Disasters are destructive and - PreventionWeb.net

southasiadisasters.net October 20102

THEMATIC

Building Youth Leadership in DRR

Disasters are destructive anddelay development but can offer

opportunities to build back better,and safer. Community developmenthas to include a risk managementcomponent for adequate andsustainable development. There is aneed to integrate DRR into highereducation for this task to be achieved.The central aim of the rural camp wasto build DRR education in universitystudents. Education does not meanonly class room study but studentsare encouraged to put these lessonsinto practice in the field supplementedby additional resource material. AllIndia Disaster Mitigation Institute(AIDMI) has found that investmentsin DRR with and for the CBOs of thepoor are more sustainable andincrease safety thus, it is necessary toinvest more on DRR education,especially in subjects which directlyrelate to community development.

The need for effective DRR educationwhich prepares DRR practitioners iseven greater and more immediatethan ever before. The number andmagnitude of disasters are currentlyincreasing. Since 1975, the number ofdisasters has risen from around 75 tomore than 400 a year. This increase indisasters is almost entirely related toweather-related disasters: over thelast three years hydro meteorologicaldisasters increased by more than100% from about 100 in 2004 to morethan 200 in 2006. This reality clearlyemphasizes the need to promoteactions for risk reduction which arehindered without building DRReducation in youth.

We also know that the most significantloss of lives and livelihoods occur inthe least developed areas. Some ofthese have long-standing communitydevelopment projects in progress andare covering more and morevulnerable areas with hugeinvestments. It is widely agreed thateducation for DRR and for global

climate change must become anintegral part of any educationalstrategy aimed at promoting andcreating thriving and sustainablesocieties. Educated youth involvedin development work are a resourcethat can utilized in this field.

70 university students with 3 facultiesfrom the social work department ofS. P. University participated in aRural Camp at Radhanpur. Theobjective of the rural camp was tobuild understanding of risk and riskreduction in a rural contextapproached through social work. Therural camp was organized by AIDMIin partnership with the Departmentof Social Work, Sardar PatelUniversity on December 1–7, 2009 inRadhanpur block of Patan, district ofGujarat. For the practical exercise andinteraction with community, fieldvisits to rural areas and localinstitutes were organized. Institutesthat were visited included agriculturefarms, cattle sheds, schools, milkfederations, NGO's and a hospital.People were invited from differentfields which included agriculture,industry, NGO, health, milk mandli,government offices and educationsectors to share their experiences asthey are run by and for the ruralcommunity at the local level.AIDMI's long-term recoveryexperience in rural areas was alsoshared with the university students.

The rural camp was organized inRadhanpur due to its susceptibilityto multiple hazards. Involved youthis community of interest to learn indepth about community perspectiveson DRR with focus on rural context.Students had the opportunity to seethe impacts of past disasters and therecovery efforts by agencies pluscurrent issues regarding communitydevelopment related to humansecurities like food, livelihood,shelter, water and health Radhanpurhas faced drought, a malaria

epidemic, earthquakes and floodincidents in the last fifteen years buthas seen several successfuldevelopment projects carried out byagencies with local communities.SEWA and Bhansali Trust are twolarge organizations who are wellestablished in the area and have along experience with localcommunities. During rural camp,students had the opportunity to meetand discuss in detail with officialsfrom both agencies.

The design of rural camp was run in away which encouraged participationand struck a balance between classroom study and field study. Villagevisits were organized to have directinteraction with the community.Villages visited include Fangli, Motipipdi, Shergadh, Charanka, Eval,Anternesh, and Lodra. Each of thesevillages have different backgroundsbut are mostly well-known for theirartisan communities. Fangli villagewas more affected by earthquakesthan other neighboring villages inRadhanpur; Moti pipdi has some goodexamples of drought mitigationmeasures at the family level;Shergadh village is prone to flooding;the community from Charanka havedeveloped effective droughtmitigation measures for theiragriculture; the community of Evalvillage have different developmentissues as the village is located on theboarder; Anternesh village has aunique geography as it is surroundedby the river Banash and during heavyrain the local community having notransport connection with theoutside, the village is also known forits gum collection work. Each of thesevillages have different backgroundsthat create opportunities for studentsto understand a wide range ofcommunity development aspectsduring the rural camp. Backgroundinformation of the villages wereprovided to students before theyinitiated community interaction.

southasiadisasters.netOctober 2010 3

Smt. S. J. Patel and Smt. K. K. Patel Department of social

work, Sardar Patel University,Vallabh Vidyanagar organized aone day state level seminar on"Safer Schools" in collaborationwith All India Disaster MitigationInstitute (AIDMI), Ahmedabad.Shri V. M. Parghi, IPS InspectorGeneral of Police. Armed Units& Add CEO, Gujarat State DisasterManagement Authority(GSDMA) Gandhinagar, Dr. R. C.Desai, Director, H. M. PatelCareer Development Centre.Prof Dr. Amrapali Merchant, HeadDepartment of Sociology and Mr.Mehul Pandya, Co-ordinator, AIDMI,Ahmedabad were the guests ofhonour in the inaugural session. Theseminar attended by 250 youth fromdifferent universities of Gujarat state.

Dr. Bigi Thomas, I/C director,Department of Social work,welcomed the guest of honour,Speakers and delegates from GujaratState. She introduced the theme of theseminar, and focused on the verdictof the supreme court in 2009, statingthat students have a fundamentalright for education in a safer schooland buildings should be inaccordance with the NationalBuilding Code of India. The schoolcurriculum has not included the

mitigation measures to be takenwhile handling disasters.

The objectives of the seminar wereexplained by Ms. Sadhana Adhikary,Placement Coordinator, where themain objectives was to createknowledge and sensitize theparticipants to develop clearunderstanding about safer schoolwith reference to disaster mitigationand management.

Shri V. M. Parghi, remarked that thiswas the first seminar undertaken byany of the universities andcongratulated the organizers fortaking the lead. He furtheremphasized the dire need andrelevance of the seminar in thecurrent era.

Dr. R. C. Desai highlighted theimportance of networkingbetween educational institutes,government and NGO's to makesure safer schools for children.Prof Amrapali Merchant briefedthe audience about theimportance of the safeenvironment in schools and theways and means by which wecan have safer schools.

Mr. Mehul Pandya explainedabout the safer schoolprogramme, an initiative of

AIDMI Ahmedabad, and variouscollaborations they have with othersfor the fulfillment of thisobjective.The technical session was"Gujarat school safety programme-experience and steps ahead"conducted by Mr. Jignesh Jadhav,Sector Manager, GSDMA. "Child'sright to safer school campaign" by Mr.Vishal Pathak, co-ordinator AIDMI,Ahmedabad. "NGO-support & co-ordination in disaster management"by Dr. D. S. Parmar, AssociateProfessor, Indian Institute ofManagement, Ahemedabad; and"Seismic resistance Design ofBuilding, Structure, overview ofbuilding &design: Safety and Securityof School Children" by Shri S. K. Patel,Ex-engineer, R & B Gandhinagar.

– Aparna Shah

EVENT

Youth Seminar on Safer Schools

For effective learning in the field,class room study was also conductedsimultaneously day by day during aseven-day programme. The classroom sessions included variousaspects related to DRR such as fieldwork ethics; history of disasters inGujarat; concept of CBDRR; disasterresponse experience and lessonslearnt in earthquakes, floods anddroughts; safer education and microinsurance. All 70 students were dividedinto different groups for exampleflood management, livelihoodrestoration, school safety, microinsurance, drought mitigation,earthquake impact and recovery.

Subject material on each topic wasprovided to participants' day-by-day.At the end of each day, students sharethe learning and communityinteraction with each other. At theend of each village visit, groups alsoshare their learning and outcomes ofthe community surveys with localcommunity leaders and panchayatmembers. This sharing experienceprovides useful interaction ascommunity leaders and panchayatmembers are also members of thevillage disaster response committee.

On the last day of programme,students were presented with a

certificate for their activeparticipation and a platform wascreated for sharing experiences,lessons and feedback. As a follow up,students organized a photo exhibitionin their department level to share theexperience with other universitystudents. Each group will analyze thecollected data and document thecommunity research. This practicalexperience encouraged students tostudy with in broader communitydevelopment aspects and withintegration of risk reductionapproach.

– Mehul Pandya andJuliet Anderson

Shri Mehul Pandya, TLC Co-ordinator with Shri V. M.Parghi, Add CEO, GSDMA, during inaugural sessionof seminar.


COMMUNITY RESEARCH

Flood Impact andRecovery in RuralAreas

During the rural camp, a community surveywas carried out by students to understand

community involvement; the role and supportof agencies; and disaster preparedness andresponse plans at village level. These wereundertaken in the worst affected villages that havebeen subject to extensive flooding. The membersof the study group have a particular interest inunderstanding flood impacts and recovery.

During class room study students were briefedon Search and rescue; evacuation; health; shelter;sanitation; disaster risk assessment andlivelihoods. This enabled them to prepare thetools that help them to understand acommunity's preparedness for floods; theeconomic status of the affected community;health care after the flood and to understand thesocial systems specifically for risk reduction.

The key findings of the students were that themain occupation is in agriculture and animalhusbandry which had been highly affected byflood. Most had lost their property during theunpredictable flooding. Health issues inparticular malaria and typhoid were evidentduring and after the flooding. The Patan districtis a drought prone area, this can create negligenceto respond flood which is limited to severalvillages or short term intervention. There werelimited effective communication tools andstrategy which led to the involved communitiesnot being able to perform effective reliefoperations and also affect negatively long termrecovery efforts. However, the villagers didmention the good efforts done by severalhumanitarian agencies. This has allowed themto develop their own efforts for recovery. It wasalso found that local communities were mainplayers for search and rescue, and shifting to asafer place during flooding. The socioeconomicimpact of a flood is not short term as due tofailure of crops people have to migrate to otherareas, failure in seed investment, and affect onlivelihood. Secondary impact can be seen inchildrens education, high debts, and moreinvestment in agriculture in the winter or nextseason. – Komal Kantariya

EXPERIENCE SHARING

Youth Experiences ofRural Camp"I am grateful for the camp and felt have developedmy skills further ready for any situation. The campbuilds my understanding about risk context inrural areas and the ability to face emergencysituations of rural community".

– Sakil Vohra

Built my capacity to work in a group, and nowhave a better understanding about coordinationissues while working with many people andagencies. I have deepened his knowledge aboutDRR and community development with apractical aspect. – Jitsinh Darbar

Learnt about rural management issues, deeperknowledge about the natural resources in village,and community situation during disaster. Theimportance of the communities perspective indevelopment aspects was also important learningfor me. – Caroll Christian

During camp we had an opportunity to applytheoretical knowledge of social work in the fieldand that was a very important point for creatingbetter understanding of social work ethics. Fieldwork increase our skills in planning, field values,documentation, decision making processes andleadership. – Parthiv Darji

Key aspects such as importance of communitybased approach, community ownership, goodcoordination between development agencies, andtimely dissemination of knowledge at grass rootlevel are well understood through the exercisesand interaction with communities and agenciesduring camp. – Aditi Karulkar

Radhanpur is one of the blocks ofPatan district of Gujarat state. Itcomprises of 76 villages andRadhanpur town whosecommunities' main source oflivelihood is agriculture andanimal husbandry. The area hasbeen subject to rapid industrialgrowth over the past few years. The

142 km long Banas River passes through the villages of Radhanpur.The area is prone to multiple hazards such as earthquakes,cyclones, droughts, floods, wind storms and cyclones. It wasaffected by the earthquake in 2001; flood in 2005; faces droughtone in every three years and in the summer seasons Radhanpuralso witnesses several small-scale wind storms and cyclones.

Radhanpur


CAPACITY BUILDING

Community Resilience and DRR: Role ofSocial Workers

The social work profession aimsat improving the functionality of

individuals and communities toresolve their problems (Rwomire andRaditlhokwa, 1996). The problemsthat affect individuals andcommunities vary by nature andmagnitude. In this case, social worknot only assists even those who areafflicted by disasters but must lead inthe mediation of factors that makepeople vulnerable to disasters.Rwomire and Raditlhokwa state thatthe “overriding aim of social work isto promote people’s well-being andto help them realize their capabilitiesto the fullest, so that they may livereasonably satisfying lives,comfortable within themselves andin society”.

The International Association ofSchools of Social Work (IASSW), theInternational Council on SocialWelfare (ICSW) and InternationalFederation of Social Workers (IFSW)initiated a discussion to develop aGlobal Agenda for social work adsocial development in Hong Kong,China in June 2010 and come out withfour areas as a framework for the firstdraft of the Global Agenda onOctober 2010. These four areas are,Social and economic inequalitieswithin countries and betweenregions; dignity and worth of theperson; environmental sustainability;and importance of humanrelationships. Each of this area isactively linked with the disasterresponse and emphasis oncommunity resilience. Socialworkers who engage in DRR shouldgive special attention toenvironmental sustainability, as itfocus on disasters of natural adhuman origin, management and

prevention; involvement of localcommunities in developingresponses; implications forsustainable social development;protecting the physical environment;and proactive engagement withsocial, human and ecologicaldevelopment.

Bottom up approach which seeks toappreciate and promote localinitiatives in development. It has beenrealized that dependency on externalplayers does not build resilience ofcommunities but rather increasesvulnerability. Local people know thehazards they are prone to, areas ofhigh risk, and have knowledge onwhat has to be done. However, theymight need technical assistance toplan and use locally availableresources for risk reduction. Here ourlong disaster response experiencetaught us that outside agencies andprofessionals can turn relief andrehabilitation efforts into anopportunity for sustainable humansecurity and poverty alleviation bysupporting the poor and excluded.

Our work with community revealsthat stand-alone reduction measurecan not work for longer period. Itmust be backed up by othermitigation measures. Dealing withpoverty and risk separately willresult into failure at grass root level.To succeed, both poverty and riskmust be reduced. Effective grass rootlevel DRR programme must becharacterized by the following whichmust be promoted by DRRpractitioners:• People’s participation:

community members must bethe main actors and propellers;they also directly share in the

benefits of DRR anddevelopment.

• Priority for the most vulnerablegroups, families, and the peoplein the community; in rural areas,these are the subsistence farmers,indigenous people, the elderly,people with disabilities, childrenand women.

• Risk reduction measures arecommunity specific and areidentified after an analysis of thecommunity’s disaster riskassessment

• DRR links with developmentand addresses vulnerableconditions and causes ofvulnerabilities

• Outsiders have supporting andfacilitating roles

It has been established that socialwork and disaster risk reductioncannot be divorced from one another.Social work seeks to promote thegood of vulnerable communities,groups, and individuals. Disastershave been increasing every ten yearsand are expected to replicate due toclimate change or variation in thecoming years. There is a need forstrategies and incorporation of riskreduction in all developmental workfor sustainability and communityresilience. Lessons must be drawnfrom nations that have suffered frommassive disasters and social workerscould not provide services because ofunpreparedness or ignorance. It mustnot be assumed that situations willtake care of themselves but adeliberate effort must be made tochange the status to be proactiverather than being reactive.

– Vishal Pathak andJuliet Anderson


ASSESSMENT STUDY

Action by Youth for Safer Schools in RuralAreasThe school safety audit project was

undertaken in six villages ofRadhanpur block. The objectives wasto understand the development of aculture of safety against disasters bycarrying out activities that seek toimprove awareness andunderstanding amongst schoolcommunities. The findings from thecamp will be used to inform policydecisions, develop school safetymeasures and to spread awareness toa broad audience of agencies andstakeholders.

A school safety audit was undertakento access the current status using suchfactors such as Safety of building; staffand student capacity building; andlevel of community involvement.Youths with a special interest in childand school safety subject participatedin the study.

Students were involved and trainedin data collection for the school safetyaudit and their key findings fell intofive themes.1. Safety of the school building:

Through assessment it wasidentified that existing buildingof schools was well taken care ofbut continuous efforts areneeded to build capacity formitigating risk. Capacitybuilding of using an audit andimplementing several stepsespecially in non-structuralmitigation measures andawareness generation withschool community could be animportant step towards safereducation.

2. Staff and Student Capacity:Staff and students were notaware of activities such as mockdrills and building disasterresilience. Capacity buildingexercises are crucial toimplementing these. It was

found that school staff have aninterest to conduct capacitybuilding activities with students,but do not have enoughinformation and resources tobuild capacity in risk reductionand child safety subjects.

3. Level of CommunityInvolvement:People were aware of the typesof disasters but not about theskills to mitigate them. Activitiesshould involve all concernedparties - staff, students, parents,community and theGovernment. Direct and indirectimpacts of existing risk anddisaster events also affect thecommunity involvement in childeducation in rural areas.Migrations, child labor, low levelof education in parents are affectsin community involvement.

4. Role and Support fromGovernment and NGOs:School staff mentioned several

good initiatives after the 2001earthquake like construction ofnew school buildings, betterinfrastructure in schools, andteachers skill developmentprogrammes. However themaintenance of school buildingsand continuous efforts in skilldevelopment with follow upactivities is needed.

5. Disaster Preparedness andDisaster Response Plan:This was found to be weak in theschool. Schools were not foundwith any disaster response planhowever staff have a goodunderstanding about the localhazardous and safer areas.During monsoon staff membersused to informed students aboutbasic do's and don'ts in heavy rainand flood situation. Schoolsshould be provided with theresources to create formal plansagainst local risks.

– Sadhana Adhikari andDr. Bigi Thomas

Students collecting information from school stakeholders’ regarding current schoolsafety situation and past tragic incidents in school and in village.


RESEARCH ON ETHICAL PRINCIPLES

Social Work and Disaster Risk Reduction

The following ethical principles are based on social work's core values, which also connect with commitmenttowards making communities disaster resilient. These principles set forth ideals to which all social workers

should aspire.

Value: Dignity and Worth of the PersonEthical Principle: Social workers respect the inherent dignity and worth of the person.

Social workers treat each person in a caring and respectful fashion, mindful of individual differences and culturaland ethnic diversity in all phases of disaster response cycle. Social workers seek to enhance capacity and opportunityto change and to address communities own needs. Social workers should aware about their dual responsibility toaffected-community and to the broader society.

– Vishal Pathak and Nisha Sangwan

Value: ServiceEthical Principle: Social workers' primary goal is to help people in need and to address social problems.

Social workers elevate service based on the need of community not based on self interest. Social workersdraw on their knowledge, values and skills to help people in need.

Value: Social JusticeEthical Principle: Social workers challenge socialinjustice.

Social workers pursue social change, particularly withand on behalf of vulnerable and exploited individualsand groups of people. Their primary focus should beon build the capacity of vulnerable community. Socialworkers' CBDRR efforts are focused primarily on issuesof reducing poverty, sustainable livelihood, and socio-economic development activities withoutdiscrimination in long term disaster recovery phase.Social workers strive to ensure meaningfulparticipation in decision making for all people.

Value: Importance of Human RelationshipsEthical Principle: Social workers recognize the centralimportance of human relationships.

Social workers understand that relationships betweenand among people are an important vehicle for change.Social workers engage people in CBDRR activities aspartners in the whole process. Social workers seek tostrengthen relationships among people in a purposefuleffort to promote, restore, maintain, and enhance thewell being of individuals, families, social groups,organizations, and communities involved in riskreduction.

Value: IntegrityEthical Principle: Social workers behave in atrustworthy manner.

Social workers are continually aware of theprofession's mission, values, ethical principles, andethical standards and practice in a manner consistentwith them.

Value: CompetenceEthical Principle: Social workers practice within theirareas of competence and develop and enhance theirprofessional expertise.

Social workers continually strive to increase DRRknowledge and skills and to apply them in practice.Social workers should aspire to contribute to theknowledge base of the profession.

Characteristics of effective services: Certain characteristics of service are crucial for survivors of disaster and areimportant for survivor satisfaction. For social workers and DRR practitioners, attention to these service characteristicsis recommended as an optimal, ethical strategy for meeting survivors' needs. Disaster affected community sharedtheir views regarding how services could be valuable for them. Service programme should address these needs. Thesecharacteristics reflect values and morals that a service programeme should integrate to address survivors' concernsand needs. These characters are information; appropriateness and clarity of procedures; appropriately timed servicedelivery; service cooperation; and sustainability.


COMMUNITY LED DISASTER RECOVERY

On Leh Flash FloodsROUNDTABLE

National Roundtableon Safer Schools: Roleof Youth

AIDMI organized a NationalRoundtable on 'Safer Schools' in

Puducherry on September 26, 2010. Itwas attended by 17 participantsincluding a senior member fromNational Disaster ManagementAuthority (NDMA); youthteammembers from leading NGOs ofAndaman and Nicobar Islands, NewDelhi, and Tamil Nadu; andrepresentatives of internationalorganisations.

Local education authorityrepresentatives and educators from thetsunami 2004 affected schools alsoattended and shared their experienceson various initiatives taken for makingschools safer. The objective ofroundtable was to building commonunderstanding for the younghumanitarian sector professionals onSchool-based DRR and come out withan action plan for joint efforts on schoolsafety. Action plan, aim at more directand active role of youth.

Brig. B. K. Khanna from NDMA sharedinitiatives taken by national authoritiesand what kind of practical rolestakeholders, especially youth, can playfor school safety. The roundtable wasorganized in support to UNISDR'scampaign on one million safer schoolsand safer hospitals. The roundtableprovided an opportunity to youthteachers to remind practitioners aboutcurrent needs on youths taking a leadrole for making schools safer andprepare actions based on the same forresilience so that children get safer builtenvironment for education.

– Sanchit Oza

AIDMI facilitated a young team of local partners for situation and needsassessment in 10 rural (Busgo, Choglamsar, Igoo, Nimmu, Pheyang,

Saboo, Sakti, Shey, Taru and Uamala) locations as well as Leh town withindays after the cloudburst on August 6, 2010. On the basis of needs that cameout of assessments AIDMI helped local partners and local communities inidentifying the most affected and needy community among the assessed.Local communities have selected 5 of the most affected members from 4villages for pilot shelters construction. Village leader, young communitymembers and youth team of local partners coordinated this initiative ofearly recovery. Beneficiaries are contributing in their own shelterreconstruction by labour, material, and money where possible. Youngmembers from the family of these beneficiaries are helping them in theconstruction of shelter as severe winter sets in and young team of localpartners along with a local engineer are helping them with technical inputs,monitoring and coordination.

Apart from shelters, construction of irrigation canal in Pheyang village foragriculture recovery is also made possible as the village administration,farmers and youth among community members contribute throughplanning, material, purchase, and build structures. This canal constructionwill directly benefit 61 small farmers apart from several farm labours andmake source of irrigation water ready before the next season for farmingbegins in summer.

AIDMI will conduct a series of three trainings on 'Community LedSustainable Recovery' for youth leaders in the community, local NGOs, andgovernment officials to develop common understanding for planning oftheir own recovery. Youth is Leh is educated, dedicated, and ready to reducerisk face-to-face. They have big designs for Leh and await big deals fromGovernment of India and civil society.

– Sanchit Oza

Youth from local community in leh flash floods affected areas leading and contributingin their own recovery.


AWARENESS EVENT

Efforts for Making Schools Safer by Youth

Students at ‘Hansiba’ to understand thetraditional livelihood sources for women- ‘handicraft.’

Rashidkhan explaining the local contextand risk in Radhanpur block.

In field, understanding the process andcurrent challenges of salt farmers.

Students interacting with a ruralcommunity on existing risk and socio-economic conditions.

Experts from GSDMA, S.P. University,IIM, Road and Building Authorities tookthe sessions during the seminar.

Dr. Amrapali Marchant emphasized therole of youth in DRR activities.

– Saiyad Nagori

Youth from all over Gujarat and fromdifferent streams shared interest in safereducation.

Chief Guest and facilitator discussing onstructure of seminar and exchangingsession information for propermanagement of the seminar.

Building Understanding of Youth on Rural Risk Setting

Prof. Sadhanaben Adhikary presented theobjectives of Seminar.

Collecting information about localinstitutions to aware of its impact on ruraldevelopment.

250 Youth attended the seminar on SaferSchools.

Discussion on women empowerment inrural areas with Mumtazben andKokilaben from SEWA.


EVALUATION

Evaluating Rural Youth CampA spot evaluation was carried out on the last day of the rural camp. The responses from students and faculty membersare summarized below. Overall, the feedback collected was positive and provided useful suggestions for futureevents.

Additional Comments:

Learning tools• It was a good experience, as the learning from rural

communities helped us to understand rural settings. Teamwork was built on by group exercises in the field as well as inclassroom.

• Interaction with village communities was really useful tounderstand community perspectives and its linkages withsocial work aspects.

• The rural camp was like learning without constraint. Therewas freedom to learn from each others approach.

For farther improvement• Some basic theoretical and practical information in advance

would have helped to understand the context and recoveryefforts more easily.

• Recommendation, there is a chance for more proper logisticarrangements in food and accommodation.

• Rural camp also should be linked with industrial areas locatednear to rural areas and its linkages with rural development.

Follow up• It provided opportunities to link our theoretical areas located

near to rural areas and its linkages with rural development.• Students should be involved in such programmes as a

participants or supporters in the future.

Participants' Expectation:• Knowledge about existing risk and its

long term impact on major sectors likeagriculture, education, livelihood, andanimal husbandry in village areas

• Concept of DRR, AIDMI's disasterresponse experience, and communityperspectives

• Role of social institutions in villagesduring disaster response cycle, specialfocus on PRIs role; also structure ofdisaster management from village tostate level

• Community risk assessment tools andcommunity level structural and non-structural mitigation measures andinitiatives taken by communities

• Work done by development agencies (GOand NGOs) after disaster

• Impacts of drought in short and long termand challenges related to migration andgender issues in drought situation

• Health issues of children in rural areasand their safety against disasters

In terms of learning and relevance,have your expectations been met?

As per expected 62%

Morethan

expected30%

Less thanexpected 8%

Overall subject balance

Good57%

Excellent21%

Poor5%Moderate

17%

Are you interested to participatein such programme again in future?

Yes88%

No12%

Do you think this programmewas well organised?

Yes88%

No12%

Was the information provided byfacilitators adequate?

Yes81%

No19%

Resourcedeveloper 19%

By other way 5%

Participant19%

Assistance41%

Facilitator16%

In what capacity would you like tobe involved in future programme?

– Rashidkhan Baloch


List of Youth Trained in DRR

Drought1. Chaitali Gandhi2. Devangkumar Patel3. Devanshi Kapadia4. Dhara Desai5. Dhawalkumar Joshi6. Dipen Dodiya7. Divya Panicker8. Hardik Kathwadia9. Hardipsinh Gharia

Micro Finance1. Parthivkumar Darji2. Piyushkumar Patel3. Prashant Chaudhari4. Radhika Maniar5. Rajendrasinh Parmar6. Rakesh Chaudhari7. Ravi Mehta8. Ravi Ruparel9. Ravindra Desai10. Rupal Salunke11. Sandip Chaudhari

Earthquake Recovery1. Aditi Karulkar2. Anamika Patel3. Ankitkumar Patel4. Ashish Mandaviya5. Ashok Parmar6. Avinash Rohit7. Bhavna Joshi8. Bhupendra Rana9. Caroll Christian

Flood Recovery1. Hetal Patel2. Hitesh Patel3. Jaimit Rana4. Jalpa Sewak5. Jaypalsinh Chauhan6. Jinal Patel7. Jitendra Chauhan8. Jitsinh Darbar9. Kalpesh Patel10. Komal Mehta

Milk Cooperative1. Debolina Basak2. Sunil Fulmali3. Tejashkumar Purani4. Urvi Khamar5. Vikas Rana6. Vikramsinh Vaghela7. Vinodkumar Tadvi8. Vishal Nikumbh9. Yogeshkumar Gohil

Livelihood1. Hetal Vasava2. Krunalkumar Macwan3. Mahesh Malushare4. Manvendrasinh Zala5. Mauliben Joshi6. Mayankkumar Joshi7. Mayur Tadavi8. Mehul Dhone9. Mehulkumar Chaudhari10. Mehulkumar Solanki

Gum Collection1. Mujmil Shaikh2. Mukesh Chaudhari3. Nilesh Dadhich4. Nilesh Talpada5. Nirmitaben Parmar6. Nitin Chaudhari7. Palak Trivedi

School Safety1. Abhay Shah2. Divakar Gadhavi3. Nilesh Bharpoda4. Nilesh Parmar5. Sakil Vohra,6. Yagnik Patel

MSW Faculty1. Sadhana Adhikary2. Nisha Sangwan3. Komal Kantariya

REVIEW

Youth is Future

I admire the AIDMI team who haveput this issue on youth together,

and want to congratulate them onsuch a useful and professionallyproduced publication. The themeissue looks good, the content is righton target as it meets such a vital needof South Asia and of the widerInternational Disaster Risk ReductionSector. Given that in so manycountries in South Asia over half thepopulation are under 20 years old, itis logical and vital that authorities,(in fact the whole of civil society),focuses energy and resources oncreating and maintaining safe schools,safety education in schools andcolleges and mobilizing youth to playkey roles on practical community

based actions for Disaster RiskReduction and Climate ChangeAdaptation.

It is our younger generation who willfind solutions to the risks that havebeen created over the past twocenturies. But for this to happen wemust invest our trust, ideas andresources in our youth. Often we failto do this, but AIDMI has taken upthis task, as we read in this issue, withconsiderable success. It is particularlyimpressive to see the number ofcenters of higher education in SouthAsia who are now running coursesin Disaster Risk Management and therole AIDMI is playing in supportingthese centres in their growth and

focus on the poor is encouraging. Ifsuch efforts are encouraged bynational governments, donors, andthe United Nations, a coherent andconsistent framework for role ofyouth in Disaster Risk Reduction caneasily evolve that is sociallysatisfying and environmentallysustainable. I see a need for what maybe called "New DRR" and I see itemerge from thousands of such directactions with our youth, working atthe grassroots.

– Professor Ian DavisSenior Professor in Disaster Risk

Management for SustainableDevelopment, Lund University Sweden

and Visiting Professor in Cranfield,Oxford Brookes and Kyoto Universities


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WAY AHEAD

AIDMI, DRR and Youth

AIDMI encourages youthinvolvement in its DRR

activity at grass root level.Mainstreaming DRR in alldevelopment activities is notpossible without activeinvolvement of youth. For concreteexample, during disaster responseAIDMI builds task force of youngpeople who lead each developmentactivity at area or village levelaffected by disaster. These taskforcebring positive energy in our workwith community. These younggroups build their capacity fromidentifying hazards to minimizingthe impact of potential risk. Theyare best source of not only localknowledge but also engines ofeffective implementation. In Bihar,after AIDMI's action-orientedcapacity building actions with localcommunities of 2007 flood-affectedareas, the local youth have beengood resources for spreadingawareness about risk reduction.Youth bring fresh ideas to ongoingactivities.

Another interesting example could beAIDMI's internship programme,where so far 88 youths from 28countries participated in laterallearning experience. Young studentsand practitioners come from differentculture, level of education, familybackground, to contribute to the fieldwork and also learn from AIDMI teamand from community. The interns areAIDMI's fountain of life at work. Theyremind us that most beautiful thingsin our work is our ability to make adifference.

Department of Social Work, S. P.University showed a good exampleby taking various steps where youthcould be involved not only inbuilding their knowledge but alsotaking actions in DRR field. It's aripple in comparison to the ocean ofyouth of India, but ripples to a longway. Some ripples become legendary.

Schools located in disaster-affectedareas after small but timely andaudience specific actions encouragedmany young teachers and students tolead actions for making schools safer.

Safer Schools Campaign's trainedteachers are putting continuousefforts to spread DRR education inyoung students. It is impressive thatteachers with little inputs started totake important steps at school leveland showed example to otherneighborhood schools in tsunami-affected schools, and in flood-affected interior villages of Bihar.The most important point is, thoughoften schools are running withoutbasic facilities, they do not hesitateto take action to make schools saferwith the help of youth.

Development agencies mustemphasize more on activeinvolvement of youth in DRRactions; integrating DRR in highereducation; and most importantinvolvement of young women inDRR actions. Creating platform foryouth to learn, share and take actionin DRR is highly needed ineducational institutes as well in civilsociety. May AIDMI one day soonprovide such a platform.

– Hasmukh Sadhu, Director,All India Disaster Mitigation Institute

Disasters are destructive and - PreventionWeb.net

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