Project Proposal Project Summary Project Name Project Acronym Project Location Country Project value and Contribution: Beneficiaries (Direct and indirect) Project Summary Project Impact Project Outcomes/Outputs: Promoting Climate Resilient Bangladesh PCRB Khulna, Patuakhali, Satkhira and Sunamganj Districts Bangladesh million GBP (DFID-50% and IR UK – 50 %) Direct beneficiaries (16,400 HH/78,800 individuals) Indirect beneficiaries (8,026 HH/36,445 individuals) The project aims to assist the poor disaster vulnerable communities of Bangladesh in adapting the adverse impact of Climate Change and also in reducing the risk factors of disasters so that they can sustain their livelihood and better life for the future The Super Goal of the project is to contribute in achieving the targets of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of the government of Bangladesh in the face of increased natural disasters and climate change It will contribute to the National Plan for Disaster Management (NPDM) 2010-2015 and also to the National Water Management Plan (NWMP) The project will contribute directly to the progress of the country towards all major development and resilience 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 the national 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 partnerships with the administrative functions on climate and disaster risk management will be established and their capacity to leverage at least 10 % increase in climate adaptive financing will be ensured at the end of the project period major project introduced successful models and initiatives will be replicated and up-scaled by the government and communities own initiative  Improved rural livelihood strategies of the vulnerable communities through introduction of climate adaptive livelihood measures and capacity building towards predicted conditions of climate change  Improved policy and institutional arrangements to plan and deliver climate resilient development approaches at local level (Institutional strengthening)  Build capacities of DMCs, community organisations and partners to effectively respond to disasters and implement socially inclusive and innovative community based climate change adaptation and mitigation  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 Implementing Partner Sector Project Period Contact person in Field for the project To be selected in the first months of the project as per IR Global partnership assessment process Disaster Risk Reduction, Climate Change, Water, Sanitation, Livelihoods, Community Physical Infrastructure November, 2012 to 31 October 2015 Shabel Firuz Country Director House No 10, Road No 10, Baridhara, Dhaka 1212 Telephone: +88-02-8819392, +88-02-9893458 Fax: +88-02-8825119 Email: shabel.firuz@islamicrelief-bd.org Syed Shahnawaz Ali Head of Integration, Climate Change and Disaster Resilience House # 10, Road # 10, Block - K Baridhara, Dhaka 1212 Phone: +880 8819392 (Extn 227), Fax: +880 8825119 Email: shahnawaz.ali@islamicrelief-bd.org Contact person in IRW for the Haroon Altaf project Regional Programme Coordinator – Asia Region International Programmes Division Islamic Relief Worldwide International Headquarters Tel: +44 (0)121 622 0708 Fax: +44 (0)121 622 5003 Email: haroon.altaf@irworldwide.org Strategic Framework The project strategic framework is guided by the international and national frameworks and action plan on risk reduction and climate change adaptation As said in the BCCSAP’09 “The combination of frequent natural disasters, high population density, poor infrastructure and low resilience to economic shocks make Bangladesh especially vulnerable to climatic risks The high incidence of poverty and heavy reliance of poor people on agriculture and natural resources increases their vulnerability to climate change” Vulnerability results from people being exposed to hazards that present an unacceptable level of risk to personal safety and their livelihood The hazard is therefore the “trigger” that exposes the vulnerable elements of the community to greater risks In practice, this usually refers to the poorest of society Identifying, analyzing and assessing potential negative impacts of hazards and then targeting risk that is specific to communities will lead to an increase in community 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 in Bangladesh It includes taking account of the natural hazards into public and private sector decisionmaking 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 as plans, programmes, and projects, to integrate disaster risk reduction; and also to allocate sufficient resources 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 the climatic vulnerabilities, come up with some disaster risk reduction activities and create some income generating 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 reduction strategies have potential to address the underlying risks and to recognize disaster impacts as a contributing 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 coping capacities and strengthening traditional warning systems have been considered as very important strategies 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 their capacity 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 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 most disaster 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 twentieth century and the first decade (ongoing decade) of the twenty first century, a number of devastating floods submerged most of the parts of the country, particularly the river basin areas On the other hand, during the same period, a series of terrible cyclones/tidal surges visited the coastal districts and off shore islands of the country Extensive floods and cyclones greatly affect the marginal population who loss whatever assets they have and suffer from lack of work and wages The cyclones, originating over the Bay of Bengal on their onward journey towards mainland whipped up tidal surges overloading vast tracts of land with heavy loss of life besides uprooting trees and homesteads leaving behind trails of devastation During last three decades, flood plain land, the riverine char and its adjacent areas unfortunately met to overwhelming floods Till to date from 1871, Bangladesh faced more than 30 devastating floods On the 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 areas were hit by cyclone SIDR and AILA that saw families lost their homes, livelihoods, and infrastructure once 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 which communities and individuals are responding to risks: the population is characterised by a low level of resilience1 to disaster, a consequence not only of the huge damage done during SIDR and AILA but also 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 from extensive annual flooding This makes livelihoods extremely vulnerable and limits the potential for agriculture production and rural enterprise growth For to months of the year, the cropped land is completely inundated Strong wave action adds to the vulnerability as it can potentially wash away the land and poses a major threat to many villages in the Haor Rural poor households have to depend upon fisheries and off-farm labour The communication infrastructure is poorly developed with submersible rural roads providing some connectivity during the dry season and boats being the main source of communication during the flood season The poor communication network limits the incentives for increasing production, discourages rural growth, limits access to markets and off-farm employment opportunities and limits access to existing social services particularly health and education Strong wave action adds to the vulnerability as it can potentially wash away the land and poses a major threat to many villages in the Haor Protection of villages against flood action, proper management of the fishery resources and securing existing livelihoods such as crop and animal production 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 anthropogenic features make the country vulnerable to frequent and devastating natural disasters Due to unplanned urbanization, increasing trend of population and impact of climate change, an increased number of disaster events are occurring characterized by small scale to large scale The country's vulnerability lies in the fact that it is an exceedingly flat, low-lying, alluvial plain covered by over 230 rivers/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 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 Disasterresilient 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 in between 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 economic exposure It is ranked sixth out of 89 countries based on human exposure in terms of cyclone related hazards 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 economic exposure Poverty reduction strategies and initiatives in Bangladesh are always affected over the years because the government and the development agencies are always forced to increase allocation of financial and human resources to respond to the natural disasters Humanitarian funding requirements per emergency 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 of which 16,513 were life casualties The total amount of resulting damage in terms of economy was 11.7 million USD (EM-DAT) In 1970, a severe cyclone took a toll of 0.3 millions human lives in Bangladesh while the toll fingered 0.14 millions in 29 April 1991 In 2007, devastating `Sidr’ hits coastal belt of the country affecting all the 32 coastal districts by damaging lives and livelihood immensely 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 lives while 65 days long flood inundated 53 districts in 1998 A total of 140,512 people were affected by diarrhoea 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 country from earthquake due to its surroundings by the regions of high seismicity Over the years, river erosion 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 generated from 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 by socio-economic dynamics Livelihoods, food security, health, hygiene and sanitation and community resilience mostly depend on the natural hazards Disaster coping and climate change adaptation capacity 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) Current indications are that not only will floods and cyclones become more severe and frequent; they will also start to occur outside of their “established seasons” Reduced access to formerly limited resources in Bangladesh will be the most convoluted of all human climate change consequences Lack of governance in narrowly based and non transparent decision making process, poor service to mass people, 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 the Development Disaster is the key factor to influence and bringing the disaster in that area but Global Climate Change is making complex the vulnerability of that area It is proved scientifically that due to the 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 is making more saline prone area and forcing thousands of people to migrate There are several environmental 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 but the cyclone is making hardest to reach with the goal of poverty reduction and meeting the goal of MGDs ultimately Mangrove forest diversity is decreasing as a result of salinity and the countless massive destruction of floral and faunal diversity caused during the cyclone sidr and aila And the restoration of that destruction is in still not enough Meanwhile another cyclone and the odds of climate change may lead the community with millions of death and may force the community to leave their native places This may create complex problem in the policy and plan of the country like Bangladesh Now Sundarban is not in a position to cope with the cyclone like sidr So recovery and restoration of the both community people and the floral community is the substantial steps to combat with climate change Moreover during rainy season the rivers carry huge water from upstream and the tidal surge in rainy season creates flood in the villages The extreme temperature accelerating the glacier melting and the sea level rise Due to the geographical position, elevation and topography, sea level rise and the glacier melting from the upstream making and prolonging the flood in this area The houses are submerging in high tide and low tide incidence And the frequent, unusual tidal water submerging the whole area and due to salinity it’s totally impossible to practice regular cultivation and income generation Though over the past couple of decades Bangladesh made marvellous progress in human development, yet severity of extreme poverty is existed in some geographically backward and highly disaster prone areas Due to the climate change influence intensity of super disasters has been increased and fighting the poverty has gradually been become difficulties Yet over the past decade Bangladesh has achieved tremendous progress in disaster risk management The impact of natural disaster is reducing however this is mainly due to the capacity and resilience of the affected community rather than the established disaster response systems It has been well documented in various studies that communities in Bangladesh have enormous coping capacities to cyclones and floods and during threats and disaster situations it is the community that are the first responders They rely very little on assistance from outside Nonetheless, due to climate change influences such as global warming and sea level rise, Climate variability issues associated with El Nino and La Nina conditions are reported to influence the frequency and severity of cyclones, floods and drought Sea level 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 from govt.’s development planning process also create “development induced” disasters such as waterlogging that have the potential to have significant negative impacts on communities that will bring new considerations into the development planning process Climate change adaptation and mitigation, two ways are considered as the weapons of the vulnerable people to survive within the new situations to be created due to climate change effects Domestic response and risk reduction capacities of the people living in the highly disaster prone areas are also considered as the additional strengths to cope with any unpredictable situation to be created from horrible natural disasters than those are being currently occurred The social status and livelihood is very much linked and these two things are depended on ecosystem services As this community belongs to this large Mangrove forest they are depended on the ecosystem 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 the severe affect of any disaster, they are struggling with their occupational status They used to collect the wood, honey, leaf etc from the mangrove forest Extraction of resource from the respective are is the main earning source Shrimp farming is another important occupation, which is belongs to the higher 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 and making difficult to cultivate rice Women are very much vulnerable for the social structure and Changes in environment (Climate change) and its induced disaster bringing the sufferings more 3.3 Identification and solution 3.3.1 Identification Poverty and Food Insecurity: Poverty and food insecurity is widespread in the project areas The situation aggravates after any disaster event It was seen after AILA, more than two thirds of the population (67 percent) in four upazilas 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 and food insecure, consuming 1,805 kcal/person/day or less The recent Poverty Estimates, calculated by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, WFP and World Bank, indicates that 58 percent of the population of Shayamnagar upazila of Satkhira district are extreme poor (below the lower poverty line), and that for Koyra upazila of Khulna district are 35 percent 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 and productive 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 haor region is substantially worse off than Bangladesh, 55 percent children under-five being underweight as against 41 percent for Bangladesh as a whole Unstable Livelihoods: Agriculture and shrimp farming are the major areas of employment and livelihood in the selected upazilas Around 85% people are employed in agriculture and landless farmers make up almost 66% of the population The height of the sea level is increasing and consequently in many places the saline water from the Bay of Bengal is seeping into the land The land and environmental degradation caused by this create serious problems for agriculture (i.e severe soil degradation caused by erosion, contamination and compaction, losses of organic matter through improper farming practices, land transformation and deforestation) Water logging means that for long periods large areas of land cannot be used for agricultural production, significantly reducing employment opportunities in the region Agriculture: Due to the climate change and intrusion of sea water into the locality, salinity of soil and inland close water bodies has been increased Normally it was also observed that there was no salinity impact on rice production due to high rainfall during monsoon season But in the later part, when the rainfall ceases, it was assumed that soil salinity might increase and go beyond the safe limit of rice crop (4 dS/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 on May 25 in 2009, paddy yield per bigha of land has come down to 8-10 maunds while it was 20-22 maunds 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 water due to collapse of 156 kilometres of embankments after AILA hit the coastal areas including Koira and Shayamnagar upazilas Agriculture is the principal profession of the Haor people However, day-by-day the net cultivable land for agriculture is decreasing due to siltation through flooding Therefore, people are forced to give 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 from extensive annual flooding This makes livelihoods extremely vulnerable and limits the potential for agriculture production and rural enterprise growth For to months of the year, the cropped land is completely inundated Strong wave action adds to the vulnerability as it can potentially wash away the land and poses a major threat to many villages in the haor Rural poor households have to depend upon fisheries and off-farm labour to supplement the meagre farm income The common property nature of the water bodies or Jalmohals and the uncertain lease arrangements inhibits the full growth potential of the fisheries sector The haors are known as an area of severe poverty and limited livelihood 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 transport and 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’s essential services especially in education, health, water and sanitation, communication, and agriculture and livestock and fisheries, lack of marketing facilities for the poor agriculture producers and fishermen, land grabbing by the influential, shortage of schools especially the girls’ school and lack of proper management of school, educational activities affected by flood and students are at risk during the flood and other natural disasters, destruction of biodiversity, lack of dredging of the rivers and 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 Drinking Water: Safe limit of salinity for drinking water is 600 ppm Intrusion of saline water due to storm surge accompanied with heavy rain fall inundation of ponds previously used for drinking water and salinity level of water crossed safe limit of drinking water Crisis of safe drinking water is major problem in the areas Women and girls, who are generally responsible for household water collection, have to travel 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 to fetch 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 school enrolment The dropout rate, therefore, has increased sharply in the study area after AILA It is explored 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 to excessive 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 sand particles beneath the ground Because of the excessive extraction of ground water through deep tube well irrigation, aquifers of this area are often contaminated by arsenic and further affected by a decrease of the water level under the ground Arsenic has now become a major problem in Shayamnagar 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 by arsenic Sanitation: Project area had a high coverage of latrines before the cyclone, a large number of which were heavily damaged by AILA Still, the poorer strata of the society could not install sustainable latrines After AILA, hygiene promotion efforts were found to be inadequate, inconsistent and irregular The situation has not improved 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 stagnant water is gradually approaching down river to the south/coast as it follows the declining slopes of the river basin, spreading fast and inundating more areas It is estimated that each year ten-twelve thousand hectares of land is becoming permanently waterlogged and the rate is rapidly increasing in these regions During heavy monsoon rains have stranded hundreds of thousands A large number of villages in the region have been affected by floods The poorest and the most vulnerable individuals in the project areas have to be homelessness and face a severe shortage of food Flooding in these areas is a common phenomenon and the local communities believe the duration and depth of the floods is increasing cumulatively Migration: The coastal region of Bangladesh and the life and livelihoods of nearly 40 million people is extremely vulnerable to climate change impacts including rising sea level, reoccurring cyclones and increased salinity 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 and Khulna were still living under open sky on the embankments as saline water inundates their homes even after two years of Cyclone Aila According to a recent study conducted by Department of Environment (DOE), recent disasters like Aila resulted into significant migration from the highly disaster prone areas of Satkhira and Khulna district 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 return for getting relief, when it is distributed.The study reveals that from Koyra about 1200 families have permanently migrated, whereas from Dacope and Shyamnagar these numbers are about 800 and 1300 respectively 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 from Shyamnagar, Koyra and Dacope respectively The trend is continuing and every day families are migrating to other areas The same trend has been observed in Sunamganj Besides the common trends of family migration, the working male members are migrating to the capital city and the nearby ones temporarily and thus there create a social instability Problems Related to Disaster Management: The Government of Bangladesh has established a multi-layered institutional mechanism for disaster management, with formal recognition of the role of various stakeholders Historically, NGOs and other informal support mechanisms in the country have also made significant contributions in disasters 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 donor support, 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 these formal set-ups What is lacking is the development and embodiment of a culture of collective decision-making in planning, in resource sharing, and in implementing disaster management policies and programs in an integrated and transparent way Recently, the National Disaster Management Council (NDMC) and the Inter-Ministerial Disaster Management Coordination Committee (IMDMCC) developed National Disaster Management Act (NDMA) In theory, the policy framework on disaster management re-establishes multi-layered institutional mechanisms, with formal recognition of the role of various stakeholders from Ward to National levels The new plan emphasizes a bottom up process which uses information compiled at grassroots level to inform the development of disaster management plans at Union, Upazilla, district levels In practice, a huge disconnect exists between district level disaster management authorities, and ward level communities In case of Upazila Disaster Management Committee (UzDMC), UNOs are appointed to chair local DMCs However, they are also chairing numerous other committees and not have the time nor the resources to proactively address Disaster Management issues in their regions Rather, these DMCs are activated only during the response and recovery phases of local disasters Therefore, the focus of the Upazila level DMCs has been on response rather than preparedness A few of the leaders of Upazila level DMC are not aware of the Standing Order for DM drafted in 1997 and updated in 2010 For response when their communities face extreme disaster situations, but Union level DMCs are not currently active The leaders of Union Disaster Management Committee (UDMC) are not aware of any local DM plan A few had heard of the Standing Orders for DM, and none of them had heard of the new NDMP strategy Unanimously, the Union leaders agreed that developing plans at Ward level was the right way to proceed and claimed that they would support the validation of ward level plans and use them to inform the process of developing Union level DM plans DMCs at ward and union level 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 rendering assistance to Union and Upazila level disaster management committees and facilitate the process of developing these plans However, the DMB does not currently possess the human, technical, or financial resources to conduct risk assessments or to prepare ground level plans The new NDMP proposes to establish uniform CRA processes to ensure consistency in the conduct of community risk identification and compatibility with the risk reduction planning processes of the DMCs However currently, 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 assess community hazards, vulnerabilities and risk, 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 In order for the proposed bottom-up process of the NDMP to succeed, the DMB are largely dependent on organizations like HEED who are focusing on DRR at ward level Inadequate Promotional Measures of Adaptive Crop Agriculture Including Innovative Farming Practices in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh: with all the mandated organisations and programmes in the country, and all the volunteers will be registered in the national database of the cyclone preparedness programme (CPP) Partner will monitor whether actual systems are being utilized and reports generated by them Simulation exercise and mock drills will be conducted to test the effectiveness and operation of the EW system 7.3.2 Training on First Aid and Search and Rescue Under Standing Order on Disaster Management, local level disaster management committees are recognised as one of the key component to disaster management Local level governance structures in the form of disaster management committees, community based organisations and community volunteers groups are established with the pre-defined roles and responsibilities in the emergency response At the moment, these members are not capacitated enough to take responsibility and play their roles and responsibilities effectively and this activity aims to identify and select potential activists and volunteers during the meetings and strengthen the response capacities of the local governance structures by imparting separate trainings on first aid, search and rescue, and fire safety in partnership with the Fire Service and Civil Defense Department of Bangladesh and Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRCS) A total of 20 trainings would be conducted and will directly involve and benefit 600 persons The details are: Training First Aid Search, rescue and fire safety Quantity 10 10 Number of days 03 03 Technical Participants partner BDRCS 300 BDRCS and 300 Fire service These trainings would focus on transferring advanced knowledge and skills to community volunteers by which they can take essential measures to better respond to any disaster situation They would be able to take better control and manage the incidence of any damage in cyclone and floods These activists will then form different task forces with identified roles and responsibilities and would be operational during emergency situation This training would also provide an opportunity to register and recognize these activists as community level responders with the service providers and mandated organisations like Fire Service and Civil Defense, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society and Cyclone Preparedness Programme These trainings would be complemented by the provision of equipments (lifebuoy and life jacket) needed for the participants under their local risk reduction plans 7.3.3 Household Adaptation Plans and Self initiatives Community awareness sessions will be arranged with weekly meetings of the Primary Organisations in order to develop knowledge and understanding on climate change adaptation A total of 5,375 family adaptation plans and self initiatives will be demonstrated in the project duration Field organizers and trained community volunteer group members will take lead role in carrying out these sessions The basic module and methodology alongside the work plan to conduct these sessions will be developed and finalized during the project orientation training Islamic Relief has already developed training aid in the form of flips cards etc and those will be reprinted and provided to the trainers The community people will be motivated to undertake their own initiatives identified on the family level adaptation plans It will also be the responsibility of the community volunteers to demonstrate and link pilot initiatives carried out under the project and ensure the relevant activities to their local context are replicated 7.3.4 Carbon Storage and Carbon Emission Reduction Activities Though the project has been designed to build the adaptation capacity, yet to enhance household income, this project has planned to replace kerosene lantern by distribution of solar powered lantern and conduct homestead plantation The poor rural people have to depend on the kerosene lantern as the lighting source, which is very costly Replacing the kerosene lantern, solar powered lantern/lamp will make access of the rural people to very low cost power for lighting which will reduce their cost for lighting and reduce household level non-food expenditure Kerosene lantern users will no longer need to buy kerosene and and/or candles for lighting, which will save a large amount of income on the long run It has been explored from a study that on an average a rural household needs liters of kerosene in a month for lighting At the rate of Tk 65/liter, total expenditure for liters of kerosene is Tk 260 and expenditure for one year is Tk 3,120 So, expenditure for kerosene for 10 years will be Tk 31,200 On the other hand, cost for purchasing one lantern is only Tk 1500 which will be operational for 10 years During this 10 year period, the HH will need to purchase two batteries spending Tk 600.00 So the total cost for 10 years for one lantern will be Tk 2100 One lantern will also reduce 0.07 ton CO2 emission Savings expected for one HH using solar lantern are:  In next 10 years will be BDT 29,100 approximately  Annual savings will be BDT 2,910 approximately Homestead plantation will be done combining fruits and timber trees Fruit trees will ensure HH food security and additional income for the people It will be alternative income source for them as there is market for both fruit and timber at the local level Additionally, plants of one acre will reduce tons of carbon per year Details are shown in the following table: Options Homestead Plantation Distribution of Solar Powered Lantern Total HH 7.3.5 Total 800 800 1600 Small scale adaptation measures based on the risk reduction plans Community risk assessment process mandated by the GoB will help identify and implement high priority (according to local community) and low cost and innovative small scale adaptation measures which might include installation of water treatment plant, biogas plant, climate resilient sanitation and drinking water options, homestead raising with shelter repair, construction and/or repair of link road, school ground raising, and repairing culverts and embankments etc Detailed cost estimates will be prepared by engineers, once the risk reduction action plans are prepared by the communities Active participation of local DMCs, CBOs and concerned line departments will be ensured during planning and implementation to ensure the ownership and transparency of interventions Contribution in kind from the local community and local government bodies will be promoted while implementation of all small scale adaptation measures to ensure their ownership Before commencing these interventions, consultation and arrangements will be finalized with local DMCs and CBOs for the future operation and maintenance of the same and accordingly all the structures will be handed over to them 7.3.6 School Safety Plans School safety activities aim to inspire students, teachers and SMCs to promote a culture of safety at schools as well as increase the resilience of schools to climate shocks These activities also aim to motivate local authorities to integrate school safety into their School Improvement Programs (SIP) as well as develop their capacity to support school in disaster preparedness and response The project will adopt three fold strategy including strengthening the capacity of concerned institutions, mobilizing students and teachers as change agents and advocacy towards disaster reduction and climate adaptation A total of 30 schools will be targeted under the project, and each school will be required to develop a school safety plan The plan is intended to help create and maintain a safe environment conducive to learning for students and staffs including three primary areas, which are, school profiling, crisis preparedness, and emergency action plans For conducting school safety plans for every school, the template will be provided and participatory sessions will be considered ensuring participation from students, teachers, SMC and parents These plans will also identify the need to organize school tasks forces on safe school leadership, first aid responders, search & rescue, shelter management and education in emergencies etc A concrete risk reduction action plans will be developed under this action plan The school safety plan will be reviewed and updated annually 7.3.7 Formation of SDMCs and Student Council – 15 In every targeted school under the project, School Disaster Management Committees (SDMCs) will be formed comprising of 21 to 25 members School teachers, students, parents and SMC members will be active members of this committee Besides, student clubs, task forces and councils will be formed as sub-groups and will comprise of mainly school students coming together under the leadership of SDMC Students are powerful change agents of the community which is why the project is underpinned by the idea that students, through organized councils and clubs, will be able to lead the campaign of safety and resilience Secondary schools and their adolescent populations will be targeted This age group not only corresponds to young and dynamic individuals but also to a key period where values, ideals and personalities are being shaped Innovation, creation, curiosity, and challenge are in the nature of adolescents who are looking for active participation and a role to play in positive social change 7.3.8 Capacity building of 15 SDMCs The inputs of the project with regards to SDMC will mainly focus on capacity-building through a comprehensive training package on safety and resilience related school issues but also through ensuring the active and meaningful participation of these members in all decision-making processes under School Management Committees Interactive awareness creation plans (part of school safety plans) will be developed and implemented at each school and the wider community Both students and teachers will have specific awareness creation activities they will carry out with their peers to raise awareness on the impact of disasters on education and the potential risk reduction options Awareness levels of students and teachers will be assessed at the start and end of the project to demonstrate the effectiveness of this activity 7.3.9 Facilitate School Contingency Plans School management committee members as well as students will be facilitated to develop school contingency plans based on their risk assessment findings Contingency Plans will indentify preparedness and response measures to be taken by schools in pre, during and post disaster phases Task forces will be formed for specific preparedness and response tasks such as First Aid, Search & Rescue, Shelter Management and Early Warning 7.3.10 Student Led Micro Project for Safer Schools Based on school risk assessment findings, student clubs will be facilitated to develop and implement micro projects that address the identified disaster risks Students are excellent risk communicators and they will be encouraged, through their micro projects, to create awareness on disaster and their risks, school contingency plans and mock drills, as well as other innovative ways which develop a culture of safety at schools 7.3.11 Community based emergency food and/or seed bank for food security during emergencies Due to lack of welfare economic systems, thousands of people go hungry for sickness, jobless, addiction and violence in emergencies Due to lack of food security opportunities, the community people suffer from food crisis and it tends to migration This project will open an opportunity of community based solutions for ensuring available food supplies in emergencies The stock options will be created in the union level under the guidance of UDMCs Benefit: Normally, farmers sell their harvest in the market at cheap price and buy rice when their food stock is depleted at relatively higher price The CBEFB is the most feasible strategy to access food grains at fair price Once they sell extra harvest to the CBEFB, they can access grains at a reasonable price from the CBEFB when they need desperately Therefore, the marginal profit will cover running and administrative costs The farmers will get opportunity to borrow food from the CBEFB if they are unable to buy food due to lack of money in crisis period The borrowers will return the food when they will harvest their crops Supply of food and seeds in disaster quickly: The UDMCs will supply the food grains and seeds of homestead gardening to the victims on emergency if the people face crisis The victims will return the borrowed grain/ seed later when they will grow crops in their fields The hardcore poor people who will be unable to return, communities will identify mechanism to purchase same quantity of food grain supplied to this hardcore poor group from the relief funds, donations or fund raising Operational Modality: The project will bear administrative and operating costs of the bank for three years only After the period, the UDMC will take over the responsibility to run the CBEFB 7.3.12 Improve disaster early warning knowledge, attitude & practices of communities This group of activities is to facilitate UDMC’s and CBOs activate around improving KAP (knowledge, Attitude and Practices) of their constituencies The UDMCs with support from PO/CBOs and Paani Committee will serve as the focal point in the community for this activity Investment will be made to i) develop and disseminate mass awareness IEC/BCC materials, ii) display CRA map, iii) awareness activities i.e observing National Disaster Preparedness Day, public gathering, cultural activities iv) supporting UDMC for warning dissemination and v) simulation/mock drill 7.3.13 Observing International and National Days on Disasters, Environment and WASH These days will be celebrated at the field level with active participation of the community as well as local institutions Some of the days that have been identified are International Day for Disaster Reduction, National Disaster Management Day, Environment and WASH day The project will continue to upscale its efforts towards working with communities and institutions to enhance their knowledge and social capital through arranging DRR exhibitions, mock drills and other interactive activities on these days Communities and institution will get their opportunity to demonstrate their understanding on CCA and DRR through innovative measures 7.3.14 Strengthening the local response capacities Islamic Relief Worldwide has been working on every major disaster in Bangladesh since its very beginning of work in 1991 We command a rather good position in the field of disaster responses in Bangladesh However it is important that in the changing global scenario and also the rising standards in the field of disaster response and long-term post-disaster rehabilitation, we are always prepared For smooth implementation of our disaster management operations in the country we have segregated Bangladesh into five Emergency Response Zones (ERZs) Nature of hazards (disaster hotspots), geographical positioning of IRW and partners, and communications network are important determining factors in the process of this decision-making This very activity focus is to build capacity of the organization, partner agencies, CBOs and volunteers for emergency preparedness and response, reach to community in high-risk disaster areas, enabling to act as a locus for disaster risk reduction, institutionalizing implementation of the various disaster management frameworks within organizational systems The Programme will work in five response zones of the country linking all the disaster prone districts At present IR-Bangladesh has its direct presence through field offices which are located in disaster prone areas Over the years of our presence, we have established many, so far, non-formal yet strategic partners and volunteer organisation in different disaster prone locations In the present strategy phase (2011-2015) we at IRW-Bangladesh are also looking forward to working through reputed national partner NGOs, Community Based Organizations and trained volunteers when responding to disasters The proposed year-long intervention would go a long way in supporting us to establish a well trained staff, cadre of volunteers strategically placed all across Bangladesh and establishment of strategic formal partnerships with reputed NGOs and CBOs in the country We also look forward to a better prepared team capable of handling all major aspects and thematic areas of disaster response viz preparing urgent proposals, leadership and emergency management, handling the media, networking with other stakeholders – be it INGOs, NGOs and the Government – shelter managements, WASH, children in emergencies, women, people with disabilities, setting up makeshift and/or transit camps, aspects and need of psychosocial counseling in major disasters, etc We also look forward to working closely with other alliances, forums and/or technical stakeholders during this year for a better coordinated capacity building work at IRW Bangladesh Working thus would also help us in raising our brand presence and visibility at National and international levels Through standardizing the organizational policy and consolidating the process, the organization would be able to immediately respond to natural disasters in the immediate aftermath in any areas of the country IRW also has to address the issues of internal capacities which need to be updated to prepare the organisation for any small and medium scale emergency situation in the country This will be done by harnessing and building the capacities of the staff members currently working with the organisation and its partners All these team members will form a part of a highly specialised unit with desired equipments to undertake emergency response within 24 hours 7.4 Implementation Strategies & Activities under Result #4 Enhanced sharing, learning and reflection on practical experience and good models of climate change mitigation and adaptation for integration at local, national and international level 7.4.1 Involvement of Research Institutes and Universities To identify new and climate friendly livelihoods, adaptation, mitigation and drinking water and sanitation options for the project area, relevant researchers will be engaged Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), Agriculture Research Institute, Khulna University, Patuakhali Science and Technology University and other relevant research partners will be engaged for this purpose 7.4.2 Action Research and Documentation The project will follow an action research strategy, with the purpose to learn, reflect and plan effectively for climate change interventions in Bangladesh This experience will be accumulated as a source of written evidence for learning and reflection at local, national and international level The communities in the coastal region have already been used to the living conditions and innovated quite a few number of adaptation strategies The project will build and expand on any such identified practice for wider replication, and will also document the learning and usefulness of the project interventions proposed to increase the resilience of the communities The field level findings have suggested the following steps in this regard:  Review of available literature  Formulation of action research strategy for climate adaptation      7.4.3 Collaborate with and beyond existing climate change adaptation networks and professional NGOs Collecting field level evidence for existing and newly promoted adaptation strategies Data analysis, field testing and dissemination at national and international scale Identify opportunities for the communities to act on immediate problems of climate change adaptation Editing and writing for international journals, policy briefs and working papers Situation analysis report A situation analysis report will be prepared to review the state of the water logging situation in historical perspectives and to insights to undertake activities of the project 7.4.4 Policy brief and advocacy agenda setting It is recognized that the pursuit for effective, sustainable and long-term disaster management in the South-western region will be realized through advocacy/campaign and intensive persuasion works Research initiatives will be undertaken to identify policy and advocacy issues and agenda Activities Support issue based research and study on Water mgt., DRR and Climate Adaptation Description Situation study and analysis, good practices, thematic studies and model development studies on the regional context Video documentation of good practices models Audio-visual documentation and situations etc Acquisition of documents and literatures on water mgt DRR & CCA 7.4.5 Total Unit 2 Campaign and Media mobilization The project will facilitate the tactical battle (of the most marginalised and vulnerable communities) by engaging key stakeholders such as the Member of Parliament (MPs) and policy makers, aid agencies and international financial institutions (IFIs) to address and solve the root-causes of the vulnerabilities such as waster-shed management in the region and ensure sustainable DRR and CCA Addressing regional level is one of the void areas that development initiatives not always focus on Knowledge generated from local level by implementing a project or programme is shared mainly at national level Some of the cases, knowledge are shared at upazila level; however, gap always stays during sharing at district level Sensitizing district level remains unaddressed thus advocacy events are not canalized bottom up Under the activity, project will share project findings, knowledge and process, with district offices and will create link between district, upazila and union parishad to incorporate climate change issue to the annual plans and budget Islamic Relief through this project intend to contribute in increasing the knowledge base on Islamic perspective of development, sharing lessons and knowledge at local, regional, national and global level These platforms will provide us the opportunity to share and document lessons and at the same time new knowledge generated at global level will reach to the government officials and will pave the way for mentionable progress in that respect The key activities for advocacy will be Campaign at community level  Campaign and advocacy at local, regional and national level  National level campaign, sharing, facilitating scopes and spaces e.g networking, national and international level platforms to demand and ensure effective adaptation financing through promoting incorporated of CRA into local development planning and raising community voice IRB will supplement its activity through continuous publicity and media mileage, intensive persuasion work or lobbying for pushing the adoption of peoples’ alternative option for sustainable disaster management and adaptation strategy, and mobilization to project grassroots agenda and ensure media coverage The project will also support demonstration and memorandum submission by affected communities The following other thematic areas will also be covered under this activity:  Islam and Environment  Women issues in climate adaptation  Tidal river management  Market linkages for improved income  Livelihood situation in the Haor areas 7.4.6 Persuasion with the Key Actors for Effective and Long-term Disaster Mitigation and Management The project will support Paani Committee, CBO/CSOs and NGO Networks to lobby with key actors for effective and long-term disaster mitigation and management for the South-western region Through representation and dialogue with parliament members and concerned government officials, conduct seminar on disaster management with national level actors and will submit memos and representation to Upazila and district level actors, MPs National level roundtable will be organized with publication of special supplement in national newspaper The project will also facilitate these enabling activities to ensure endorsement and commitment of the MPs and policy makers on the issue, particularly on the peoples’ agenda in pursuit of the adoption of peoples’ alternative option for sustainable disaster management and adaptation strategy in the Southwestern region IRB will conduct regular follow up communications, in this way, MPs and policy makers will be made aware that their actions on the issues are being closely watched and provide IRB with updates of their actions initiated in the policy chamber This will ensure that the issue is taken as priority agenda for legislation and subsequently for policy action 7.4.7 Awareness Campaign for Wetland Conservation The project will organize massive campaign in the wetland areas involving the local people, CSO/Paani Committee, opinion leaders, professional groups and government livestock and fisheries officials The campaign will focus on wetland conservation and using them wisely to maintain their environment conducive to reproduction of the aquatic species IRB through this campaign will try to develop a vigilant group to monitor the growth and maintenance of the wetland environment Involving the community, local government bodies and Upazila fishery officer, massive awareness campaign will be organized to motivate the local inhabitants on the wetland conservation and saving the indigenous fish species from extinction 7.4.8 Media Mobilisation Media plays effective role in rallying support behind an issue and disseminate widely for opinion building and policy decision IRB has been partially successful on its own to mobilize the print media in the region by highlighting the issue of Water-logging, cyclone, flood and other disaster issues With the support of the project, IRB wants to develop a massive media campaign Along with public relation and facilitating regional, national and international media visit to the vulnerable areas, the project will also publish poster, leaflets, billboard, newsletter and video documentary Activities Media Mobilization News Letter Description Facilitate and support media visit and broadcast activities Publication and printing Yr Units # Yr Yr Total Unit # 2 4 10 Publish leaflets Publish Posters Billboards Publish booklets Publication and printing Publication and printing Develop & setup Publication and printing 10000 10000 3000 10000 10,000 20,000 16 3,000 Project Management Through mobilizing committed and experienced social mobilisation and management staff, a need based management and implementation structure for the project have been developed Organization's core financial management and monitoring section will be engaged in overall financial management and quality management of the project The project partner will strongly follow the compliance issues, technical guidance and advices from specific Islamic Relief’s requirements IRB's project coordination and management system includes standard procedures for quality control for all its projects/programmes One key aspect of this procedure is the establishment of a project management committee (PCM) consisting of members from the project and senior management personnel from IRB The committee meets regularly to oversee the performance of the project To avoid duplication of efforts, the project management also maintains regular coordination with IRB's other ongoing projects, as well as other NGOs In addition, IRB attend regular coordination and sharing meetings with Upazila and district administration to exchange knowledge and experiences For this project a Project Management Committee (PMC) will be formed having representatives from CBOs, member of UDMC and Paani Committee, and IRB staff The PMC will be in charge of planning, coordinating and implementing the project components PMC will take conscious effort to ensure equal participation of male and female staff in decision-making process of the project The PMC will be responsible to the Director of IRB through the Program Manager 8.1 Management Structure for the Proposed Project 8.1.1 Overall Responsibilities Head of Climate Change and Disaster Resilience programme in Bangladesh will provide strategic leadership and guidance in implementing the project He will be responsible for oversees overall planning, development, implementation and review of the project; lead liaison, communication, advocacy and lobbying at strategic and policy level And will also lead media, communications and visibility related to the project implementation The Country Director will be also responsible for ensuring the compliance issues, technical guidance and advices from ISLAMIC RELIEF - Project Organogram - Human Resources Plan A team of regular staff led by the Project Manager (PM) (PM will be the Task Manager of the proposed project) will implement the project at the field level The PM in close collaboration will responsible for overall implementation of project activities, including: i) Oversees project activities and ensures project achieves its targets in a timely manner in accordance with the compliance issues, technical guidance and advices from ISLAMIC RELIEF ii) Provide guidance to project staff in social mobilisation, technical issues and capital/assets transfer iii) Ensures compliance with standards, rules and regulations, iv) Coordination and linkages with key stakeholders v) Undertakes coordination and advocacy work at national level and vi) Execution and management of contracts, including reporting PM will be assisted by a group of skilled personnel who will lead project implementation in gour Upazilas Within the first two-months of the project start, recruitment of staff will be completed Job Description for each position will be developed prior to the recruitment process Every effort would be made to ensure a gender-sensitive and balanced team Due to the very specific nature of the project, the project staff will be recruited locally - Media and Communication Plan (Please see Annex No XXX) Project Implementation Plan (Please see Annex No XX) Monitoring and Evaluation The M&E systems will be designed to provide not only information for reporting purposes, but also information for decision-making Over the life of the project, some critical decisions need to be made toward continuing the project activities that are effective, and modifying or discontinuing those that are not The system will be thus an essential tool to track program beneficiaries and progress at all levels, as well as an integral management tool It will be evidence based, participatory and software automated, with learning and quality assurance at the centre A database will be set up in customised software to pull out whatever information is necessary to populate the Indicator, over and above the information collected in the random household surveys This system will be then augmented by various MS-Excel or MS-Word based systems used by Managers to track the project’s progress A sub-set of indicators will be identified to provide information in assessing progress in outcomes These indicators will be used at different level of management strata to identify implementation gaps impacting program outcomes Strength of the M&E system lies in its ability to contribute to the learning of program beneficiaries Data collected and information generated will be shared with beneficiaries regularly, especially various community group and committees A 'prompting' approach will be used, where summary information at the lowest tier will be taken by IRB staff to communities The information will be shared in the community meetings, prompting debate and discussions which will help community members understand what is "working well" and "not working well" for others, and why, and also to identify individual and collective issues which need to be addressed Accordingly, resources will be adjusted to different needs ensuring optimum efficiency A Senior Manager will be designated for overall responsibility of M&E system to be responsible for overall data quality assessment (DQA) such as data collection, timeliness, data processing, interpretation and reporting IRB’s M&E Unit will supplement the project M&E manager, providing strategic guidance and support for reflective and efficient M&E systems The project will continuously document lessons learned on different critical issues, including intended and unintended impact on program beneficiaries, which will be shared with other stakeholders 9.1 Multistage Monitoring Strategies The following multistage monitoring strategies will be followed to monitor the project:  Community based monitoring and evaluation by the community people with the facilitation of Field Organizer;  Monitoring community level activities by the Monitoring Officer and Supervisor as wells Field Organizer of the project;  Central monitoring by the Project Manager;  Monitoring the project activities as a whole by the central monitoring unit of IRB;  Monitoring the project performance by IR Bangladesh and Regional Offices and  IR may engage its local partners in this process 9.2 Frequency /Time-frame of Monitoring The time-frame or the frequencies of monitoring to be followed are mentioned below:  Daily monitoring and supervision conducted by the community people with the facilitation of Community Organizer;  Weekly monitoring and supervision of the community level activities of the project by the Community Organizers and Monitoring Officer and Supervisor;  Monthly monitoring of the activities of Community Organizers by the Monitoring Officer and Supervisor;  Monthly monitoring of the activities of Community Organizers and Training Officer by the Project Manager;  Monthly monitoring by the central monitoring unit of IRB;  Quarterly monitoring by IR Bangladesh Office;  Half yearly monitoring by IR Regional Offices as well as by local partners and  Emergency monitoring by any levels 9.3 Monitoring Method and Approach 9.3.1 Preparation of Monitoring Plan Based on the monitoring objective(s) and indicators, a monitoring plan will be prepared to undertake the monitoring tasks in a participatory manner A Monitoring Plan would contain following information:  Identifying monitoring objectives  Key fields of monitoring (based on program/action components)  Indicators setting (clustered according to the fields of monitoring)  Techniques/Methods of Data Collection  Monitoring tools development  Monitoring sites selection (Geographical locations)  Fixing up frequency of data collection (when data will be collected) Responsibility specification  Data analysis and report preparation  Report dissemination and feedback process  Cost of monitoring 9.3.2 Tools and Approaches A key feature of the Participatory M&E systems to be used effectively for decision-making, decisionmakers need to have the information on hand when decisions need to be made The major tools and approaches planned for monitoring and evaluation include: Logical framework This will show the overall and specific objective, the results, major activities and inputs with associated indicators at each level This will be used as a management tool to monitor the progress of the action Baseline and End line Study In the first quarter of the first year of the project, baseline information on impact indicators associated with the overall and specific objective and results will be compiled into a baseline report Both qualitative and quantitative information will be obtained as part of the baseline exercise The targets of different indicators and activities proposed initially will be reviewed and revised based on this baseline information End line will be planned in the last quarter of the project implementation PM&E A participatory CBA evaluation tools will be applied to empower the community to measure the effectiveness the of CBA interventions This will allow community to monitor and evaluate the CBA interventions and reporting Project monitoring system A project monitoring system will be developed involving all the partners to regularly monitor the progress made against the indicators identified This monitoring system will show the type of data needed for each indicator, the methodology and frequency of data collection, and how the data will be analyzed and reported Annual project review meetings These will be held at the beginning of each operational year One of the keys to effective monitoring is the development of operational plans and periodic review of the plans using information from the monitoring system to make adjustments as required Quarterly reports These will be prepared using the information obtained from the monitoring system and activity reports from partners for dissemination to the stakeholders of the action The reports will include the achievements over the reporting period, cumulative progress against planned results, the observed impact relative to overall and specific objectives, major positive and negative issues affecting implementation, major lessons learned, and the activities planned for the next period Joint field visits Such visits are instrumental for monitoring the quality of the project actions with technical partners with staff with different technical backgrounds Having different perspectives on the team will facilitate a more complete analysis and understanding and avoid that cross-cutting themes, i.e., equality, gender HIV/AIDS and environment are not overlooked The joint field visits will be scheduled quarterly for the first year of the project and semi-annually thereafter 9.3.3 Monitoring Instruments A variety of monitoring tools will be used for the purpose of monitoring Care would be taken to make the monitoring tools user-friendly, improvement-oriented, simple (language), self-instructional, comprehensive, independent of bias, co and easy to analyze Generally, following tools are used:  Report card,  Questionnaire  Checklist  Observation schedules  Interview guide 9.3.4 Reporting and Feedback Process Finally report will be prepared and shared at various levels 9.4 Mid-Term Review A midterm review will be conducted by an external organisation after the 18 months of implementation of the project action, to assess the progress, effects and impact of program activities, to identify lessons learned, and to formulate recommendations for changes to the implementation strategy for the remaining action duration The baseline information gathering exercise conducted at the beginning of the project will be replicated to identify changes on the performance indicators that have occurred since the project began Information from this exercise will be made available to an independent evaluation team that will be responsible for assessing the program The Terms of Reference for the MTR will be developed by IRB in consultation with all project stakeholders 9.5 Final evaluation Near the end of the project action, a final evaluation will be conducted by an external organisation to assess the impact of the project and to generate lessons learned The baseline information gathering exercise will be replicated again as part of the end line survey to identify changes on the performance indicators that have occurred during the action This information will be made available to an independent evaluation team that will be conducting the final evaluation These Terms of Reference will also be developed by IRB in consultation with all project stakeholders 9.6 How Learning will be incorporated into the project IRB will ensure internalisation of the learning from the project into the organisational systems and structure to ensure replication and up-scaling The learning’s and findings from the project will play significant role in feeding into the decision making and accountability process Methods and tools to ensure regular exchange of information, reporting, knowledge products, and information from monitoring and evaluation will be in place to ensure project results are innovative, effective and accountable in that respect The project working very closely with national and local level authorities will ensure the lessons and evaluation findings contribute to development and implementation of effective policy and planning frameworks in the field of disaster and climate management Following are some of the proposed pathways incorporated into the project design:  Global, regional and local researchers and academia will be invited to participate in the process This will include ways such as holding discussion on the data collected or to discuss the methodology and tools selected in the process  Good practices, lessons learnt, policy initiatives, research findings and other knowledge products will be made available on major websites and networks at global and national level This information will be made available in both Bangla and English language for the wider audience to access it  Publish all research reports and article on important online websites and journal  Finding sharing and feedback meetings will be arranged with interested stakeholders including forums with media for wider dissemination  The good practices, lessons learnt and other findings will be incorporated into the government policies, programme and planning at appropriate stages IRB will also ensure learning from the project are included into the international organisational systems and processes 10 Risk Analysis (including mitigation methods) Activity Social mobilisation, formation of community groups (PO, VO/CBO groups) Risk and probability Cannot form PO or CBOs groups because of influence from power elites, strong traditional views on women’s roles and rights (medium probability) Mitigation Measure Village selection process will be designed to screen out communities where these characteristics are present at extreme levels Community mobilisation will begin in communities where there are not very powerful elites or very large land holdings In selected villages, IRB will explain clearly to all community members, including elites and community leaders, what the objective of the project is to minimize perceived threats to these groups posed by the project activities As food security is an issue of wide IRB in the region, this is likely to create support Activity Disaster Risk Supporting Employment and Income Opportunities Promoting KAP messages Risk and probability Community members in some communities not interested to participate in PO, CBOs groups because perceived benefits of group participation less than cost of time spent working in the groups (low probability) Conflict among members within the groups or between group and others in community disrupts activities of the PO and CBOs (medium probability) Severe cyclone, tidal surge may damage small investments i.e death of livestock provided as assets transfer (medium to high probability) Natural disasters may disrupt projectsupported IGAs by destroying productive assets (high probability) People not adopt recommended practices (medium probability) General Program Implementatio n Local govt./administration not supportive of project approach (low probability) Mitigation Measure Initial facilitation will emphasize the benefits of membership in these groups, and allow groups to manage themselves in a way least disruptive to members Note: IRB experience indicates no problem in forming these groups in this region IRB will receive training in conflict-resolution techniques to defuse these types of problems as part of their initial orientation The facilitation process during formation of groups is structured in a way to minimize these potential conflicts IRB longstanding relationships in these regions will be helpful in mitigating conflict The project will facilitate processes of early warning and special evacuation for those households who have high risk investments Disaster preparedness will be mainstreamed through all activities in this project Hence all business development plans will need to include disaster preparedness and mitigation planning This will also influence the selection of IGAs and value chains that will be promoted Social Animators and peer group members will promote adoption of practices through ongoing follow-up visits, identifying barriers and helping them to access community and UP resources and facilities Reflection sessions with others in the community with IRB staff will provide the opportunity to discuss barriers and constraints and devise solutions IRB have strong working relationship with local administration structures, and will organise workshops and other contacts with key UP, Upazila, members to fully explain pro-poor and pro-women approach of risk reduction, and benefits of the approach Activity Risk and probability IRB will not be able to hire and retain female field staff (high probability) Mitigation Measure This is a problem that all organisations working in Bangladesh face, particularly for projects in remote locations However, this is changing over time, and IRB and its partners will work together to design appropriate incentives to attract and retain good women staff and keep them motivated A strong gender equity initiative will run through the program working with men and women staff of IRB 12 Value for Money – how will the project achieve it IRB has a draft definition of value for money that looks at the concept across multiple areas from needs assessment to implementation to M&E; this is awaiting approval by the Board of Directors Currently IR’s value for money strategy revolves around; Procurement efficiency It has been calculated the procurement department at the international office has saved IR over £500,000 in the last two years through improved tendering and scrutiny Programmes are developed based on the detailed need prioritisation at the design stage and the same is monitored and are also being looked at in real time evaluations to ensure the effectiveness Audit framework IR has its own internal audit department within the evaluation and audit department which audits all programmes according to a strict framework and reports to an audit committee made up of trustees, an external voluntary expert in accounting and the CEO Impact measurement framework In 2012, IR developed an impact measurement framework to aggregate its global impact against the strategic plan which sets out the priorities of the organisation IR has recently been awarded DfID RRF status; which has also helped in refining and mainstreaming the value for money concept across all phases of IR programming Value for money can also be demonstrated through DfID funding to IR’s LWHT project in Pakistan An evaluation was conducted and analysis was drawn against DfID’s Three Es Framework reeffectiveness of the money spent on development projects The project fulfilled all the demands which were levied on all activities through the above Three Es Principle The project achieved its targets by more than 100% with the same amount of money The procurement procedures were followed strictly to achieve the low costs but better quality goods and communities were involved in the selection of beneficiaries The process of distribution of inputs was transparent 13 Cross-cutting themes IRB believes in inclusion in its interventions and it promotes the most vulnerable in a society in terms of their social, economic and political condition Empowerment of the most vulnerable: The proposed project recognises the need to address the rights of women, children, disabled and other excluded groups in disaster preparedness and disaster risk reduction activities Following the approach of community mobilization and involvement of communities in decision making will ensure ease of implementation and give the sense of ownership to the communities that will ensure long term sustainability During the awareness raising campaign and community training, efforts will be made to ensure that these families also benefit from the operation and can participate fully The needs of the people with special needs will also be considered during the design and review of the risk reduction actions plans The project will also facilitate the process of linkages development and will involve local institutions in the process Mainstreaming Disabilities: The proposed project will establish partnership with relevant national organizations to mainstream disability issues into this program This partnership will provide technical assistance, and will build the capacity of the project staff and community trainers/ activists to identify disaster related issues of disabled people alongside their capacities that can be included in disaster risk reduction initiatives Gender Justice: IRB will work in partnership with other DRR stakeholders to ensure women not only participate but also have decision making role in the implementation of the disaster risk reduction interventions The project team will be comprised of the women staff members to ensure the knowledge and experience of women is included at all stages of the program cycle i.e from participatory risk assessment to the evaluation stage Protecting the Environment: The project recognises the importance of utilising and protecting natural resources to minimise the negative impact on natural disasters and vice versa The community activists will aim to improve environmental management practices in order to reduce the risk of climate induced hazards through measures such as reforestation of mangroves and construction of retaining walls etc, while adaptation and mitigation programs will provide technical skills to support this All environments related issues will be incorporated into our training programmes at community level Economic impact: The direct economic impact of the program will be small and mainly indirect, as the project focuses on low cost disaster reduction initiatives Improved resilience of the communities will help communities avoid the negative impact on socio-economic conditions in terms of human lives, property, livelihoods, and material resources caused by natural disasters Also, the community structures organized on disaster risk management will promote bridging the social and economic capital, thus leading to an improved quality of life Social and economic capital refer to the bondage among the community members on the basis of trust, social norms, and network within and beyond the society which mould the social and economic activities Islamic Relief mobilization strategy for disaster risk reduction programme provides a draft global framework through which the expected goals are strived Standards in Emergencies: The project will also advocate for the fulfilment of basic rights and minimum standards for disasteraffected populations Thus, awareness-raising and capacity building initiatives on the adherence to basic rights and standards will enable service providers to maintain the dignity of disaster-affected populations It is anticipated that the community members will be able to acquire significant knowledge on raising public awareness and providing training to other community members The program will be further sustained by replicating these activities in other program areas of IRB and its partners 14 Budget Please See Annex No XXX ... No 10, Road No 10, Baridhara, Dhaka 1212 Telephone: +8 8-0 2-8 819392, +8 8-0 2-9 893458 Fax: +8 8-0 2-8 825119 Email: shabel.firuz@islamicrelief-bd.org Syed Shahnawaz Ali Head of Integration, Climate... 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... 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 haor region is substantially worse off than Bangladesh,