Submitted To: Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand
His Grace Bishop +Irinej

Submitted By: International Orthodox Christian Charities
110 West Rd., Suite 360
Baltimore, MD 21204
Tel: 410.243.9820 Fax: 410.243.9824
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. / www.iocc.org

INTRODUCTION

The IOCC flood response program for Serbia, supported by the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand was launched to restore normal living conditions in local communities and ensure that the aid reaches the most vulnerable people in the aftermath of floods in 2014. IOCC implemented the flood response program for the flood affected population in cooperation with Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Šabac, Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Valjevo, Red Cross of Belgrade and Red Cross of Ljubovija.

The project was implemented during the period from 01st October, 2014 through 30 April, 2015; the project was implemented professionally, and all planned activities completed and in many aspects anticipated outcomes are exceeded.

BACKGROUND

Starting May 13, 2014, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina - BiH experienced sustained torrential rains - by some estimates several months of average rain fell on the region in less than week - that resulted in the worst floods in at least the last century.

In Serbia, the consequences of floods are most severe in areas within and surrounding cities of Belgrade, Valjevo, Šabac, Loznica, Paraćin, Čačak and Kraljevo. The most affected areas in Republika Srpska are around and within Bosanski Šamac, Doboj and Bijeljina.

Over seventy people lost their lives, while hundreds of thousands of people were affected by the floods, thousands were evacuated and thousands more were isolated within the flooded areas, cut off from main roads without ready access to drinking water, food, medicine or power.

Like in most of flood affected areas, in Western and Central Serbia (Obrenovac, Krupanj and Ljubovija municipalities) the flood water that stayed over several weeks caused that many flood affected families have lost almost all of their belongings as they had to throw away all their furniture, bedding and most of their clothing as well as most of their household appliances.

Unfortunately, devastating floods in Serbia and BiH do not stop in May. In early August, the new wave of flooding hit Western Serbia and Central / Northern BiH; some areas flooded in May 2014 are flooded again and many landslides are awaken; new flooding brought new victims, continue damaging roads, bridges and peoples' homes. In many areas, floods destroyed entire yields from farmers' fields, leaving people with no income and loss of the agricultural season.

PROJECT GOAL

Originally, the project is aimed at reaching at least 60 families, affected by floods and living in Krupanj and Ljubovija municipalities. The project aimed in giving the advantage to the most vulnerable flood affected families, living in rural and suburban areas; focusing on elderly families, single mothers and families with many small children.

Adjusting the project to the actual situation on the ground, during the project's life cycle and by the blessings of His Grace Bishop Irinej, the project objectives were expanded to adequately respond to the new circumstances.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES

As it was planned, the practical implementation of the proposed project activities started in November 2014. At the beginning of the project, most of the assistance recipient families were out of their homes, mostly near their villages, living with their relatives or in rented facilities. For describing the implementation process in details, it is divided in specific project components, as follows.

INCEPTION PHASE & VERIFICATION FIELD ASSESSMENT

The period between endorsement of the submitted project to the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand and the official start of implementation of project activities is considered as the project Inception Phase. It is important to note that the inception phase was conducted within the areas originally proposed by the project (Krupanj and Ljubovija), as at that time it was not anticipated any potential change of the proposed intervention, neither in terms of the program focused areas nor in terms of the type of the assistance.

Following its standard program procedure, IOCC has re-examined project activities as planned and described in the submitted proposal, in view of any external factors that may influence their implementation (e.g. some specific activities, similar to the proposed, having commenced by other organizations in the meantime; weather condition changes; affected population movements; etc.). For that reason, prior starting the practical implementation of the project, IOCC conducted additional field assessment of the program focused areas.

The assessments also entailed strong participation of local community members who contributed in identification of their priority needs, and this shaped IOCC's final intervention strategy. The verification field assessments showed almost zero changes in the operational environment, which just reconfirmed original decision in regards to the scope and type of the intervention proposed.

SPECIFIC PROGRAM FOCUSED AREAS

Western Serbia region is one of the areas that suffered the most damage from the recent flooding; especially municipalities of Krupanj and Ljubovija.

According to 2011 census, targeted municipalities have a population of about 32,000 people, and both municipalities have been severely impacted by floods and later severely devastated by hundreds of landslides.

One rescue worker described situation in Krupanj "like a tsunami and earthquake occurred at once." Mostly with the support of various international and national organizations (far lower response than it was expected by the people affected by flooding), reconstruction and repair process was initiated.

On the other side, the requirement for household appliances and furniture remained to be serious challenge for people; especially electric appliances that are mostly totally damaged, beyond repair.

The specific area is mostly underdeveloped and without industrial potentials, but with clean and undisturbed natural environment that offers significant touristic and agriculture development potentials; large areas of agricultural land around Krupanj and Ljubovija are seriously affected by flooding, leaving many small farmers with their only source of income.

Obrenovac is a municipality in northern Serbia; Obrenovac is one of 17 municipalities that make up the greater Belgrade area. During the May 2014, nearby Kolubara river collecting waters from southerly mountains, suddenly rose several meters above its banks and flooded the municipality.

The damage on peoples´ homes and property was extreme and people had no choice than to leave, saving their lives. It forced rapid evacuation of Obrenovac; fortunately, the water level dropped, which enabled the evacuation of over 30,000 citizens of Obrenovac to be carried. The majority of evacuees were accommodated with their friends or relatives, while approximately 5,000 people found temporary shelter in improvised collective centers established and operated by the Red Cross of Serbia.

Like many people homes, the facilities and equipment of the Red Cross of Obrenovac were entirely destroyed by the flooding, beyond repair. It is unique situation where those who were carrying the heaviest burden of providing the assistance to flood affected families, are actually in great need themselves; they end up without physical address and space for continuing their humanitarian activities


PROJECT BENEFICIARIES / ASSISTANCE RECIPIENTS

The assistance recipients are divided into two categories, including:

The most flood affected population living within the project focused flood affected areas of Western Serbia has received kitchen appliances. In order to identify beneficiaries who are demonstrating the greatest level of vulnerability and need for assistance, IOCC and its local implementing partners have employed the following beneficiary selection criteria:

- Flood affected families with a female head of household / single mothers
- Flood affected families with an elderly family member
- Flood affected families with a family member who is regularly ill
- Flood affected families with a pregnant or otherwise vulnerable female member
- Flood affected families with a person with special needs family member
- Flood affected families with preschool and primary school age children / more children

Within this category, the program achieved and in fact exceeded all of its targets as per the original plan 65 beneficiary families, instead of the 60 originally planned, were reached; an achieved increase of 8.33%.

Red Cross of Obrenovac, as the chapter of the Red Cross of Belgrade. The focus was on securing the appropriate space for continuation of their humanitarian activities (distribution of the relief assistance to those in need) and re-establishing the work of the people's soup kitchen in Obrenovac.

ASSISTANCE COMPOSITION / DISTRIBUTION

Following IOCC standard approach, and in an effort to minimize the logistic timeframe and to maximize the support to affected area and its local economy, all purchases were made locally and hired local contractors for performing planned works.

The procurement / distribution of kitchen appliances was carried out during the Nov & Dec 2014, for 65 assistance recipient families in Krupanj, Ljubovija and Šabac municipalities; 30 flood affected families have received electric stove, 30 flood affected families have received refrigerator and 5 flood affected families have received freezer.

Upon completing transparent and open suppliers selection process, in cooperation with the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Šabac, the arrangement was made with the selected supplier to deliver ordered articles, at the specific locations in Krupanj, Ljubovija and Šabac municipalities; the location designated by the parishes of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Šabac and Red Cross of Ljubovija, where the assistance recipients collected the assistance.


Assistance purchased and delivered to 65 assistance recipient families (verified by the assistance recipient signature), from local company GORENJE - Šabac chapter :


Electric Stove Gorenje E61102AW 1 / family - TOTAL 30 pcs
Refrigerator Gorenje kombi 4160AW 1 / family - TOTAL 30 pcs
Freezer - vertical Gorenje F6245 W 1 / family - TOTAL 5 pcs

During the duration of the program and within the program focuse areas, the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Šabac secured assistance (kitchen appliances) for additional 178 flood affected families. Given that the needs for this specific assistance was covered, and to avoid duplication of efforts, IOCC has decided to propose additional activity to the project.

IOCC has requested from the donor to redirect this funding for partial repair / reconstruction of the Red Cross building in Obrenovac. The partial repair / reconstruction activities will enable normal functioning of the Red Cross in Obrenovac and renewal of the work of people's soup kitchen.


OPERATIONAL SUPPORT FOR THE SERBIAN ORTHODOX DIOCESE OF ŠABAC

In an effort to strengthen the capacity of the Serbian Orthodox Diocese of Šabac, in responding to flooding and delivery of the relief assistance to the most vulnerable families throughout Western Serbia, the project has secured funding support in the amount of US$ 1.626,86.

In that respect, IOCC has signed the Memorandum of Understanding – MOU with the official representatives of Serbian Orthodox Church Diocese of Šabac.

PARTIAL REPAIR & RECONSTRUCTION - RED CROSS OF OBRENOVAC BUILDING

During the 2014 floods, the office space of the Red Cross of Obrenovac (one of 17 chapters of Red Cross of Belgrade) was totally destroyed. It left the organization with no physical space for carrying out their humanitarian programs, and affects thousands of people in need; through the Red Cross of Obrenovac, over 3.5 million kilograms of the humanitarian assistance is distributed to flood affected population.

Furthermore, the distribution center of the people's soup kitchen in Obrenovac, managed by the Red Cross, stopped providing cooked meals to most vulnerable people for more than six months; before floods the number of assistance recipients in the Red Cross of Obrenovac people's soup kitchen was 363 (about 120 families.

The total fund estimated for the partial repair / reconstruction the Red Cross of Obrenovac building was estimated at US$ 23.250; re-establishing the people's soup kitchen and securing the office space for Red Cross of Obrenovac.

As it was identified saving of about US$8.200 (within the project "Flood emergency response program for Krupanj and Ljubovija" funded by Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand), IOCC has secured the contribution of the remaining US$ 15.050.
The Red Cross of Obrenovac building has been constructed in two separate phases. The ground floor of the building (the premises repaired / reconstructed through this project are located on ground floor) has been constructed over 100 years ago; the total surface of the ground floor is about 130 m2. The first floor and upper construction is from about 15 years ago, constructed on the top of the existing building; there are no paperwork, projects and / or any other document available for this construction work.

The building itself was already in poor condition, with just basic construction works completed and partial installation works; over the time, the partially completed work on installations is damaged beyond repair.

In addition to it, during the flood, over 70cm of water was within the building; water stayed for over 30 days, filling the walls and floors with moisture and further damaging the structure.

The project included intervention on 62.84m2 of the total buildings surface; the space include 2 toilets / small bathrooms, 1 reception space, 2 offices and soup kitchen distribution center.

The project intervention was consisted of the following works:

- Full repair and reconstruction of the floor (cleaning and leveling, concrete works, armature nets, building's foundations control and partial repair, and insulation) and laying the final cover (ceramic tiles);

- Full repair and reconstruction of the walls (cleaning and leveling, removal of old electrical installations, corrections of the imperfections of previous works, adjusting dimensions, etc.), plastering, painting in white color (offices and reception space) and laying wall tiles (soup kitchen distribution center and toilets / small bathrooms);

- Complete works on electric and water installations within the specific space, with construction of the independent systems and connecting it on building's general installation system.

- Full repair and reconstruction of the ceilings (cleaning and leveling, removal of old electrical installations, corrections of the imperfections of previous works, adjusting dimensions, etc.) and installing the pre – fab suspension ceilings ARMSTRONG with the adequate lighting.

- Cleaning and adjusting openings and installment of windows, inside and entrance doors.

Following IOCC standard procurement procedures and positive practice for carrying such activities, in cooperation with the Red Cross of Belgrade, three offers from different construction companies have been collected; based on the calculations and descriptions prepared by the IOCC and Red Cross of Belgrade specialized engineering staff.

IOCC and Red Cross of Belgrade have jointly evaluated received offers, and on the basis of the market research, price evaluation that was carried out in accordance with the activity's requirements and available funds, the unanimous decision was to accept the offer of the construction company SZGR "S.A.M." from Belgrade.

IOCC and Red Cross of Belgrade have signed the tripartite agreement with the selected company, for completion of planned partial repair / reconstruction works.

As per the signed contract, work was initiated on 9th February 2015, and completed on 31 March 2015.

By the contracted date, all contracted obligation of the selected construction company have been fulfilled on time, and the official technical acceptance of the contracted work was carried out.

In addition, to completed repair / reconstruction works, IOCC and Red Cross of Belgrade have agreed that there are still needs for additional works to be carried out, including:


Designing and installing building's lighting conductor and earthling; and,
Cover the expenses for connecting the Red Cross building to local public electricity supplying network.

For that purpose, the same construction company has been engaged in performing these activities and signed adequate Annex to the existing tripartite contract. As per the signed Annex, work was initiated on 29th of March 2015, and completed on 06th of April 2015, when the official technical acceptance of the work was completed.

With this intervention, all activities related to repair / reconstruction works of the Red Cross of Obrenovac building are completed, and space (soup kitchen distribution center and Red Cross offices) fully adjusted to its purpose.

COORDINATION / MANAGEMENT

In an effort to avoid unnecessary duplication of efforts, on the ground, IOCC worked closely with Serbian Orthodox Church Dioceses, Red Cross of Serbia and local authorities' representatives. With the IOCC Belgrade staff support, IOCC Regional representative for the Western Balkans was responsible for all aspects of program implementation and management at ground level.

Overall management and broad program goals were the responsibility of the IOCC Headquarters office (HQ) in Baltimore, Maryland where the IOCC Director of Strategic Initiatives supervises all IOCC operations in the Balkans. All financial, logistics and related controls, systems and procedures carried out in field operations are governed and reviewed by IOCC Headquarters.

MONITORING / REPORTING / EVALUATION

All project activities were closely monitored and followed by IOCC and implemented with Serbian Orthodox Church, Red Cross of Serbia and local authorities' representatives.

IOCC office in Belgrade served as the center of the project's monitoring and distribution activities. During the lifecycle of the project, IOCC program staff was conducting regular visits to the program focus areas. During these visits, all crucial decisions related to program dynamics and visits to the field were made in cooperation with official representatives of local implementing partners.

PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

Originally, the program was planned for a three months period, with the initial starting date set for the 01 September 2014. Upon completing all proposed activities and identified budget savings, by the Blessings of His Grace Bishop Irinej the project was extended for ensuring the completion of the activities in Obrenovac.

PROJECT FINANCES

The specific funding project developed by IOCC, requested from the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand the budget coverage of AUD 40.000,00. As the initial contribution to the project, IOCC has decided not to charge 10% overhead to the approved budget, ensuring all funds to be directed into the program related expenses.

It resulted with the final amount of the funding support for the approved project, which was submitted by the Serbian Orthodox Metropolitanate of Australia and New Zealand to the IOCC bank account in the amount of AUD 40.000,00 (US$ 34.501,70 / per the actual exchange rate).

In addition to the approved and awarded funding support, IOCC has secured additional finance, valued US$ 15.050,01; designated for complementing the completion of all planned / proposed activities and expanding it as described within this report.

BUDGET SUMMARY BY FUNDING SOURCE

FUNDING AGENCY USD Contribution

Serbian Orthodox Church Metropolitanate of Australia & New Zealand US$ 34.501,70
IOCC - International Orthodox Christian Charities US$ 15.050,01

TOTAL PROJECT VALUE US$ 49.551,71

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