Spearheaded by Charita, the Czech national branch of Caritas International, the Czech humanitarian assistance in Samar Province is enlarging its scope of operations from purely humanitarian - which started shortly after supertyphoon Yolanda - to development assistance. The funding for these programs in Basey come from the voluntary contributions by citizens of the Czech Republic, Romania, Italy, and by funding of the Czech Development Agency and the local operations are since the beginning run by Czech Charita´s country representative, now Ms. Helena Kotková. “Visiting these projects was a great opprotunity to see how much people-to-people solidarity could help in the countries even so much distant as the Czech Republic and the Philippines,” said Ambassador upon his visit to Basey.

 

 In Basey II Central Elementary School, one of the beneficiaries of the numerous projects of Czech Charita in Samar Province, Czech Embassy has received a plaque of appreciation as Charita was among the firsts — if not the first — humanitarian organization to rebuild local schools in Basey and to continuously provide support for education in the municipality. With majority of the local schools destroyed by Yolanda such swift response by Charita was truly instrumental in the rebuilding of the community.

 

The joint Czech, Italian and Romanian Caritas´ assistance led by Czech Charita in Samar is not limited to post-disaster rehabilitation work. With its local partner, the Diocesan Social Action Service of Calbayog, it has also been implementing agricultural projects supporting local farmers in barangays in Basey countryside. Among these projects is the “Organic Seed Adaptation Farm”, where farmers are taught to identify which seeds and crops are most adaptable to their local areas, and where they are trained in pest control and fertilizer development. Aside from this, Basey office of Charita also provide assistance in formulating and implementation of Disaster Risk Reduction plans through village mapping and promotion of climate-resilient technologies.