Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid October 2017 Activities Report Editor by Duaa Falah 11 6 2017
Monthly Activity Update: October 2017 Introduction Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid (MH) is a non profit, non religious and nonpolitical non governmental organization (NGO) formed in the aftermath of the 2003 war in Iraq with a goal to save lives and preserve human dignity. Mercy Hands is registered in the state of Georgia, USA, and in Iraq with the Regional Government of Iraqi Kurdistan as well as the Federal Government of Iraq. A Board of Directors consisting of five members in the United States and Iraq governs Mercy Hands and assigns the Executive Administration, which is the supreme executive body within the organization. Through a Headquarter in Baghdad, a regional office in Erbil and eight operational offices in seven governorates (Babil, Karbala, Anbar, Salah Al Din, Duhok, Ninewa Mosul, Ninewa Qayyarah, and Ninewa Hammam Al Alil, Basra), Mercy Hands operates nationwide within Iraq. In line with MH 2017 Strategy, Mercy Hands is currently active in the following humanitarian sectors: emergency response, protection, civil society development, education, community resilience, social cohesion, livelihood, and health. For more information, please visit Mercy Hands website: www.mercyhands.net. Mercy Hands Activities Emergency Response Department Given the humanitarian context in Iraq, the Emergency Response Department remains the most active department within Mercy Hands. The Emergency Response Department is currently active in three areas: 1) food and NFI distribution; 2) warehousing and logistics; and 3) assessments and monitoring. Majority of Mercy Hands Emergency Response effort is directed towards Mosul humanitarian corridor but the department is also active in Baghdad, Salah Al Din, Karbala. and Anbar governorates. Moreover, Mercy Hands is planning to extend its emergency response operations in Iraq to include Hawija and Tela fer in the near future. The management of Emergency Response Department: Director of Department: Mohamed A. Fadhil. E mail: mohamed_ali@mercyhands.net
Assistant Director and Manager of Assessments and Monitoring Division: Khalid Jawad. E mail: Khalid_jawad@mercyhands.net Manager of Warehousing and Logistics Division: Mostafa Ahmad. E mail: mostafa@mercyhands.net The following is an excerpt of the ongoing protection programs: Distribution The highlight of distribution activities for this month is the extension of Mercy Hands WFP partnership for IDPs food distribution to include Anbar governorate (read below). In the month of October, Mercy Hands continued its monthly WFP food rations distribution in Karbala and Ninewa, targeting only in camp IDPs. In addition to the food distribution. :The following is an excerpt of distribution activities in October 2017 Anbar In partnership with World Food Programme (WFP), Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid (MH) distribute Family Food Rations (FFR) for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in camps in Anbar Governorate covering more than 82 camps. These camps are located in Bzebze, Amiriyat Al Fallujah, Khalidiyah, Habbaniyah Tourist City, 18 Kilo within Anbar Governorate. For October Food Distribution Cycle, the food ration consists of ( Wheat Flour 30 kg Rice 15 kg Oil 4.55 kg Sugar 5 kg Lentils 10kg Salt 0.75 kg Bulgur 5 Kg) with a total weight 70.3 Kg. Based on WFP procedures, for families with 7 family members or less, they receive one ration while families with 8 family members or more, they receive double rations. Within October Food Distribution Cycle, 19861 rations were distributed to 17659 IDP families in Anbar camps. Moreover, immediately after Ana liberation and receiving approval from WFP regarding to distribute FFR in Ana, MH Anbar staff prepared all the available capacities and coordinated with Anbar Council, Anbar Operational Command, and local authorities to facilitate the access to Ana and distribute food rations to families there.
MH has started a new project in Al Faluja city Anbar Governorate (Cash for Education) Assessment, PDM (post distribution monitoring) and case management in partnership with UNICEF. In October 2017, 15 Household assessment officers conducted assessment in Anbar Al Fallujah for 6000 families, and UNICEF selected around 1000 families who are the most vulnerable families in Fallujah within the assessed families. Mosul Mercy Hands Emergency Response team in Ninewa worked full capacity for the whole month, including weekends and holidays, to distribute food and non food items to IDPs and disaster affected families in Ninewa. The Emergency Response team distributed a total of 45,017 monthly family food rations (FFRs) to all IDPs staying in 14 IDP camps around Mosul (Airstrip, Jeda'ah 1 to 6, Haj Ali, Hammam Al Alil 1, 2, Salamiyah 1 and 2and Namrud).
Here is a breakdown of the distributed food and non food items in Ninewa governorate in October 2017: total FFR in Ninewa 45,017. FDP/ Distribution Site Number of assisted individuals Number of assisted families Distributed MT Airstrip 72720 8544 727.957 Haj Ali 34965 6993 370.159 Jada'ah 1 4585 917 77.189 Jada'ah 2 7405 1481 126.048 Jada'ah 3 9690 1938 161.901 Jada'ah 4 6295 1259 107.489 Jada'ah 5 27400 5480 484.437 Jada'ah 6 16235 3247 286.191 Hammam Alial 1 23531 4238 361.764 Salamiyah 1 8058 1440 131.602 Salamiyah 2 2132 4207 358.952 Hammam Alial 2 20612 3663 325.559 Namrood 7749 1610 129.071 Karbala In October, Mercy Hands continued to distribute to in camp IDPs. For in camp.idps in Karbala, Mercy Hands distributed 1,301monthly FFRs Also All MH warehouses ongoing (LC, WFP) in usual work. UNICEF Emergency Kits distribution: On Monday 30/10/2017 MH team has successfully received and distributed 5000 RRM kits to the IDPs and returnees families in the three biggest Sub Distracts of Athaim (Al bo Awad/Al bo Baker/ Al bo Honihain ) in Diyala Governorate. From the early morning, MH team received 9 trucks in the distribution location on the district center playground and start distribution In the presence of Al Athiam local authorities, Athaim Mayor, and local police and Iraqi Army.
The distribution happened depending on the PDS system, all binifiocaries data was collected, the distribution finished at 05:30 PM Only UNICEF items were distributed, the Items distributed was: Bottle, Water Family Hygiene Kit Bucket, plastic, 15L Water Purif Warehousing and Logistics The Warehousing and Logistics Division continuous to serve humanitarian organizations in field of storing their commodities, managing the data in stock reports, and making sure that all the work details are in the right manner. As Mercy Hands / Logistic Cluster Program dealing with many local and international NGOs as well as the Governmental Agencies.
Logistic Cluster of Mercy Hands in Hammam AL Alil had continue its work with Ministry of Trade (MOT) by receiving and releasing their commodities, and make sure that all the data registration and stock reporting are done in right manner to ensure. Many visits from their side are happened during the last month to the warehouse, and we found their satisfaction on our work mechanism. Logistic Cluster WHSEs are continue storing and releasing the Food Items which belongs to MH/Distribution Program to facilitate the distribution process because most of LC WHSEs are located inside the IDPs camps. Moreover, the staff of LC Program also helps in work of distribution to speed the process.the below table shows the quantities received in and released from MH LC WHSEs, as follows: WHSE No. of Stored Items No. of Partners ( NGOs ) Qty. Received ( MT ) Qty. Released ( MT ) Tikrit Hamam Al Alil ( MODM camp ) Hamam Al Alil ( UNHCR camp ) 86 Items 6 ( SIF, DRC, MODM, SCI, MSF, RI ) 53 57 11 Items 3 ( SCI, MH, MOT ) 124 402 22 Items 5 ( SI, NRC, IRC, OXFAM, MH ) 7 352 Haj Ali 8 Food Items 1 ( MH ) 337 746 Qayyarah Airstrip 21 Items 3 ( UIMS, MH, PIN ) 875 772 Gogjali 9 Food Items 2 ( MOT, MH ) 1056 1299 Protection Department The Protection Department is the second largest program department at Mercy Hands. It is currently implementing seven protection programs, as follows: 1. Lawyers for Women Center. Funded by Mercy Hands. 2. Legal Protection for Refugees and Asylum seekers Project. Funded by UNHCR 3. Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Central Iraq. Funded by UNHCR 4. Pillar 4 Protection Project in Mosul. Funded by UNHCR 5. Psychosocial Support for IDP Children in Anbar Governorate. Funded by UNICEF 6. Child Protection in East Mosul. Funded by the TDH Italy. 7. House land and Property rights in Mosul. Funded by UNDP. The management of Protection Department: Director of Department: Ahmed Sameer. E mail: ahmed.sameer@mercyhands.net. Assistant Director: Skylar Megan Kogelschatz. E mail: skogelsc@mercyhands.net
The following is an excerpt of the ongoing protection programs: Lawyers for Women Four offices of the center still providing legal services in Baghdad, Babil, Basra, and Mosul. Services include: legal representation, free consultations, and mediation and reconciliation. The center is considered the first law firm in Iraq that is formed of only female lawyers and provides its services to only women. The lawyers are experienced in divorce cases, alimony, inheritance, gender based violence, domestic and spouse violence, rape, and child molestation. In addition to the lawyers, a group of experienced social workers (all females) work in the center. These socials workers provide psychosocial support to the center s clients. Till end of October center provide more than 25 consultations and adopt more than 16 cases. Center team arrange for 5 field visits to more vulnerable areas to meet with women to provide them with needed legal support. The center use hotline for beneficiaries that cannot reach the office to facilitate reach the lawyers. 07710178937
Legal Protection for Refugees and Asylum Seekers During the month of October 2017,Mercy Hands legal and information teams made great efforts to serve and protect refugees,where the Legal Representations (22 ) and Legal consultations (4). General information on the beneficiaries The total number of beneficiaries this month: 55 Detention cases 5 Non-detention cases 17 Consultations 4 SGBV 0 SGBV workshops 1 Total Cases 26 SGBV workshops beneficiaries 29 The total number of Legal Representations for this program (All): 297 The total number of consultation for this program (All): 286 The total number of SBGV for this program (All): 21 Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Central Iraq Funded by the UNHCR, Mercy Hands is implementing "Prevention and Reduction of Statelessness in Central Iraq" Project. The aim of this project is to assist stateless people in Iraq to obtain national IDs, provide them with legal consultations, and raise their awareness on their rights and Iraqi laws. During October 2017, Mercy Hands for Humanitarian Aid had a specific work plan that was carefully followed by the legal team.
Where the legal team in coordination with local authorities and the beneficiaries themselves to achieve the largest number of cases and provide legal assistance to the largest number of the beneficiaries through several visits to more than a governmental offices and coordination with people are related to taking official approvals to complete the tasks in time required despite the obstacles facing the team Cases received in October: 304 Number of Diyala team cases: 263 Number of Basra team cases: 41 On progress: 7 from Diyala only Consultations received in October: 9 Number of closed cases: 297 Number of closed cases of Diyala team: 256 Number of closed cases of Basra team: 41 Cases types as follows: National ID certificate: 27 Unified ID : 242 Residency card : 7 National ID : 8 Death certificate : 1 Birth certificate: 2 Proving divorce: 6 Renew National ID: 1 Executor: 2 The cases classification as follows: Men: 153 Women: 144 (including 68 Child) Number of visits by Diyala team: 12 Number of visits by the Basra team: 26 A hotline was specialized for the beneficiaries of the project: 07710178937
The Pillar 4 Protection Project in Mosul During the month of October Mercy Hands P4 lawyers completed a record 114 cases. This is the most cases they have completed in a month and truly reflects their dedication and hard work. This month Mercy Hands has also coordinated with Al Mesalla in order to provide legal aid in their women s only spaces in East Mosul. The GBV team has also made several referral pathway connections. In the month of October they referred ten cases to other services. The assessment team has completed a total of 624 assessments since being rehired at the beginning of October. They have worked mainly in Al Qadysia this month. The chart below show the achievements for October: Leaflets for Awareness, 36% Legal Representations, 9% Legal consultations, 4% SGBV Workshop, 0% Legal Sessions for Awareness, 1% Household Assessments, 50% Legal Representations Legal consultations SGBV Workshop Household Assessments Legal Sessions for Awareness Leaflets for Awareness. Psychosocial Support for IDP Children in Anbar Psychosocial support refers to those programme components which assist children, families and communities to cope with crisis, and to reinforce or regain healthy psycho social development and resilience in the face of challenging circumstances. In partnering with UNICEF, Mercy Hands established two Child Friendly Spaces (CFSs) Habbaniyah Tourist City (HTC) and Khalidiyah. The staff in each locations consists of a Center Manager, Logistician, 3 Facilitators, and Case Manager, and a Guard. There were some changes and replacement in the staff to achieve more purposeful and functional work environment. At each session (around one month period), each CFS will provide more than 220 children with psychosocial support. For both location, girl's attendance between fifteen to eighteen years old are limited because of their traditional way to live and women status in the society. The attendance is improving at the end of the session
with all the awareness provided to the parents and caregivers. 556 children were registered during October 2017 (220 in Khalidiyah; 336 in HTC) targeted mainly Al Khalidiyah 2, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11 camps ( in Khalidiyah), AL Tahrer 2 camps, Al Falluja 2 camps, caravans A and Al Hijra camp ( in HTC), as well as the camps in the surroundings. In October and after a few days of the beginning of Khalidiyah session, Khalidiyah camps opens its doors for newly IDPs family, the registered children was already provided with previous PSS sessions, MH staff was one of the first social workers that met the displaced families to provide PFA for the families and register children in the CFS. The activities in the CFSs include: creative, manipulative, physical, communicative, and imaginative activities. Activities that are performed in the CFSs include inside and outside activities, such as : swinging, sliding, playing Football, board games, puzzle games, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, rope jumping, toy bricks games. Moreover, the activities cover minor awareness presentations as games and discussions in topics like hygiene, health, communications, emotions, peer relations, relationship with adults, peace and conflict, and the future. Awareness on CP: Within the CFS activities and through sessions and campaigns, CFS staff provide awareness raising on Child Protection issues for both children and their families. The awareness activities cover main topics of child protection including child protection in emergencies, children s rights, and separated and unaccompanied children, how to avoid separation in emergencies, and what are the appropriate actions to deal with these cases Case Management Al Khalidiya Coverage Area: Al Khalidiya IDP camps, including camps 2, 8, and 9. Number of Cases: 158 cases (107 legal, 23 medical, and 13 social cases) HTC Coverage Area: HTC IDP camps, including Al Bawaba Camp, Camp 70, and Al Hijra Camp.Number of Cases: 134 Cases, (107 legal, 23 medical, and 13social)
Child Protection in East Mosul Psychosocial support refers to those programme components which assist children, families and communities to cope with crisis, and to reinforce or regain healthy psychosocial development and resilience in the face of challenging circumstances. In partnering with TDH, Mercy Hands established two mobile Child Friendly Spaces, one in Al Adel District (Al Zahraa Neighborhood) using Al Suqoor kindergarten, and the other in Al Wehda District using Al Balsam Kindergarten. Since the 1st of October MH has used the private Ahbab Al Agrooh kindergarten located in Al Iekhaa neighborhood. Numbers of children from 4-17 Y.O in the following locations: In Al Iekhaa: 128 Boys and 100 Girls. In Al Aal Argoob: 78 Boys and 55 Girls. As a total for both neighborhoods we had, 206 Boys, and 155 Girls; Resulting to accumulative progress of 1253 Boys, and 1117 Girls, with total of 2370 children of all the project period. The 11 cases identified this month were refereed to our MH legal assistance team as they were all missing legal civil documentation. Number of children receiving CP had progress of 11 children from both genders, which is leading to accumulative progress of 43 children from 4 17 Y.O. In order to increase the number of beneficiaries, MH used the opportunity of the registration days to conduct subsequently awareness sessions regarding protection and legal issues as well as children s rights. In addition, we cooperated with our MH legal protection team to conduct awareness session dedicated to children s right and protection after they conduct legal awareness sessions. As a result, we were able to target a significantly larger number of caregivers this month compared with previous months. Number of people who received awareness sessions: 933 Male, and 783 Female; leading to accumulative progress of 1408 Male, and 1225 Female. 206 Boys, and 155 Girls; leading to accumulative progress of 684 Boys, and 691 Girls. Resulting to a total of, 2633 caregivers,1375 children and 4008 individuals
House land and property rights in Mosul In October, Mercy Hands launched a new project "House land and property rights in Mosul", Funded by UNDP. The goal of this project is to map Housing, Land and Property violations as well as help people obtain secure land tenure. Thus, in the month of October, our assessment team completed a house to house HLP needs mapping in Aden and Al Khaderaa and completed 289 assessments. Additionally, the HLP legal team opened 37 housing, land and property cases. Our targets for the project are: Distribution of 2000 brochures. Mapping houses in 6 neighborhoods. 20 awareness sessions. 5 Government advocacy sessions. Restoring 1000 housing, land and property documents (500 Female, 500 Male). Health Department The Health Department manages two charity medical clinics, in Baghdad and Babil governorates, as well as a private health insurance program for low income people, called Dhamani. Both clinics are provided with physicians, Ultrasound, ECG, nursing services, and a medical laboratory. 193 patients visited Babil clinic while only 91 patients visited the charity clinic in Baghdad. Civil Society Department / Education The Civil Society and Democracy Department has numerous activities and projects that benefited the Iraqi civil society and different sectors of the community. It is currently implementing four protection programs, as follows: Community mobilization for schools based management in Baghdad (SBM) project, Funded by UNICEF. Providing Leadership and Life Skills for Adolescents and Youth (PLLAY), Funded by Mercy corps. Vocational trainings in Mosul, Funded by DRC. Civil society Broadcasting (CSB), Funded by Mercy Hand's. The management of Civil Society Department: Director of Department: Nidham Mohsen. E mail: nidham@mercyhands.net Head of Mission For Syria & Duhok /Program Manager: Bethany.E mail: bethany.eigenfeld@mercyhands.net Program Manager: Nadia Soto. E mail: n.soto@mercyhands.net CSB manager: Daniel Wheeler. E mail: d.wheeler@mercyhands.net
Community mobilization for schools based management in Baghdad In October 2017, Mercy Hands started implementation the first activities of Community mobilization for schools based management in Baghdad (SBM) project in partnership with UNICEF. Geographical coverage: geographical areas covered by the six directorate of education (DSoEs) in Kharkh and Rasafa districts of Baghdad Governorate. The Population focus: Children of 95 schools located in Karkh and Resafa districts in Baghdad, their parents, and the communities included in the catchment areas of those 95 schools. The project aims at promoting resilience and long term and sustainable peace through full and inclusive participation of communities in building child friendly schools. Awareness raising sessions and campaigns, service providers and community members will result in on going, applicable knowledge about child rights and peace education, as well as best practices. Focus groups discussion will enable social inclusion and autonomous initiatives to arise. Moreover, community groups such as PTA, Mother Groups and student groups will encourage community financial and in kind contributions. At the beginning of academic year (2017 2018), the project team assisted managements of the 95 schools in establishing their PTAs by: Got the official approval of (Ministry of Education) to facilitate MH activities of this project. Started site visits for the 95 targeted Schools to update their information (GPS and names & contact information of these Schools & PTAs (Parents and Teachers Association). Working with the managements to send out engaging invitations to students parents in a timely manner. Facilitated PTA first (establishing) meeting of the general assembly and elected PTA members for several Schools. During the GA meeting or FGD, the project team will educated participants on PTA regulations, purpose, and objectives and encourage them to elect the most fitted for PTA. Create a database of PTAs members, names and contact information.
Create a manual on how to establish a PTA to serve as a guide for any school. Providing Leadership and Life Skills for Adolescents and Youth (PLLAY) PLLAY Baghdad The security situation in the area of Dora is settled, Children started school season, the area looks settled and more active and less tensioned than the previous months. During October 2017, the following activities took place: Individuals Registration Training (October 3, 2017) Field Data Collection (Individuals (October 8 10, 2017) Protection Training (October 11 12, 2017) Rehabilitation of Dora center (October 15 25, 2017) 123Entalik Training (October 15,16, 2017) Creative Facilitation Training (October 22 29, 2017)
Dora center, after the rehabilitation: PLLAY Tikrit According to the continues observations done by MH team in Tikrit, Tikrit is slowly waking up of the aftermath of ISIS and the recent war. Big number of the IDPs returned home to Mosul, Telaffer and Biji, However, Huge portion of IDPs are living in official and non official camps and public building, many children dropped out of their schools and huge rate of them were never been to school or never been in a space that provides help and revise their potentials. Many NGOs are working in Tikrit, However, few of them work in the field of Protection; Child & Youth protection, General CON awareness or PSS. Tikrit relative security settled situation make a perfect timing to implement Youth led and awareness projects to rise up the level of awareness and activeness of the city. During September 2017, the following activities took place: Profound Stress and Attunment Training (October 3 10, 2017) Registeration training (October 11, 2017) Field data collection (Individual Registeration) (October 12 17, 2017) 123Entalik Training (October 18 26, 2017) Creative Facilitation Training (October 27 31, 2017) The upcoming activities will include: Registering of children and starting of the 8weeks cycle in the AFS. (November 1, 2017)
Practicing one of the activities of Entalik PLLAY staff in Tikrit, During Individuals registration field work: Civil Society Broadcasting (CSB) CSB broadcasts from Baghdad and its main studio is located within Mercy Hands Headquarters. Its mission is to link civil society organizations to the people, advocate for the needs and concerns of the people and act as a forum for civil society organization to announce and publish their activities. You can listen to CSB on: Mercy Hands website: http://www.mercyhands.net/csb/ Radio Garden http://radio.garden/live/baghdad/civil-society-broadcasting TuneIn https://tunein.com/radio/csb-civil-society-broadcasting-s295707
CSB is also available Facebook @csbiraq and on Twitter @CSB_Arabic and @CSB_English For more information, please contact our Public Relations Department at info@mercyhands.net