UNICEF Responses to the Asian Crisis.

In Indonesia, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has launched a new Rapid Response Complementary Feeding Programme to provide low-cost complementary food for infants in selected provinces, with the aim of revitalizing the village health post-network and a community self-help approach to the crisis. UNICEF, UNDP and the World Food Programme of the United Nations are cooperating on ways to provide emergency assistance to vulnerable groups. Efforts are also underway to expand the scope and coverage of Indonesia's existing community health financing activities, including saving schemes for maternal health and grants for emergency obstetric care. In response to the increase in school drop-outs, UNICEF and the Government have launched a national social mobilization campaign aimed at keeping children in school. The agency is also expanding its support to existing government efforts to monitor the effects of the crisis. These include reactivating an early food security monitoring system at the district leve l, refocusing of the 100-village sentinel site surveillance and setting up an emergency crisis "hot-line" information system.

UNICEF and the Royal Thai Government have adopted a new country programme for 1999-2003 designed to specifically address the problems that have emerged from the crisis. A rapid data collection exercise, as well as a study on budget allocations, were undertaken in 1998, the findings of which helped better define programme responses to the crisis. The focus of activities has been somewhat shifted to better meet the needs of the poorest families. Advocacy efforts with government counterparts have resulted in a decision to use the UNICEF-supported bottom-up planning process for the distribution of Social Investment Programme (SIP) funds. UNICEF is also actively collaborating with the World Bank and UNDP in the design and implementation of SIP.

UNICEF has provided emergency assistance to 4,800 families in four provinces of Mindanao that have been seriously affected by drought and whose access to basic services is being further compromised by the economic crisis. The package includes rice, corn seeds, gardening tools, medicines, vitamins and school supplies. It is also providing additional support for programmes aimed at vulnerable groups of children who need health, nutrition, education and psychosocial services. It is cooperating with the Government, other UN agencies and donors within the United Nations Development Assistance Framework regarding the channeling of emergency assistance to target groups. UNICEF is also carrying out coordinated studies...