This
week as Module 2 comes to an end will look back at the themes that we
have covered and start to think about what potential actions we might
put in place to improve climate disaster risk reduction in our cities.
As always we would like to thank you for this week’s discussion, it was
very interesting to hear about some specific initiatives that are taking
place in your cities. It was great to see you interacting with one
another and sharing experiences and ideas. That is exactly what the
Learning Alliance is about, so it is fantastic to see you thinking about
potentially adapting practices shared on the Alliance and implementing
them in your own local contexts!
The topic of community involvement has been a recurrent theme throughout the Learning Alliance thus far, and this week’s discussion was an eye-opener as we saw few concrete climate DRR community actions in existence in cities across out nations. In general participants agreed that much could be done to improve community involvement, and that community involvement would ultimately improve urban DRM. Throughout the course of the discussion we did see participants sharing examples of community participation in projects in rural and urban areas, some specifically related to DRR, and others with a more broad environmental focus, a short summary which can be found below:
Bangladesh: participants shared that there are many community projects in rural areas. In urban areas there are programmes such as waste disposal and road cleaning. One great example came from the city of Chittagong, where Action Aid trained 450 volunteers to assist in community rescue in times of hazard.
Ghana: in the rural north of Ghana, Action Aid was involved in a project to build DRR awareness though schools. The Enchi project in the Aowin Suaman District, funded by the Africa Adaptation Programme, moved artisans from frequently flooded areas, to work in an area that was not affected by floods. We also heard of the existence of Community Action Plans and the National Centre for Civic Education, but did not hear of any specific projects or programmes which are capacitating communities to reduce disaster risk.
India: we heard of initiatives in the urban areas of Bihar, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Coimbatore. In Bihar, UNICEF and ECHO have invested in DRR specifically to help 25,000 families deal with flooding; in Bhubaneswar the government and UNDP are working on emergency response training; in Chennai community programmes have now largely been dropped; in Coimbatore a DRR plan is being developed with the involvement of the community.
Nepal: participants from Nepal stated that community involvement in DRR projects is very common. One participant gave some specific details about such programmes mostly taking place in rural areas; the actions in urban areas are largely related to earthquakes; there is significant community involvement in a dyke management along the border with India. More information can be found in the attached PDF.
Nigeria: we heard of projects involving women in environmental projects such as road cleaning, we also heard of cleaning days being held on the last Saturday of each month.
Peru: the GRIDE Ancash experience brings together many stakeholders, including the community, in order to empower and capacitate them in DRR.
South Africa: the government project Working for Fire employs youths to work in fire prevention.
Trinidad & Tobago: the Community Emergency Response Team programme, funded by the government, trains volunteers to act as first responders in the case of disasters. Initial training is given, however after this training without the occurrence of a disaster, interest is likely to wane. There is also a bottom-up approach from the Red Cross called Community Disaster Response Training, which capacitates volunteers to become first responders. Both of these programmes coordinate with regional Disaster Management Units.
Uganda: like in Nigeria we saw the existence of a communal clean up day, on the last Saturday of each month. Plus we were heard about Plan Uganda which is DRR focused at children.
Vietnam: the People’s Committee on Implementation of DRR in Ho Chi Minh City was implemented between 2007 and 2012, focusing on training communities and increasing awareness of risks through the use of the radio and distribution of flyers. Please find attached more information on community action to address climate change in Vietnam.
Zambia: the Livingstone Green Initiative helps 100 women vegetable marketers to manage their solid waste.
Zimbabwe: we did not hear about specific community DRR programmes, but heard that various NGOs are working on issues such as water and sanitation.
Many participants felt that the Latin American examples of the Guardianas de la Ladera and the NUDECs could potentially be adapted to their local realities. Some felt that the best model was to involve the government and pay community members to take part in DRR, while others felt quite the opposite believing that membership should be voluntary and should be inclusive – arguing that hiring people makes these actions individualistic. Many participants agreed that a combination of the two approaches might have the most meaningful results.
Generally participants felt that the challenges of community engagement in urban climate DRR included:
1) The need to involve communities from the start, even in the identification of risks
2) The need for guidance and documentation of actions
3) There is no “one size fits all” therefore actions really must be local
4) Projects are often unsustainable, they are not invested in (time and money) and maintained
5) The need for a certain level of remuneration to encourage participation
6) The need for the government to be more actively involved
7) The constant need for funding
In order to make community capacitation programmes a reality, participants suggested that advocacy and awareness raising would be an important place to start.
We would like to invite you to comment upon this summary, or use this space to add any additional information that you did not have a chance to share during the course of the discussion.
All the best,
Charlotte and the ELLA Team
The topic of community involvement has been a recurrent theme throughout the Learning Alliance thus far, and this week’s discussion was an eye-opener as we saw few concrete climate DRR community actions in existence in cities across out nations. In general participants agreed that much could be done to improve community involvement, and that community involvement would ultimately improve urban DRM. Throughout the course of the discussion we did see participants sharing examples of community participation in projects in rural and urban areas, some specifically related to DRR, and others with a more broad environmental focus, a short summary which can be found below:
Bangladesh: participants shared that there are many community projects in rural areas. In urban areas there are programmes such as waste disposal and road cleaning. One great example came from the city of Chittagong, where Action Aid trained 450 volunteers to assist in community rescue in times of hazard.
Ghana: in the rural north of Ghana, Action Aid was involved in a project to build DRR awareness though schools. The Enchi project in the Aowin Suaman District, funded by the Africa Adaptation Programme, moved artisans from frequently flooded areas, to work in an area that was not affected by floods. We also heard of the existence of Community Action Plans and the National Centre for Civic Education, but did not hear of any specific projects or programmes which are capacitating communities to reduce disaster risk.
India: we heard of initiatives in the urban areas of Bihar, Bhubaneswar, Chennai and Coimbatore. In Bihar, UNICEF and ECHO have invested in DRR specifically to help 25,000 families deal with flooding; in Bhubaneswar the government and UNDP are working on emergency response training; in Chennai community programmes have now largely been dropped; in Coimbatore a DRR plan is being developed with the involvement of the community.
Nepal: participants from Nepal stated that community involvement in DRR projects is very common. One participant gave some specific details about such programmes mostly taking place in rural areas; the actions in urban areas are largely related to earthquakes; there is significant community involvement in a dyke management along the border with India. More information can be found in the attached PDF.
Nigeria: we heard of projects involving women in environmental projects such as road cleaning, we also heard of cleaning days being held on the last Saturday of each month.
Peru: the GRIDE Ancash experience brings together many stakeholders, including the community, in order to empower and capacitate them in DRR.
South Africa: the government project Working for Fire employs youths to work in fire prevention.
Trinidad & Tobago: the Community Emergency Response Team programme, funded by the government, trains volunteers to act as first responders in the case of disasters. Initial training is given, however after this training without the occurrence of a disaster, interest is likely to wane. There is also a bottom-up approach from the Red Cross called Community Disaster Response Training, which capacitates volunteers to become first responders. Both of these programmes coordinate with regional Disaster Management Units.
Uganda: like in Nigeria we saw the existence of a communal clean up day, on the last Saturday of each month. Plus we were heard about Plan Uganda which is DRR focused at children.
Vietnam: the People’s Committee on Implementation of DRR in Ho Chi Minh City was implemented between 2007 and 2012, focusing on training communities and increasing awareness of risks through the use of the radio and distribution of flyers. Please find attached more information on community action to address climate change in Vietnam.
Zambia: the Livingstone Green Initiative helps 100 women vegetable marketers to manage their solid waste.
Zimbabwe: we did not hear about specific community DRR programmes, but heard that various NGOs are working on issues such as water and sanitation.
Many participants felt that the Latin American examples of the Guardianas de la Ladera and the NUDECs could potentially be adapted to their local realities. Some felt that the best model was to involve the government and pay community members to take part in DRR, while others felt quite the opposite believing that membership should be voluntary and should be inclusive – arguing that hiring people makes these actions individualistic. Many participants agreed that a combination of the two approaches might have the most meaningful results.
Generally participants felt that the challenges of community engagement in urban climate DRR included:
1) The need to involve communities from the start, even in the identification of risks
2) The need for guidance and documentation of actions
3) There is no “one size fits all” therefore actions really must be local
4) Projects are often unsustainable, they are not invested in (time and money) and maintained
5) The need for a certain level of remuneration to encourage participation
6) The need for the government to be more actively involved
7) The constant need for funding
In order to make community capacitation programmes a reality, participants suggested that advocacy and awareness raising would be an important place to start.
We would like to invite you to comment upon this summary, or use this space to add any additional information that you did not have a chance to share during the course of the discussion.
All the best,
Charlotte and the ELLA Team
| This week's key materials |
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