Second Annual FedEx Award for Innovations in Disaster Preparedness Submission Form I. Contact Information

Transcription

1 Second Annual FedEx Award for Innovations in Disaster Preparedness Submission Form I. Contact Information Name: James Lothrop Title: Manager, Partnership Innovation and Strategy Organization: Save the Children Address: 501 Kings Highway East, Suite 400, Fairfield, CT Telephone: (475) II. Basic Information on Project Title of Project: Support for Risk Reduction in Neighborhoods of Lima (Apoyo a la Reducción de RIesgos en Barrios de Lima, ARRIBA) Location (please include all relevant information: regions, countries, districts/provinces, cities, etc): Territory VII, District of Villa El Salvador, Lima, Peru; chosen due to its high level of vulnerability to disasters based on a series of geographic and geological factors, social economic factors, construction practices and lack of urban planning. Scale (choose one): Local/Community State/Provincial/Sub-national Regional International National Target Population(s): Population of TVII in VES (leaders, grassroots organizations, businesses, markets, children and adolescents and general population) and public officials from the Villa El Salvador Municipality Number of Beneficiaries: 17,500 Partners: Practical Action, tierra de niños, Villa El Salvador Municipality; with support from Metropolitan Lima Municipality, The Peruvian- Japanese Center for Seismic Investigations and Disaster Mitigation (CISMID), the National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) and the National Center for Disaster Risk Estimation, Prevention and Reduction. Funders/Donors: OFDA/ USAID Total Funding: $ 1,179,730

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3 III. Project Details 1. Intervention background and goals and objectives (maximum 250 words) Please describe the intervention and its goals and objectives. Include details on the intervention s timeline. Working within the framework of the national Disaster Risk Management Law (SINAGERD), ARRIBA s goal is for neighborhoods in high-risk areas of urban Lima to be more resilient; i.e., for local communities (leaders, grassroots organizations, businesses, markets, children, general population and public officials from the Villa El Salvador Municipality), to develop the necessary capacities to confront and recover from disasters. Specific objectives: O1: Improved resilience at the neighborhood, municipality, metropolitan, and national level through participatory, integrated risk assessment and planning processes. O2: More resilient market systems protect livelihoods and support sustainable risk reduction. O3: Neighborhoods have improved capacity to strengthen critical community infrastructure and housing. The project uses an innovative, bottom up, neighborhood approach to ensure participation of the whole community (population and authorities) in DRM decision making and activities, taking into consideration the characteristics of the area and local resources. The four pillars of this approach are participation, governance, social inclusion and sustainability. The project s livelihoods component considers that businesses/ markets should have a double role: 1. strengthen their own resilience and 2. support their neighborhoods in a disaster. This is considered fundamental for creating resilient neighborhoods. Key to resilient neighborhoods are Neighborhood Disaster Risk Management Platforms (with participation from population and authorities) in charge of implementing Community Disaster Risk Management Plans; something that is not included in the SINAGERD Law but that ARRIBA considers vital for effective DRM. The project started in September 2012 and is ongoing as we continue with advocacy in the Municipality to ensure sustainability. 2. Please describe the project s key activities (maximum 250 words) Please describe the intervention s main activities. - The development of community disaster risk studies and the formulation of Community Disaster Risk Management Plans, with the participation of the population and authorities. - The formation and training of Neighborhood Disaster Risk Management Platforms to implement the Community Disaster Risk Management Plans, raise awareness regarding disaster risk management in their communities and coordinate with the Municipality for relevant disaster risk management issues. - The preparation of community and Municipal public risk reduction projects.

4 - The mapping and analysis of critical market systems using the EMMA (Emergency Market Mapping Analysis) methodology. - The training of local businesses and markets identified in the EMMA analysis in business management and disaster risk management and their preparation of business and disaster risk management plans. - The implementation of a micro credit and awards scheme for disaster risk reduction activities for local businesses and markets. - The preparation of a soil study. - The training of construction workers with a manual for the construction of earthquake resistant housing and recommendations for retrofitting housing produced by the project. The practical part of the training includes the construction of an earthquake resistant structure. - Permanent training and accompaniment in disaster risk management for the Villa El Salvador Municipality, including the formation of the Municipal Working Group on Disaster Risk Management and the Civil Defense Platform required by law, along with permanent accompaniment for the Civil Defense Area. - Facilitation of municipal official s access to national training schemes on financial mechanisms for risk reduction. 3. Please explain you think this is an innovative intervention. Provide evidence in the following areas: (maximum 750 words) Effectiveness/evidence of success: Evidence is provided demonstrating the impact of the intervention to increase awareness; build capacity and knowledge; promote community involvement; foster collaboration between civil society, local governments and the private sector; and/or mainstream disaster preparedness activities. Sustainability: Information is provided describing the steps taken or mechanisms put in place to ensure that the intervention will be socially, financially and environmentally sustainable in the long-term. Equitable outcomes for women and men: Evidence is provided to document that the intervention enables or facilitates the participation of, and results in, equitable benefits for both women and men. Efficiency/cost-effectiveness: Evidence is provided demonstrating the cost-effectiveness of the intervention compared to traditional disaster preparedness interventions. Replicability/adaptability: Information is provided documenting how the intervention has been or could be replicated or adapted in other settings; or how the intervention could expand operations based on demonstrated success in its pilot or phase one areas of operation. Effectiveness/ evidence of success: The ARRIBA Project has been innovative because it brings disaster risk management closer to the population, meaning that risk reduction is no longer merely a government task. Using a range of communicational materials, workshops and community events, it has raised awareness in and empowered the neighborhood as a whole (leaders, businesses, children and adolescents, women and the local authorities), meaning that there is a general demand for actions to reduce their risks and ensure that they can live more safely. The project has included the population s participation in risk evaluation studies and in the preparation of Community Disaster Risk

5 Management Plans to prevent and reduce their existing or future risks, changing the concept that the community should only be prepared to respond to an emergency. All actions have been carried out with the participation of the population and local authorities, promoting collaboration to ensure more resilient neighborhoods. National DRM instances have also been involved in training processes and have received information about the projects innovative approaches as a way of advocating for a more bottom up approach at the national level. The innovative livelihoods/ market systems approach has produced more resilient local businesses and also fostered the participation of the local private sector as part of the neighborhood, along with the participation of the wider private sector in the training and preparation for disasters. The child rights approach has ensured the consideration of children and adolescent s perspectives in disaster risk management, helping to ensure a more complete understanding of the neighborhood and its most vulnerable population. Sustainability: The project has aimed to ensure sustainability at the local government and at the neighborhood levels. The SINAGERD LAW provides the legal mechanism that obliges local governments to assume their responsibility for disaster risk management and ARRIBA has worked to strengthen the local government s capacities to do this, including the active participation of their community. Specifically, the project helped to strengthen the Municipal Working Group on DRM and the Villa El Salvador Civil Defense Platform, modify the Municipal Organizational and Functions Guidelines and facilitated access to training on mechanisms to fund projects and risk reduction actions in their territory (the national 068 Budget, FONIPREL, Public Investment Projects, etc.). At the neighborhood level, the project has empowered the community regarding their right to live safely which means that they are more able to demand action from their local authorities (who are in turn more able to respond, as mentioned above). The project has also begun to form and strengthen Neighborhood Disaster Risk Management Platforms, with the participation of the whole neighborhood (population and local authorities). These platforms are essential spaces to ensure neighborhood participation in DRM. Equitable outcomes for women and men: the project s gender approach ensures the consideration of men and women s DRM needs and their inclusion in the project activities and products. Considering that women are more present in the district (men tend to work in other areas), the project prioritized work with community services and businesses run by women. The project also prioritized vulnerable populations (children and adolescents, senior citizens and people living with disabilities). Efficiency/cost-effectiveness: Rather than providing material goods for DRM, ARRIBA has focused on training and empowering the population and local authorities. This has created a human resource that will have a multiplier effect, both during and after the intervention ends. Replicability/adaptability: ARRIBA was designed as a pilot that could be replicated in other parts of Villa El Salvador and at a national level. As part of its sustainability and replicability strategy, the project has trained more than 50 Community DRM Promoters (made up of community leaders, municipal staff, etc). The practical part of their training involved producing community risk maps, community disaster risk management plans and forming Neighborhood Disaster Risk Management Platforms. These promoters are key neighborhood players to ensure the key products and processes of ARRIBA are replicated in the rest of the district. Furthermore, as part of its closing strategy, a

6 number of events and meetings are being held to present the project s products and processes as a way of creating interest among the national DRM community for the replicability of the project in other areas. 4. Challenges & Lessons Learned (maximum 250 words) Please describe the main challenges or obstacles you faced or are facing in this intervention and how they were addressed. What are the most important lessons that a reader should take from this experience? It is challenging for community stakeholders within Villa El Salvador to work together due to conflicting ideas on community relations. Businesses and community leaders have different motivations, however it is necessary to help them work together to ensure a cohesive and resilient neighborhood. Save the Children is using the Disaster Risk Management Platform to engage all members of the community and to reach joint conclusions on preparedness planning. DRM can meet cultural resistance, however through creative awareness raising methods, Save has been successful in demonstrating the importance of the program in their daily life and needs. In order to ensure DRM sustainability within the community, Save is instituting the Working Group and Platform, changing organizational guidelines, and various other community projects in order to counterbalance the permanent staff rotation and lack of institutional memory in Peruvian Municipalities. It is important to ensure all municipal levels receive and understand information on DRM in order to further sustainability for the program. In addition to providing DRM training Save is also working to address organizational weaknesses within communities and municipalities. To address these challenges Save is working to strengthen democratic and organizational structures of local community groups, provide business management training, and help the municipality with basic planning and institution building. Through a dual focus Save is using DRM to overcome many challenges within the Villa El Salvador. 5. Please demonstrate how you consulted with the community prior to implementing the intervention. (maximum 150 words) Firstly, existing studies and investigations were read and analyzed to gain an overall understanding of the area. A key document was the 2011 SIRAD Study, funded by the Government of Peru, the United Nations Development Program, and the European Union which identified much of Villa El Salvador as extremely vulnerable. A needs assessment was then carried out in Villa El Salvador to identify the demands and prioritize the needs of the population. Information was gathered on the principle risks facing the area, the existing capacities in the district, the most vulnerable groups and the key goods and services that would need protection if a disaster occurred. This information was gathered by holding a series of focus groups with local leaders and key stakeholders, interviews with the Municipality and meetings with local partners in the area.

7 6. Please provide a testimonial from someone who has benefited from this intervention. (maximum 200 words) As a leader from Villa El Salvador, I feel very happy to have participated in the ARRIBA Project. I participated from the very beginning, in the workshops and in the preparation of the Community Disaster Risk Management Plan and now I have also become a DRM Community Promoter after participating in the training course along with 40 other leaders from my district. This has helped me to strengthen my knowledge of disaster risk management which is something that I think is really important for all aspects of development and for life in general. Become a Disaster Risk Management Promoter has enabled me to prepare myself more because it I had to share what I had learned about Disaster Risk Management with people from other neighborhoods and sectors and to do that I had to re-read all the materials that had been given to me. I have had to interact with all the other promoters, we have had to get organized, prepare materials to train others and then lead training sessions and get to know other areas. All of this experience has strengthened me greatly as a leader and as a person. Testimony from Bety Lozano Revollar, Sector 9 Group If selected, how will your organization use the funds? (maximum 150 words) Funds will be used to consolidate and replicate the Neighborhood Disaster Risk Management Platforms throughout Villa El Salvador s remaining 7 territories. Approximately potential DRM promoters will be identified by the Municipal Civic Participation Office from their registers of social organizations, leaders, businesses and public officials. They will be trained in DRM by previous project beneficiaries and ARRIBA in a program that includes 10 sessions. It is expected that approximately 50% will fulfil the necessary criteria to become official promoters. The practical part of the training will include accompaniment for the formation of Neighborhood Disaster Risk Management Platforms (one per territory), that include all key stakeholders. These Platforms will then produce maps of the risks present in the different territories and Community Disaster Risk Management Plans. This training will be accompanied with advocacy in the Municipality to ensure their full participation in the creation and activities of the Neighborhood Platforms.