ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE FOR DRR AND SUSTAINIBILITY

1. ROLE OF EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE IN LOCAL GOVERNANCE FOR DRR AND SUSTAINIBILITY Dr. A. K. SINGH Asscosiate Professor, JTCDM, TISS and Principal Coordinator-TISS , Disaster Resilient Assam and Northeast Project Email : aksingh@tiss.edu dr.aksingh25@gmail.com Disasterresilientassam @gmail.com

2. INTRODUCTION India is one of the worst affected countries with respect to- • Exposure to Disasters (No., Types , Frequency and Intensity) • No. of Disaster-related deaths, • No. of Disaster-affected people

3. In India, it is usually seen that all the phases of disaster-related work — response, relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction — are managed and implemented by untrained personnel from both the governmental and non-governmental sectors. • The focus initially till the recent paradigm shift from post disaster to pre disaster was primarily on response, rescue and immediate relief, with rehabilitation, preparedness and prevention being relegated to the background and still hardly any coordination and collective action among agencies is seen for undertaking different tasks. • Hence, Disaster management in India has been marked by mismanagement, duplication, exclusion of affected communities and poorly designed policies • There has been minimal institutional learning from prior experiences, and there is also a dearth of professionals who are equipped to deal with a variety of hazards in their various stages, and who can plan and implement a holistic and complete disaster management programme. • Disaster management in India requires a total revamping in terms of approach and focus, and needs to move away from being a loosely bound set of ad-hoc, volunteer-based interventions to becoming a strongly established, discipline-centered, professional system that is based on people’s participation and the rights based approach. • Therefore ,TISS calls for another paradigm shift in disaster management framework of India from shifting the focus and onus of disaster risk reduction from the govt. to the people themselves with the govt. as a facilitator.

4. There are strong linkages between disasters and ‘development’ as we know it. A hazard becomes a disaster when it impacts on the vulnerabilities of people and regions. • These hazards interact with the inherent age old vulnerabilities (like poverty, illiteracy and ignorance etc.) of the region and its people; often result in disasters leading to insurmountable losses of life and property. • While hazards are not confined to particular regions or countries, their consequences are always more severe in poor and developing countries, and are related to social, economic, political and geographical factors, which influence vulnerabilities of people and regions • Over the past decade, disasters in countries of high human development killed an average of 44 people per event, while disasters in countries of low human development killed an average of 300 people each • Any effort towards disaster prevention and mitigation should be centered on the development of people’s and regions’ capabilities, and reduction of different kinds of vulnerabilitiesFor instance, physical, social, economic, occupational, psychological, and policy and programme induced. • A balanced and holistic approach to disaster management would incorporate monitoring and minimizing hazards, and reducing vulnerabilities of people and regions, with effective disaster response and recovery mechanisms being put in place to serve as ready fall back systems.

10. HFA Priority 3 of Hyogo framework for Action 2005: 2015 Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters broadly • Knowledge management • Education • Risk Awareness

11. Use of knowledge, innovation and education to build a culture of safety and resilience at all levels. This requires the collection, compilation and dissemination of relevant knowledge and information of hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities

12. Information Management and Exchange Provide easily understandable information on disaster risks and protection options Strengthening networks among the disaster experts, managers and planners across sectors and between regions Promote and improve dialogue and cooperation among scientific communities and practitioners Develop local, national, regional and international user friendly directories, inventories and national information sharing systems Institutions dealing with urban development should provide information to the public on disaster reduction options pror to constructions, land purchase or land sale Update and widely disseminate international standard terminology related to DRR

13. Educations and Trainings Promote the inclusion of DRR knowledge in relevant sections of school curricula at all levels Use of other formal and informal channels to reach youth and children with information Promote the integration of DRR as an intrinsic element of the UN decade for education for sustainable development Promote the implementation of programmes and activities in schools for learning how to minimize the effects of hazards Develop training and learning programmes in DRR targeted at specific sectors Promote community based training initiatives, considering the role of volunteers to enhance local capacities Ensure equal access to appropriate training and educational opportunities for women and vulnerable constituencies; promote gender and cultural sensitivities training as integral components of education and training for DRR

14. Role of an educational institute in local development and sustainability though DRR-A case study of TISS Since its inception in 1936, the Vision of the TISS is to be an institution of excellence in higher education that continually responds to changing social realities through the development and application of knowledge, towards creating a people-centred, ecologically sustainable and just society that promotes and protects dignity, equality, social justice and human rights from all. The TISS works towards its vision through: • Creation and provision of socially relevant and high quality professional education in a wide range of inter-disciplinary areas of Social Sciences to a larger number of students from all sections of the society in the country. • Facilitation of Autonomous Research and dissemination of knowledge. • Strategic Extension, Field Action and Advocacy: Training and capacity building of State and non-State institutions and personnel; initiating and facilitation of field action and Advocacy to demonstrate and facilitate creation of policies and programmes. • Professional response to natural and human-made disasters, through participation in relief and rehabilitation activities.

15. TISS, since its inception, has been regularly involved in disaster-related interventions, with its experience base in disaster management built over the years, through consistent engagement in disaster situations. • The Institute’s involvement has ranged from direct intervention to policy formulation. • TISS’s expertise lies in fostering participatory processes, and ensuring people’s entitlements through close networking with the community, state, and non-governmental bodies • TISS comprises of more than 175 faculty members who for the past seventy five years have been working on issues and areas related to various aspects of Disaster Management (addressing Vulnerabilities and the underlying root causes and dynamic pressures leading to increased Risk and susceptibility and reduced Resilience/coping capacity of communities and individuals) and in the larger context of the termwith almost all global leaders in the field including those working in India and the Northeast especially Assam (NDMA, NIDM; various SDMA’s; various State Administrative Training Academies and their Disaster Management Cells/units; Central and State Universities and Institutes; NGO’s, CBO’s, PRI’s and people and organizations right from the highest levels of Policy making and Implementation to the grassroot levels- The focus of our work has always been the Last Person in the Row and Last Mile Delivery.

16. ‘’We found a difference in their work and the work of many others who were earnest and had done their best, but who did not have the training to do it well. There is a difference between the trained workers and the merely enthusiastic workers’’ Pandit Nehru made these comments on the role of TISS Volunteers in the Post-Partition Refugee Camps in Kurukshetra at the Inaugural Function of the TISS Deonar Campus on October 6, 1954.

17. Summary table of TISS involvement in Disaster 1947:2005

21. While TISS has time and again contributed to disaster response in India, a review of the same reveals several strengths and weaknesses, and points to the requirement for a full-fledged Centre that would consolidate the work already done, and build on existing strengths to emerge as dynamic unit of research, education and action in disaster preparedness and response in South Asia. It is in this context that the Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management (JTCDM)was established at TISS to develop qualified, skilled and committed human resources, and to provide support in terms of research, training, networking and policy advocacy in the country. The Centre is envisaged as a nodal agency for disaster management that will function through systems that complement, supplement, and work in close coordination and collaboration with the state and other agencies dealing with disasters.

22. The Jamsetji Tata Centre for Disaster Management was inaugurated by the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, on 6 May 2006.

23. Disaster management as an emerging academic discipline • Disaster Management is emerging globally as a full-fledged academic discipline. Since disaster response has primarily been a practitioner's domain, its boundaries have been permeable • People from diverse backgrounds including relief workers, engineers, social scientists, or medical professionals have worked in disaster management. • This has facilitated the growth of disaster management as a substantive field. However, as a field of practice, it demands specialisation to meet with the specific and dynamic challenges posed by disasters. • A Master's programme in Disaster Management should aim at enhancing knowledge, capacities, skills and perspective on disasters • While enabling an understanding of disasters from the vantage point of science and technology in the prediction, mitigation and response, it should foster a critical and reflective appreciation of current debates in disaster management within the framework of social and environmental justice, state and civil society dynamics, development, conflict and displacement, and globalisation. This is the endeavour at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences

24. Disaster management in higher education: A global review An attempt was made to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the postgraduate programmes with Disaster Management content offered by national institutes in India and universities across the world. A detailed analysis on various dimensions covered by specific courses was conducted. Some of the key questions that guided this desk top review were: • 1) What is the range of Universities and Centres that offer a postgraduate programme in disaster management? What are the courses (subjects) that are often prescribed as electives and specialisations? • 2) Where are these courses located - i.e. in what departments and programmes and how are they structured? • 3) What has been the nature of course content and what areas of specialisation(s) are available in the context of disaster/emergency management? • 4) What is the duration of these programmes? • 5) What are the key features of the curricula and their integrative elements? Which areas are given greater importance, from what perspective? • 6) What are the strengths and missing elements in the curricula from the perspective of developing countries?

25. An in-depth review generated a list of 23 institutes/departments which conducted University level programmes and offered courses in disaster management.

26. Graph depicts the key areas of expertise/specialisation within which disaster management courses at Masters level are located within different Institutes.

27. Priority given to these fields/areas by different institutes- Key theme/ areas in Disasters covered in University Curricula

28. Worldwide disaster management courses are available at the following levels: 1. Diploma level programs. 2. Undergraduate degree level programs. 3. Graduate degree level programs. 4. Certificate programs. A more extensive global review presents the analysis of the detailed information collected on disaster management studies in various colleges and universities worldwide from 187 courses (262 including trainings in 2007). For analysis purpose fact-sheets have been prepared for each program and presented in this report. In all fourteen different aspects of disaster management are considered for the evaluation of each individual program. The evaluation has defined five levels for indicating the depth of coverage of the aspect under evaluation. These levels are as follows: A+ : Aspect covered to advanced level A : Aspect covered to medium level A- : Aspect covered to basic level N : Aspect not covered NI : Information not available

29. Analysis for certificate courses

30. Analysis for on campus diploma courses

31. Analysis for diploma distance learning courses

32. Analysis for undergraduate on-campus courses

33. Analysis for undergraduate distance learning course

34. Analysis for graduate courses

35. Nature of course structure and content A review of course content suggested that or full range of areas or topics covered within the postgraduate programme in disaster management are: i. Theories on risk, crisis and disasters (social science perspectives) ii. Historical aspects of disasters iii. Introduction to Disasters iv. Risk and vulnerability assessment v. Organisational aspects vi. Principles, planning and practices in disaster management vii. Health and safety issues viii. Economic dimensions of disaster ix. Insurances x. Communication (ITC, skill building etc.) xi. Social dimensions and dynamics (Social change, conflicts, gender issues etc.) xii. Political dimensions (Role of State, Federal government, inter-organisational and external interventions etc.)

36. xiv. Engineering dimensions (Building technology, infrastructure, systems modelling, service delivery chains etc.) • xv. GIS and Remote sensing • xvi. Impact assessment • xvii. Psychological dimensions • xviii. Institutional building and related dimensions • xix. Security issues (terrorism, transport and airport security issues etc.) • xx. Record Management • xxi. Response, relief and recovery xxii. Legal dimensions • xxiii. Sustainability issues • xxiv. Pre-disaster preparedness • xxv. Community based approaches • xxvi. Research and Dissertation • xxvii. Case Studies and Field Experiences

37. From the above analysis, it is evident that a greater priority is given to the following dimensions • a) Engineering aspects • b) Risk and Vulnerability assessment • c) Principles and Planning aspects, • d) Communication and • e) Research (Dissertation) • f) Case Studies and Field Work.

38. From the initial observations it appeared that certain areas require greater emphasis with respect to managing disasters in the developing world; and they need to be introduced as part of the curriculum. These are: • a) Institution building, interaction, and governance (at different phases/ levels of disaster preparedness, reduction and management) • b) Social, Psychological, Economic and Legal perspectives of disasters and their management. • c) Environment, Livelihood and Disasters • d) Development, Conflicts and Disasters: Power and Inequalities • e) Local Knowledge Systems and Disaster Management • f) Public Health Services and Disasters

39. A curriculum, like the recipe for a dish, is first imagined as a possibility, then the subject of experiment. The recipe offered publicly is in a sense a report on the experiment. Similarly, a curriculum should be grounded in practice. It is an attempt to describe the work observed in classrooms that it is adequately communicated to teachers and others. Finally, within limits, a recipe can vary according to taste. So can a curriculum.” Stenhouse, 1975, pp.4-5.

40. Postgraduate Courses in Disaster Management: A Comparison between the Developed and the Developing World

42. Time of start of program

43. Target groups

48. Situational factors considered while designing the course

49. Taxonomy of significant learning

50. Questions for formulating significant learning goals " A year (or more) after this course is over, we want and hope that students will ……….." Foundational Knowledge - What key information (e.g., facts, terms, formulae, concepts, principles, relationships etc.) is/are important for students to understand and remember in the future? - What key ideas (or perspectives) are important for students to understand in this course? Application Goals - What kinds of thinking are important for students to learn? o Critical thinking, in which students analyze and evaluate o Creative thinking, in which students imagine and create o Practical thinking, in which students solve problems and make decisions - What important skills do students need to gain? - Do students need to learn how to manage complex projects? Integration Goals - What connections (similarities and interactions) should students recognize and make….: o Among ideas within this course? o Among the information, ideas, and perspectives in this course and those in other courses or areas? o Among material in this course and the students' own personal, social, and / or work life? Human Dimension/Caring Goals - What could or should students learn about themselves? - What could or should students learn about understanding others and/or interacting with them? - What changes/values do you hope students will adopt? o Feelings? o Interests? o Ideas?