Title of the
success
story/case study
Context &
problem
Empowering Women Through Community Resilience Approach
In 2010, Kaandh village of Muzaffargarh district (a flood prone area)
was severely affected by catastrophic flood having limited earning
resources. The main reason of heavy losses was unawareness and
mismanagement within the locality. During the monsoon season, the
residents of this village remain on high alert as major destruction took
place in the past during rainy season. Residents of village had not
enough knowledge and skills how to cope in different disasters
(natural and man-made) especially medical services. According to
recent emergencies in Pakistan including earthquake, rains and
floods, it was essential that community should be educated to remain
prepared with the knowledge and skills to minimize the consequences
of any disaster.
Women play an instrumental role in responding to calamities so
keeping in view this aspect, World Vision Pakistan's DRR team
decided to focus on the empowerment of women through imparting
knowledge and skills so that they are better prepared to respond to
any calamities.
How the problem
was addressed
-
Realizing the importance of Disaster Risk Reduction, World
Vision Pakistan started “Community Resilience Project” (CRP)
in 10 villages (2 Union Councils) of District Muzaffargarh
aiming to build capacity of communities regarding Disaster
Risk Reduction by providing them training and equipment. It
was started in September 2012 and would continue till
September 2014
CRP project took following steps to address the problem:
1. Community’s capacity building program, to train communities
on hazard mapping, First Aid, Evacuation techniques and early
warning along with mock drills on different hazards.
2. Community Owned Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment
(COVACA)
3. Networking with local organizations and concerned
Government departments
4. Distribution of Early warning tool kits
5. Distribution of DRR tool kits
World Vision Pakistan (WVP) initiated this process to involve local
communities. This step was taken because like other villages of
Pakistan, Kaandh village of Muzaffargarh district, girls are not allowed
to go for education due to cultural norms and traditions. Most often,
girls could only complete their education up to primary level. The
other important reason is unavailability of higher secondary school at
village level. But in these hard circumstances, Farhat Almas 17, took
bold step and become part of Disaster Management Committee. This
committee was formed by WVP. She received trainings on disaster
risk reduction through World Vision’s Community Resilience Project.
Training contained preparedness to face emergencies and First Aid.
Results
Now communities are aware how to cope with any disaster situation
and have the capacity to mitigate the impact of disaster. They are
trained to prepare and implement village disaster plan. Women are
well aware about the basic techniques of First Aid during any
emergency situation. Women are more empowered to cope with all
kind of disaster either natural or manmade.
The impact of these trainings happened when, Samra 8, accidently
slipped from a cart while going back to home with her father, she got
injured and bleeding started from her arm. Health facility was
available about five kilometers away from the village. Her father
quickly picked her and rushed to Farhat’s home. She quickly applied
basic First Aid on her arm. Bleeding was stopped and she suggested
him to go to hospital without wasting the time. When her father
reached hospital, doctor examined her and said her bleeding has
been stopped now she is out of danger. He also appreciated the
timely dressing done by Farhat.
This change can be measured that Farhat replicated DRR trainings
with the women of her village. More than 25 females of her area have
been trained on DRR. Now women from the community actively
participate in all trainings related to DRR.
The role of women before the problem was:
1. They were hesitant and reluctant to participate in activities
with men.
2. Women have no specific knowledge and skills to cope with any
disaster situation; literacy level of women is very low in the
area due to some cultural norms.
3. Mostly women are involved in agricultural related activities, so
each monsoon time; they have to face lot of losses in terms of
human lives, cattle’s life, and land damages due to lack of
knowledge and skills on DRR.
The role of women after the problem was:
1. Now women of this village are more confident in their work.
2. Women are actively participating in DRR activities and
trainings
3. They are also imparting trainings on DRR in their village
4. They are equally participating as men
5. Women are also member of Disaster Management Committee
(DMC) at village level.
6. As member of DMC, they also conduct meetings with
government officials.
The role of women during the process was:
1. Having cultural norms and constraints, women participated
very actively in the whole process.
2. They participated in whole day trainings, even though it’s very
difficult to come and participate in whole day trainings.
3. During the formation of Disaster Management Committee
(DMC), 50% participation comes from females. Now this is 10
members committee, in which 05 members from men and 05
members from women. So that they address issues faced by
women in any emergency situation. Women’s participation
made DMC stronger in terms of decisions and implementation
of plans related to DRR.
Relevance to HFA
1
It is align with Strategic goal of HFA 2005-2015, which focus on
effective integration of DRR into sustainable development with
special emphasis on prevention, mitigation, preparedness and
vulnerability reduction of marginalize and affected communities. The
case study falls under the third priority of HFA 2005-15 e.g. Use
knowledge, innovation and education to build culture of safety and
resilience at all level. keeping in view the HFA strategic goal and
Priorities gender perspective have been integrated in DRM plans, risk
assessment process, early warning and education/training at local
level in this project named "Community Resilience Project" women
and children participation were strictly monitored at all stages of
project implementation, result of their active participation comes up
with ownership in context of preparedness and immediate response
to any emergency as reflected in case studies.
Recommendations Since Pakistan is in transition period of DRR so there is lot more work
for Post HFA
need to be done at all level from bottom to top e.g. National
Government level and community level, still we are missing proper
structure at district level although system and structure are defined in
policy but still need to review it e.g. guidelines for establishing
DDMA/U is not mention in policy. Who, what and how it will run.
Conclusion
It’s a success story as it shows the impact of CRP project
Women from local community are more empowered and well
informed.
The key elements of success are:
- Confidence building in women
- Trust building within women
- Women participation in decision making and plans
implementations
- No fear elements
- Learn coping mechanisms and techniques to our-self and
others in any disaster or emergency situation
- Actively participation as equally to men
- Break the social taboos
- As member of DMC, develop close liaison with civil defense
and Rescue 1122 departments.
This exercise can be replicated in other villages, where women can
train on basic first aid, conduct mock drills at village level, trainings on
evacuation techniques according to local circumstances. We can focus
specially on those villages where women have mobility issues, health
facilities are far from their residential areas and low women literacy
rate.
Contact
information in
case we need
more details
Asif Raza, Communications Officer, World Vision Pakistan,
Muzaffargarh
Email: asif_raza@wvi.org
Cell: +92-345-8567521