Bhubaneshwar: As Odisha battles for resources to respond to the impact of Cyclone Fani, one of the worst cyclones to hit the state in decades, Aide et Action, an international not-for-profit organization, announced an immediate aid of INR 5 Million (Rs. 50 Lakhs) to support its humanitarian response for children and families devastated by the cyclone in the state. This has been made possible because of the generous donation of Aide et Action supporters in France.

In the first phase of the project, Aide et Action will focus on child friendly initiatives promoting safe and healthy environment for children in schools in 70 villages of Nimapara block in Puri district of Odisha.

The project will work to ensure psycho-social support to children, provide learning kits & portable solar lamps to help children resume their education and continue without interruption, undertake immediate repair of damaged schools, and advocate with government to provide mid-day meals to all the children during the summer vacation apart from making sure the availability of various other social security benefits to the affected families.

“Children are incredibly vulnerable when it comes to disasters. They undergo high stress that affects their psychosocial well-being. Our first task would be to ensure access to education and counseling support to the affected children at the earliest,” said Umi Daniel, Director – Migration & Education, coordinating Aide et Action response from Bhubaneswar with an experienced team supporting him. “We have already initiated action on the ground by reaching out to the children and providing them with learning kits to enable them to resume their education. This has been accomplished with the support and collaboration of the school managements and gram panchayats,” he added.

The aid will also help to initiate community managed disaster response in the affected area with special focus on the need and safety of children.

Apart from implementing this project directly, Aide et Action will partner with local NGOs having experience and expertise on humanitarian response and have a physical presence in the operational areas to implement the project. Aide et Action plans to expand the intervention to Gop and Puri Sadar blocks of Puri district covering 50 gram panchayats and reaching out to 15000 children in the second phase to be initiated soon.

About Aide et Action: Aide et Action (AEA) is a leading global NGO that originated in Paris in 1981 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. AEA’s vision is “a world where dignity is ensured for all men and women through education”, with a mission is to make Education a lever for development and change’. AEA has strong presence in 19 countries across the globe.

In South Asia, AEA has presence in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bhutan. The operations are spread across 21 states of India (including Jammu & Kashmir and North East India) managed through 9 regional offices.

For more information, visit aea-southasia.org or contact:

Chandra Kiran Katta, Manager-Communications at Hyderabad ([email protected])

Umi Daniel, Director-Migration & Education at Bhubaneswar ([email protected])