UK Aid Match Proposal Final - Bangladesh

3 million GBP DFID-50% and IR UK – 50 %Beneficiaries Direct and indirect Direct beneficiaries 16,400 HH/78,800 individualsIndirect beneficiaries 8,026 HH/36,445 individuals Project Summ

3 million GBP (DFID-50% and IR UK – 50 %)

Beneficiaries (Direct and

indirect)

Direct beneficiaries (16,400 HH/78,800 individuals)Indirect beneficiaries (8,026 HH/36,445 individuals)

Project Summary The project aims to assist the poor disaster vulnerable

communities of Bangladesh in adapting the adverse impact ofClimate Change and also in reducing the risk factors ofdisasters so that they can sustain their livelihood and better lifefor the future The Super Goal of the project is to contribute inachieving the targets of the Millennium Development Goal(MDG) of the government of Bangladesh in the face ofincreased natural disasters and climate change It willcontribute to the National Plan for Disaster Management(NPDM) 2010-2015 and also to the National WaterManagement Plan (NWMP)

Project Impact The project will contribute directly to the progress of the

country towards all major development and resilienceframework and strategies in place at global and national level

It is very difficult to estimate as multiple factors are in place,but specific measures will be taken in close collaboration ofthe national government, mandated organisations, dedicatedproject teams and other relevant stakeholders in this regard.This can be measured by the number of policy and programmerelated measures taken in joint partnership with theGovernment of Bangladesh at national level At local levelpartnerships with the administrative functions on climate anddisaster risk management will be established and their capacity

to leverage at least 10 % increase in climate adaptive financingwill be ensured at the end of the project period 3 major projectintroduced successful models and initiatives will be replicatedand up-scaled by the government and communities owninitiative

Project Outcomes/Outputs:  Improved rural livelihood strategies of the vulnerable

communities through introduction of climate adaptivelivelihood measures and capacity building towardspredicted conditions of climate change

 Improved policy and institutional arrangements to plan anddeliver climate resilient development approaches at locallevel (Institutional strengthening)

 Build capacities of DMCs, community organisations andpartners to effectively respond to disasters and implementsocially inclusive and innovative community based climatechange adaptation and mitigation

 Enhanced sharing, learning and reflection on practicalexperience and good models of climate change mitigationand adaptation for integration at local, national and globallevel

Implementing Partner To be selected in the first 3 months of the project as per IR

Global partnership assessment process

Sector Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Water, Sanitation,

Livelihoods, Community Physical Infrastructure

Project Period 1 November, 2012 to 31 October 2015

Contact person in Field for

the project Shabel Firuz

Country DirectorHouse No 10, Road No 10, Baridhara, Dhaka 1212 Telephone: +88-02-8819392, +88-02-9893458 Fax: +88-02-8825119

Email: shabel.firuz@islamicrelief-bd.orgSyed Shahnawaz Ali

Head of Integration, Climate Change and Disaster Resilience House # 10, Road # 10, Block - K

Baridhara, Dhaka 1212Phone: +880 2 8819392 (Extn 227), Fax: +880 2 8825119Email: shahnawaz.ali@islamicrelief-bd.org

Contact person in IRW for the

project

Haroon Altaf Regional Programme Coordinator – Asia RegionInternational Programmes Division

Islamic Relief WorldwideInternational HeadquartersTel: +44 (0)121 622 0708Fax: +44 (0)121 622 5003Email: haroon.altaf@irworldwide.org

of hazards and then targeting risk that is specific to communities will lead to an increase incommunity resilience and a decrease in duration of negative impacts as a result of this.

According to the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP) 2009 “Climate Change will exacerbate many of the current problems and natural hazards the country faces”, it is

then apprehended that climate change will lead to dramatic changes in different economical sectors inBangladesh It includes taking account of the natural hazards into public and private sector decision-making in the same way that environmental and social impact assessments are currently required.Advocating for developing or modifying policies, laws, and organizational arrangements, as well asplans, programmes, and projects, to integrate disaster risk reduction; and also to allocate sufficientresources to support and maintain them

In that prospect, IRB aims to implement a comprehensive and integrated program in the coastal areas

as well as in the haor basin so that the communities over there can increase their resilience against theclimatic vulnerabilities, come up with some disaster risk reduction activities and create some incomegenerating activities IRB will address both the underlying factors of poverty under selected areas of

04 Districts as their on-going and projected climate change vulnerabilities Many poverty reductionstrategies have potential to address the underlying risks and to recognize disaster impacts as acontributing factor to poverty However, the disaster risk reduction components in such strategies are

often limited to preparedness and response aspects In this particular program, Climate Change Adaptation (CCA), Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and poverty reduction are strongly integrated in terms of activities and quest of knowledge

Continuing to build community resilience through identifying and expanding indigenous copingcapacities and strengthening traditional warning systems have been considered as very importantstrategies and integrated as major thrusts of the project Marginalized groups (women, children,disabled persons and the hardcore poor) will be specifically targeted with a goal to strengthening theircapacity and confidence to access a range of support services with a view to minimizing the personal

negative impacts associated with disaster situations The project development framework recognizes that the success of this strategy lies in the sustainability of project interventions and that lower level committees and organizations are best positioned to provide this support at a frequency that will result in tangible outcomes at the community level.

3 Project Rationale

3.1 Context

Bangladesh, the largest tropical delta and one of the least developed countries in the world, is situated

in between the Bay of Bengal in the south and the mighty Himalayas in the north It is one of the mostdisaster prone areas in the world A series of disasters including flood, cyclonic storms, tidal surges,

droughts, tornadoes, riverbank erosion, earth quake, etc occur in Bangladesh regularly and frequently.The most devastating cyclone and flood of the world occurred in Bangladesh During the twentiethcentury and the first decade (ongoing decade) of the twenty first century, a number of devastatingfloods submerged most of the parts of the country, particularly the river basin areas On the otherhand, during the same period, a series of terrible cyclones/tidal surges visited the coastal districts andoff shore islands of the country

Extensive floods and cyclones greatly affect the marginal population who loss whatever assets theyhave and suffer from lack of work and wages The cyclones, originating over the Bay of Bengal ontheir onward journey towards mainland whipped up tidal surges overloading vast tracts of land withheavy loss of life besides uprooting trees and homesteads leaving behind trails of devastation Duringlast three decades, flood plain land, the riverine char and its adjacent areas unfortunately met tooverwhelming floods Till to date from 1871, Bangladesh faced more than 30 devastating floods Onthe other hand, the coast and off shore islands had a cruel hit by two dreadful cyclones

The Southern areas targeted by IRB are symptomatic to this trend In 2007 and 2009 southern areaswere hit by cyclone SIDR and AILA that saw families lost their homes, livelihoods, and infrastructureonce again, although due to the nature of the cyclone the loss of life was far less The past experiences

of disaster and the hazardous environment in which they live have shaped the way in whichcommunities and individuals are responding to risks: the population is characterised by a low level ofresilience1 to disaster, a consequence not only of the huge damage done during SIDR and AILA butalso in part due to the lack of knowledge (indigenous or otherwise) on resilience issues

The North Eastern area also called Haor Basin is subject to very peculiar conditions and suffers fromextensive annual flooding This makes livelihoods extremely vulnerable and limits the potential foragriculture production and rural enterprise growth For 6 to 7 months of the year, the cropped land iscompletely inundated Strong wave action adds to the vulnerability as it can potentially wash away theland and poses a major threat to many villages in the Haor Rural poor households have to dependupon fisheries and off-farm labour The communication infrastructure is poorly developed withsubmersible rural roads providing some connectivity during the dry season and boats being the mainsource of communication during the flood season The poor communication network limits theincentives for increasing production, discourages rural growth, limits access to markets and off-farmemployment opportunities and limits access to existing social services particularly health andeducation Strong wave action adds to the vulnerability as it can potentially wash away the land andposes a major threat to many villages in the Haor Protection of villages against flood action, propermanagement of the fishery resources and securing existing livelihoods such as crop and animalproduction are critical needs for the poor rural households living in the Haor region

3.2 Problem

Bangladesh is a disaster-prone country, the geographical settings and various other anthropogenicfeatures make the country vulnerable to frequent and devastating natural disasters Due to unplannedurbanization, increasing trend of population and impact of climate change, an increased number ofdisaster events are occurring characterized by small scale to large scale The country's vulnerabilitylies in the fact that it is an exceedingly flat, low-lying, alluvial plain covered by over 230rivers/rivulets with 580 kilometres (approximately) of exposed coast line along the Bay of Bengal.Due to its geographic features, Bangladesh frequently suffers from devastating floods, cyclones, storm

1 Level of Disaster resilience within the community can be understood as the capacity to absorb stress or destructive forces through resistance or adaptation and the capacity to manage or maintain basic functions and structures and the capacity to recover after a disaster events, from the Characteristics of a Disaster-

resilient Community- A guidance Note by J Twigg, in 2007 for DFID Disaster Risk Reduction Interagency Coordination Group

surges, tornados, cold wave, riverbank erosion and drought The country’s precarious perch inbetween two tectonic plates exposes it to devastating earthquakes in near future

Bangladesh rated as the nation most at risk from extreme weather and geophysical events study ranking 229 countries on their vulnerability to natural disasters (NDRI 2010-2011) The

-history of striking disaster in Bangladesh gives a devastating scenario with the country ranked first out

of 162 countries based on human exposure due to flood related hazards and third based on economicexposure It is ranked sixth out of 89 countries based on human exposure in terms of cyclone relatedhazards and twelfth from economic exposure For earthquake, the country ranked seventeenth out of

153 countries based on human exposure and forty-second out of 153 countries based on economicexposure

Poverty reduction strategies and initiatives in Bangladesh are always affected over the years becausethe government and the development agencies are always forced to increase allocation of financialand human resources to respond to the natural disasters Humanitarian funding requirements peremergency have also increased by nearly 50%, reflecting a reform in humanitarian action that

includes early recovery and preparedness (ALNAP) This situation demands vision of a holistic disaster management programme in Bangladesh considering a transition from a response and relief focus to preparedness and risk reduction approach in disaster management.

Over Past 20 Years:

In different disasters over the past 20 years, a total of 135 million people have been affected, out ofwhich 16,513 were life casualties The total amount of resulting damage in terms of economy was11.7 million USD (EM-DAT) In 1970, a severe cyclone took a toll of 0.3 millions human lives inBangladesh while the toll fingered 0.14 millions in 29 April 1991 In 2007, devastating `Sidr’ hitscoastal belt of the country affecting all the 32 coastal districts by damaging lives and livelihoodimmensely while cyclone Aila made significant livelihood losses in the coastal districts

In 1988, devastating flood hits countrywide including 52 districts resulted lost of 1,517 human liveswhile 65 days long flood inundated 53 districts in 1998 A total of 140,512 people were affected bydiarrhoea all over the country since the advent of prolonged flood on July 30, 2007

Although most of the earthquakes hit inconsequentially, Bangladesh is one of the vulnerable countryfrom earthquake due to its surroundings by the regions of high seismicity Over the years, rivererosion considered as one of the major disasters of Bangladesh both from natural and man-made due

to the impact of climate change and human intervention as well A research shows, (CEGIS, 2011)almost 0.1 million peoples become homeless in every year due to river erosion

The problems of the people living in the coastal regions and in the haor basin are mostly generatedfrom disasters and geographical isolation that are being aggravated by climate change impact Poverty

in these regions is as much shaped by the ecological condition and disasters as it is determined bysocio-economic dynamics Livelihoods, food security, health, hygiene and sanitation and communityresilience mostly depend on the natural hazards Disaster coping and climate change adaptationcapacity of the community people is not satisfactory

Climate change adds a new dimension to community risk and vulnerability Although the magnitude

of these changes may appear to be small, they could substantially increase the frequency,unpredictability and intensity of existing climatic events (floods, droughts, cyclones etc) Currentindications are that not only will floods and cyclones become more severe and frequent; they will alsostart to occur outside of their “established seasons” Reduced access to formerly limited resources inBangladesh will be the most convoluted of all human climate change consequences Lack ofgovernance in narrowly based and non transparent decision making process, poor service to masspeople, excessive cost, misallocation of resources, poor coordination in private and public sectors,lack of transparency and political commitment make country even more vulnerable

Local community is the one of the most vulnerable due to Global Climate Change Though theDevelopment Disaster is the key factor to influence and bringing the disaster in that area but GlobalClimate Change is making complex the vulnerability of that area It is proved scientifically that due tothe Climate Change number of stronger cyclone is hitting the coastal area and this area bear the mark

of this statement Salinity intrusion due to sea level rise as the consequences of the climate change ismaking more saline prone area and forcing thousands of people to migrate There are severalenvironmental problem existed such as the consequences of Shrimp farming and the polder system,Environmental Mismanagement etc which is making harder for the community to reduce poverty butthe cyclone is making hardest to reach with the goal of poverty reduction and meeting the goal ofMGDs ultimately Mangrove forest diversity is decreasing as a result of salinity and the countlessmassive destruction of floral and faunal diversity caused during the cyclone sidr and aila And therestoration of that destruction is in still not enough Meanwhile another cyclone and the odds ofclimate change may lead the community with millions of death and may force the community to leavetheir native places This may create complex problem in the policy and plan of the country likeBangladesh Now Sundarban is not in a position to cope with the cyclone like sidr So recovery andrestoration of the both community people and the floral community is the substantial steps to combatwith climate change Moreover during rainy season the rivers carry huge water from upstream and thetidal surge in rainy season creates flood in the villages The extreme temperature accelerating theglacier melting and the sea level rise Due to the geographical position, elevation and topography, sealevel rise and the glacier melting from the upstream making and prolonging the flood in this area Thehouses are submerging in high tide and low tide incidence And the frequent, unusual tidal watersubmerging the whole area and due to salinity it’s totally impossible to practice regular cultivation andincome generation

Though over the past couple of decades Bangladesh made marvellous progress in humandevelopment, yet severity of extreme poverty is existed in some geographically backward and highlydisaster prone areas Due to the climate change influence intensity of super disasters has beenincreased and fighting the poverty has gradually been become difficulties Yet over the past decadeBangladesh has achieved tremendous progress in disaster risk management The impact of naturaldisaster is reducing however this is mainly due to the capacity and resilience of the affectedcommunity rather than the established disaster response systems It has been well documented invarious studies that communities in Bangladesh have enormous coping capacities to cyclones andfloods and during threats and disaster situations it is the community that are the first responders Theyrely very little on assistance from outside Nonetheless, due to climate change influences such asglobal warming and sea level rise, Climate variability issues associated with El Nino and La Ninaconditions are reported to influence the frequency and severity of cyclones, floods and drought Sealevel rise on the other hand will present far greater risks to coastal and island communities

Moreover, increases in population, over extraction of resources, exclusion and marginalisation fromgovt.’s development planning process also create “development induced” disasters such aswaterlogging that have the potential to have significant negative impacts on communities that willbring new considerations into the development planning process

Climate change adaptation and mitigation, two ways are considered as the weapons of the vulnerablepeople to survive within the new situations to be created due to climate change effects Domesticresponse and risk reduction capacities of the people living in the highly disaster prone areas are alsoconsidered as the additional strengths to cope with any unpredictable situation to be created fromhorrible natural disasters than those are being currently occurred

The social status and livelihood is very much linked and these two things are depended on ecosystemservices As this community belongs to this large Mangrove forest they are depended on theecosystem services of the mangrove forest Community depended on diverse occupation depended o

the season But most of them earn their livelihood thorough agriculture and Fishing But after thesevere affect of any disaster, they are struggling with their occupational status They used to collectthe wood, honey, leaf etc from the mangrove forest Extraction of resource from the respective are isthe main earning source Shrimp farming is another important occupation, which is belongs to thehigher class of the society Middle and poor class forced to engage in as labor in the shrimp farming.Shrimp farming and the sea level rise due to Global Climate Change influencing the sea level rise andmaking difficult to cultivate rice Women are very much vulnerable for the social structure andChanges in environment (Climate change) and its induced disaster bringing the sufferings more

3.3 Identification and solution

3.3.1 Identification

1 Poverty and Food Insecurity:

Poverty and food insecurity is widespread in the project areas The situation aggravates after anydisaster event It was seen after AILA, more than two thirds of the population (67 percent) in fourupazilas of Satkhira and Khulna districts (the areas worst affected by the cyclone) are originally poor,and consuming 2,122 kcal/person/day or less More than half (55 percent) are extremely poor andfood insecure, consuming 1,805 kcal/person/day or less

The recent Poverty Estimates, calculated by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, WFP and WorldBank, indicates that 58 percent of the population of Shayamnagar upazila of Satkhira district areextreme poor (below the lower poverty line), and that for Koyra upazila of Khulna district are 35percent The two major livelihoods in the affected areas, farming and fishing, suffered significant

damage and loss due to continuous inundation of paddy fields and shrimp ghers/ fish ponds by saline

water Households were experienced severe shock as they entirely or partially lost their housing andproductive assets of higher monetary value

Again, the haor Basin is one of the poorest regions of Bangladesh A number of studies have identified

it as one of the ‘hot-spots’ of poverty in Bangladesh Data on child malnutrition shows that the haorregion is substantially worse off than Bangladesh, 55 percent children under-five being underweight

as against 41 percent for Bangladesh as a whole

region

3 Agriculture:

Due to the climate change and intrusion of sea water into the locality, salinity of soil and inland closewater bodies has been increased Normally it was also observed that there was no salinity impact onrice production due to high rainfall during monsoon season But in the later part, when the rainfallceases, it was assumed that soil salinity might increase and go beyond the safe limit of rice crop (4dS/m) In some areas of the proposed upazilas, soil salinity level crossed the safe limit and increased

up to 7-8 dS/m Salinity grips nearly 80 percent villages under Koira upazila in Khulna district,causing persistent crisis of safe drinking water and extensive damage to arable lands, especially those

producing paddy and vegetables Due to high salinity following the onslaught of cyclone AILA onMay 25 in 2009, paddy yield per bigha of land has come down to 8-10 maunds while it was 20-22maunds earlier in Koira upazila, according to the Department of Agriculture Extension in Khulna.Salinity is gradually damaging fertility of land like slow poisoning due to infiltration of saline waterdue to collapse of 156 kilometres of embankments after AILA hit the coastal areas including Koiraand Shayamnagar upazilas

Agriculture is the principal profession of the Haor people However, day-by-day the net cultivableland for agriculture is decreasing due to siltation through flooding Therefore, people are forced togive up cultivation- their traditional and oldest profession, and struggle to find new employments The haor basin in north-eastern Bangladesh is subject to very peculiar conditions and suffers fromextensive annual flooding This makes livelihoods extremely vulnerable and limits the potential foragriculture production and rural enterprise growth For 6 to 7 months of the year, the cropped land iscompletely inundated Strong wave action adds to the vulnerability as it can potentially wash away theland and poses a major threat to many villages in the haor Rural poor households have to dependupon fisheries and off-farm labour to supplement the meagre farm income The common propertynature of the water bodies or Jalmohals and the uncertain lease arrangements inhibits the full growthpotential of the fisheries sector The haors are known as an area of severe poverty and limitedlivelihood options with many people seasonally migrating to find work

Again in the haor areas, there are lots of problems like river erosion and insufficient lands for people,frequent natural disaster especially the flood, cyclones and heavy monsoon, lack of adequate transportand communication, infrequent presence of Government Officials providing the essential services,lack of access to the common property such as the Jalmahal (water body), lack of government’sessential services especially in education, health, water and sanitation, communication, andagriculture and livestock and fisheries, lack of marketing facilities for the poor agriculture producersand fishermen, land grabbing by the influential, shortage of schools especially the girls’ school andlack of proper management of school, educational activities affected by flood and students are at riskduring the flood and other natural disasters, destruction of biodiversity, lack of dredging of the riversand canals, presence of dadan, a local form of money lending existing in agriculture and fisheries,lack of non-agriculture based employment opportunities, lack of adequate flood shelters etc

4 Drinking Water:

Safe limit of salinity for drinking water is 600 ppm Intrusion of saline water due to storm surgeaccompanied with heavy rain fall inundation of ponds previously used for drinking water and salinitylevel of water crossed safe limit of drinking water Crisis of safe drinking water is major problem inthe areas Women and girls, who are generally responsible for household water collection, have totravel long distance to fetch pure drinking water and they are either forced to travel 2-6 hours by boat

or walk on foot to fetch fresh water The people set out from home before sunrise every morning tofetch water from a deep tube-well, 18-20 kilometres away from their home even at Koyra Sadar.Many of the school going girls are engaged with household water collection instead of schoolenrolment The dropout rate, therefore, has increased sharply in the study area after AILA It isexplored that the price of 20 litres of is Tk 40 The most of the people cannot afford to buy a drum of

20 litres water for Tk 40 But water of these tube-wells has also become unfit for drinking due toexcessive salinity and iron Similar scenario is seen in many areas of Shayamnagar upazila

In addition, there are few ground water aquifers in the areas due to a natural shortage of heavy sandparticles beneath the ground Because of the excessive extraction of ground water through deep tubewell irrigation, aquifers of this area are often contaminated by arsenic and further affected by adecrease of the water level under the ground Arsenic has now become a major problem inShayamnagar upazila According to the Groundwater Arsenic Calamity survey conducted by Uttaran,

a local NGO, almost 79 percent of aquifers of the southwest coastal region are contaminated byarsenic

5 Sanitation:

Project area had a high coverage of latrines before the cyclone, a large number of which were heavilydamaged by AILA Still, the poorer strata of the society could not install sustainable latrines AfterAILA, hygiene promotion efforts were found to be inadequate, inconsistent and irregular The

situation has not improved

6 Flooding and Water Logging:

The incessant heavy down pours of the rainy season causes flooding in the region This water cannot

be drained because of rising sea levels and the consequences of CEP, leaving vast areas water logged.Each year more thousands of hectares of land go under water for 6-8 months The problem of stagnantwater is gradually approaching down river to the south/coast as it follows the declining slopes of theriver basin, spreading fast and inundating more areas It is estimated that each year ten-twelvethousand hectares of land is becoming permanently waterlogged and the rate is rapidly increasing inthese regions

During heavy monsoon rains have stranded hundreds of thousands A large number of villages in theregion have been affected by floods The poorest and the most vulnerable individuals in the projectareas have to be homelessness and face a severe shortage of food Flooding in these areas is acommon phenomenon and the local communities believe the duration and depth of the floods isincreasing cumulatively

7 Migration:

The coastal region of Bangladesh and the life and livelihoods of nearly 40 million people is extremelyvulnerable to climate change impacts including rising sea level, reoccurring cyclones and increasedsalinity Climate expert predicted that with the rise of sea level only one metre most of the coastal area

of Bangladesh will be under water This area has seen two devastating cyclones, cyclone SIDR in

2007 and cyclone Aila in 2009 Nearly 200,000 people from the coastal district of Satkhira andKhulna were still living under open sky on the embankments as saline water inundates their homeseven after two years of Cyclone Aila

According to a recent study conducted by Department of Environment (DOE), recent disasters likeAila resulted into significant migration from the highly disaster prone areas of Satkhira and Khulnadistrict The study reveals that 20%, 18% and 15% families have already been migrated from Koyra,Dacope and Shyamnagar respectively Most of them have migrated to Khulna, Satkhira, Bagerhat,Pirojpur, Borishal, Potuakhali, Gopalganj, Faridpur, Jessore and Narail

A large number of families (about 10%) are living in the nearby city areas; but they temporarily returnfor getting relief, when it is distributed.The study reveals that from Koyra about 1200 families havepermanently migrated, whereas from Dacope and Shyamnagar these numbers are about 800 and 1300respectively Most of people have migrated to Khulna, Satkhira, Rangamati, Dumuria, Doulatpur,Jessore and Kesobpur areas for looking jobs Some people have also migrated to West Bengal of India

in search of jobs Whereas about 3000, 1500 and 1300 families have migrated temporarily fromShyamnagar, Koyra and Dacope respectively The trend is continuing and every day 3 families aremigrating to other areas

The same trend has been observed in Sunamganj Besides the common trends of family migration, theworking male members are migrating to the capital city and the nearby ones temporarily and thusthere create a social instability

8 Problems Related to Disaster Management:

The Government of Bangladesh has established a multi-layered institutional mechanism for disastermanagement, with formal recognition of the role of various stakeholders Historically, NGOs andother informal support mechanisms in the country have also made significant contributions indisasters and during disaster recovery Disaster managers have recognized this: Despite the presence

of strengths such as long experience in disaster response and recovery, people’s resilience and donorsupport, management strategies have suffered from a host of policy and institutional weaknesses.Most prominent is the absence of a functioning partnership among the stakeholders within theseformal set-ups What is lacking is the development and embodiment of a culture of collectivedecision-making in planning, in resource sharing, and in implementing disaster management policiesand programs in an integrated and transparent way

Recently, the National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) and the Inter-Ministerial DisasterManagement Coordination Committee (IMDMCC) developed National Disaster Management Act(NDMA) In theory, the policy framework on disaster management re-establishes multi-layeredinstitutional mechanisms, with formal recognition of the role of various stakeholders from Ward toNational levels The new plan emphasizes a bottom up process which uses information compiled atgrassroots level to inform the development of disaster management plans at Union, Upazilla, districtlevels In practice, a huge disconnect exists between district level disaster management authorities,and ward level communities In case of Upazila Disaster Management Committee (UzDMC), UNOsare appointed to chair local DMCs However, they are also chairing numerous other committees and

do not have the time nor the resources to proactively address Disaster Management issues in theirregions Rather, these DMCs are activated only during the response and recovery phases of localdisasters Therefore, the focus of the Upazila level DMCs has been on response rather thanpreparedness A few of the leaders of Upazila level DMC are not aware of the Standing Order for DMdrafted in 1997 and updated in 2010

For response when their communities face extreme disaster situations, but Union level DMCs are notcurrently active The leaders of Union Disaster Management Committee (UDMC) are not aware ofany local DM plan A few had heard of the Standing Orders for DM, and none of them had heard ofthe new NDMP strategy Unanimously, the Union leaders agreed that developing plans at Ward levelwas the right way to proceed and claimed that they would support the validation of ward level plansand use them to inform the process of developing Union level DM plans DMCs at ward and unionlevel are needed to strengthen in order to build preparedness/relevant coping mechanisms

The NDM Act states that the Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) will fill this gap by renderingassistance to Union and Upazila level disaster management committees and facilitate the process ofdeveloping these plans However, the DMB does not currently possess the human, technical, orfinancial resources to conduct risk assessments or to prepare ground level plans The new NDMPproposes to establish uniform CRA processes to ensure consistency in the conduct of community riskidentification and compatibility with the risk reduction planning processes of the DMCs Howevercurrently, there is no standard system

Until the standard system is developed, and until the DMB has the capacity to implement the NDMP

in the way it is proposed, the DMB have requested that organizations with the capacity to assesscommunity hazards, vulnerabilities and risk, do so at Ward level in order to assist in the compilation

of grassroots level hazard maps and contingency plans As these plans are developed and validated,they will inform the development of Union level DM plans, Upazilla, District, so on and so forth Inorder for the proposed bottom-up process of the NDMP to succeed, the DMB are largely dependent onorganizations like HEED who are focusing on DRR at ward level

9 Inadequate Promotional Measures of Adaptive Crop Agriculture Including Innovative Farming Practices in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh:

Bangladesh is vulnerable to the potential impacts of climate change The agriculture sector contributes amajor share to the GDP of Bangladesh, which is about 30% and employs about 63% of the working force.Climate variability makes crop agriculture in Bangladesh highly vulnerable Therefore, adaptation measureshave to be looked at for the sustainability of agriculture Recently CEGIS has conducted a study forClimate Change Cell (CCC) in partnership with BRRI, BARI, BARC and BUP to find out suitable adaptationmeasures that have the potential to help farmers adapt to climate changes and to identify suitablevarieties of crops that would be able to adapt to climate change From field experiments it was foundthat introduction of high yielding salt tolerant variety BRRI Dhan 47 could produce sustainable grain yield

in the coastal regions

It was also observed that there was no salinity impact on rice production due to high rainfall during monsoonseason Salt tolerant T Aman varieties like BR23, BRRI Dhan 40 and BRRI Dhan 4l may be the solution toovercome salinity impact at the later stage Tomato, Okra and Aroid were grown successfully underimproved management practices with raised bed and mulch in the medium saline soils of Satkhira andKhulna The existing cropping pattern of Fallow-T.Aman (Local) Fallow or Fallow-T.Aman (Local)-Boro(Local/HYV) may be replaced with the pattern of Kharif I- T Aman-Boro or Kharif I-T.Aman-Rabi

Numerous indigenous varieties of different crops are existed in the areas which are suitable to sustain

in climate change situation and improved crop management can increase the productivity In Koyraand Shayamnagar, farmers have some local practices that can be modified as improved version oftechnology to be adapted in changing situation have replicable effects All these technologies are not

promoted widely in all parts of the proposed upazilas

10 Tidal River Management (TRM): Peoples’ Way of Solving the Problem

IRB working closely with local implementing partners and communities to learn and successfullypersuade the national and international policy makers to adopt indigenous water and riversedimentation management practices, which is named by water “experts” as Tidal River Management(TRM) To put is simply, TRM is effective management of river flow and sediment management toraise land level on low basins in the catchments areas of the rivers TRM resulted in ecological

restoration of rivers; has the potential to be replicated in hundreds of beels in the region, and perhaps,

in tropical deltaic regions in other countries as well TRM approach appears to be highly acceptableamong the key stakeholders and the cost of implementation is rather low compared to many othercoastal development projects (EGIS, 2002)

Although, TRM and peoples’ involvement in water management have been recognised within thehighest policy level; nexus of the Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), contractors andpolitical rent seekers continued their traditional water management It is widely accepted thatgovernance and institutional issues of “structural water management” are at the core of thedifficulties BWDB appears less interested adopting the TRM approach as it reduces corruption andincrease accountability to the community Till date, only two TRM projects had been completed by

the BWDB; and these projects also did not compensate farmer who lost their land by the project

because of the cumbersome bureaucratic procedure The current compensation processes also do notconsidered the loss of landless peoples’ livelihood let alone the gender dimension of the projectimplementation and compensation

11 Comprehensive and integrated measures to address problems

With the problems noted above, there needs to be a comprehensive integrated approach that canaddress the vulnerabilities of the people of the target areas especially in the field of climate changeadaptation, disaster risk reduction and livelihood promotion Creating some good evidences at thecommunity level, making the way for those to be replicable and to be up-scaled are the key necessarythings for the country now Climate change adaptation or even disaster risk reduction are not standalone issue rather, these have been integral parts of people’s lives now-a-days

Now it is important that we promote the adaptive activities that exists in the community level,innovate some effective adaptive measures and pilot those, reduce the disaster risk factors, promotesome preparedness measures and small scale mitigation, creating income opportunities at thecommunity level etc should come together for ensuring greater and comprehensive benefit for thevulnerable communities of Bangladesh

3.3.2 Proposed Solution

Poor and marginalized people’s hurdle towards disasters has never been greater in Bangladesh Whileaverage number of people killed and affected by disaster has fallen in long run, this remains more than

50 million people in every five years from 1986 to 2007 The economic cost associated with disaster

has been increasing with significant burden on HH and local economy “At least 8 million houses were destroyed each year by disaster during 1970 to 2007 The disaster problem has further been exacerbated by the impact of climate change” (EU Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction in

Developing Country, by the European Commission, Thematic issues- sustainable management ofnatural resources, in 2008) The scientific predication and people’s experience clearly identify thatnature and impact of disaster is changing in Bangladesh

Development does not automatically protect poor people from the consequences of hazards.Bangladesh has achieved stable economic growth over last few decades Significant achievement hasalso been made in human development In disaster management, notable improvement in some criticalareas such as public health awareness, early warning, infrastructure, communication, and communitybased preparedness and institutional strengthening helped minimizing disaster related death.Bangladesh has invested 10 million taka on its own to build cyclone shelters and created storm early-warning system 50 million USD was allocated to agriculture and health to help climate proof somecrucial sectors In the past two decades more research has been carried out on mitigation than onadaptation However, more effort is now being put into adaptation research, and this thematic issuepresents a selection of recent highlights, including making the best use of indigenous adaptation andnew technology for mitigation In that perspective IR within its experience will address the issuesrelated to climate change and understand that local efforts are a must to overcome those predictedeffects of climate change The objective of IR is to serve most the most vulnerable- the poor- to helpthem mitigate and adapt to the climate change situation

A call for climate proof

A report in the Guardian said about Bangladesh « People of one of the poorest and most vulnerable and yet resilient and innovative countries transform it from being the world’s most famously vulnerable country being recognized as perhaps the most adaptive country »

IRB is willing to contribute to make this country as the most adaptive country starting from thetargeted areas to be promoted as model villages Keeping previous experience of IR in mind,although this operation will cover a much smaller geographical area and will focus more ondeveloping and strengthening the existing coping and preparedness capacities of the communities andinstitutions as to offer sustainable solutions IRB is confident on offering a set of activities that areintegrated and vulnerable inclusive The activities will consider and integrate everyday communityproblems and hazards including basic health care, water and sanitation, livelihood into the climatechange work The project aims to implement activities with the collective involvement ofbeneficiaries and local institutions (UDMC) in order to ensure sustainability IRB sees within thisproject the opportunity to build a sustainable climate change culture which is vulnerable inclusivethrough:

 Action Researches

 Rehabilitation and/or building of climate adaptive measures

 Climate financing into the local development planning

 Partnerships with universities providing opportunities for academician and students tocontribute to the greater project goal

 Advocacy plan

The action researches are one of the main pillars of this project as the researches will lessen thevulnerability of the beneficiaries in the targeted areas and will then allow adaptation strategy tochange conditions Rehabilitation and/or building of climate adaptive infrastructures is the main hardactivities that IR will implemented to mitigate infrastructures and thus to reduce the loss in this areawhile a disaster occur In the meantime IR will pay a special focus to train the community on how tomaintain those infrastructures and how to increase the efficiency of the EWS in those areas

Advocacy Plan with targeted thematic areas will be undertaken through extensive campaign Thepurpose is to raise awareness on climate change and promote evidence in the field to influencenational and global level approaches and policy frameworks It will help other programmedepartments in the organsiation to replicate and incorporate the learning into the future planning

The project will use the People’s Plan of Action for River Management to understand the risk requires

investment in scientific, technical, and institutional capabilities to observe, record, research, analyse,forecast, model and map natural hazards Technical and collaborative partnership will be built withscientific institutions i.e CEGIS Other important area of the project is capacity building to strengthencommunities and Disaster Management Committees at local and national levels This is designed todevelop and operationalize the community risk reduction planning process by way of facilitating theundertaking of mitigation initiatives at the community level During the early stages of the project, thecommunity risk reduction initiatives will be identified as a result of the CRA and planning process Aconcentrated effort for more direct programming at the community level will be linked to the formalhazard analysis outputs of the project Thus the project will address the HFA guidance of knowing therisks that the communities face, and take actions based on that knowledge

4 Stakeholder Analysis

The extremely poor in the climate change influenced and disaster prone areas bear the heaviest burden

in terms of livelihoods lost as they possess limited resources to deal with the risks they face They will

be important target groups Personnel of community level platforms, local government institutes(LGIs), legally organized bodies, government agencies and civil society organizations are alsostakeholders of this project

4.1 Primary Stakeholders:

The extremely poor in the proposed climate change influenced and disaster prone areas bear theheaviest burden in terms of livelihoods lost as they possess limited resources to deal with the risksthey face The Children, women & men from poor and hardcore poor families, landless, religio-ethnicminorities, disaster victims and disabled people of these geographically isolated areas are the primarystakeholders of the project

The following communities will be the primary stakeholders of the action:

1 Those who are living in acutely water logged, perennial cyclone and flood zones of theselected four areas

2 Landless households and bastis (rural based slums) with minimum assets, irregularemployment, and limited income generating activities;

3 Deserted women, their children, ethnic minorities and persons with disabilities

Following table presents a summary digest of the key characteristics of the different groups

Mainly dependent on day/wage labour

and experience acute food shortage

 Chronic and persistent ill-health affecting capacity to work

 Lack of physical security/ fear of theft & robbery

 Women in male HH likely to seasonally migrate but receive lower wages than men

 Women commonly report domestic violence during crisissituations

 Depending on homestead location subject to regular inundation and thus dependent on landowners for access

to homestead/sharecropping land

Women and child headed households :

De jure and de facto without male

protection

As above and including:

Highly vulnerable to physical, sexual and verbal harassment

Already constrained mobility further compromised due toabsence of males/adults

No male representative means doubly excluded from local support systems

Communities on or outside

embankment

As above and including:

Whilst linked to government support, other service provision often minimal

Adolescent girls Highly vulnerable to physical, sexual and verbal

extreme food insecurity

dependent on charity and/or reliefEthnic communities and other

vulnerable groups

Low status work taken up only by poorest households

Heavily dependent on maintaining exploitative patron/client relationships for access to river/khas ponds and essential equipment

Some time extremely abused i.e untouchables

The following communities will be the secondary stakeholders of the action:

 Members of the Disaster Management Committees (DMCs) at ward (to be formed under thisproject) union, Upazilla and District levels;

 Union, Upazilla, and District level authorities, in particular the local government institutions(LGI), female elected members for capacity development pro-poor programs;

 Officials of the local public service agencies like Department of Agricultural Extension(DAE), Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE), Department of Livestock Services(DLS) and Department of Fisheries (DFE);

 Network of NGOs to get technical and mobilisation support;

 Individual NGOs to get technical and mobilisation support;

 Corrupt officials, Union Parishad Chairperson and members with shakiness to lose bribe andreduce illegal income;

 Local administration and Water Development Board (BWDB) to get support to implementTRM;

 BWDB’s corrupt officials to improve reputation;

 Paani Committees with the interest to have capacity development and establishment of rights;

 Journalists for pro-poor and pro-people good stories;

 Local and National Disaster Managers and policy makers: Ministry of Disaster Managementand Relief & Rehabilitation, Ministry of Food Disaster Management and DMB for policyformulation and implementation;

 Teachers, members of civil society and the people of communities in other disaster proneareas for policy influencing through advocacy and replication

Tertiary Stakeholder:

The potential tertiary stakeholders of the project are, Network of NGOs, small NGOs, localadministration and Bangladesh Water Development Board (BWDB), Development partners andNational politicians, government and local government bodies, concerned ministries etc Besides,ARCAB with its 10 international NGOs, national and global climate communities, and academicianswould be involved

The project (detailed description of what would be in the logical framework

The Project is designed with the input of stakeholders and project participants to increase disasterresilience through social mobilisation and empowering the poor and marginalised communities in theSouth-western Bangladesh and ultimately contribute to their poverty reduction in a sustainable way

In designing the project and then checking the logical connections between planned activities andintended results, standard project logical framework template is used to set the logical linkage amongthe goal, purpose and objectives A project monitoring and evaluation framework elaborated withSMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic & Time bound) indicators has been developed

General Description and Overview

The Super Goal of the project is to contribute in achieving the targets of the Millennium DevelopmentGoal (MDG) of the government of Bangladesh in the face of increased natural disasters and climatechange It will contribute to the National Plan for Disaster Management (NPDM) 2010-2015 and also

to the National Water Management Plan (NWMP)

The proposed project will contribute to reduction in poverty and inequality through buildingcommunity resilience to natural disasters which will ultimately reduce loss and increase humanproductivity This will be achieved through increased capacity of communities in the face of disasterand community risk in the South-western region of Bangladesh The project activities will directlycontribute in reducing the risks of hazards in the region through advocating for a sustainable solution

of the root-causes of disasters

The project will focus on capacity building of grass root organisations of the poor, their awareness ofthe vulnerabilities including potential risk and impact of natural disaster and climate change Theirorganisational capacity, networks for advocacy and local early warning system will be supported.Community mobilisation will be undertaken for structural mitigation at community level to make the

DRR a culture This approach is closely related to the concept and objectives of HFA which is “Use

knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels”

This project was designed in consultation with the target communities, LGI and local administration

and Panni committees in the implementation districts It is built on earlier experiences and lessons

learnt, especially the Peoples Plan of Action for River Management in South-western Region.

Besides, ARCAB and other research partners will be aligned for action research component of theproject They will be involved in research on developing sustainable disaster risk reduction andadaptation approaches and methodologies, scaling up and scaling out the methodologies, andmeasuring CBA component using its participatory monitoring and evaluation tool

The project will be implemented with a rights based approach of development Poor and marginalised peoples’ rights and demand for safe life and livelihoods including participation in the issues that affect their lives i.e river management will be focused through social mobilisation, solidarity building and knowledge management The project integrates crosscutting issues like gender, environment, governance and poverty, has a multi-stakeholder focus and promotes linking and learning.

Impact (including indicators)

The project will contribute directly to the progress of the country towards all major development andresilience framework and strategies in place at global and national level It is very difficult to estimate

as multiple factors are in place, but specific measures will be taken in close collaboration of thenational government, mandated organisations, dedicated project teams and other relevant stakeholders

in this regard This can be measured by the number of policy and programme related measures taken

in joint partnership with the Government of Bangladesh at national level At local level partnershipswith the administrative functions on climate and disaster risk management will be established andtheir capacity to leverage at least 10 % increase in climate adaptive financing will be ensured at theend of the project period

Indicators:

 2,690 Targeted households have diversified livelihood options in place for ensuring food security during normal and disaster situation (at least 3 meals a day)

 Targeted communities and institutions in 80 villages of 10 unions under 04 districts have

demonstrated capacity and are equipped to effectively respond to small scale natural disasters

Outputs (including indicators)

Output 1: Improved rural livelihood strategies of the vulnerable communities through introduction of climate adaptive livelihood measures and capacity building towards predicted conditions of climate change

 2,690 households are trained and provided assets to adopt alternative climate adaptive livelihood options

 90% of targeted household's average income increased at least 30% by end of the project

 60 producer groups have established market linkages for at least 02 products from local to

regional and/or national level

 Raising awareness among 975 additional households to promote replication of at least 1 climate adaptive livelihood option (one to one approach)

 Supported capacity building and establishment of 200 small enterprises

Output 2: Improved policy and institutional arrangements to plan and deliver climate resilient development approaches at local level (Institutional strengthening)

 Bank accounts established by 10 UDMCs

 100 % of DMCs and CBOs are supported through capacity building on climate resilience

interventions

 20 proposals (based on RRAP) submitted by UDMCs/ CBOs to CDMP for climate financing

 3 DDMCs are supported to lobby and advocate for incorporation of climate change finance into national level planning and access funds available under MDTF

Output 3: Build capacities of DMCs, community organisations and partners to effectively respond to disasters and implement inclusive and innovative community based climate change adaptation and mitigation

 At least 07 schools are prepared to act as emergency shelters and made accessible on

demonstration basis for the participating communities particularly women, elderly, persons with disability and children during natural disaster

 Existing Multi-hazard Early Warning System piloted and operationalised in 03 Upazilas

 4,800 households receive awareness on risk reduction and adaptation, develop plan and axecute atleast 03 new preparedness measures

 Women and socially excluded (particularly elderly, ethnic groups and persons with disability) from the 80 communities have increased access to existing social protection

Output 4: Enhanced sharing, learning and reflection on practical experience and good models of climate change mitigation and adaptation for integration at local, national and global level Indicators:

Enhanced sharing, learning and reflection on practical experience and good models of climate changemitigation and adaptation for integration at local, national and global level

 At least three policy and advocacy initiatives taken at national level by Water Committee and Producer group identified through situation analysis (e.g TRM, women in CCA, Islam and Environment, water logging etc)

 Targeted 6 media (electronic and print) are trained and publish report on DRR and CCA issues

 03 internal lessons learning and sharing workshops arranged and learning documentation

produced for mainstreaming adaptation and mitigation measures into wider IRW programmes

 At least 03 of working papers on resilience developed through academic partners are published and disseminated at national and global level through print and electronic media

 02 media workshops on climate adaptation and risk reduction arranged at national and regional level

 A section on climate adaptation and risk reduction maintained and updated in IRW-B website and shared across IRW family on quarterly basis

 Capacity building o UDMCs and Union Information Centre on HFA progress reporting tool and contributing to the Khulna and national level workshops by sharing information on annual basis

 Participation in TV talk shows and seminars, and production of news paper supplementary, reportsand posters during observation of three international and national days on disaster reduction and environment

5 Beneficiary Analysis

Identification (including selection criteria)

The proposed project area is highly vulnerable to the climate change and disaster related risks Due toclimate change and attacks of two consequent super cyclones and floods, the targeted areas has losthuge bio-diversity resources Traditional livelihood options are not able meet food security needs ofpoor people No integrated initiatives are undertaken neither by the government nor the non-governmental organizations As a result of these, poverty situation is decreasing and people are forced

to migrate in search of better livelihood

The project will directly work with 16,400 households or 78,000 persons living in the most vulnerableand disaster-prone areas of Bangladesh; however the benefits will gradually encompass a largerportion of the total local community These beneficiary figures are on the higher side because of themass awareness activities planned under information, education and communication and local disastermanagement sector

Note: The total number of direct beneficiaries reflected here are not similar to the sum of beneficiaries

under four results We have considered the overlap factor while presenting final figures here

Status and Specificities of direct beneficiaries:

The project will target local communities as well as institutions as target beneficiaries At the nationallevel, two Government Ministries will be targeted under the proposed intervention; namely theMinistries of Environment and Ministry of Food and Disaster Management Target institutions at thelocal level include school, CBOs and local level governance structures such as the union Parishads,Upazila Parishads, DMCs and SMCs

The direct beneficiaries are those communities and institutions in geographic areas targeted due totheir extreme vulnerability to floods and/ or cyclones and other adverse impacts of climate change Inthese areas, special consideration has been given to socially excluded and marginalised communitymembers who are most vulnerable to disasters The proposed intervention has targeted women,children, PWDs and the elderly and will ensure the inclusion of these socially excluded groups andtheir mainstreaming throughout disaster planning and management

The project recognises the importance of institutional strengthening in enabling a sustainableresilience intervention The project specifically targets institutions as direct beneficiaries Accordingly,local governance structures such as DMCs will be strengthened, along with CBOs, schools, localgovernment institutions (LGI) female elected members, journalists, NGO works, teachers, members

of civil society, members of local administration and local leaders In order to achieve disasterresilience in Bangladesh, a holistic and integrated approach is required which targets communities andinstitutions as direct beneficiaries; such is the strategy of this project

Beneficiary Selection Criteria:

Community based detection approach will be followed in selection of the beneficiary In this approachcommunity people will select real beneficiaries under the facilitation of the project staff In thisregard, the most vulnerable people in terms of poverty and disasters will be selected as the primarystakeholders These people will be with the central role in further planning and implementing theproject Even through the Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation (PM&E) approach, theycommunity people will be empowered enough to monitor the progress and process of the activities.They will take part in the evaluation process and thus contribute significantly to the properimplementation of the project

- Breakdown (direct / indirect, male / female / children)

Direct

(persons)

Indirect (persons)

i IRB country office will assume a facilitation role, working through field offices while building the capacity and community and LGIs in order to sustain development implementation activities

IRB with its local offices and staffs will take the lead role in planning, overall management,monitoring, reporting and capacity building interventions of the project, however, will ensure thatstakeholders are involved in planning and lesson learning activities at all levels IRB brings a wealth

of experience in the management and implementation of large scale programmes in the range oftechnical areas that this project includes

IRB will also promote strategic alliances and linkages with other actors around several specific issuesand activities, including:

Coordinating with other NGOs and Networks, such as Songjog Network, CSRL to unite aroundadvocacy issues relating to disaster risk management in the South-western Bangladesh

The proposed project will proactively engage with the CDMP and other national level DRRcapacity building projects i.e NIRAPAD, Disaster Forum, ECB (Emergency Capacity Building)Project and DIPEHO NARRI consortium to promote exchange of ideas and lessons

Forming a close working relationship with the CEGIS, IWM, MoF&DM, MoWRM who willparticipate in national-level seminars, workshops, and advocacy activities

Working closely with Union Parishad leaders: IRB is well placed to strengthen the UP in planningbudgeting and developing union development management, in addition to collaborating onappropriate effective long-term development activities that impact on risk reduction in the targetarea

The various target groups will be involved in all programme activities The activities are specificallydesigned for ultimate impact in the lives of the most marginalised and vulnerable households in thesouth-west Bangladesh However, the methodology is designed to build ownership amongcommunities, and hence community members will be able to contribute to the evolution of projectstrategies Other key stakeholders include the emergent leaders within communities with pro-pooragendas and the aptitude and interest to exercise leadership and coordinate economic developmentactivities, and local government officials Their role in the project is as motivators, facilitators andproblem solvers and they will help coordinate and support group activities that facilitate pro-poordevelopment action

ii Empowerment and active participation of the poor, in particular women, through community based organisations

Due to imbalances in power, the extreme poor households, and women in particular, have limitedaccess to information, resources and their participation in the decision making processes ThroughoutIRB’s 27 years of experience in working with CBOs, it has been evident that CBOs are not onlysuccessful managers of their risks but that they are also extremely effective in advocacy andnetworking to mobilise local resources from government and NGOs, according to their rights andlocally determined development priorities For the participants, primarily women, the experience ofdeveloping their own successful businesses and participating in community leadership positions hascontributed significantly to their empowerment Women’s active participation in groups and CBOshas not only empowered them socially, but also helped them to increase their political role

iii Developing Social and Human Capital

The project methodology involves a range of initiatives building social and human capital throughsocial mobilisation, where the project, while targeting the hardcore poor families, works with theentire community and other stakeholders in building relationships of solidarity and support forimproved development outcomes Analysis is done jointly with communities to identify the poorestpeople, and to explore the dynamics of risk and hazard, food insecurity and other vulnerabilities.Beyond social mobilisation work, individual women will also be supported with inputs and support toimprove their incomes (through training and asset transfers to support the start up of IGA and cash forconservation opportunities) and engage in markets for long term sustainability

iv Focus on addressing the root causes

In order to have sustainable impact on their risk reduction and livelihood, the project activities addressthe underlying causes of vulnerabilities IRB has determined that unmet needs, lack of alternativelivelihood options, vulnerabilities, powerlessness, exclusion and denial of participation in the water &river management are key underlying causes vulnerabilities of the target population These causes areexacerbated for women in the poorest families by women’s low position in society driven bymasculine-oriented power structures, patriarchal socialization, and marginalisation of girls andwomen While, recurrent disasters cause frequent depletion of assets reinforce the cycle of poverty forthem and their dependents It is therefore important that the methodology employed by programs not

only puts assets and common resources in their hands, but also nurtures the skills and capacity of thevulnerable communities and addresses the issue by adapting to the irreversible change.

v. To recognize the potentiality of the community to address Climate Change effects

IRW acknowledge the potentiality of the community to be “ change agent”, that is why there is acrucial need to document their knowledge and to develop an approach that could be a replicablemodel on how to address communities towards Climate Change effects Since the emerging effect ofclimate change is very slow and unforeseen, it is very important to document the actual ground levelrealities Also the effects of climate change will not be an end to itself While having separate effects

on livelihood and environment, these two factors will affect each other is a robust way How then thecommunities would be able to face these shocking effects and to what extent the indigenousknowledge can be replicated for intervention work is the key point of focus of IR WW

Advocacy: In order to ensure that those change agents are acknowledged, IR will mainstream ClimateChange in the local and national media

Knowledge Transfer: Although, most of the impacts of climate change are taking place in the ruralcoastal areas of Bangladesh, the root cause of such occurrence is certainly these place Hencesignificant level of knowledge transfer is need from the ‘affected population’ to the ‘causingpopulation’ This will include sensitization among the various actors of climate change and actualinteraction among them Since behaviour communication is a long process, proper knowledgedissemination and sharing is a key tool addressing climate change

Apprehension aspects

The effect of climate change is there but it is necessary for the primary stakeholders to realize thisgrowing notion When lives have already been exacerbated by various natural calamities in theproposed project areas, it might be difficult for them to separate the actual impacts of climate change.Hence, the communities should be addressed in proper manner with the replication of indigenousknowledge and scientific truths and develop innovative ways to cope with it

vii Advocacy, Coordination and Networking at local and national level

The project will promote advocacy at the national as well as local level for changes in policyinterpretation and implementation in support of currently powerless extreme poor households andcommunities IRB will promote coalition local community based organisations, civil societyorganizations, NGOs, IRB led NGO Network for advocacy and campaign for coastal natural resourceconservation and national government bodies Lessons learnt and experiences from implementation ofactivities by all partner institutions, including the action research will feed into local, national andinternational advocacy initiatives to inform and contribute to policy development, in particular inareas related to the risk environment in South-western Bangladesh Policy makers and implementerswill be major audiences of advocacy

viii Apply learning and innovation

A strong emphasis will be given on applying, generating, and sharing lessons learnt and experiencesfrom this action and also previous and current IRB projects As the proposed program is developing aset of innovations on CALO and disaster risk management, it would generate a number of learningpapers through the range of action research and scoping studies The M&E system will supportlearning and innovation to be captured and information generated will also be instrumental to makingdecisions on the implementation strategy of the action Close links will be made to IRB’s otherlivelihoods and DRR projects to share experiences and foster collaboration Working through variousnetwork and Forums will also be crucial for the promotion and application of lessons learnt fromother projects within and outside IRB to inform and more effectively effect change in programmingstrategy

ix Gender Equality and Diversity:

IRB is committed to actively promote gender

equality within its programming, and has a formal

gender and diversity policy that guides both

programming and organisational practice Women

and children are the most vulnerable in the face of

climate change and disaster events IRB will

address their needs as a priority in line with its

policies and ethos Equality will be promoted in the

program through staff selection and orientation to

programme staff, community groups and leaders

CRA will ensure participation of women and other

vulnerable members of the community and action

planning will addresses risks specific to the most

vulnerable groups and undertake program through the CBOs to collectively achieve them In DisasterRisk Reduction (DRR) related activities, training on CALO technology and CALO implementation,participation of women will be ensured by the project

x Capacity building

This is an important approach as weak technical and management capacities of UPs, CBOs, CivilSocieties and other public and private services providers is one of the reasons for the present state ofrisks in the target areas However, capacity building efforts will go beyond transmitting technical andmanagement capacities, and seek to induce attitudinal changes among key stakeholders to capacitatetheir CBOs leadership with a collective approach

xi Community based approach

In implementing the project, community based participatory approach will be followed, wherecommunity will play the key role Specifically the project beneficiaries as the part of community willperform the central role in entire implementation process of the project The community action groupswill be organized and managed by community people The community people will be provided withback-up support by IRB project office in collaboration with community action group The FieldOrganizer recruited by the Community people from the community will facilitate and assist thecommunity action groups as well as the project beneficiaries to handle their activities The communityaction groups will be responsible for ensuring the participation of all segments of the community isimplementing the project through meaningful representation of the women, adolescent girls, boys andchildren in the committee Participation of local level institutions like CBO, UPs and GoBdepartments, in executing the project, will also be ensured

xii Sustainability

The proposed project builds on ongoing risk reduction and climate adaptation programmesimplemented by Islamic Relief and implementing partner in Bangladesh Through the experience ofthese projects a high level of sustainability is envisaged as long as the overall project activities are notoverambitious or demanding Keeping previous experience in mind, this operation will cover a muchsmaller geographical area and will focus more on developing and strengthening the existing copingand adaptation capacities of the communities and institutions The activities will consider andintegrate everyday community problems and hazards including basic health care, and water andsanitation into the climate adaptation work The project aims to implement the activities with thecollective involvement of beneficiaries in order to ensure sustainability

The project will sustain beyond the completion of its three year life time in terms of institutions,financial and policy aspects In terms of institutional aspect, it will be sustainable The project hasbeen designed to build sustainability through process of capacity building for the grass-root level

Primary Organisations and their Apex Federations, CBOs and Paani Committees Community people

will improve their knowledge on DRR and climate change issues and change attitude and practicesensuring increased resilience and adaptability to disaster and climatic risks Over the next 36 months,the project will expand its approaches to address the rights of participation on water management,climate change and disaster management issues, with support from CBOs, grass organisations, civilsociety and media, and build greater public engagement with the service providers for a sustainablesolution risk reduction Focusing on empower communities through an integrated approach to rightsbased programming by providing community members with the capacity and knowledge they need toensure safety of their life and livelihood in the face of natural disasters and facilitating linkagesamong donor, government and community activities to deepen impact and sustainability

Thus the key sustainability strategies and approaches of the projects includes i) human capacity

building through training and awareness of the citizens, iii) Organisational capacity building of Paani

Committee and iii) building network and partnership All methods and models being proposed havebeen tested and found to be effective and sustainable Uttaran has built sustainability into the projectthrough processes of capacity building for those who have been marginalized in the past, and thoseresponsible for providing services to the vulnerable, together with survival support for the individualhouseholds who are victim of disasters and climatic risk

Impacts on peoples’ awareness of CRA, CALO, Peoples’ Plan of Action, are likely to persist beyond

the period of support Paani Committees and Forum will attain autonomy and self-reliance however,

they will need support and unrealistic sustainability criteria would be counter-productive; groups willneed to work hard to gain community trust, and voluntary contributions to functioning; need for

longer-term sustainability will be raised early within Paani Committees To continue their work

beyond project period, these committees will develop partnership and networks with SongjogNetwork (a network of 40 local NGOs working in the region), CEGIS, IWM, major political partiesand media working in the region

Using the enhanced knowledge and awareness on various issues of climate change and disastermanagement, community actors will be able to make sustainable all Primary Organisations and their

Apex Federations, Songjog Network, CBOs and Paani Committees IRB will transform the project as

program and align it under its program division A small team of skilled personnel will be formed tolook after the project activities

Union Parishad (UP), Upazilla Parishad (UzP) and District Parishad (DP) will participate in theproject events and will positively be aware about the significance of the project on the socio-ecologyand economic life of the people They will own the project and contribute a lot to sustainably

implementation of the project Through implementation of this project, an equitable and mutualunderstanding and sustainable relationship among stakeholders will be developed IRB will workclosely with its local partners and networks to ensure the effective and sustainable delivery of efforts.ARCAB will be working for long time with their innovative PM&E method, and will periodically bemeasuring and monitoring the project impacts on the beneficiaries

A detailed sustainability and exit plan will be developed in consultation with the stakeholders duringimplementation of the project IRB will design an exit strategy founded on creating confidence andexperience among group members and the community people so that the community and civil societygroups can independently plan; access relevant information; implement group initiatives; and accessentitlements from government service providers There will be a gradual decrease in Uttaran-ledactivities over time and benchmarks will be established to monitor capacity development Plans willfocus on assuring effective handover of responsibilities while ensuring requirements for accountingfor all resources transferred during the project by IRW are satisfied

The following are the other key areas that will be considered within implementation strategy:

 The design will closely involve project beneficiaries in the risk and need prioritisation exercises This will ensure a sense of responsibility and ownership by the communities to sustain

the project activities

 Like other projects implemented by Islamic Relief, this operation also emphasises building the capacity and knowledge of the communities through implementing appropriate training

programmes followed by mock/ simulation exercise wherever necessary to test and improve thetransfer of knowledge To further achieve long term impact, there is also a need to focus on theeffective transfer and retention of disaster reduction knowledge Effective post activity and follow

up will be planned through regular meetings and refresher trainings to maintain the level ofawareness messages disseminated to the general beneficiary population

 All the initiatives introduced under the project will build on existing coping mechanism to make

them affordable and appropriate to the local context This project will be implemented as a pilotinitiatives and cost effectiveness is the key to ensure the replication of the activities Thisoperation also aims to minimise the dependency culture and unrealistic expectation levels through

an effective mobilization model This model will ensure that communities works as a group andutilise their skills for the intended objective and at the same time consider implemented activity asbasis (pilot) from which they can come up with local solutions and mechanism to replicate theactivities One of the suggestions from the community groups has already been included in thedesign of the project and members will meet on monthly basis to ensure savings at household andcommunity level

 Islamic Relief has also identified the need to develop a comprehensive strategy on how social structures at community level will be organized and mobilized beyond the project period

Our focus on people-oriented preparedness needs a defined and clear strategy on consolidationand phase out This should progress towards organization of self-governing groups enabling them

to initiate and control DRR/DP efforts on household and communal level, as opposed to mereparticipation in an initiative designed by outsiders

 There is also a need to develop a coordination mechanism to avoid duplication or waste of

efforts For the purpose, we will closely work with other partners in Bangladesh to develop astrategy and action plan considering the longer term impact

 Islamic Relief will continue to work with Disaster Management Committees established as a

part of local governance structure under Standing Orders on Disasters (SOD) Islamic Relief hasalready considered the sustainability and linkage of the local level disaster managementcommittees under the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme implemented by UNDPunder the Disaster Management Bureau:

o Climate risk assessment and Risk reduction action Plan (RRAP) will be developedfollowing guidelines of CDMP and will be formally shared with them As a result,

identified activities which are not covered under this proposal or other operations of thestakeholders at local will be supported by the regular programme of CDMP

o CDMP has expertise and devised guidelines on Climate Risk Assessment, DisasterManagement and Early Warning System which will be used under the project

o The CPP has already produced excellent results on the establishment of early warningsystems (EWS) in the coastal areas All the available information will be incorporated inthe project and will provide a basis all the related stakeholders to establish an effectiveearly warning and dissemination system in proposed areas specifically in Koyra

 The project will work towards the enforcement of the government regulations at local levelaccording to the national level policy in disaster management All of the disaster preparedness andrisk reduction efforts under the Climate Change Fund (CCF) will be shared with all potential localand national level stakeholders This will ensure collaborative and coordinated efforts are plannedwith other partners and have an impact on the wide section of the stakeholders This will alsocontribute towards the standardization of the risk reduction measures committed by the GoBunder HFA 2005-2015 by mainstreaming disaster preparedness into policies, planning andprogrammes in various humanitarian and development sectors

xiii Continuum Strategy

Islamic Relief recognizes the need to integrate climate adaptation into its other ongoing projects/programmes so that the impact of the climate induced risks is reduced and has less effect onlivelihoods Integration and mainstreaming is recognised as one of the strategic objectives of IslamicRelief’s International and Country level strategy papers Islamic Relief Bangladesh will continue tostrive for collaboration with other partners to ensure that disaster risk reduction is a local and nationalpriority and that successful pilot initiatives carried out under Climate Change Fund (CCF) areincluded into long term planning and other programmes

The project activities would like to establish an effective community mobilization which wouldprovide a base to mainstream climate adaptation efforts with other important sectors and phases ofhumanitarian and development programmes The important part will be sharing a vision around theissues faced by the community to ensure their ownership and work in collaboration The projectdesign in particular capacity building and awareness raising activities will strive towards linking andmainstreaming these measures by selecting various themes on water and sanitation, education andhealth etc

Islamic Relief will work in close coordination with the local structures such as Union DisasterManagement Committees to further strengthen and integrate them into emergency and developmentalprogrammes Replication and cost effectiveness will be specifically addressed in the design of thestructural activities in order to promote feasible management beyond the project period andacceptance and ownership among the local population The transfer of disaster preparedness andclimate adaptation related knowledge and skills into the community will be integrated into allemergency and developmental programmes Specific capacity building measures and initial supportwill go to the DMC structures across all levels, in order to ensure the institutional arrangements forclimate adaptation to remain active beyond the project period Measures like opening bank accountand facilitating the process to raise funds for the UDMCs through local government annualdevelopment plan, CDMP and Bangladesh Climate Resilience Funds would ensure their continuation

of services beyond the project driven interventions

Structural as well as non-structural adaptation activities in this project will strengthen people’scapacities to reduce their vulnerabilities of living in an unsafe location The proposed activities willensure that the communities are organized in various community groups, and in case of any disaster,where assistance is needed it will be received in a timely manner, and of better quality and inaccordance to their needs In this way, the cost of assistance will be lower for these organizedcommunities