in 2010. Mechanisms to monitor and follow-up irregular attendance and dropout are available among 85 per cent of CFS supported by UNICEF. Community awareness programmes on the importance of education have been conducted and 345 primary teachers trained on remedial measures to address absenteeism. Adoption of CFS criteria in 1,000 schools and training of more than 2,400 education personnel has enriched the CFS School Self Assessment and Planning processes and led to school-level improvements. Exchange visits have allowed education officers, principals, and teachers to share their experiences outside their home districts. UNICEF has also facilitated a Memorandum of Understanding between the MoE and the Commonwealth of Learning to develop CFS e-learning capability. A draft monitoring framework on CFS has been developed to capture school-level changes and best practices in support of institutional learning and baseline data collection. Monitoring mechanisms are now in place to incorporate data into Education Management Information System and CFS monitoring system within the Ministry of Education. The Education Cluster, co facilitated by UNICEF and Save The Children, Sri Lanka, strengthened its networking, advocacy and information management enhancing coordination between national, provincial and zonal education authorities and district-level planning. UNICEF supported training on organisational change for 45 Provincial and Zonal staff and provided support for creation of a provincial web-based reporting and data collection system. UNICEF also supported the MoE, NIE and Northern and Eastern Provincial Director of Education (PDE) to administer a criterion-referenced learning competency assessment in Tamil language and mathematics for grades 3-9 students; develop 18 teacher guidebooks for an Accelerated Learning Programme (ALP); and conduct 8 ALP Training of Trainers workshops with participation of 253 In-Service advisers, Assistant Directors of Educations and teachers. As a precursor programme to ALP, UNICEF and GTZ supported the creation of a teachers’ network.

11 

 

The main partners of UNICEF are the Ministry of Education at the Central level and the Provincial Education Authorities. UNICEF also has partnerships with the World Bank, GTZ, Save the Children and other members of the Education Cluster. Future Workplan: During early resettlement in the Northern Province, education was sustained through training of teachers, prepositioning of education supplies, and minor school repairs. However, the consequences of prolonged conflict have restricted partner training programmes, disrupted staff deployment patterns and reduced parental and student motivation. These constraints have affected the quality of, and access to, education, particularly for children with learning difficulties and disabilities, and need to be further addressed in 2011. The priorities for education in 2011 are aimed at achieving two key results:

• Increasing the percentage of girls and boys of compulsory education age accessing appropriate education and strengthening the CFS process to reduce school dropouts and improve individual student attendance;

• Improving education quality by rolling out the CFS process at national and provincial levels.

Title: Health and nutrition Purpose: The Health and Nutrition (H&N) programme goal is to improve the health and nutritional status of children, pregnant and lactating women in the selected 11 UN focal districts, with an emphasis on reduction of inequities among districts in health services and nutritional status of women and children. The programme has four components viz., maternal and child nutrition, maternal and neonatal health, integration of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) into services, and restoration of basic health and nutrition services for population in emergency situations. Planned results for 2010 are:

• Restoration of support for basic health and nutrition services for IDP and resettled populations;

• Developing and implementing the Integrated Nutrition Programme (INP) • Reduction of prevalence of underweight among children under five years of age; • Improvement of the survival of mothers and newborns through emergency

obstetric care and new born care; • Conduct of maternal and perinatal death audits; • Restoring Penta-valent vaccination (DPT-HepB-Hib); • Integration of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) into health

services, and HIV/AIDS awareness among most-at-risk adolescents. Resources Used: Total approved for 2010 as per CPD: 4,095,000 Total available for 2010 from all sources: RR 225,000; OR 3,069,542; Total: 3,294,542 List of donors: Micronutrient Initiative, European Union, Polish National Committee for UNICEF, Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), UK Department of

12 

 

International Development (DFID), Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Central Emergency Response Fund, German National Committee for UNICEF, Global Thematic Fund. Result Achieved: Maternal and Child Nutrition: The evidence-based Integrated Nutrition Package (INP) continued to be supported by UNICEF. It was implemented by the Ministry of Health in districts with poor nutrition indicators, namely: Badulla, Hambantota, Monaragala, Nuwara Eliya, Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee. This programme has been critical in addressing maternal and child malnutrition and has reduced acute malnutrition by 3 per cent (from 15 per cent to 12 per cent) as a result of the effective management of severe acute malnutrition. A Nutrition and Food Security Survey was conducted in 2010 in collaboration with the Medical Research Institute and the World Food Programme, which has helped ensure evidence-based planning and implementation. Maternal, Neonatal and Child Health: Neonatal deaths account for more than 70 per cent of all infant deaths (estimated at 16/1000). UNICEF supported the efforts of the Ministry of Health to streamline perinatal death audits to ascertain the causes of neonatal deaths. Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) gained recognition in 2010, reflected in the Government’s commitment to have a dedicated ECCD week in December 2010, to create awareness on the importance of ECCD among pregnant women and lactating mothers, and parents of children under five years of age. UNICEF supported interventions in the plantation sector where more than 1,500 community facilitators were trained on ECCD, and 25 crèches (Child Development Centres) were upgraded to provide support to children of estate sector communities. Immunisation coverage has traditionally been high in Sri Lanka. However, measles immunisation coverage declined from 98.6 per cent in 2007 to 94.5 per cent in 2009. This can be attributed, in part, to the negative publicity around cases of children suffering adverse effects following immunisation. To address this, UNICEF is supporting the Government’s island-wide communication campaign in 2011 to inform key stakeholders (parents, service providers and the media) of the benefits of immunisation.

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS: UNICEF supported the development and pre-testing of an evidence-based antenatal package incorporating PMTCT. The package has a component on screening of pregnant women on HIV/AIDS. Health and Nutrition in emergencies/tsunami restoration: The Nutrition Rehabilitation Programme supported by UNICEF and implemented with the Ministry of Health continued to be implemented in Menik Farm IDP welfare centres and resettlement areas, resulting in a reduction of the prevalence of acute malnutrition from 35.6 per cent in May 2009 to 23.9 per cent in September 2009, and to 13 per cent in December 2009, below the national average of 15 per cent. This progress was maintained in 2010 with a global acute malnutrition rate of 11.83 per cent in resettlement areas.

UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health in the development of District Investment Case Analysis (DICA) in pilot districts to identify potential bottlenecks in the health system and to enable evidence-based planning. The DICA reports will be available for evidence and equity-based planning and management in 2011. Further, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Health to document ‘Health and Nutrition Profiles’ for 25 districts to enable equity-based analysis across districts for required interventions. UNICEF’s key partner in this sector continues to be the Ministry of Health and the provincial health authorities. Other partners included the World Food Programme, World

13 

 

Health Organisation, UN Populations Fund, World Bank, Colombia University, Sarvodaya, College of Paediatricians and the Perinatal Society. Future Workplan: As a result of more evidence-based programming and the outcomes of the Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) 2008-2012 Mid Term Review, there is a strategic shift in programming with a greater focus on nutrition. The following priorities have been identified until 2012:

1. Scaling-up the INP to cover more geographic and underserved areas; 2. Addressing health and nutrition inequalities through evidence-based

planning and monitoring. Title: Water, sanitation, hygiene Purpose: The WASH programme aims to contribute to increased equitable and sustainable access to, and use of, safe water and basic sanitation services, and improved hygiene. The programme has three main components, improving rural water supply and sanitation including in schools with hygiene promotion, water quality surveillance, provision of water, sanitation and hygiene promotion to internally displaced population. The key planned results in 2010 included the following:

• Water and health authorities have the capacity to lead and regulate the WASH sector;

• Resettled communities have access to safe water and sanitation and practice improved hygiene behaviour;

• Improved coordination and emergency preparedness and response amongst key stakeholders in the WASH sector;

• Students have access to safe water and sanitation, including sex segregated facilities, and practice good hygiene behaviour through school health clubs;

• IDPs in welfare centres have access to safe water and sanitation and practice good hygiene behaviour in-line with minimum SPHERE standards;

• Communities benefit from the construction /renovation of water and sanitation facilities through the activation of WASH committees;

• Capacity of the National Water Supply and Drainage Board is strengthened to implement Water Quality Surveillance and related testing.

Resources Used: Total approved for 2010 as per CPD: 5,575,000 Total available for 2010 from all sources: RR 82,500; OR 4,962,233; Total: 5,044,733 List of donors are: European Union, UK Department of International Development (DFID), Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), French National Committee for UNICEF, Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), Government of New Zealand, Central Emergency Response Fund, German National Committee for UNICEF and Global Thematic Fund.

14 

 

Result Achieved: UNICEF, as co-facilitator of the WASH cluster, continues to provide support to the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage (MWSD) and the National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) to effectively coordinate the sector at both national and district levels. In areas of resettlement across all five Northern districts, UNICEF supported approximately 93,000 people in access to and use of improved sources of water supply through the cleaning and upgrading of a total of 3,582 dug wells, repairing of 91 tube wells and drilling of 36 new tube wells. Improved supplies of water and segregated toilets have been provided to 122 schools, benefiting 14,000 children and 46 teachers. Rehabilitation of the water supply system has been completed in 28 health facilities, benefiting more than 5,000 mothers across the Northern Province. In the Eastern Province with UNICEF support, a total of 100 ground water sites were investigated, 97 boreholes drilled, 85 hand pumps installed, 10 iron removal plants installed, 32 hand pumps repaired, four dug wells constructed, 95 dug wells renovated/cleaned, 100 household pipe line connections provided, 30 rain water tanks renovated, and more than 240 latrines renovated or constructed. Six hospital WASH facilities were improved with another eight on-going, 15 school WASH facilities renovated and another 84 on-going, and seven new WASH facilities are under construction in schools. Between 2008 and 2010, UNICEF supported the establishment of the Rural Water Supply Units within the respective district Ground Water sections of the NWSDB for 17 of the 25 districts in Sri Lanka. These units provide technical repair and maintenance support to community-based organisations (CBOs) as they operate and maintain their respective small scale water supply systems, thereby providing access to safe drinking water for thousands of rural people. UNICEF is also supporting the development of a database that will maintain information on water supply and sanitation systems, especially in the rural areas, and provide a baseline for monitoring. Furthermore, UNICEF has supported the provision of equipment and testing materials that will facilitate the testing of water sources in 12 mini laboratories in Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Ampara, Hambantota, Puttalam, Anuradhapura, Ratnapura, Kandy, Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara districts. As the use of groundwater as a major water source for rural communities became evident, UNICEF provided technical support to enhance the ability of national counterparts to identify appropriate locations for the drilling of boreholes, thereby making water more readily available. Key UNICEF partners are the MWSD and NWSDB and related provincial and district authorities. During the current resettlement process, a partnership was also built with the Water Resources Board. Other partners include the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health and Nutrition, UN agencies, National and International NGOs/CBOs, and the private sector. In 2011, UNICEF will continue to support WASH interventions for the remaining IDPs in welfare centres (about 20,000 as of December 2010), gradually scaling down or decommissioning facilities and services as IDPs leave the welfare centres. There are Government plans to convert part of Menik Farm into a welfare village for IDPs who are unable or unwilling to return to their places of origin (estimated at 10,000-20,000 people). In the resettled areas, UNICEF will continue to support meeting the basic WASH needs of returnees, at home, in their schools, and in health centres.

15 

 

WASH interventions in schools in the Uva and Central Provinces were handicapped by funding gaps. Fundraising efforts were initiated with AusAID specifically targeting WASH in schools in underserved, un-served and conflict affected areas. Future Workplan: UNICEF will focus on the following core programming elements in the WASH sector during the next two years:

1. Capacity building particularly in ground water development; 2. Advocacy on policy and budgetary issues as WASH cluster co-facilitator; 3. Strengthening partnerships to accelerate access to safe drinking water and

adequate sanitation; 4. Addressing disparities in under-served population and regions of the

country. Title: Child protection Purpose: The Child Protection Programme component seeks to enable children to claim their rights to be protected from abuse, exploitation and neglect. With the end of the conflict, the project on Security Council Resolution 1612 will no longer be relevant. The following results were planned for 2010: (a) Implementation of Amended Children and Young Persons Ordinance (CYPO), Case Management Guidelines and Data Management Policies; (b) Five hundred Child Protection stakeholders have the skills, knowledge and essential equipment to effectively deliver services; (c) At least 3,000 vulnerable children and families receive care and coordinated responses in selected UNICEF-supported Provinces; (d) Divisional and village level child protection structures are in place and empowered to address child protection issues; (e) Strengthened national monitoring and reporting mechanisms to report on child rights’ violations are in place; (f) Increased confidence of communities and civil society in approaching statutory bodies for reporting and responding to violations of children; (g) All children leaving armed groups and in need of special protection have access to protective care and quality reintegration services; (h) A reduction of at least 25 per cent in incidents through improved mine-safe behaviour as a result of community and school-based mine risk education; and (i) At least 400 people with disability, with a focus on war-injured children, identified, their needs assessed, and referred to available services. Resources Used: Total approved for 2010 as per CPD: 2,705,000 Total available for 2010 from all sources: RR 82,500; OR 5,622,870; Total: 5,705,370 List of donors are UK Department of International Development (DFID), European Union, French National Committee for UNICEF, United States Agency for International Development (USAID), UNDP USA, Government of Italy, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Government of Spain, Government of Denmark, Government of Denmark, German National Committee for UNICEF and Global Thematic Funds

16 

 

Result Achieved: Under the Legal Protection project, UNICEF supported the Ministry of Justice in the drafting of a policy paper on the amendments to the CYPO which aim to address gaps in the ordinance that challenge the protection rights of children. Training on legal protection provisions for children and families was conducted for 949 persons in the Child Protection system including the Police, Rehabilitation Officers, Judicial Medical Officers, Prison Officers, National Child Protection Authority District Coordinators and Magistrates. UNICEF supported the national policy guidelines on Case Management by the Ministry of Child Development and Women’s Affairs that was introduced to all Provinces. Further, to ensure effective implementation of these guidelines a training module was developed for child protection service providers which will be rolled out in 2011. Partnerships with the Department of Social Services (DoSS) in Northern, Eastern and Central Provinces, were enhanced to provide coordinated responses between the Department of Probation and Child Care Services (DPCCS) and DoSS at Provincial level when delivering assistance to 622 vulnerable families. Collective decision making through case and family group conferences have been promoted as an effective approach to supporting families. These partnerships have been significant in influencing the DoSS to sustain this initiative by including cases of vulnerable families into their existing category of beneficiaries. UNICEF supported the FIT Persons Order scheme, a means of legal fostering for separated children and children at risk of separation, by advocating to the Government for an increase in the monthly allowance from Rs.100 to Rs.1,500. This resulted in an increase in FIT Persons Orders from 293 in 2009 to 1,089 in 2010. Through the UNICEF-supported reintegration programmes, the DPCCS successfully reintegrated 2,114 children back with their families. The reporting and monitoring mechanism on children affected by armed conflict has concentrated on 568 children in eastern and northern Sri Lanka, formerly associated with armed groups. These 568 children were protected by the Commissioner of Rehabilitation, with UNICEF support. By end of May 2010, all 568 children, including 201 girls, had rejoined their families. UNICEF supported Community-based structures (538), such as Children’s Clubs and Village Child Rights Monitoring Committees benefiting 42,756 children in their reintegration into normal life, from that of a conflict affected environment. As a result of continuous Mine Risk Education (MRE) in the Northern and Eastern Province, supported by UNICEF, understanding of the threat of mines/explosive remnants of war (ERW) has increased. In 2010, 28 mine and ERW incidents were documented with 47 casualties. Even though contamination in returnee areas is high, the casualty rate is low, which may be attributed to consistent MRE campaigns. MRE continued to be conducted in the eight target districts reaching an estimated 362,715 individuals (77,502 men, 94,339 women, 91,391 boys and 99,483 girls). Approximately 585 suspicious items were reported by communities and relevant de-mining agencies were informed for their removal. A total of 412 people with disability were referred to available rehabilitation services. Child Protection works in close collaboration with six line-ministries: Child Development and Women’s Empowerment, Social Services, Justice, Economic Development,

17 

 

Education, Youth Affairs. Strong partnerships have been established with the DPCCS, DoSS, NGOs and UN. Future Workplan: In 2011, the focus will be on the following key priorities:

• Establishment/strengthening of child protection systems in the Northern, Eastern, Uva and Central provinces;

• Enhancing the link between government and community-based bodies and improving referral systems in child protection.

Title: Planning, monitoring, evaluation

Purpose: The Planning, Policy Analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) programme component provides a cross sectoral function in collating, analysing and disseminating data and information on the situation of children and women for evidence-based decision making. Support is provided to monitor and evaluate programme targets to ensure greater efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources and delivery of results for women and children. The main results planned for 2010 include: (a) Capacity development of key government officials on PME; (b) Preliminary equity analysis across all sectors; (c) Analysis of the government budget on investment in children; (d) Supporting the development of the Plan of Action for Children for the next five years to address the needs of vulnerable children; (e) Facilitating the Mid-Term Review of the 2008-2012 Country Programme Action Plan and Country Programme Management Plan and (f) Supporting capacity development of the government in planning, monitoring and evaluation methodologies. The Communication section has two components; External Relations and Communication for Development (C4D). The C4D component supports programme sections in their advocacy, public awareness-raising and social mobilisation. Planned results in 2010 included: daily monitoring of the coverage of UNICEF-related issues in the news media; providing communication support to programmes; developing a strategic partnership on Cricket for Children; facilitating and supporting the information needs of donors including National Committees. Resources Used: Total approved for 2010 as per CPD: 550,000 Total available for 2010 from all sources: RR 113,700; OR 169,782; Total: 283,482 List of donors are European Union, Government of Netherlands, German National Committee for UNICEF and Global Thematic Fund. Result Achieved: Planning, Policy Analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation (PPME) section: The main programmatic activity undertaken in 2010 by the PPME section was the Joint Mid Term Review of the 2008-2012 Country Programme with the Government of Sri

18 

 

Lanka (GoSL). The review permitted all programme sections and partners to examine the results achieved during the past two and a half years and to consider any changes required for achieving further results. The country context transformation from conflict to peace was a major change to be factored into the planning of next two years. This resulted in all programme sections realigning priorities within the overall Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) framework in-line with the changing country context. Studies and evaluations were conducted by each programme to assess the current situation of children and women in the country and redefine programme strategies and priorities, where relevant. The continuing analysis on equity and the Government’s budgetary investment in children show there is further refinement required to reduce regional disparities in the country although achieving many Millennium Development Goals is on track with the exception of child undernutrition. Greater efficiency and effectiveness in use of resources is fundamental in reducing disparities within the regions of the country. The draft National Plan of Action for Children, prioritising outstanding issues affecting children, was drafted by the GoSL in 2010. A mapping of Social Services by the Ministry of Social Services and Provincial Social services helped to better understand the good practices and options available for more effective use of resources as well as increased coverage for vulnerable families. Capacity development of GoSL partners on integrated results-based management, integrated development planning and linkages between national development plans and budgetary components provided regional and national Planning Officials with a greater capacity to identify priority areas and vulnerable population groups that require support. At an operational level, UNICEF continued to liaise with the Ministry of Finance and Treasury on funds transfers to Government, institutionalisation of the Harmonised Cash Transfer (HACT) process, and other matters related to programme budgetary allocations. UNICEF has primarily worked in partnership with the UNDP, World Food Programme and the International Labour Organisation on assessments and developing the United Nations Development Assistance Framework. Communication section: Expanded coverage in news environment, and showcasing ‘UNICEF in action’, delivered improved recognition for the work of UNICEF Programme Communication assisted UNICEF programmes and partners in developing campaigns and materials on mine risk education, water safety, immunisation and hand-washing with soap. Innovative approaches to partnerships, notably in the form of the ‘Cricket for Children’ and Cricket’s ‘Healthy Hat-Trick’ initiatives during Asia Cricket Cup, enabled key messages on nutrition, sanitation and girls’ education to be disseminated, while developing cricket skills among selected vulnerable children. UNICEF also contributed to the UN Communication Group and its visibility efforts and continued to nurture resource mobilisation partnerships. There has been a general decline in humanitarian funding for Sri Lanka and this has had an impact on UNICEF. The trend is expected to accelerate as the country emerges from the emergency phase and aligns itself as middle income. The challenge for UNICEF is to ensure that children, especially in under-served areas, benefit from economic development. This entails leveraging resources for children and the promotion of corporate social responsibility, including in the plantation sector. Materials have been developed for a country office fund-raising pack. The country website is being upgraded and will be fully functional in 2011.

19 

 

Future Workplan: In 2011, in the Planning, Policy Analysis, Monitoring and Evaluation programme component, the focus will remain on achieving results set out in the 2008-2012 CPAP and a significant change in direction is not envisaged. However more emphasis will be placed on an equity-oriented focus in assessments/studies/evaluations, as well as on implementation. Communication section will continue to develop key partnerships in cricket and draw attention to programme results to support resource mobilisation. Key activities include:

• Support for fund raising efforts; • Support development of material for advocacy and information; • Maintain country office website for information sharing and advocacy.

20 

 

4. OPERATIONS & MANAGEMENT 4.1 Governance & Systems 4.1.1 Governance Structure: The CMT has continued using its management reports, which track management indicators, including expenditure (RR/OR/SB), OBO & DCT status, open audit recommendations, implementation of AWP activities, and the status of donor reports among other indicators. These indicators are discussed in each CMT meeting, and appropriate follow-up actions are taken. The Programme Planning Meetings (PPM) were conducted every quarter in 2010 to discuss matters arising out of programmes and in house operations. The PPM was also a platform to disseminate information on organisational review and changes planned for 2011 and 2012. The Emergency Management Team (EMT) met four times in 2010 with representation from each section and the Zone Offices. The revised Core Commitments for Chidren were reviewed in each section and in each Zone Office during 2010 as part of updating the ERPR. Using the revised CCCs as a framework and the EWEA online system for emergency preparedness, the office was able to ensure that preparedness and response were in line with a human rights-based approach. Concerted efforts were also made to ensure that preparedness activities were included in the work plans. To address gaps and a better understanding of various processes, the office conducted several HACT and FACE workshops for UNICEF staff as well as for partners. The office is now fully HACT compliant with all payments initiated on FACE forms The office was audited by the external board of auditors last November. An action plan was drafted for addressing the issues raised by the auditors. Enhancement is expected next year in the areas of inventory management, budget management, OBO, and DCT. The Joint Coordination Committee meetings were conducted with the Staff Association and members to discuss and inform members of emerging issues. The monthly Staff meeting chaired jointly by the Chair of Staff Association and the Representative was another mechanism used to inform staff and use as a forum to discuss issues and experiences.

4.1.2 Strategic Risk Management: The 2009 UNDAF Annual Review conducted with key counterparts in 2010 provided key recommendations for enhanced programme and management performance with regard to treasury fund transfers processes, HACT related assurance activities and regular reporting and joint reviews. In addition to monthly Country Management Team (CMT) meetings, quarterly Programme Planning Meetings were held supporting the identification and analysis of risks and opportunities affecting achievement of results, including cross-sectoral issues such as those related to migration, stakeholder participation, youth unemployment and gender. An Enterprise Risk Management Assessment was conducted using a consultative process involving a cross-section of staff. As a result, a plan of action was produced for the

21 

 

country office. This was facilitated by a member of the Office of Internal Audit (OIA). The SLCO CMT will regularly monitor the implementation of the action plan to ensure recommendations are implemented. During this exercise, the aid landscape and predictability of funding were identified as key risks and challenges faced by UNICEF in Sri Lanka. Measures are being taken to determine ways and means to address these challenges. The Business Continuity Plan was in place, updated, and critical staff identified and provided with required communication links. The Emergency Preparedness Plans were updated after being reviewed in Colombo and Zone Offices.

4.1.3 Evaluation: The office prepared an IMEP after a consultative process. This was updated twice, at mid-year and in September. Two evaluations were conducted by independent consultants in 2010: a qualitative evaluation on Child-Friendly Schools and an evaluation on the UNICEF funded Mine Risk Education programme. Evaluations in the CO are managed by a steering committee appointed for the evaluation from among the government stakeholders and UNICEF. This provides the requisite technical support for the development of TORs and methods of evaluation. Lessons derived and findings from the evaluations were incorporated to enhance programme effectiveness together with a management response for follow-up activities. For instance, findings of the evaluation on Child Friendly Schools were used to identify the important role played by the school leadership to improve access and education quality. Evaluation capacity development is one of the main activities in the current CPAP to strengthen the evaluation function within UNICEF and in government partners. The country office supported the country’s professional body on Evaluation, the Sri Lankan Evaluation Association, to build country capacity and institutionalise an evaluation culture that can ensure improved performance and service delivery. Evaluation capacity development was undertaken through workshops on evaluation methodologies for partners and through international evaluation conferences in the country, both of which disseminated knowledge and good practices. UNICEF will continue its efforts towards further strengthening of the capacity for evaluation and its internalization by partners.

4.1.4 Information Technology and Communication: This year, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) concentrated on strengthening its IT service management and processes involving service support and service delivery. In addition to the normative functions, the following are the major accomplishments this year.

1. Replacement of Cisco PIX with Cisco ASA in Colombo and Zone Offices. All offices are now in compliance with HQ standards on the firewall hardware;

22 

 

2. Installation of a primary internet connectivity for Zone Offices, which enables them to be independent of Colombo office;

3. Establishment of a local help desk service to provide better user support; 4. Installation of a BlackBerry Enterprise Server and migrating Sri Lanka staff

hosted on another country office’s BES, which has proved problematic; 5. Provision of services on unified communications from an IP-based voice

conference bridge, voice over Lotus Notes Sametime and WebEx; 6. Training on Citrix Remote Access, Business Everywhere, Lotus

Notes/Sametime, and video/voice conferencing; 7. Replacement of old hardware, their subsequent disposal and installation of

replacement hardware and software image; 8. Successfully managed and completed all System and Business application

rollouts. In the UN Common Services, the UNICEF ICT took a lead role in inter-agency activities.

1. Implementation of a cost reduction solution for all UN agencies which will save 20- 40 per cent of telephone costs;

2. Supported UNDSS to improve and expand the UN security communication platform.

4.2 Fin Res & Stewardship 4.2.1 Fund-raising & Donor Relations: The Country Office (CO) has been updating its Funding and Leveraging Resources Strategy to adapt it to the changing country context and aid landscape. In the next two years, UNICEF will need to engage international donors not only to support rehabilitation and resettlement efforts in the former conflict-affected areas but also assist interventions to address regional inequities. During the year, while participation in new modalities such as Multi Donor Trust Funds and joint programmes has been an important component of fundraising, UNICEF developed a comprehensive fundraising proposal for the post-conflict Northern Province. The proposal compiled information on the current needs following the end of the conflict, and UNICEF’s collective strategies for addressing the identified needs and gaps. The proposal was presented to development partners and donors and funds were committed by several donors. In addition, following donors’ expression of interest in a particular programme need or priority, specific targeted proposals were formulated and presented to donors. The updated donor package after it is finalized will boost fundraising for the overall country programme by presenting both its achievements and the strategic priorities for 2011/2012. The CO’s fundraising efforts have resulted in the mobilisation of 68 per cent of the 2010 OR ceiling in the Country Programme Document and 57 per cent of the 2010 Humanitarian Action Plan appeal to meet the urgent needs of women and children in Sri Lanka. The CO has an effective monitoring system of funds’ utilisation with particular focus on expiring PBAs, while striving for a 99 per cent level of use. The CO internal control mechanism to monitor the timeliness and quality of donor reports has resulted in all donor reports meeting UNICEF reporting standards and submitted on time. Several of our top donors have expressed their satisfaction with the quality of the reporting and have undertaken joint field missions in Sri Lanka. This has improved their understanding of ground realities and UNICEF’s programme interventions.

23 

 

4.2.2 Management of Financial and Other Assets: The CO is a fully HACT compliant Country. Implementation of HACT was further strengthened in 2010 with the Government keeping to its commitment made in 2009 and releasing the guidelines of HACT in early November this year. SLCO assessed the need for micro-assessment of partners across the country and five micro-assessments are in progress and due to be completed in December 2010. To enhance assurance activities an ‘Assurance Activities (Spot checks) Summary Report’ was introduced for field monitoring. The CO continued its consultations with the Treasury Department to enhance the workflow and streamlining of payments of quarterly cash transfers to all Government partners. The outstanding CAGs/DCTs of more than 9 months were reduced to 0.3 per cent. Close monitoring and reviewing of outstanding DCTs will continue to reduce the DCT outstanding over six months. The CO conducted a Programme and Operations workshop in July to reinforce capacity and expertise of operations and programme staff in key areas. The workshop was structured to address the latest developments in the areas of finance, accounts, and administration with an emphasis on key provisions of IPSAS and Vision. The CO uses SAP HR from December 1, 2010, and colleagues participated in training in Thailand and India.

4.2.3 Supply:

More than US$7M of supplies were purchased by the CO in 2010. Offshore procurement amounted to USD 1.16 million, and USD 5.94 million worth of supplies were purchased locally. UNICEF Sri Lanka’s supplies concentrated on improving local delivery of essential supplies for children, aggregating needs and asking businesses to improve availability, pricing and quality. To ensure local availability at the point of service delivery, the CO identified and pre-qualified potential suppliers in the Northern and North Eastern Provinces. The CO established 56 long-term agreements (LTAs) for the procurement of strategic supplies and services such as hygiene kits, infant kits, expectant mother kits, students and teacher kits, blackboards and school furniture, indoor and outdoor recreation kits, and computer and AV equipment. Planning and the establishment of LTAs made it possible to acquire and deliver essential supplies to the beneficiaries without delays. Close collaboration with WFP in logistics enabled UNICEF to save funds on transport costs and warehousing. The inventory of UNICEF supplies is managed by UniTrack warehouse system. Supporting the UN ‘delivering as one’ approach, UNICEF initiated and supported collaboration with UN agencies on supply chain issues. The CO bought malaria test kits, DTP-HeB vaccines and vehicles for the Ministry of Health, worth $850,000.

4.3 Human Resource Capacity: With the changing programme context and revision of the CPMP, intensive work was undertaken to define the staffing requirements for implementation of the planned programme for 2011-2012. A participatory approach was adopted that involved heads of sections, zones and the CMT. Staff members were kept informed of the proposed staff reductions through meetings in Colombo, teleconferences and face to face meetings at the zonal offices.

24 

 

The office continued to face challenges in attracting qualified female candidates for the national officer (NO) posts in the zone offices. The gender ratio for NO in Colombo is currently 52 per cent female and 48 per cent male while in the zone offices it is 26 per cent female and 74 per cent male. A number of NO positions were re-advertised seeking to attract qualified female candidates. The 2010 Learning and Training Plan focused on the skills, knowledge and competencies required for implementing the Office’s priorities. Twelve local events were completed and the Office participated in several regional trainings, including the SAP training in preparation for the office’s transition to the SAP system on 1 December 2010, the Supervisory Skills Workshop, PSV training, and the LDI Year 3 programme. Missions to other COs provided an opportunity for staff to expand the depth and breadth of their experiences. In support of staff well-being, a ‘Stress Self Care’ workshop was conducted for staff in May 2010, in Colombo, and a group session was conducted by the stress counsellor in November with staff members in the Trincomalee Zone Office. A total of 10 PSVs continue to provide assistance to staff in the area of stress management. A half-day Security Awareness Training was conducted by the UNICEF Senior Security Focal Point for female staff. A two-day ‘Team Building Staff Retreat’ was held in May 2010 and it made a positive impact on staff morale and team work.

4.4 Other Issues 4.4.1 Management Areas Requiring Improvement:

During 2010 SLCO started to concentrate more on the non-emergency components of the CPAP in view of the changed country scenario and the shift from conflict to development strategies. To cater to these emerging needs, the SLCO MTR process validated the need for enhanced contextual analytical and capacity development skills. Plans were made to reduce the number of Zonal Offices, the closing of warehouses and a gradual reduction of staff, while also allowing stocktaking for needs related to fulfilling the requirements for the new Simplified Results Structure/IPSAS/Vision, as well as for various joint UN initiatives.

4.4.2 Changes in AMP:

While the key programmatic and management priorities for next year’s Annual Management Plan require confirmation by the UNICEF SLCO’s Country Management Team, it is expected the 2011 AMP will focus on:

• Enhanced analytical and upstream policy and programme re-directions to enable increased attention to equity directed analysis, and systems strengthening;

• Developing an operational cost saving plan; • Further articulation of the SLCO’s fund raising strategy including corporate social

responsibilities; • Enhanced HACT implementation , monitoring and related assurance activities; • Further implementation of the Change Process including, Improved Results

Structure, IPSAS, and transition from Proms 9 to Vision.

25 

 

5. STUDIES, SURVEYS, EVALUATIONS & PUBLICATIONS 5.1 List of Studies, Surveys & Evaluations: 1. Social Safety Nets for Vulnerable Families 2. Qualitative Evaluation of Child Friendly Schools in the districts of Badulla and Batticaloa 3. Evaluation of the Mine Risk Education in Sri Lanka 4. Assessment of education competencies of IDP children for placement in Accelerated Learning Programme 5.2 List of Other Publications

1. Nutrition and Food Security Survey in Sri Lanka 2. Sapatha Magazine 3. Adolescents growth charts 4. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Guidelines for Emergency 5. Flash card on Growth Charts 6. Pregnancy records H-512 7. Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Guidelines for Resettlement and Returns 8. Maternal, Newborn and Child health and Nutrition for survival and development – District reports 9. Growth Charts as per WHO standards 10. National Nutrition Policy Document

26 

 

6. INNOVATION & LESSONS LEARNED: Title: Enhanced programme coverage through partnership with NGOs Contact Person: SM Moazzem Hossain, smhossain@unicef.org Abstract: Our ‘Nutrition Campaign’ innovatively searched for and responded to the needs of every malnourished child in order to reduce the overall acute malnutrition rate by at least one third in IDP camps in Menik Farm, northern Sri Lanka. UNICEF helped to convene a partnership between the Ministry of Health, who provided the services and facilities and a national NGO, who provided volunteers to mobilise families to bring their children to nutrition centres. During the latter part of 2009, almost 300,000 people were living in IDP camps in the north and east and the prevalence of acute malnutrition among children aged below five years was very high. The NGO searched, family-to-family, and referred all acutely malnourished cases to health and nutrition centres. This mechanism reduced the prevalence of acute malnutrition in IDP camps from 35.6 per cent in May 2009 to 13.45 per cent in November 2010. Innovation or Lessons Learned: Usually immunisation campaigns are conducted in emergencies. Here, we undertook a nutrition campaign in IDP camps that initially leveraged external human resources. Another lesson was that collaborative partnerships between Government and NGOs with clear roles and responsibilities, under the leadership of the government, can make a considerable impact on the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of service delivery. In this instance, the partnership saved lives. While the Health Ministry mobilised all its resources, it was not possible for it independently to manage the heavy caseload with the available health infrastructure and human resources. By bringing in a national NGO as partner to assist and supplement government’s efforts, efficiency in the project’s implementation was ensured. While making a significant impact on the provision of health care (refer to graph), this partnership also enabled health care to become more focused on preventative health through decent nutrition rather than concentrating solely on treating ill health. Knowledge about the importance of nutrition and preventative health care was passed on to the communities with potential for long-term benefit. Potential Application: As the IDPs largely have relocated to their respective areas in five districts in the north, the successfully tested Government-NGO partnership strategy for service delivery and community mobilisation can be applied in more resettlement areas and among other vulnerable communities elsewhere in the country.

27 

 

Issue/Background: In May 2009, the prevalence of acute malnutrition among children below the age of five in Menik Farm IDP camp was 35.6 per cent. UNICEF’s emergency nutrition response concentrated on tackling acute malnutrition through its Nutrition Rehabilitation Programme (NRP). Twenty one Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres (NRCs) were established. Each of these centres was managed by a Public Health Midwife (PHM) and volunteers. More than 26,000 children were screened and over 3,500 of them were identified as severely malnourished. Severely acute malnourished children (more than 1,400) were referred to therapeutic feeding centres (TFCs) for inpatient care. Strategy and Implementation: The Health Ministry took the lead role in running and co-ordinating services. It staffed all Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres. UNICEF provided technical and financial support, logistics and nutrition supplies. A National NGO mobilised volunteers for nutritional status screening, and raising awareness of service provision among the IDPs. About 230 health volunteers were trained. The NGO conducted family-to-family checks to ensure timely referrals and acute malnutrition case follow-ups. Service delivery and performance was transformed by the involvement of the NGO. The NRP included the establishment of 21 Nutrition Rehabilitation Centres; training of Ministry of Health and NGO staff on the NRP; awareness-raising and community mobilisation; provision of services to manage moderate and severe acute malnourished children; and monitoring, evaluation and documentation. The role of the National NGO was vital in enhancing programme coverage (refer to chart below) through community mobilisation, screening, and provision of supplies, outreach activities, follow-ups and documentation. Progress and Results: The impact of active search and referral is reflected in the steep increase in the nutrition programme’s coverage. Equitably, more vulnerable communities benefited from the NRP owing to increased awareness, screening, referral and follow-ups. The key results include:

• 25,000 children under the age of five screened for malnutrition; • 3,500 severely acute malnourished children under the age of five treated; • 8,500 moderately acute malnourished children under the age of five managed; • More than 200 staff trained in NRP implementation.

Next Steps: Promotion of active search and response combined with building trust between the Government and the NGO sector in order to create and scale up partnerships for enhanced delivery of services that protect and promote children’s rights.

28 

 

7. SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION: Notable initiatives in South-South co-operation include: UNICEF, as a member of the National Steering Committee, is supporting the Government’s efforts in hosting the South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN IV) through direct technical and financial assistance to the secretariat. The SACOSAN conference is a forum that develops learning across the South Asia region as decision-makers and practitioners find ways and means to accelerate the process of increasing access to sanitation, an issue that affects millions in their daily lives, especially children. In June 2010, a delegation of government officials, NGOs and UNICEF visited Laos for an education and fact-finding mission in mine action and mine risk education (MRE). The agenda and logistics were coordinated by UNICEF and respective Government MRE focal points in consultation with national and international stakeholders. The visit focused on MRE and coordination of mine action. Participants also discussed mines clearance and victim assistance. They met key officials and implementing agencies in Vientiane and undertook field visits. Senior officials from the Ministry of Health participated in a workshop in Bangladesh on ‘Marginal Budgeting for Bottlenecks’ (MBB). The objective of the visit was to provide orientation and exposure to the Sri Lankan team on the experiences of other countries in developing District Investment Case Analysis (DICA) papers based on the MBB tool. This exposure enabled the Sri Lankan team to undertake the same exercise here in Sri Lanka and as a result the DICA in four districts have already been completed and a final report will be ready by early 2011 to enable evidence-based planning and the acceleration of progress towards achieving the MDGs in Sri Lanka.