Environment- DRR- Livelihoods

A Holistic Approach to Disaster Risk Reduction

Background

Andaragasyaya Grama Niladhari Division is located in the Tissamaharama Divisional Secretariat Area in the Hambantota District. Pattiyawelayaya , Andaragaayaya and Kirindagodana are villages which constitute the Andaragasyaya GND belonging to historic Magam Pattuwa in the Dry zone of Southern Province. Andaragasyaya Grama Niladhari Division spreads over 950 acres of land. The village is frequently prone to floods and drought. The 2004 tsunami destroyed village livelihoods, infrastructure and 2 hectares of mangrove habitat in the village. The main livelihoods of the community are sea fishing, paddy farming, and chena cultivation (home gardens). 20 acres of paddy land is affected by flooding every year, due to continuing hazard the community had abandoned farming within the 20 acres. The existing canal system is 6 feet wide, and brings down spillage water from a cascade of five irrigation tanks (Tissa tank, Weeravila tank, Pattegamuwa tank, Debarawawa tank, and Yogawawa tank) through Andaragsayaya. The canal falls in to the sea from Andaragsayaya G.N. Division. When tank gates of the cascade opens after heavy rains the Andaragasyaya village get flooded.

Strategic Approach to DRR

During the Disaster preparedness workshops, and Disaster Management Planning meetings, the community had a higher emphasis on flood mitigation. The Village Coastal resources Management (CRM) plan also suggested how the majority of abandoned paddy land can be re-cultivated through managing the canal system of the village. Considering the environmental, livelihood and disaster mitigation factors and their benefits, the SRTAC project intervened in the very much neglected village infrastructure development issue.

Ground work
Several community consultation meeting had to be held with the village CBOs, and the community. The village framers were a direct beneficiary of the implementation, as well as people living in the flood prone areas. The village local government agent, Grama Niladari, became the leader of the development process. Consultation meeting were held with Irrigation department, and Disaster management centre to draft the best way forward. Finally a village Canal Development committee was formed by volunteer from the village, where the Grama Niladari was appointed as the president. The irrigation officer explained the process for the constructing the canal, and prepared the plan for the canals. The Village Canal Development Committee (VCDC) appointed a village tender board to facilitate the equipment procurement and service outsourcing process. The VCDC gave their volunteer labor clear the bushes, and thicket. The VDCD then outsourced the heavy duty earth excavation work to selected service provider.

Benefits of the Project

Primary Benefits

Flood Mitigation
The canal was excavated 30 feet wide and 1700 meter long, and the canal mouth was widened. During the recent flooding in November 2008, the flood water seized rapidly with in a day. Normally the flood water would have stagnated for 3- 4 days continuously.

Restoring Paddy Cultivation
Farmers who had abandoned 20 acres of Paddy land had started cultivating in the new season. The SRTAC project has introduced organically grown saline resistant traditional paddy farming to the community as disaster resistant livelihood. This was the first time the community was exposed to the benefits of traditional paddy.

Mangrove Restoration and habitat conservation
Adjacent to the main canal, we have tried to demonstrate novel approach to mangrove planting. The project has tried replicating the MSSRF’s concept of canal based mangrove planting. Over *****hectares of land have been planted mangroves. Planting locally growing species of mangroves was an initiative to restore the tsunami destroyed 2 hectare of mangrove habitat. The mangrove thickets at andragasyaya are habitat for crustaceans, fish, birds and crocodiles.

The sustainability and Maintenance of the Canal
In order to ensure future maintenance of the canal a canal maintenance fund will be created in a fix deposit under the Authority of Divisional Secretariat of Kirinda. When requirement for de-silting the canal arise, the community can maintain the canal using the interest earned from the fix deposit. Funds will only be released under the recommendation of Irrigation department, DMC. The decision at the village level is made by G.N. of the village, and the Village Disaster Management Committee for canal maintenance. Finally when work is completed the G.N. and the Sarvodaya district coordinator will certify the actual expenditure for the Divisional Secretariat of Kirinda to give permission to release funds.

Such community based, and de-centralized approaches DRR has created much enthusiasm about DRR with in the community. The whole exercise has improved community volunteerism creating harmony among village CBOs. As a secondary benefit the activity has establishing better links with government department (DMC. CCD, Irrigation Dep.). As result of the canal construction process the community was empowered request form the Road Development Authority to mend the long neglected broken bridge in the village.

CASE STUDY- Livelihood Integrated Disaster Risk Reduction

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PROJECT OUTCOMES: Disaster Risk Reduction

To strengthen capacity of local organizations and governments to prepare for and mitigate natural disasters

Disaster management sub-committees are in function in 12 villages (06 reformed and 06 established) under the guidance of Disaster Management Centre (DMC), Disaster management plans at village level were developed in consultation with stakeholders and were presented at the district coordination committees with the view to incorporate into district plans. Government authorities responsible for disaster management and mitigation were involved in planning and training workshops, so that their practices were changed and collaborations were established.

Committee members were participated at several training programmes related to disaster, such as first-aid, fire fighting, leadership, search-rescue with the collaboration of St. John’s Ambulance Society, Sri Lanka Air Force and DMC. With the capacity built, these sub-committee members were able to manage 11 floods since April 2007. The first comprehensive Disaster Management Training Module was developed for Sri Lanka as an outcome of the project in collaboration with DMC.

As a step to disaster management and mitigation, sub-committees took the responsibility in construction of flood control systems under the guidance of service providers – DMC, Practical Action, etc., with the participation of community: culverts, flood gates, side walls, gabion walls etc. as per the plans prepared. With community participation and collaborations with other service providers, technology demonstrations/research were done on drought related issues.

A web-portal linked to Sahana Disaster Management System was initiated to support the coordination during disasters, addressing the common problems such as finding people, managing aids, managing volunteers etc.

PROJECT OUTCOMES: Expand livelihood opportunities for women and other groups through access to information

To expand livelihood opportunities for women and other groups through access to information:

Findings of the baseline study guided the project team to follow the process in developing livelihoods: 1) Business Idea Generation [BIG]; 2) Participatory Market Chain Analysis [PMCA] for livelihoods sectors such as handicrafts, coir, handlooms, fisheries, paddy; 3) Business planning workshops and 4) Vocational/ Technical Training with the establishment of two trainers’ pools in South and East.

VDC being the boundary partner of the project, was more involved in livelihood development, with the assistance from 02 trainers’ pools organised: 600 community members participated at PMCA programmes; 200 at Business Idea Generation workshops; 200 in management training programmes. Participation at technical training programmes is as follows: Handicrafts (40); Home gardening (100); Boat Engine Repair (20); Food Processing (130) and Dress Making (40).

Cluster groups that were assisted by the project were from sectors of coir, handicrafts, handlooms, paddy/organic paddy, food processing, fisheries, eco-tourism, etc. Four VICs have been functioning as livelihood development centres linking with service providers directly (OXFAM-GB, REN, CARITAS). Practical Action collaborated with its expertise in DRSL, REN in marketing and SEEDS in business and technical training in designing specific livelihood interventions also accommodating the needs of most-marginalised members and low-income groups (66%) in the community. Home gardening and self-employment ventures were some interventions introduced to them through VIC. In addition, rural business centres were established in Wanduruppa and Karathivu. In Thalalla, 26-acre abandon land was able to re-cultivated as a result of infrastructure development intervention while in Andaragasyaya, the rehabilitation of an irrigation system/canal with community participation resulted in removing flood effects in 20 acre cultivation land.

Ensuring the accessibility to information, 04 tele-centres and 12 VICs were established in the 04 districts which are equipped with systems to support livelihood needs of the community members such as telecommunications, email/internet facility, photocopying and print media – newspapers, village. Newsletters, booklets and leaflets carrying disaster and livelihood related information. VICs also operate as the project office for village development activities and early warning centre on disaster/tsunami.

About 8000 users were reported as visited 12 VICs by the end of September 2008, and the majority were school children. The youth and adults were there for reading newspapers, e-magazines, photocopying, information on agriculture, health etc. VIC teams have organised promotional activities such as community newsletters and community outreach programmes, to increase its clientele. There is no distinct differentiation of number of women and men as VIC users, with more women participation observed in Galle and Ampara districts, and in the case of fishing community compared to other subsectors. The monthly average revenue generated was reported as Rs.5,500/- per VIC and 69% users were satisfied with their services.

OUTCOMES: Rehabilitate and improve mangrove and non-mangrove bio-shields

To rehabilitate and improve mangrove and non-mangrove bio-shields and introduce new village level management to share benefits:

Seven hundred and fifty six (756) community members participated at bio-shield awareness programmes conducted in 4 districts. 512 community members gained knowledge and skills on nursery planting and management through training programmes conducted with the involvement of technical officer of the departments of Agriculture and Forestry. 108 members took part in nursery management in 10 villages; 750 community members participated in bio-shield development activities including 225 low-income community groups who earned an income (Rs.600/- per working day), providing labour in the bio-shield management activities, and 70-80% of total involved were women.

More than 100,000 plants (mangrove & non-mangrove) planted on 42ha of coastal land in the East and along the coastal belts in the South. Studying different varieties of plants in bio-shield development 10 plant species were identified for having adaptable to disaster prone areas, with the average survival rate recorded as 80%.

VDC being the main body of planning and resource management of all the activities of the project in a village, eco-circles were established under VDC in 12 villages. They were trained and exposed to bio-shield management and coast conservation practices e.g. eco-tourism in other areas of the country, as a mechanism to facilitate their active participation of the community.

Several individuals/groups earned income from plant nurseries by selling their plants to the project and other organisations promoting bio-shield management, and 225 poor members gained an incentive for watering the plants and other labour work on temporary basis. No livelihood was evolved through bio-shield due to its slow growth and low quality.

Parts of the Coastal Resource Management (CRM) plans developed for each location have been implemented through the project due to budgetary implications. With the view to incorporate them into district and divisional plans, these plans are expected to be presented at district coordination meetings.

Disaster Management Activities of SRTAC

Aim of the program

In here the main objectives are to make a disaster management plan to each village which are under the SRTAC project and make a powerful young village team who can face natural disasters very successfully and help their villages more actively at such situations.

Ultimate results are to overcome the overlapping of disaster risk reduction programs conducting by the other organizations in different occasions in the villages and strengthen the resilience of the community to face future disasters. So the SRTAC supposed to conduct the disaster risk reduction programs by few steps to reach their ultimate result.

New structure of the disaster management committee

At the beginning, the disaster management committees were being reformed. There were 5 Disaster management committees in each village which had been established under the Disaster Management Centre, Sarvodaya and other organizations. All discussed and were reformed in to a one committee. It becomes the one and only responsible committee, which can be acted legally under the government certification in a village regarding the disaster management activities. The 6 sub committees in the main committee were presented their responsibilities. All sub committees were appointed for the different tasks.

1. Early warning dissemination
2. search, rescue and evacuation
3. Refugee camp and aid management
4. Health and first aid
5. Drinking water, sanitation and removal of corpses
6. Patrol, vigilance and coordination

All sub committees proposed the essential equipments they want to engage in their own tasks. Then the list was sent to the Disaster Management centre for the approval. DMC has decided to release those equipments to the committee members after a proper training series about the way of using those equipments.

Disaster Management plan

Then all committee members, officers of Disaster Management Center and other responsible officers started to make the disaster management plan to avoid the repetition and overlapping of future programs in each village by using the data, collected from each village. As Madilla already had a disaster management plan, that plan was being updated. In here all the villagers contributed very curiously and actively to reach the success of their village plan. After the presentation of the village plan to all participants, they finalized and send it to the GA for the approval.

First aid training program

As the second step, SRTAC attempted to energize the committee by giving a training series to the members. As a result SRTAC conducted a first aid training programs to build the capacity in all participants who were nearly 70 people in each program. They were on 7^th, 8^th, 9^th July in Andaragasyaya and 10^th, 11^th, 12^th July in Madilla. The training programs were conducted by the cooperation of St. Johns Institute and Disaster Management Centre. They gave a special training to the participants, how to face in an accident and to give an urgent treatment before go to the hospital. Also they introduced the first aid equipments which they can use in such a situation.

Andaragasyaya first aid training was conducted in Andaragasyaya Small Fisheries Community hall and about 63 people including Grama Niladari, District DMC coordinator, Sarvodaya District coordinator, Sarvodaya divisional coordinator, SRTAC project manager and a St. Johns officer participated to the program. There were 45 committee members from different ages to have the training.

Madilla first aid training was conducted in the Marakolliya Sri Vishuddharamaya Viharaya with the participation of 68 people. There were Grama Niladhari, 8 DMC officers including District DMC Coordinator, 8 sarvodaya officers including District Coordinator and Divisional Coordinator, 2 St. Johns officers, a project manager and 45 committee members.

The People’s Movement> SPIRIT OF SHRAMADANA

The 2004 tsunami swept away lives of over 40,000 people in Sri Lanka, leaving the survived in a physically and economically vulnerable situation.  Many coastal livelihoods sectors were severly affected by the disaster. 

In the Thalalla village in the Matara district, 72 acres of rice cultivation was destroyed due salinity and this caused many rice farmers to loose their livelihoods. Even though there had been projects to rebuild the barriers for saline water intrusion but due to two years of abandoning of rice farming the farm land was invaded by a common reed species, and the 2 km long irrigation canal got buried under clay and weed. Today the Thalalla rice farmer’s are at the brink of loosing there livelihood inheritance. 

Thalalla being a project site for the SRTAC, the project intervened by helping the village to re-excavate  the 2Km long irrigation canal in order to restore disaster affected paddy sector. The uniqueness of this intervention is not due to mere livelihood restoration, but also due to introducing of disaster resilient livelihoods as a Disaster Risk Reduction measure to the village. Saline resistant traditional paddy varieties has found to be yielding successfully in saline affected soils. After the canal restoration traditional paddy varieties will be introduced to the fields as a solution for salinity.

On the 10^th of May 2008, the village Sarvodaya Shramadana Society and the Thalalla Farmer Associations, in collaboration with the Department of Irrigation and Disaster Management Centre will officially start work on the canal excavation. The Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Society and Practical Action south Asia fascilitated the resources and the technical support for the implementation.  This collaborative approach has united a 250 volunteer village labor force to support the process through a “Shramadana”.  The Canal excavation will start with a three day village campaign that will host about 350 village, government and private stakeholders’ collaborating in the spirit of “Shramadana”. The villagers contributed to the project volunteering  through their unskilled labour by sharing 20%of the Direct Project Expenditure. This is another example of development through community participation and empowering the grass roots.  This is  another event which marks the 50^th anniversary of the Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya, the  largest people’s movement in Sri Lanka.

 

Sustainable Development > It’s NO JOKE

If you guy want to know the reality of sustainable Development thats is happening in some places in Sri Lanka. [ Atleast My point of view] just see this….. Thanks Vajira of Practical Action for sharing this with me.

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RESILIENCE

 

The world conference on Disaster Reduction was held from 18^th to 22^nd January 2005 in Kobe, Hyogo, Japan. The key document that came out from the conference referred to as the Hyogo Framework of Action (HFA) primarily focus on building the resilience on National and Communities to disasters. The conference provided the opportunity develop strategic and systematic approaches to reducing vulnerabilities and hazards. The Strengthening Resilience in Tsunami Affected Communities Project (Referred to as SRTAC project in this document) is a unique project that works on strengthening Resilience from a multi sector perspective, especially in a developing country context. SRTAC is an Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and International Development research Centre (IDRC) funded project implemented in India and Sri Lanka. The key implementing partners of Sri Lanka are Lanka Jatika Sarvodaya Shramdana Sangamaya and Practical Action South Asia. The Project is implements in twelve rural villages with in Galle, Matara, Hambantota and Amapra districts.

Strengthening Fishing Communities > KARATHIVU

 In the Karathivu village in Ampara district, the fisheries sector is a key player in the village economy. After the Tsunmai the had many problems due to not replacing the Tsunami damaged fishing nets. There are three main fisheries societies in the village. We have discussed with all groups and fisheries department officers on issue related to the development of the sector. Damage net replacement was identified as the priority of the fishermen to improve their livelihoods. We were able to replace the damaged nets by use the funds from another Practical Action livelihood project. Licensed nets to the registered fishermen at the site. Due to strengthening of the fisheries sector nearly 150 families engaged in large scale fisheries and 50 families engaged in small scale fishing have been directly benefited.