The UN estimated that 80-95 per cent of houses and public buildings in someareas were destroyed. Infrastructure, including electricity and water, wasseverely damaged. With initial funding from the Halaby Fund, Save theChildren sent an assessment to team to East Timor in October of 1999. Headedby Neil Boothby, director of Save the Children's `Children in Crisis' unit,the team identified the creation of safe shelters for families as a criticalneed, as well as psychosocial programming to help children and adolescentsrecover from this emergency.

Save the Children, with funding from the United Nations High Commissionerfor Refugees (UNHCR), is providing emergency shelter kits to vulnerablefamilies. The need to bring most materials from outside of East Timor hasrequired careful planning by Save the Children and UNHCR, together withother international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) nowoperating in the country. Distribution of shelter kits began in February2000, following the arrival of trucks and the hiring of skilled local peoplefor project implementation. Each emergency shelter kit, weighing 1.46tonnes, is intended to provide basic cover and consists of timber,corrugated iron sheeting, cement and tools for construction. Save theChildren is in the process of distributing 3,500 kits to families in need.

Critical to the success of the project is community participation, anapproach that helps avoid beneficiary dependency on outside support.Participants in each village meet with Save the Children staff to askquestions and receive information about the receipt of shelter material,including who is eligible for the shelter kit, when they will receive thekit, and what assistance is available to help with construction.

Save the Children has distributed emergency shelter kits in the Maubarasub-district of Liquica and conducted needs assessments in both Liquica andthe Atsabe sub-district of Ermera district. These assessments involvereviewing the condition of each house in each community and working withvillage leaders, church officials and other community groups, such aswomen's associations, to identify which families are the most vulnerable andin need of immediate assistance in construction. Vulnerable groups includefemale-headed households, families with more than five children, thedisabled, the elderly, and the very poorest members of a community.

Each beneficiary community provides labour to unload the Save the Childrentrucks that bring shelter kits to the community and helps vulnerablefamilies who are unable to construct the shelter themselves. Save theChildren also provides technical advice and assistance with constructionactivities whenever needed.

In April 2000, Save the Children, in partnership with the ChristianChildren's Fund and the International Rescue Committee, received a $2.4million award from the State Department Bureau for Population, Refugees, andMigration to implement a psychosocial programme through the Child Protectionand Psychosocial Programs Consortium. The goal of the programme is topromote the healthy development of children and adolescents affected by thiscrisis. The community based protection, psychosocial and reconciliationprogrammes, which began at the end of May, will provide structurednormalising activities for children and youth and help promote communityreconciliation and healing.