"PEOPLE, POLICY, AND PARTNERSHIP FOR DISASTER RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT"

The National Alliance of Disaster Risk Reduction (NADRR) was launched at a two-day workshop held in New Delhi on November 3rd and 4th, 2007. The workshop brought together 150 participants representing disaster-affected communities, civil society organizations, networks, international humanitarian organizations, academics, research and training institutions and policymakers. In addition to the Indian participants, there were also civil society representatives from other South Asian countries - Nepal, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh - who presented at the workshop. The two day event "People, Policy and Partnerships for Disaster Resilient Development" focused on sharing lessons and building partnerships to scale up community-led disaster reduction initiatives.

The key objectives of the workshop were to * To create visibility and recognition for grassroots initiatives * To provide opportunities for grassroots leaders to engage with government and other institutional actors * To scale up and create synergies through the alliance building and partnership

The workshop proceedings were centered around a wide range of community level risk reduction efforts that were effectively reducing vulnerabilities as well as influencing development processes. Community leaders from drought, cyclone, earthquake and tsunami affected areas reiterated the need for their efforts to be recognized and the importance of protecting their development gains and livelihoods and preventing programs that leave the poor more vulnerable in the name of development. --------------- RECOMMENDATIONS --------------- The following are some of the key recommendations that emerged from discussions at the workshop.

1. Those most acutely affected by natural disasters do not have a voice in agenda setting and planning for disaster risk reduction. There is an urgent need for institutional mechanisms that enable community leaders to critically engage policymakers at local, regional and national levels to scale up effective community-led solutions to disaster risk reduction.

2. A recurring theme in the workshop was that large development investments have caused irreversible ecological damage, increasing the vulnerability of the poor to natural disasters and climate change stresses. Thus policymakers and planners should ensure that infrastructure development programs do not increase disaster risk.

3. Development professionals, scientists and government tend to impose their own analysis of risks and vulnerabilities on communities, overlooking their own practices and knowledge of risk reduction. There is a need for professionals to: * Recognize and validate local experience, knowledge and capacities arising from people's experiences of disaster and risk reduction; * Provide technical assistance that builds on existing capacities.

------------------------------- COMMUNITY RESILIENCE STRATEGIES -------------------------------

N. Muthyalappa, Sarpanch from Mushtikovila Village, Anantpur district made a presentation that highlighted the need to include communities and local panchayats in decision making processes. He said, "Gram panchayats need to be involved in planning for disaster resilience and their plans need to be resourced." The arid zones of Andhra Pradesh are dependant on rainfed agriculture for their livelihoods. Whereas years ago communities experienced droughts in this region only once every seven years, lately farmers in the region are experiencing droughts every year. Crop failures have led to the suicides of 4000 farmers in this area and 500 farmers in Anantpur district alone. The government has promoted the cultivation of groundnut in the area but this year 23 lakh hectares where groundnuts were growing have been destroyed by the heavy rains. Gram panchayats are left out of planning processes. They know the solutions that communities have been using to cope with drought and to sustain livelihoods. Yet they are not involved in decision making. involved in decision making. -------------------------------------------------- Surjan Ram a community leader from a community of weavers in drought-affected Rajasthan presented the example of the Bunkar Samiti (Organization of Weavers) supported by Urmul Trust. 18 of the last ten years have been drought years in Rajasthan. The Bunkar Samiti was organized to create a common platform for sustainable livelihoods. Rang sutra a company promoted by Urmul Trust supports the artisans and other community actors to let them develop and revive their own solutions to cope with drought. The common platform to collaborate on sustainable livelihoods has also played a role in bringing together communities across different castes. Today, Rang Sutra, a company promoted by Urmul Trust also supports the weavers by exporting their products. --------------------------------------------------- Kasturi Chandrasekhar, Mahakalasam Federation leader and member of herbal medicine company Tamil Nadu: ---------------------------------------- ELEMENTS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNITY PRACTICE ---------------------------------------- * Empowered communities who organize themselves to identify priorities, to revive traditional knowledge and practices and develop their own solutions * Community based organizations were important for sustaining community efforts. Organizations moved from relief to recovery via people's institutions. * Disaster related solutions used as an opportunity to upgrade livelihoods, improve access to basic services, increase accountability, revive natural resource base/ reduce environmental degradation. * Action taken during relief process is sustained to adapt to climate change. * Gram panchayats are involved in shaping programs * Inclusion of marginalized groups within the community * Mix of technology and local knowledge * Livelihoods is key * Disaster related efforts were closely linked to development * Decision-making in the hands of communities

-------------------------------------------------------------- After tsunami, Kasthuri Chandrasekhar- a federation leader and board member of a community owned company for herbal medicine from Madurai - -was supported by the Covenant Center for Development to go to identify local women leaders to form self-help groups. These women's groups have been able to revive and improve upon their economic activities which include agriculture, fish-vending, shell crafts. But Kasthuri was clear that the purpose of the groups was not only to restore incomes after the tsunami but also to get women to work collectively on long term development and the conservation of natural resources. In this context she talked about the fact that members of the self-help groups, rather than NGO staff are now empowered to take all their decisions themselves. In addition to and that in addition to learning how to produce and market high quality products, the self help groups have helped women to learn about and access government programs and find ways to access these programs. "This is how they were able to do away with the fear and survive after the tsunami. They are now much better prepared for any unforeseen disasters. What we need today is that women be trained to organize and manage more initiatives and organizations such as this." able to do away with the fear and survive after the tsunami. They are now much better prepared for any unforeseen disasters. What we need today is that women be trained to organize and manage more initiatives and organizations such as this." ------------------------------------------------- Chitra from the tsunami affected Keelamooverkarai village in Tamil Nadu highlighted the role of self-help groups in disaster recovery and resilient development. After the tsunami she organized women to access relief from the Government, succeeded in getting the Government to cancel debts inherited by tsunami survivors. Chitra is also part of the ASHAA women's groups who focus on improving community health and sanitation. A community survey undertaken by women leaders revealed that communities had high health expenditures. To improve health and reduce expenditures women are organizing regular health camps, collaborating with private and government healthcare providers to improve community access to healthcare. In addition these women have also initiated a community health fund to help them cope with health expenses. -------------------------------------------------- Jonki Pegu, a community leader from the flood-prone areas around the Brahmaputra river in Assam described ways in which the community was trying to create self-help strategies for managing and preventing disasters, with the help of Rural Volunteer Service. At least a thousand people in the community are part of disaster prevention committees. The organization is also introducing DRR concepts and strategies to organized children's clubs through awareness camps. Women are organized around developing and protecting their livelihoods. Rural Volunteer Service has also trained at least 100 women as health workers who can provide some health services in the community during a disaster as doctors and nurses cannot reach flood affected villages. Jonki also explained that even though some areas suffer from drought the Government has never declared these as drought affected areas thus people are once again left to develop their own strategies to cope with drought. However, leaders with the support of the NGO have been using the Right to Information Act to ensure that communities know how to access supplies from the Public Distribution System and other Government programs.using the Right to Information Act to ensure that communities know how to access supplies from the Public Distribution System and other Government programs. ---------------------------------------------------- P. Malleswari, community leader from Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, Sanghamitra Service Society is a trainer for disaster management task forces. She travels to other villages to train men and women their on organizing task forces for disaster preparedness. She explained that over the last thirty years the development programs and policies promoted in this area have led to more and more agricultural lands areas being turned into fishponds. Initially the fishponds were a good source of income but gradually as the fish stocks began to reduce communities had to move to nearby lands to find other means of survival. After In 2004, after tsunami, with the help of Sanghamitra Service Society women organized themselves into groups and slowly began working to rejuvenate their lands. First they removed the hardened level of the land and leveled it. Initially they got a produce of 30 bags of paddy. But slowly the yield is on an increase. Today they have been able to go back to farming. The women's groups who worked on these processes have organized are now active on social and economic issues that affect their communities.on these processes have organized are now active on social and economic issues that affect their communities. -------------------------------------------------- Banamalamalik, Gram Vikas, Orissa It is important to learn how deforestation affected the livelihoods of the village and hoe they got together to sustain their livelihoods. With deforestation, the community decided that they will revive their lost forests, with support from gram vikas, they took up these initiatives and then spoke the neighboring villages because the latter used to send their cattle to their village. Then seeing their initiatives the other village also started the process to address deforestation. The trees are growing big after 25 years of initiative, seeing the advantage in the form of the water resources. Seeing their the state government decided to give them additional land for agriculture the village can see a change in the local micro climate by addressing deforestation. Earlier the temperatures would go really high but now there is a change at least at the village level. ---------------------------------------------- BARRIERS TO SCALING UP COMMUNITY DRR PRACTICES ---------------------------------------------- Workshop participants discussed some of the major barriers in scaling up resilience building practices by communities

* Hostility and distrust between NGOs and Government. * Corruption and lack of accountability to communities * Government and NGO interventions bypass traditional wisdom * Communities often have solutions but no resources to implement them. Professionals - both NGOs and govt don't trust communities enough to resource their efforts. * Competition among civil society organizations * NGOs and Government tend to impose their own analysis of problems on communities. * Development projects and policies leave communities more vulnerable to natural disasters. Government, bilateral and multilateral organizations who initiate good practices in DRR often don't assess their development projects in terms of risks and vulnerabilities they may create. * Local markets are disappearing Damage and vulnerability assessments are not owned by communities * DRR has mostly meant emergency response and early warning * Maximum effort goes into relief. There is no one left to address the long term issues.

----------------------------- UNDERSTANDING VULNERABILITIES ----------------------------- Discussions on vulnerabilities provided the following insights * Over emphasis on technology masks social -political and economic issues that underly vulnerabilities. * Disaster risk is about both vulnerability and capacity * Many development policies and programmes - construct or increase vulnerabilities * Reconstruction and development policies sometimes increase vulnerability- leaving disaster struck communities worse off * Community knowledge and solutions disappearing * Local markets which poor communities depend on for their livelihoods are disappearing. -------------------------------------------------

-------------------------------------- COMMENTS FROM OTHER PARTICIPANTS -------------------------------------- Tom Thomas from Praxis opened the first panel on reducing vulnerability by drawing attention to the overemphasis on technological solutions such as earthquake and tsunami warning systems. "While these solutions are important, " he said the overemphasis on technological solutions mask the social, political and economic issues that are the underlying causes of vulnerability." ------------------------------ Saravanan from Dhan Foundation, Tamil Nadu also talked about similar federations of self-help groups that have been active in coastal areas since 2000. 1506 SHGs covering 16000 families. He talked about the importance of moving form the relief to the recovery stage via people's institutions and pointed out that "recovery is basically development on a fast track" ------------------------------ VS Prakash, Director, Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Cell and Chair of the drought proofing committee of Karnataka acknowledged the importance of recognizing people's knowledge while highlighting the need for the scientific community to provide simple tools to improve livelihoods and build community resilience. In Karnataka he has successfully collaborated with NGO Samuha to train village panchayat leaders to use a simple rain gauge as part of a community -friendly drought monitoring system. ------------------------------ S. Sadananda from IDPMS, Karnataka drew attention to the fact that it was not only the erosion of traditional knowledge but also the erosion of traditional markets caused by development programs which were increasing community vulnerabilities. Reducing vulnerabilities requires also us to reclaim the balance between livelihoods and ecosystems ------------------------------ M.P. Sajnani (National Coordinator India, ADPC, previously with the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India and one of the main architects of the National Disaster Management Act remarked, "This session clearly demonstrates the gap between people and government in framing disaster management policies, the National Alliance can bridge these gaps and find ways to create convergence between the priorities of people and Government. . ------------------------------ "Do we respect and trust communities enough to support them to implement their own solutions?"Bablu Ganguly ------------------------------ Biswas - Peoples Science Institute (PSI), Dehradun "We need the right mix of technology and local wisdom." ------------------------------ Dr.Felix N. Sugirthanan, COPDANET "There is no one to address the long term issues. Max effort goes into relief." Can we create a network of professionals who can be accessed by vulnerable? ------------------------------ Sarabjit Singh, Red R Institutions tend to define the problem / vulnerability from their own area of specialization and expertise. How do we step back and let people define their own problem and vulnerability. ------------------------------ Durganand, Samparpan, Bihar The recurring floods along the Kosi River which caused widespread damage and women and children had to bear the worst of it. ------------------------------

LOOKING AHEAD: INTERESTS AND EXPECTATIONS ------------------------------ RECOGNIZING PEOPLE'S KNOWLEDGE ------------------------------ Bablu Ganguly made a strong statement emphasizing the need to recognize and build on community knowledge and practices to build resilient communities. " The embankments on the Kosi river the promotion of groundnut oil in Anantapur where groundnut oil costs more than palm oil that is imported are all disasters because they don't pay attention to eco systems. The Alliance should point out what kinds of development mistakes are being made and what kind of development we need to reduce vulnerabilities...to present alternatives we have to know what people knew and how they functioned before their practices were distorted ... we need scientists to ratify the wisdom of the people.

1850s gazetteers say sandmining should not be done because the local communities believe it. But this is now forgotten...

We need to unlearn a lot of things and address - community knowledge. Need scientists to spend time understanding people's scientists - ratify the wisdom of the people. -------------------------------- Respecting traditional practices Arvind Ojha pointed out that rural people has traditional practices. They managed the water through their age old practices, but when the government came with the concept of the welfare state and said that it would provide them with clean water, the people stopped the management of water. This is when the actual problem of shortage of water started. -------------------------------- Global and National Policies Prof. Vinod Sharma from Indian Institute of Public Administration said the rich knowledge and experiences of communities and NGOs was evident from the presentations in workshop. The next step was to address how best the National Alliance could use opportunities laid out in various global and national policies such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the National Disaster Management Act (NDM) Act. ---------------------------- ENDORSEMENT FROM THE NATIONAL DISASTER MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY ---------------------------- Vinod Menon endorsed NADRR on behalf of NDMA and Government of India saying, "Partner, learn, advocate, guide and share - in that order - can be the objectives of the NADRR...The National Alliance represents great opportunities to scale up the work of organizations. The Alliance has the potential to touch a billion lives. The task of building resilience cannot be done by government or civil society alone. This is where people, policies and partnerships become the key. We need multi-disciplinary insights." He suggested that the National Alliance develop as a learning organization with a matrix structure rather than a hierarchical structure and consider undertaking the following activities.

* Explore ways for early warnings to communities link modern science and tech to people - NGOs, communities and panchayats * NADRR should come forward with knowledge products including case studies and a toolkit on disaster management * set up a small corpus for CBDRR and select ten pilot projects * Identify and bring together the allies in the private sector, government, PRIs, community based organizations and academics. * Draw attention to local issues and priorities in global forums. ---------------------------------- WHAT CAN THE NATIONAL ALLIANCE DO? ---------------------------------- Grassroots initiatives need to be made visible and formally recognized. * How can community actors engage with government and other institutions? * Bridge the gap between community priorities and aspirations and national policies * Ensure that government policy reflects people's priorities, knowledge and aspirations * Identify clear roles for the different stakeholders - Government, military, local government, technical institutes, NGOs, CBOs - involved in DRR, ensuring that communities have a strong voice. * Identify, scale up, sustain effective community driven DRR practices * Develop technologies that support and build on traditional knowledge and solutions * Develop knowledge networks to respond to community needs during relief and recovery.

Fore more details please visit: http://www.disasterwatch.net/alliance.htm ------------------------------------------------