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Community
Based Approaches to Disaster Preparedness Project
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Specific
Objective:
Raise the disaster awareness and response capacity of local
communities towards multiple natural hazards in the Districts
of Jamalpur, Barguna and Narshingdi.
We are working at grassroot level in order to
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1. Strengthened the capacity
of 241 Ganokendras / Village Development Communities to operate
as conduits for Disaster Preparedness and response in their local
communities
2. Achieve productive linkages between the 241 GK/VDC and the relevant
local government Disaster Preparedness mechanisms
3. Enhance the public awareness in the targeted
communities towards disaster risk, methods of mitigation, and appropriate
responses to natural hazards
4. Share Lessons Learned
Duration of the Project:
The Project will be implemented between March 2006 and May 2007.
Human Resources:
From Concern Universal
- Country Director
- Finance Manager
- Project Manager
- Project Officer
From partner organization, Dhaka Ahsania Mission
- Project Coordinator
- District Field Coordinators (3)
- Union Supervisors (26)
- Office Assistant (3)
- Caretakers (3)
3 Districts (Jamalpur,
Narshingdi and Barguna)
6 Upazilla
26 Union Parishad
241 Ganokendras (GK)/ Village Development Centres (VDC)
24,000 Direct Beneficiaries
125,000 Households / Indirect Beneficiaries
The three
Districts covered in the Community-Based Approaches to Disaster
Preparedness project are among the most disaster prone areas
in Bangladesh. The vulnerable people living along the riverbank
areas covered by this project regularly face devastating
floods and severe river erosion. People who live in perennial
cyclone and flooded zones have low indicators in all sectors
of poverty, namely in health, nutrition and education. In
addition, the Jamalpur District is also located in the high
risk earthquake zone. The negative |
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impact of natural disasters is felt in all sectors
of life, and the people in the targeted regions do not have the
informational, organisational, or infrastructural capacity to effectively
mitigate the recurring natural disasters.
Project Beneficiaries and Approach
The project’s primary beneficiaries are
members of the local Community Centres (Ganokendra / Village Development
Committees), who’s membership consists of people from the
following vulnerable and marginalised groups:
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People who live in the unstable
and vulnerable char and riverbank regions (farmers, rickshaw
and van pullers, industrial workers, and small business owners)
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Landless households with
minimum assets and irregular employment and income
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Marginal farmers
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Impoverished female heads
of households and their children
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Residents in perennial cyclone
and flood zones who have low results against multiple human
development indicators such as employment, income, health, and
education
According to the findings of the needs assessment,
the people in the targeted regions face specific inadequacies
that greatly impair their response capacity in case of natural
disasters, namely:
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No emergency disaster forecast
systems
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Severe lack of awareness
of the people about the negative consequence of the flood, cyclone,
tornado, storms, earthquake, draught, and river erosion
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Lack of a information system
to coordinate a unified response to a natural disaster
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Lack available resources
to meet both the emergency and long term needs
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Lack of available rescue
boats and other materials
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No multipurpose and sustainable
flood and cyclone shelters
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The CBADP
project focuses on strengthening the capacity of local communities,
through their legitimate pre-existing community mechanisms,
to access goods, services, and information, to minimize
the harm caused by natural disaster. This is achieved through
the institutional strengthening of the Community Centres
while simultaneously strengthening their capacity to raise
public awareness of natural disaster and advocate for the
rights of their communities. |
The community capacity building activities are proactive and
focus on involving the various community members in working together
towards the long-term well being of the community. The GK/VDCs
are used as platforms for community mobilization and participation.
Within the framework of the project, capacity
building support is provided to GK/VDCs members, School Management
Committees, Union Disaster Management Committees, Upazila Disaster
Management Committees, District Disaster Management Committees,
and Union Parishad in all the target unions.
In line with the approach of capacity building
and institutional strengthening at grassroot level, key outreach
mechanisms are functioning at local level, in order to ensure:
• participation at meetings
• involvement with the monitoring and evaluation process
• participation in the orientation meetings, workshops and
training
• create opportunity for community mobilization and participation
Activities Planned and Achievements of the CBADP Project :
The implementation period of the CBADP project began
in March 2006. Since then a number of activities have been implemented
at field level, with the full participation and involvement of
the targeted communities, including:
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Training of members of the
Management Committee of each targeted GK/VDC
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Training of trainers (TOT)
to two community members of each targeted GK/VDC
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Training of community volunteers
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Training of school teachers
on disaster preparedness, mitigation and response
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Meetings at community level
to develop Disaster Preparedness strategies
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Survey on physical needs
assessment in the three Districts, and small-scale mitigation
works at community level
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Elaboration and coordination
of communication strategies on Disaster Preparedness between
the communities and the Union Parishad
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Meetings at community level
to coordinate grassroot disaster preparedness activities
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Prepare guidelines and deliver
training for radio spot managers
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Organisation of community
meetings around the radio spots
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Develop community Action
Groups
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Elaboration and distribution
of IEC materials on disaster preparedness
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Community based cultural
events that strengthen Disaster Preparedness messages on multi-hazards
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Child-to-child competitions,
mock drills and debate competitions with the students of 52
schools
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Coordination and networking
with relevant stakeholders
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