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RWANDA: UNICEF lays out humanitarian action plan for 2002

NAIROBI, 29 November (IRIN) - The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
and its partners plan to spend some US $10.9 million for humanitarian
action in Rwanda during 2002, according to a UN Children's Fund report
made available to IRIN on Thursday.

This effort is part of a broader UNICEF goal to ensure that the rights of
all children are realised, and in this way "support Rwanda's transition
from emergency to long-term human development".

In partnership with WFP and the Ministry of Health, the greatest amount of
the money will be spent on nutrition, one of the five major areas of
intervention outlined in UNICEF's plan. The "key action" in the
nutritional intervention, it says, will be to reduce the "serious
situation" of malnutrition among young children of whom 29 percent of
under-fives are under-weight, 43 percent stunted in growth and 7 percent
wasting. Malnutrition remains problematic, UNICEF says, and 43 percent of
Rwandan children suffer from its chronic form.

Health:

On health, UNICEF will spend some $1.8 million in a nationwide vaccination
campaign targeting all children from nine months to 15 years old. Because
it is a major cause of childhood death in the country, health experts feel
that "a one-off campaign will make a major impact" in reducing the
prevalence of measles.

Vaccination against polio forms another component of the health
intervention and will target specific areas of the country previously
little served due to their proximity with the Democratic Republic of Congo
where there is continuing fighting. Within the DRC polio immunisation is
"relatively low", thereby serving as a reservoir for the wild virus,
UNICEF says, and makes Rwanda vulnerable, due to the movement of people
between DRC and Rwanda. "It is felt that a sub-national campaign, aimed at
these vulnerable areas, is necessary," UNICEF adds.

In unstable areas, an integrated approach will be employed in ensuring
child survival. The aim is to support areas of Rwanda, affected by
instability, to move toward a more developmental approach to child
survival, UNICEF says. Therefore, focus will be on prevention of HIV
transmission from mother to child.

Water and environmental sanitation:

Water and environmental sanitation also forms an important aspect of the
plan. The objective in this sector is to provide improved water and
sanitation services in areas of instability. Apart from improving access
to safe water and sanitation, UNICEF says, this will also serve as an
entry point for developing a community-based approach to development.

Education:

Almost one-third of Rwanda's 700,000 children have limited or no access to
quality and equitable education, UNICEF says. In many conflict areas
worldwide, children have been used as combatants or in support roles. In
Rwanda, too, children need protection and learning has been recognised as
"the main preventive strategy against vulnerability, abuse and
exploitation." The focus in this effort, in Rwanda, will be on formal and
non-formal education, and the right to protection.

With the end of UNICEF's 1998-2000 non-formal educational "bridging
programme", the agency says "efforts must now aim to create an environment
conducive to the progressive realisation of children's rights, with
special attention given to the most vulnerable". During 2002, UNICEF will
support six areas of non-formal education of which "catch-up education"
for 560 children will be tested in three of Rwanda's 12 provinces.

Vulnerable children will be taught life skills and given HIV/AIDS
education to secure behavioural change towards transmission of the
disease. In addition, UNICEF's international and local partners will
implement community-based integrated projects for vulnerable children,
initially as part of the three pilot projects in Gisenyi, Kibuye and
Kigali.

UNICEF warns that continued military operations in northwest and southwest
Rwanda may result in the capture of more children among rebel fighters,
thereby increasing the pressure on child protection activities. Currently,
it says, some 300 former child soldiers are to be reintegrated into their
families and communities, "however, a lot of work will be necessary to
support the post-reintegration phase". In 2002, the programme for the
reintegration of former child soldiers will, among others, ensure that a
mechanism is in place to protect children from the time of their capture
[by government troops of villagers] to the completion of the reintegration
process.

Finally, UNICEF will engage in emergency preparedness and response
activity aimed at strengthening the use of monitoring, evaluation and
planning tools to assess, with greater accuracy, the impact of the
agency's programming and prepare the office and counterparts for possible
emergency situations.

[ENDS]

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[This item is delivered in the "africa-english" service of the UN's IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. If you re-print, copy, archive or re-post
this item, please retain this credit and disclaimer. Reposting by commercial
sites requires written IRIN permission.]

Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2001