Barisal field visit with Nepali Team

Concern Universal Bangladesh organized an exposure visit for partner organizations of Nepal on 1 -8 July, 2011. These partner organizations are part of the ‘Capacity Strengthening on Community Managed Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation’ project.

That was 3^rd exposure visit for its partner organizations. On that occasion the following 10 participants attended from Nepal:

·         Ramesh Prasad Timalsina – President, National Committee of Human Rights Education Club ( HRELIC), Nepal

·         Deepak Prasad Bashyal – Programme Coordinator, Hoste Hainse, Nepal

·         Mridula Sharma Dhakal – President, Women and Children Development Forum

( WCDF), Nepal

·         Tilottam Paudel – President, Jagriti Child and Youth Concern Nepal (JCYCN)

·         Sharmilla Ranabhat – Vice Treasurer, Hoste Hainse, Nepal

·         Bhuvan Poudel – President, Volunteer Aid, Nepal

·         Kabita Rai – Vice President, CWIN Youth Forum, Nepal

·         Vidya Sagar Pandey – Member, Jagriti Child and Youth Concern, Nepal (JCYCN)

·         Rama Ale Magar – President, HIMAWANTI, Nepal

·         Gita Bohara – General Secretary,HIMAWANTI, Nepal

   

On 3 July participants went to visit at Natun Char village in Babugonj Upazilla, Barishal. They meet Natun Char CMDRR Committee on that day. INDAB one of the partner NGO’s of Concern Universal Bangladesh. They found the following observations when speaking to the village people:

Ø  Village livelihoods- men mainly fishing, women have some small eggs and poultry to sell at market

Ø  Village has been at current location for around 20 years. But there is continual erosion so the landscape is always changing

Ø  Community Learning Centre (CLC) is nearby – it is used for facilitating knowledge sharing and training

Ø  Community lost everything in Sidr (2007), but after practicing CMDRR, damage was reduced by 40% in Aila (2009) compared to neighbouring village

Ø  There are many connections between this village and the next one, opportunity for positive influence knowledge sharing

Ø  They raise money for adaptation actions through each person contributing 10-20 taka a month

Ø  Village woman – trainer, trained by INDAB, she trained villages in action planning, risk analysis, as well as practical actions -> preserving vegetables, protecting tube wells etc

Ø  Previously they had heard of several of the adaptation practices, but had not seen the effectiveness of them first hand

Ø  Key positive effect on village apart from technical ability was that the training/engagement brought the village together, they feel strong sense of community, mutually help each other

The committee is practicing some adaptation techniques. These are:

Ø  Houses on raised stilts

Ø  Second story houses

Ø  Raised garden/hay storage beds

Ø  Strengthened house fitting (ropes and gaps sealed)

Ø  Portable stove

Ø  Burying valuables in water-proof bag

Ø  Early warning Monitoring with radio and tv news warnings

Ø  Hand-megaphone for alerting community

Ø  Tie up tubers and crops

Ø  No cyclone shelter in area, so they use schools (after getting agreement from schools authority), and some strong/rich houses instead (rich people can be ‘village philanthropists’)

Ø  Planting more banana trees near waterline to provide a wind break.  Can also make very simple boats out of banana skin

Afterward, they visited in Babugonj Girls Pailot High School, where INDAB has been continuing their DRR programme in Schools. Their interventions are:

Ø  Curriculum includes CC/DRR                        

Ø  Focus on all stages – pre-disaster, during, and post-disaster, gender sensitivity – eg girls/women more vulnerable due to hair and clothes

Ø  Girls can be change agents in their community through personal connection/conversations – as they are educated, people respect them

Ø  INDAB would like to expand the education program and are seeking grants and assistance for this.

Following this, the exposure team attended a sharing meeting in INDAB office. Mr. Tilottam President of Jagriti Child and Youth Concern Nepal (JCYCN), thanked Concern Universal Bangladesh and as well as INDAB for arranging the visit. During his speech he said, “This kind of programme will increase the intellectual exchange between the Nepal and Bangladesh. We are very happy to learn many things from Bangladeshi community. We will try to apply some from them in our country.”

PGUK is another Partner NGO in Kuakata, the exposure team visited their Panjupara VLDMC (Village Level Disaster Management Committee) on 4 July. The following observations were made about the community:

Ø  Located in highly vulnerable area very close to Bay of Bengal. (500m) for around 16 years

Ø  PGUK has been involved for 2 years, initially running a Community Based project, now transitioning to Community Managed

Ø  They have CMDRR committee with president, vice- president and secretary

Ø  They demonstrated their hazards ranking sheet – which cyclones and floods as their main hazards

Ø  Hazard assessment form

Ø  Capacity assessment

Ø  They lost almost everything in Sidr, then the PGUK project started to build their capacity.  Previously learnt 2yrs ago at project’s start how to rise houses (have done approx 16 so far), they were a lot more prepared for Aila.

Ø  Monitoring of plan – if it goes beyond their own capacity, then it goes to UP management committee to ask for resources

Ø  Social map of village – updated every 6 months

Ø  So far only external relationship of PGUK is with UP in area, they have aims to expand this

Ø  Challenges in current action plan – tube wells draw up saline water, the UP could not assist them with this

Ø  Currently 45 volunteers total, trained by PGUK to educate the community, with access to small equipment (megaphones etc)

Some recommendation from Exposure Team:

Ø  Should have a committee/club for young people so that they can develop their life skills while raising awareness of CMDRR

Ø   The community’s own CMDRR committee should responsible for all responsibilities, Respective NGOs role will be only facilitating.

Ø  To increase the effectiveness of the existing school program, classroom project activities should be introduced.  Class projects could be exhibited publically to raise exposure

Ø  How to replicate the learnings from these villages? One example - the villages can share their stories to inspire neighbouring villages to take action

Ø  How to make the CMDRR process sustainable for the long term, after the project has finished?  One example - the CMDRR committee needs to function well and have the community’s support. It should make links with other local organizations to strengthen its actions, and to access resources.

Reported by,

Masud Rana