annual report cbdp final copy

Annual report 2008-09

Community Based Disaster Preparedness

Programme (CBDP)

Resilient Communities in

Social Transformation

Coordinated by:Kerala Social Service Forum

Supported by:CARITAS

India

Implemented by:TSSS ● MSSS ● QSSS ● ADC&SWS ● ESSS ● WSE ● CSSS ● CHASS ● BODHANA ● KIDS

Street Play on the theme disaster

preparedness on the eve of Vigilance Week

Observation

Every year Caritas, KSSF and Diocesan Social

Service Society observes disaster vigilance

week in the month of May. The objective of the

program is to create a common platform to

provide information on disaster and disaster

preparedness to the community.

Mainstreaming of the Disaster preparedness

programme by developing support groups

rather than the CBOs in the CBDP programme

was another objective. Grass root level

programmes were organized in the project

villages by the Coordination Committees.

Monsoon level preparedness programmes,

competitions for school children, street play,

training and workshop for PRI members, health

awareness programs, swimming training etc

was the highlights during the week. Vigilance

week programs were organized from village

level to district level by the partner agencies in

the last year. Here the picture depicts the

street play organised by the childrens group of

the CBDP programme in Changanacherry.

Contents

Message from Chairman .................................................................. 2

Partnering for resilience building ..................................................... 3

Community Based Disaster Preparedness – Backdrop....................... 6

Resilient communities as change agents .......................................... 9

Way forward-Director .................................................................... 16

Community Based Disaster Preparedness

Programme

ANNUAL REPORT 2008-09

Annual Report CBDP 2008-09

4

Message

Human race has survived many a disaster and has been able to make disasters into opportunities for

development. The Catholic Church in India has never fallen short of responding to disasters by way of relief

and rehabilitation. There have been proud moments for the Church in recent times in turning stories of

misery into stories of kindness.

Caritas India through the Kerala Regional Forum was able to take up successful initiatives in building resilient

communities in the coastal villages of Kerala as also selected villages in Kuttanad. The intervention has

succeeded in mobilizing concerned communities for development linkages and to place coping mechanisms

to face possible disasters. I wish to salute the army of volunteers attached to the “Community Based Disaster

Preparedness Program” and the concerned Diocesan directors of social action.

The Justice Peace and Development Commission of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council is committed to join

the struggle to build vibrant communities that are able to take responsibility for their destiny. I am sure this

laudable initiative of Kerala Social Service forum will reap rich harvest in human development.

Mar Mathew Arackal

Chairman,

Justice, Peace & Development Commission.

25-5-2009 Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council


5

Partnering for resilience buildingCaritas, KSSF and DSSS

Kerala Social Service Forum - “A partnership in the

formation of a just society”

KSSF is the operational wing of Catholic Church in

Kerala to give expression to its social concern and

functions under the commission of justice, peace and

development of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council.

KSSF has now emerged as the state level network of

39 voluntary organizations spread across Kerala. The

key function of society is to network with government

and international forums for poverty eradication

ventures. The networking includes programs for

disaster management, natural resource management,

addressing agrarian crisis, social mobilization, women

empowerment programs, and programmes

addressing HIV & trafficking. Vision of the organization

is to grow into a vibrant resource centre of excellence

in social development for the establishment of a just

society. Capacitating the partner organizations

through Animation, Training, Knowledge

dissemination, Consultancy, Networking, Lobbying

and Research is the mission.

Caritas India-Funding partner:

Caritas India was established in 1962 to assist the

marginalized in India in the efforts to eradicate

poverty, to reach relief and rehabilitation in times of

disasters and to organize communities for self

advancement. Caritas India is the official national

organization of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of

India for social development and is part of the

international network - Caritas International. During

the last four decades of its humanitarian and

development efforts, Caritas India has served the poor

and marginalized across the country, without any

distinction of religion, caste, creed and ethnicity.

Caritas India works in close partnership with

international development agencies, Govt of India and

the State Governments and reaches out to the whole

country through its regional and State offices and the

partner organizations spread across India. Caritas

across the world works under the following guiding

principles of uphold the human dignity everywhere

and all times, combat the de-humanizing poverty

through option for the poor, strengthen the capacities

of the local partners, protect the unity of the family

through formation of values, build solidarity and

partners globally and locally. Since the beginning of

2006 Caritas India has been working with tsunami

affected communities to develop Community Based

Disaster Preparedness programmes.

Working partners in CBDP

Trivandrum Social Service Society - TSSS: TSSS is a

voluntary organization working in the district of

Trivandrum with special focus to the coastal belt. TSSS

is the nodal organization of the Latin Arch Diocese of

Trivandrum to implement social action programmes

for the empowerment and development of people in

Trivandrum District especially the fishing community.

Malankara Social Service Society - MSSS: MSSS strive

for the overall development of the wide range of focus

groups in its operation area spread out in

Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Pathanamthitta

districts very specially the socially, economically and

politically downtrodden sections of the society with

a firm commitment to pave a way for them to reach

up to the extent possible .

Quilon Social Service Society - QSSS: QSSS is the

official organization of the Diocese of Quilon for

welfare and development endeavors for the deprived

people in the area under the diocese.. QSSS seeks toGetting ready for the mock drill at TSSS


6

address the challenges faced by the weaker and

discriminated sections of the society, giving

meaningful expression to the humanitarian concern

of the Church.

Aleppey Diocesan Charitable & Social Welfare

Society-ADC&SWS: ADC&SWS is the official

organization of the diocese of Aleppey for the

development of marginalized and poor people.

ADC&SWC concentrates more on the development

of the marginalized fishermen community of Aleppey

from time since its inception.

Thiruvalla Social Service Society- BODHANA:

BODHANA is the Social and Development Department

of the Archdiocese of Thiruvalla. Bodhana actively

collaborate with like-minded NGOs, PRIs and

government institutions to evolve new development

strategies and programmes for the development of

the society as a whole.

Changanacherry Social Service Society – CHASS:

CHASS is the official agency for social work in the

Archdiocese of Changanacherry. CHASS has a history

of 40 years commendable performance in community

development and social welfare activities and CHASS

has evolved itself as a nodal agency for the Upliftment

of the poor and weaker sections.

Cochin Social Service Society – CSSS: CSSS was

founded on 26th October 1966 as the official

organization of the Catholic Diocese of Cochin and

got registered under Travancore Cochin Literary

Scientific and Charitable Societies Act of 1955 in order

to promote, conduct and co-ordinate various activities

for the welfare and development of the poor and the

weaker sections residing within the diocesan area

irrespective of caste, creed or community.

Welfare Services Ernakulam: Welfare Services

Ernakulam is the result of Church concern for the

socially and economically disadvantaged, irrespective

of caste, creed or religion. It is the social work

department of the Archdiocese of Ernakulam. Over

three decades its development efforts have grown

steadily, particularly among the poor.

Ernakulam Social Service Society: Ernakulam Social

Service Society (ESSS) came as the official organization

of the Arch diocese of Verapoly for development

concern of the poor and the marginalized population

in Ernakulam District. ESSS has been in the forefront

Mock drill at ADC & SWS

to establish and conduct institutions in the

educational as well as in the health sectors and works

solely to do community organization and socio-

economic programmes for the socially and

economically disadvantaged sections of the area

irrespective of caste, creed and religion

Kottappuram Integrated Development Society:

Kottapuram Integrated Development Society (KIDS),

which is the official organ for Social action of Diocese

of Kottapuram, got established in 1987,

simultaneously with the formation of the Diocese of

Kottapuram. Since inception the Society has been

striving hard for development of the community,

especially the poor and marginalized by integrating

all the elements and resources of the community. KIDS

has recently been awarded the one and only Resource

Center for natural fiber in the nation.

Traditional rescue operation mock drills methods at Bodhana


7

Name of partner

Trivandrum Social Service

Society (TSSS)

Malankara Social Service

Society (MSSS)

Quilon Social Service

Society(QSSS)

Kottappuram Integrated

Development Society

(KIDS)

Aleppey Diocesan

Charitable and Social

Welfare Society (ADC &

SW)

Cochin Social Service

Society (CSSS)

Welfare Services Ernakulam

(WSE)

Ernakulam Social Service

Society (ESSS)

Thiruvalla Social Service

Society (Bodhana)

Changanacherry Social

Service Society (CHASS)

Address

Archbishop’s House Compound,

P.B.No.828, Vellayambalam,

Trivandrum - 695 003

Phone - 0471-2723498

[email protected]

St Mary’s Compound, Pattom,

Trivandrum- 695 004

Phone - 0471-2552892

[email protected]

Fatima Road,

Quilon-691 013

Phone - 0474-2797438

[email protected]

KIDS Campus

N.H.17, Kottapuram

Kodungalloor- 680 667,

Thrissur District

Phone - 0480-2803165

[email protected]

P.B.No. 114,

Aleppey- 688 001

Phone - 0477-2245083

[email protected]

Jubilee Memorial Complex, Veli,

Fort Kochi – 682 001

Phone - 0484-2227217

[email protected]

Ponnurunni, Vytilla P.O

Kochi- 682 019.

Phone - 0484-2347829

[email protected]

Providence Road, Ernakulam

Kochi - 682 018.

Phone - 0484-2390461

[email protected]

Pushpagiri Road,

Thiruvalla - 689 101

Phone - 0469-2730561

[email protected]

P.B.NO. 20, Archbishop’s House

Changanacherry - 686 101

Phone 0481-2402345

[email protected]

Point Persons

Director:

Rev. Fr. Sabbas Ignatius

Project Coordinator:

Mr. John Cyril

Director:

Rev.Fr.Wilson Thattaturthundil


Mr. Arun K Chandran

Director:

Rev. Fr. Joseph Detto Fernadez


Mr. David A Samuel

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Johnson Panketh


Mr. Pradeep.P.N

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Siju P.Job


Ms. Jiji Ponnan

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Johnson Chirammel


Mr. Michael Edwin

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Paul Moonjely Project

Coordinator:

Ms. Jisna.T

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Mathew Kallinkal


Mrs. Jenny Joseph

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Varghese Marathoor


Mr. Bobbin Thomas

Executive Director:

Rev. Fr. Jacob Kattady


Mr. Jubichan PJ

Sl. No

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Partners’ profile


8

‘Community Based Disaster Preparedness’ -

Backdrop

Genesis :

Five years have passed since the Tsunami, triggered

by a massive earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, hit

countries around the Indian Ocean on the morning

of 26 December 2004. The response from the

Humanitarian Relief Organizations, Government of

India and the people of India was overwhelming. This

response formed the basis for a strong collaborative

relief and recovery effort that aimed not only at

supporting the affected people, but also helping them

to build back better. In Kerala the Catholic Church

focused on ensuring that proper standards being met

and acted as a backstopping agent for technical and

social equity issues. Through its work, the KSSF

intended not only to contribute to improve the quality

of reconstruction, but also at influencing the wider

reconstruction efforts to ensure that social equity and

environmental issues were addressed.

programme, particularly through housing

programme. When the entire relief organization

retrieved from the field after initiating the

reconstruction programme, Caritas India and KSSF

entered into the final stage of relief operations of

Resilience Building by initiating the CBDP programme.

Catholic Relief Services also joined the programme

with assistance for one year.

Resilience is the capacity to bounce back. For a

community to be resilient, its members must put into

practice early and effective actions, so that they can

respond to adversity in a healthy manner. If residents,

agencies, and organizations take meaningful and

intentional actions before an event, they can help the

community reestablish stability after the event.

Resilience implies that after an event, a community

may not only be able to cope and to recover, but that

it may also change to reflect different priorities arising

from the disaster.

The drive for a more comprehensive approach to

disaster risk reduction and disaster management

gained momentum after the tsunami. A paradigm

Participatory learning exercies at CHASS

Community Based Disaster Preparedness Programme,

a joint initiative of the Caritas India, Kerala Social

Service Forum and Diocesan Social Service Societies

was executed from 2006 across 5 hazard prone coastal

districts of Kerala. After the tsunami, Caritas India and

Kerala Forum continued to support the Diocesan

Social Service Societies in this reconstruction Artificial respiration training to task forces


9

shift was called for with the integration of prevention,

mitigation and preparedness into the overall

management framework. Lack of data and regular

reports on existing and emerging patterns of disaster

risk, had been a major constraint for effective recovery

management, policy and programme decisions in the

aftermath of the tsunami. The need to integrate

community based disaster preparedness along with

State mechanisms was also recognized as a crucial

priority in the long-term rehabilitation process.

The programme strategy included integrating risk

management in rehabilitation and reconstruction

efforts, building upon ongoing the reconstruction and

linking them with government efforts, ultimately to

mainstream CBDP into recovery efforts. The

programme initiated the introduction of Task Forces

on hazard detection and warning communication to

preparedness, mitigation, and response along with a

feedback mechanism. The programme also

introduced risk-mapping exercises, from village and

block level, as a way of improving the available

information base and building capacities of the local

communities. This systematic approach provided

scope for the participation of all players’ community

based organizations, NGOs and the private sector

along with strong Government support.

Brief description about the project area:

The project is being implemented mainly in the coastal

villages and inland areas in six districts of Kerala State.

Under CBDP programme we envisage disaster

preparedness and community mobilization in 382

wards in 28 Grama Panchayath and 2 Municipal

Corporations. The areas selected for implementing

these programmes were fully or partially affected by

Tsunami and frequent flooding or sea erosion

becomes the regular phenomena in these areas. As a

result of the frequent occurrence of these hazards

lots of people lost their permanent shelters, precious

lives, livelihood assets worth thousands of rupees and

it created a panic and frustration in the community.

The target area is consisted of fisher folk, agricultural

laborers, seasonal employees, farmers, construction

workers etc. F ishing and allied activities is the

mainstay of the people. Majority of the people

belongs to Hindu community and rest of them belongs

to Christians and Muslims respectively.

PROJECT AREA AND PARTNERS

Sl. No Districts Working Partner No. of Villages

1 Trivandrum TSSS 47

MSSS 10

2 Quilon QSSS 31

3 Aleppey ADS 66

CHASS 26

QSSS 13

4 Pathanamthitta BODHANA 28

5 Ernakulam ESSS 52

WSE 26

CSSS 27

KIDS 18

6 Trichur KIDS 45

Total 389

Project Goal:

Capacitate the partners to mobilize community for

building up a resilient society in 335 wards in the

coastal belt and 54 wards in Kuttanad of Kerala state

through addressing risk reduction, vulnerability

reduction, and plans for prevention, mitigation,

preparedness and developmental interventions in a

sustainable manner.

NCC Volunteers in training at KIDS

Specific objectives:

� People in the target villages are capable of critically

assessing their own situations and make decisions

on their priorities

� Communities are appropriately prepared to reduce

vulnerability of any likely natural disasters


10

Saga of success in CBDP program is the ownership

of the people in the development programmes.

As part of the WATSAN programme, ward 10 of

Mararikulam North Panchyath in Aleppey district

under the reference area of ADC&SWS was

selected for the system boundary approach. The

scarcity of drinking water is crucial issue in this

locality.

The area was blessed with many natural ponds

and wells. But due to the negligence of people

many of them abandoned and were used as waste

bin. Spread of epidemics was the output. The ward

was selected after several discussions with the

community people by the CBDP team and they

offered their full support in the rejuvenation

process. Along with the project team they

collected the details of water resource in that area

and conducted water analysis of the selected

wells. This helped to aware the community people

about the pathetic condition of their water

resources. In order to rejuvenate the water

resources and they organized well cleaning

programme. From the two abandoned public wells

they started the intervention. The community

people were mobilized for the process under the

leadership of panchayath member Mrs. Mercy

Justin. Mrs. Leelamma was selected as convener

of the “kinar samrakshana samithy” and she

organized four community meetings. They were

divided into different committees like cleaning

committee, food committee, waste management

committee etc for the cleaning programme and

were assigned duties. As a result of their team

work, they cleaned these two wells on 31st

December 2008 and 4th January 2009.

Task force members and the CBDP project team

also participated in this programme. The

community also planned to start small scale

vegetable cultivation around the wells and

surroundings of each houses. The whole process

resembled the group effort of the community as

well as the CBDP project team.

� CBOs are strengthened to network and negotiate

with government and civil society organizations to

access resources and implement development

programmes

� Communities are able to assess problems of water,

sanitation and environment and plan community

based programmes

“COMMUNITY OWNERSHIP AND TEAM

WORK OF USER GROUP IN WATSAN

INITIATIVES IN ALEPPEY”

The Process:

� Selecting the community

� Rapport building and understanding the

community

� Participatory assessment

� Participatory planning

� Building and training community based people’s

structure for preparedness and disaster

management

� Community managed implementation

� Participatory monitoring and evaluation

� Establishing effective and sustainable linkages

with Govt machinery

Activities in brief:

� Community mobilization

� Participatory Learning and Action (PLA)

� Village Contingency Plan (VCP) preparation

� Task force (TF) formation

� Children’s group formation

� Capacity building of CBOs

� Interface with PRIs

� Life security programmes

� Participatory Livelihood Analysis

� Vulnerability mapping

� Promotion of organic farming

� Addressing issues of HIV/AIDS

� Water and sanitation program

� Networking and linkages with Govt

� Advocacy

Women in the forefront of water & sanitation activities


11

Resilient communities as change agentsAchievements in the reporting year

Achievements at partner level:

CBOs in Disaster preparedness:

A total of 1577 teams (Task Forces) with an army of

13567 people, from 389 wards of 2 corporations and

27 Grama Panchayath, to ward off any probable

disaster in 6 districts of Kerala.

Task force details

Task Forces No Community Members Children GP members GO members

Early warning team 315 2417 132 249 128

Search and Rescue Team 287 2892 152 221 139

Medical & First Aid team 303 2502 151 256 217

Relief & Rehabilitation Team 309 2467 114 194 141

Damage Assessment Team 198 1507 51 117 55

Water & Sanitation Team 122 891 395 73 20

Disaster Management Team 43 891 234 179 183

Total 1577 13567 983 1289 883

Training to Task Force Members:

Capacitation of Task forces is the pillar in disaster

mitigation programmes. In this phase, training more

emphasized on the strengthening of the existing task

forces through specialized trainings.

Task force members were trained on various topics

such as Coastal Regulatory Zone/Coastal

Management Zone, first aid, relief camp

management, community level damage assessment,

rescue operations, mock drills, fire extinguishing &

fire fighting methods, uses of megaphone etc. Right

to information act and road safety too was included.

387 task force trainings conducted in the reporting

year to enhance the capacity of members. Trauma

counseling and health trainings were given to the TF

members.

154 units of task force materials procured and

distributed to various task forces in the project area.

Mock drills:

In all the trainings and sensitization programmes

relating to disaster preparedness programme, mock

drill is significant. In the reporting year 39 mock drills

were conducted at village level. In order to ensure

proper implementation of a drill programme, roles

and responsibilities of the concerned personnel,

departments, corporate bodies, stakeholders, and

mechanisms for conducting the drill should be defined

clearly. The fire service officials were conducted the

mock drills in the project areas. These drill

programmes helped to create awareness to the

Rescuing the aged at ESSS


12

general public about the rescue operations during the

times of disaster occurrence.

Staff capacitation programmes:

Enhancement of staff capacity is an integral part of

development projects. In the reporting year 40

trainings and workshops were conducted for the

project staffs. Gender sensitization was one of the

components of the capacitation programmes at

partner level. Communication skills, case study

writing, etc were the topics covered. And 111 trainings

were organized for the animators and CBO members

together.

Exposure visits by the partners:

DSSS organized exposure visits to study the best

practices and replicable models in disaster mitigation

and WATSAN programmes. 9 exposure visits were

organized in the reporting year. It is hoped that these

visits will act as a stimulus to reproduce the models

in their project areas.

CBDP awareness to Children:

Children have specific vulnerabilities and needs which

have to be addressed in risk reduction. They possess

capacities according to their stage of development

which form the basis for their active participation in

emergency response, preparedness and mitigation.

It is a need of the hour to make sure the involvement

of children in disaster mitigation programmes. In the

reporting year, 74 awareness programs on community

based disaster preparedness were organized for

school children.

Raod safety programme by Police Department at MSSS

Environment and ecology awareness:

Project teams of the partners organized ecological

awareness programmes in their respective areas. The

objective of the programme was to increase the

knowledge of the participants on environment

protection. Effects of plastic usage, seasonal

epidemics and role of SHG members in waste

management and importance of mangrove fencing

were discussed in the programme. 12 programs were

organized in the reporting period.

Networking with Panchayath Raj Institutions:

Now Community Based Disaster Preparedness

Programme is in the third year of its operation and

concentrates more on strengthening of the

community structures and linking them with the

mainstream programmes. Applying good practices

encourages positive collaborations with others;

therefore providing increased opportunities for

networking and improving relations between people

and departments. Community structures of CBDP

maintain a good relationship with the Panchayath Raj

Systems and District Administration and hence the

recovery approach is emerging as a success.

31 interface programs were organized with PRIs.

Sensitization programs for PRI members and line staffs

were conducted to ensure the participation of them

in DRM and make them aware about the activities of

DRM. Review of progress, incorporating project

activities with PRI programs were came into the

discussions. 33 meetings with ADS and CDS members

Sanitation campaign at ADS & SWC


13

were convened to ensure the participation of

Kudumbasree groups in the programme.

Training on Entrepreneurship Development

Programme (EDP)

Unemployment was identified as one of the major

problem during the PLA exercises conducted by the

project. Stepping into developmental issues,

initiatives have been taken to strengthen

entrepreneurship in the project area through

capacitation. 36 trainings on EDP were conducted in

the reporting year.

Information Education & Communication (IEC)

Information, Education and Communication plays an

essential role in creating awareness, mobilizing people

and making development participatory through

transferring knowledge, skills and techniques to the

people. It is also vital for bringing transparency in field

level programme implementation and for promoting

the concept of accountability. Print and outdoor

publicity methods have been included in the IEC

activities of the year. Some of them are as given below.

Leaflets and posters on Disaster Preparedness (QSSS),

Documentary on children’s group activities in

ecological preservation (MSSS), Resource directory

with emergency phone numbers (MSSS), Handbook

on Health Care (Bodhana), CBDP Calendar (Bodhana),

Street play on road safety (TSSS).

Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) Programmes:

In order to establish sustainable and replicable models

in the target area to resolve the problems relating

water and hygiene, WATSAN program was introduced.

PLANET Kerala is giving technical advice to the

programme implementation. Awareness generation

on health, hygiene and sanitation, rejuvenation of

water sources and cleaning campaigns are the major

components of the programme.

Baseline survey was conducted in the project areas

to make an understanding about the water systems

and water sources in the area. Water test was

conducted in the villages to ensure the purity of water

sources. Back washing of wells, rejuvenating ponds,

awareness programmes are the activities under the

programme. System boundary approach was adopted

for renovating wells and ponds in the project area.

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Task forces in monthly reviews at ESSS

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14

Back washing and phyto remediation are other two

methods took up for water renovation. Community

user groups have been formed in each project area

to ensure the participation of people. Weekly

meetings of these groups review the activities under

the WATSAN programme, ensure the cleanliness of

respective villages and take remedial measures if

necessary.

CBDP in Red Ribbon Express!

RED RIBBON EXPRESS (Special train for on

advocacy on HIV/AIDS) reached Kollam on the

30thJune 08. QSSS has the opportunity to

facilitate the programme at three venues. The

society arranged a stall exhibiting the

community disaster preparedness project in

Kollam railway station. Around 27,000 people

visited the stall. Leaflets, posters, brochures

and bit notices portraying the message of

disaster preparedness were distributed among

the visitors. Around twenty staff volunteered

in the stall from 8 am to 8 pm. Stall got wide

acclaim among the media. (The Red Ribbon

Express (RRE) project conceptualized by Rajeev

Gandhi Foundation implement by NACO as a

multi sectoral project to spread awareness on

HIV/AIDS and promote safe behavioural

practices.)

CBDP in Club FM!

WSE, Ernakulam organized a special

programme in association with “Club FM” for

disseminating the concept of CBDP programme

more effectively to the grass root level at

Edavanakkadu Grama Panchayath. The

program aimed to attract youth and children

through entertainments with the support of

radio Jockeys. Youth and children were the

main participants. Radio jockeys and the

project persons spoke to the public with a short

interval of 9 minutes each and the interactive

talks were mixed with entertainment and short

messages of CBDP. The programme was staged

at 15 corners of the Panchayath in the evenings

for 3 days at different project areas. Mr. Iqbal

(President, Edavanakkadu gramapanchayath)

inaugurated the programme.

Achievement at Forum level:

Capacity building of partners:

In the reporting year we organized the following

capacity building programmes for Kerala partners.

1. Training on sphere standards for Caritas partners

in Kerala:

Two day training was organized at ADS on 4th and 5th

December 2008. Objective of the program was to

orient caritas partners on sphere standards followed

in emergency situations. The sessions clarified the

basic concepts of hazard, risk, vulnerabilities and

capacities of community to handle them.

2. Workshop on LFA with gender indicators and

documentation process:

Two day workshop was organized on 22nd and 23rd of

June 2008 at AMOS center, Kottayam. The objective

of the program was to enhance the skills of partners

in project planning with gender perspective,

documentation, writing stories/cases studies/

Task forces in Social Forestry to ward off high tides


15

reporting, and to capacitate them to develop gender

sensitive indicators-both qualitative and quantitative

in LFA. Sri.P.V.Baiju (Lecturer, Sree Sankaracharya

University of Sanskrit) and Sri.P.K.Kurian (Training

Manger, PLANET Kerala) facilitated the sessions.

Project review meetings:

Kerala Social Service Forum organized review

meetings to monitor the program as well as to make

decisions for course correction and capacitation of

project staff. In the reporting period 12 meetings were

organized. With the aim of updating the knowledge

base of project persons, in put sessions were

organized in the meetings. Details of inputs given are

given below.

1. ‘Water and Sanitation’ – by PLANET Kerala

2. ‘Process Documentation’ – by Mr. Stalin,

Communication Officer, CMT, Caritas India

3. ‘Vulnerability of the Kerala Coast & Response of

NGOs in Disaster Preparedness Mitigation’ – By

Mr. Shibu, Faculty, Disaster management, M.G.

University

4. Interaction with Sri. T.T. Antony IAS, Add. Sec.

Revenue Department

5. ‘Coastal Regulation Zone & Coastal Management

Zone’ – by CESS

3. Workshop on Documentation and report writing

skills:

Documentation is literally the preparation of

documents, or keeping records. It combines the

mundane journalistic skill of mere superficial

reporting with a keen eye for detail. The most

important part of documentation is getting people

to read your document. For that reason, publication

and distribution form a major and integral part of

documentation. All documents must be intelligent,

intelligible, coherent and interesting. Report writing

skills have to be fine tuned to publish excellent

documents and in this regard Kerala forum organized

training on Documentation and Report writing on Sep

30 - Oct 1 2008 at AMOS center. Mr. Koshy Mathew,

documentation consultant from Bangalore took a two

day session on the same.

4. Workshop on developing field monitoring tools:

Two day workshop on developing field monitoring

tools was organized on 22nd to 23rd September 2008

at AMOS centre. M&E tools, methods, and

approaches, including their purpose and use;

advantages and disadvantages; costs, skills, and time

required; performance indicators and the logical

framework approaches; and key references were

discussed in the workshop. Mr. P.J.Varkey State Officer,

Caritas India and Mr.P.K.Kurian led the sessions.

Evacuation routes construction as proposed in PLA

Midterm review by Caritas India

Midterm review of SOA II phase was carried out in

the month of March 09. Prof. M.R. ARULRAJ, Dr. Ms.

Sujata Rita and Fr. Dr. Maria Soosai were the team

members. The team visited project areas and

interacted with community members and PRI

personnel.

Review meetings in the reporting year

Year Month Date Venue

2008 April 9 Welfare Services Ernakulam

May 9 Ernakulam Social Service Society

June 16 Aleppey Diocesan Society

July 4 Quilon Social Service Society

August 12 Malankara Social Service Society

September 1 AMOS Centre, Kottayam

October 7 Bodhana, Thiruvalla

November 7 Kovalom Animation Centre

December 4 Aleppey Diocesan Society

2009 January 8 Ernakulam Social Service Society

February 17 AMOS Centre, Kottayam

March 6 AMOS Centre, Kottayam


16

Reflections:

• This project is one of the models to tell the world

that people, if given opportunity to think, decide

and implement; will take up responsibility to own

the process

• Community participation shows considerable

increase in all aspects of the program

• The community mobilization strategy for

community preparedness in disaster mitigation

has been found effective as the capacities of

already existing CBOs and SHG organized by the

Partner organization are utilized

• Community mobilization for Disaster preparedness

has lead to more partnership and self-reliance,

access to power, opportunity, resources, and

decision making to solve community issues. It is

one of the attempts to power sharing and voice

gaining process of the community

• Creation of central resource team at DSSS level

explicates the DSSS innovation to utilize the

available local knowledge and experience in

different development sectors. This is one of the

cost effective measures wherein investment is less

and output is more. A considerable fund allocation

is made for capacitating the staff working with the

vulnerable communities to train them in

facilitating and organizing skills.

• As the project move forward, people of target area

felt that the community has become closer beyond

caste and creed. Some people affirmed that the

program has served to build communal harmony,

community solidarity and brought people

together.

Recommendations by the team:

• The sense of community ownership and

responsibility for the program will be strong if the

animators are selected from the local communities

and by the community.

• A program can be sustainable only if there is sense

of ownership among the community towards the

social assets created and strengthened. Therefore

it is suggested that social networking and

neighborhood networking mechanisms are

incorporated in the program so as to build up

community solidarity.

• The concept of resilience as new to the

community’s needs practical description of its

meaning with example like bamboo tree which

sways with the battering of strong winds but stays

rooted.

• Disaster Management Policy, Human Resource

Policy and Gender policy at DSSS level is highly

advocated. “A gender perspective should be

integrated into all organizational Policies ensuring

equal participation of men and women from plan

to decision making processes.”

• Systematic assessment of what enables people to

cope with, recover from and adapt to risk and

adversities- at household and community level –

is badly needed.

• Communities ceased to gather information and

behaved as though the information was now

owned by the NGO

• The roles and responsibilities of Disaster

Management Committee need to be clearly

articulated.

• Strengthening social capital should be the key

objectives of disaster interventions

• CBDP must be integrated with Panchayath Raj

institutions routine activities

Gender Mainstreaming in Disaster preparedness:

One of the critical indicators of disaster risk reduction

is ‘gender equity in disaster preparedness’.

Mainstreaming gender sensitivity among the

functionaries of the project for ensuring all inclusive

efforts is a felt need of the project. Capacity building

on mainstreaming gender is necessary for reducing

risk in disaster situations. Without full participation

and contribution of women in decision-making and

leadership, real community resilience to disasters

cannot be achieved. Women are still marginalized

from community discussions about development

planning. Real community-based development must

involve the knowledge and energy of women.

Children in mock drill at TSSS


17

Alappadu is a narrow lined land between the

Arabian Sea and TS canal. Alappadu is a major

tsunami affected area in Kollam District under the

operational area of Quilon Social Service Society.

Majority of the people depending fishing for their

livelihood. The narrow lined area has been

contributing lot of problem to the community.

Last year health survey indicated that radiation

level is very high in this area so the people will affect

cancer and thyroid diseases. More than half of the

peoples facing serious health problems like cancer,

thyroid and skin diseases. Cancer patients are large

in number than other places. Community people

raised this issue in ERT meetings and demanded

for Sustainable solution. Mr. Raghavan from ERT

said that, “the radiation will kill us within the couple

of years”.

As a part of disaster mitigation process CBDP team

considered it as a challenge to reduce the growing

rate of health diseases. In November 08 the team

conducted many awareness programmes to public.

For the guidance and assistance team approached

many experts like doctors, ecologist, Health

Inspectors etc. And Students from GVHS School

conducted a research on ‘the importance of Herbs

in reducing health problem. They presented it in

Science Exhibition and got wide acclaim from

scientist and ecologists. From all this initiatives

many suggestions came from different sides and

one of the major suggestions is to plant herbs in

coastal belt. Team discussed this issue with PRI

members on 28th November 08. “We will bring joy

to the people through Herbs plantation”

commented by Mr. Rajadas, Panchayath president.

On 13th December we had approached Social

Forestry Department with Panchayath reference

letter. They offer full support to this involution. On

1st December social forestry department provided

herbs to distribute in community. On 2nd Dec the

team distributed herbs in each ward at free of cost

in Alappadu and maintained a record book.

For the motivation of students we distributed herbs

at school level on 13th Jan 09. We constructed a

model herbs plantation at school compound in the

same day with the help of PTA and PRI members.

This involvement increase community participation

for health hazard mitigation process and engaged

in herbs plantation. Mr. Jose Peter, head master

GVHSS School said that, “the better tomorrow is in

our hand and we are looking for that dawn”.

When we look back to our activities, a feeling of

satisfaction creeps in our mind that we made a

community to think about sustainable

development. We hope we planted better

tomorrow.

“WE PLANTED BETTER TOMORROW”

In the reporting year, KSSF organized a training

workshop on LFA with gender indicators for Kerala

partners. Besides, gender was one of the components

of staff trainings and community trainings at partner

level. Now gender is a cross cutting theme of Caritas

India in all its programmes. Forum is in the process of

formulating a gender policy for Kerala partners. We

will be encouraging gender specific programmes at

partner level.

Networking and lobbying:

Partnering with Government and International

Players:

Kerala Government applauded the resilience building

initiatives of the Diocesan Social Service Societies by

entering into association through a United Nations

Development Programme supported project for nine

months - Community Based Disaster Risk

Management. UNDP called for empanelment of

NGO’s to implement the disaster preparedness

project all over the coastal districts and Kerala Forum

lobbied for the same on behalf of the partners and

could empanel five of the partners who have

experience in disaster management for the UNDPs

value addition programme. CBDRM project aims to

create resilient villages and link the same to the

district administration with allocation of early warning

systems for prompt action. UNDP is now supporting

altogether 132 villages in Thiruvananthapuram,

Kollam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Thrissur.


18

Human race has survived many a disaster to reach its

present height of progress. The Darwinian law of the

“survival of the fittest” is indicator of the hurdles man

had to cross to survive on planet earth. Natural

disasters have wiped out from the face of the earth

millions of human beings, many more in wars and

epidemics. Side by side with progress is the unabated

accompaniment of disasters. It is in this context that

nations of the world have agreed to keep in place

contingency plans to face disasters.

Tsunami of 2004 was a wake up call. Our vulnerability

was exhibited to the world and we stand bewildered

more than ever vulnerable. Community Based

Disaster Preparedness programme was conceived as

a way to transfer resilience to people living face to

face with disasters. We are happy to note the success

of the programme as also the warm welcome it

continues to receive from the people.

Having come to a cross road as regards the progress

of CBDP we are prone to ask some pertinent questions

as regard its future course. The first question is how

we position CBDP. The only way to design a

sustainable mode of resilience building strategy is to

mainstream it within the development matrix. “

Development is the process through which people

increase their capacities for reducing their immediate

and long term vulnerabilities to events which threaten

their economic and social existence”{Anderson and

Woodrow }. Disasters are frequent visitors but one

cannot be sure of its arrival or its intensity. Hence all

coping mechanism has to be within the purview of a

regular development intervention. This will place the

community in a vigilant mood as also the coping

mechanisms will alternate with development

activities in normal circumstances.

Community based organizations should emerge as the

immediate respondents to disaster. This calls for

increased capability of the CBS to take positions to

address vulnerabilities in a scientific manner.

Community mobilization has to be a regular process

which will ensure spontaneous response by people.

Preparedness cannot be isolated to unexpected and

unpredictable instances of disaster but be part of the

larger mobilization of people for sustainable

development.

Strengthening infrastructure is essential for risk

reduction. The negligence of Govt in this area is

crucial. People need to assert their power to invite

initiatives in improving infrastructural facilities in

disaster prone areas.

Linkage with Panchayath Raj and Nagarapalika

Institutions is crucial in CBDP. Our philosophy must

be that of John the Baptist who said “I must decrease

you must increase”. We should fore the local bodies

to take responsibility and take positions. We should

not shy from handing over our army of task forces

and other community based assets to the rightful

claimant for peoples’ mobilization for development

and by inference for disaster risk reduction. Along

with this is to transfer to the people the capability to

partake in governance effectively. Communities must

be able to assess their burning issues like water,

sanitation and environment.

Last but not the least is the emerging issue of climate

change which is so intrinsically connected to our

commitment to protect people from disaster. We

need to educate people about the lurching dangers

and prepare appropriate contingency plans. Eternal

vigilance is the watchdog of democracy, so also for

disaster preparedness.

Fr. Romance Antony

Executive Director-Kerala Social Service Forum

26-May-09

Way Forward


19

Adichira, Kottayam

Trivandrum Social Service Society (TSSS)Trivandrum

Malankara Social Service Society (MSSS) Trivandrum

Quilon Social Service Society (QSSS)Quilon

Alleppey Diocesan Charitable and Social Welfare Society (ADC&SW)Alleppy

Cochin Social Service Society (CSSS)Fort Kochi

Ernakulam Social Service Society (ESSS)Ernakulam

Welfare Services Ernakulam (WSE)

Kottappuram Integrated Development Society (KIDS)Kodungalloor

Changanacherry Social Service Society (CHASS)Changanacherry

Thiruvalla Social Service Society (BODHANA)Thiruvalla

Ponnurunni

Geographical Map of CBDP Implementing Partners,

Kerala

N

A R A B I A N S E A

K A R N A T A K A

T A M I L N A D U

Kerala Social Service Forum (KSSF)

I N D I A

KERALA

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Publ

ishe

d by

: Fr.

Rom

ance

Ant

ony

Com

pile

d by

: Dee

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O.J

., Bi

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Abr

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& J

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. Uth

up

Kerala Social Service ForumAMOS Centre, AdichiraThellakam P.O., Kottayam, Kerala.Tel: 0481 2594802, 2594803 Fax: 0481 2591795Email: [email protected]: www.kssf.org

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