International Rescue Committee 2006 Annual Report

2
Photos by Jonathan Wiesner (top), Alan Batkin (Bottom)
From the
co-chaiRmen
Alan Batkin (top) and Jonathan Wiesner
(bottom) during a trip to Northern Uganda.
Dear Friends:
Last July, we led a delegation of IRC board members and supporters on a visit to see the IRC’s work
in southern Sudan and northern Uganda, where the IRC is assisting large groups of people whose
lives have been devastated as a consequence of protracted civil conflicts.
Our delegation was extremely impressed by the dedication of our staff who work tirelessly on
behalf of refugees and the displaced. While the programs we saw are representative of services that
IRC provides in countries affected by war throughout the world, we noted several distinctive aspects of
the IRC’s work that deserve mention.
The IRC helps people help themselves. In Juba, in southern Sudan, we visited a vocational training
program that teaches carpentry and provides tools to refugees who are finally able to return home.
In Uganda’s Kitgum district, we sat in on a meeting of a community-run and community-supported
savings and loan association. The IRC has trained 49 facilitators who teach residents in seven camps
for the internally displaced how to start and manage these associations, which in turn fund small
business ventures inside the camps with short term loans.
The IRC innovates. Thanks to an IRC initiative in one camp for the displaced Acholi in northern
Uganda, acreage has been set aside for 116 farmers to grow cotton and vegetables. Through contacts
made by the IRC, an international cotton merchandiser has agreed to buy the cotton at the prevailing
market prices, while the vegetables are sold in the camp markets. For the participants, the initiative
provides a boost not only to their income but to their morale and self-esteem.
The IRC tackles difficult issues. In both southern Sudan and Uganda, the IRC administers programs
that combat violence against women. We assist survivors of violence and work to prevent the problem,
which is especially prevalent in camps and refugee populations, through community education
and awareness training for both men and women. In southern Sudan, we assist a small, local aid
organization operated by a group of disabled men. At the time of our visit, the organization, whose
slogan is “disability does not equal inability,” had registered 649 people with disabilities—(225 of
them women)—and 135 children, out of an estimated 2,000 people with disabilities in the region.
The IRC trains and develop its local staff. Our staff in southern Sudan and Uganda consists of 628
local citizens and only 33 expatriates. We provide these local staff members with valuable training,
experience, and the opportunity to advance within the IRC. Indeed, in the 25 countries where the IRC
operates, expatriates account for only about 2 percent of our staff.
None of our work in Sudan, Uganda and elsewhere would be possible without the generous support
of our donors. In 2006, donor contributions totaled $56 million, compared with $41 million in 2005 and
$22 million in 2004. This private funding enables us to attract additional support from the United States
and other governments, the U.N. and intergovernmental agencies—a record $164 million last year.
Additionally, invaluable assistance to the IRC’s work comes from our colleagues on the board of
directors. These men and women—all of them unpaid volunteers who cover their own expenses when
they travel to see programs—play a vital role in the governance of the organization. They serve on, or
chair, a number of hardworking committees that support and monitor the efforts of the staff to ensure
that IRC resources are used wisely and effectively. For their part, the IRC overseers offer advice and
assistance on advocacy, public relations, and fundraising, and contribute substantially to the work of
our board committees.
We are grateful to you, the IRC’s supporters, and to our board and overseers. Your support makes
the IRC’s work possible.
Alan R. Batkin
Co-Chairmen of the Board
Jonathan L. Wiesner