Experience of ECB Networking with Government in Bangladesh Presented by Pintu William Gomes

2. Experience of ECB Networking with Government in Bangladesh Presented by Pintu William Gomes Program Manager Capacity Building in Disaster Management CRS/Caritas Bangladesh ECB Bangladesh Representative

3. Bangladesh: A south Asian country Tectonic Location of Bangladesh

4. Disaster Context of Bangladesh • Deltaic landscape, 70% of land is less than a meter above sea level, 25%-30% flooded annually • Over 300 rivers, 57 trans boundary rivers; 10% of the total land is made up by rivers and lakes. • Funnel shaped coast very often affected by cyclones. • Population density very high (1045/km2) • Poverty and Vulnerability – 38% lives below poverty line ( less than a $ a day), 5% own no land and 55% owns less than 0.5 acres of land. • Livelihoods of more than 60% depend on agriculture and natural resources • Sea level rising, salinity, coastal erosion. • Disaster prone, people are exposed to hazards • Recognized globally as most vulnerable to Climate Change

5. r a A f f c t e d B y y c l o n e i n B a n g l a d e s h Cyclone/Tidal Surge-prone Areas of Bangladesh N 5 0 0 5 0 K i l o m e t e r s Low Risk areas Medium Risk areas High Risk areas M a n a g e m e n t I n f o r m a t i o n & M n i t o r i n g ( M M ) D v i s i o n D i s a s t e r M a n a g e m e n t B u r e a u ( D M B

6. Flood-prone Areas of Bangladesh Inundated area Other areas

7. Drought-prone Areas of Bangladesh N 5 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 K i l o m e t e r s Very Severe Severe Moderate B A Y O F B E N G A L

8. Earthquake-prone Areas of Bangladesh N 5 0 0 5 0 K i l o m e t e r s 0 . 0 8 g Zone-I 0 . 0 5 g Zone-II Zone-III 0 . 0 4 g

9. Arsenic Contaminated Area of Bangladesh Low Medium High

10. Different type of hazards at a glance in Bangladesh Legend Cyclone & Tidal Surge Flood Flash Flood Drought Arsenic Land Slide River Erosion

11. Cyclone Storm surge, salinity Drought Hazards Bangladesh Faces Flood Water logging Bank Erosion Bank erosion

12. Bangladesh Disaster Management Regulatory Framework Disaster Management Act DM Policy National Plan for DM Standing Orders on Disaster (SOD) Sectoral Policies (DRR incorporated) Sectoral Plans (DRR incorporated) Local Plans Hazard Plans Guideline Templates Programming for implementation

14. The overall challenges of DM in Bangladesh • Disaster Management Act is still in draft form; • Inadequate Govt and inter-agency coordination, information sharing /very minimum examples of joint actions • Inadequate Govt. resources & institutional structure • Delayed decision making on disaster response by Government and Private Sectors • Top down approach/inadequate downward accountability system • Integration of disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation in development process

15. Priority issues of ECB for Networking with Government: ECB Bangladesh has selected three contemporary issues e.g. • Good Enough system to downward accountability. • Local DM capacity building. • Protection of the cyclone Aila 2009 affected people and • Speed up the finalization process of draft Disaster Management Act;

16. Good Enough system to downward accountability Activities Performed by ECB Bangladesh: • Translated and distributed Good Enough Guide into Bangla where the representative from CDMP (Comprehensive Disaster Management Program) of Bangladesh Government was involved • Representative from Disaster Management Bureau of Bangladesh Government inaugurated the Bangla GEG Outcome: • CDMP included Bangla GEG as accountability assessment tools of their program

17. Promoting Accountability to Communities Translation and Printing The Bangla Version of the Good Enough Guide (GEG)

18. Inaugural Ceremony of Bangla Good Enough Gide by the CDMP, under Disaster Management Bureau of Bangladesh Govt.

19. Local DM capacity building Activities Performed by ECB Bangladesh: • Mapping on who is working where for local DM capacity building. • Submitted the report to the DMB of Bd Govt. • DMB organized workshop on the findings of mapping where most of the national and international DM stake4holders participated; Outcome: • DMB of Bd Govt formed a committee for harmonization of training course for local DMCs’ capacity building; ECB is a member of technical advisory group.

20. Working for local DM Capacity Building

21. Protection of the cyclone Aila 2009 affected people Activities Performed by ECB Bangladesh: • Facilitated the medias for publishing news. • Published “Testimony of Journalist on Swelled Sufferings of Aila Hit People in One Year” and given it to the policy makers and civil society members • Organized policy dialogue on Swelled Sufferings - Challenges after 1 Year of Aila with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry Food and Disaster Management, elected Parliament Members and Union Chairmen from the Aila affected areas, civil society members and cyclone Aila affected people Outcome: • The Prime Minster visited the Aila affected areas and declared the reconstruction and repair of embankments, food, livelihood and shelter support from government.

22. 2009 Cyclone affected 4.8 million people, 1,400 km of dykes and over 300,000 acres of ag land

23. Aila Campaign Advocacy for Reconstruction and Repairing of Aila Impacted Embankment in Khulna and Satkhia

24. Aila Campaign “Testimony of Journalist on Swelled Sufferings of Aila Hit People in One Year”

25. Aila Campaign Policy Dialogue on Swelled Sufferings- Challenges after 1 Year of Aila

26. Speed up the finalization process of the draft Disaster Management Act of Bangladesh Activities Performed by ECB Bangladesh: • Facilitated postcard campaign to the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Parliament, Minister, Parliamentary Committee for enactment of the draft disaster management act. • Invited feedback from its partners on the draft Disaster Management Act; • Compiled the received feedbacks and forwarded the same to the Government for consideration Outcome: • Government with some ratification has placed the draft Act in the meeting of cabinet ministers and it has referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry Food and Disaster Management for further scrutiny

27. Disaster Management Act Campaign 4-pager briefing note published in Bangla and English. The briefing paper describes the disaster status and the climate change context of Bangladesh, experiences of different countries in managing the disaster with the support of acts, logical aspects of Standing Orders, and Action Plan towards disaster management in Bangladesh.

28. Postcard Campaign 100 thousand postcards to the Prime Minister, Speaker of the Parliament, Minister for the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Ministry of Food and Disaster Management. Post-card campaign at Khulna, Syamnagar, Satkhira, Barguna, Gaibandha and Sunamganj and Dhaka

29. Submission of memorandum Women & children memorandum submission to PM through district administration

30. Voice of Journalist on DMA ◙ contains 10 articles from renowned journalists. ◙ articles both in English and Bangla.

31. Lobby Meetings With MPs and Parliamentary Standing Committee on Food and Disaster Management

32. Opinion sharing meeting with Dhaka University Human Chain to Enact Disaster Management Act Seminar on Disaster Management Act Online Campaign- Face book group (Activate DMA Now)

33. Challenges: • Finalization and practice of the Disaster Management Act of Bangladesh • Practice of Good Enough tools and techniques of downward accountability Lessons Learned: • Undertaking of contemporary issue for advocacy helps for icebreaking of the long pending issues, e.g. protection of cyclone Aila people enforced the speed up process of disaster management act of Bangladesh. • Practice of accountability tools and techniques build trust and is helpful for raising the vice of disaster-affected people for making bigger positive change. • Consortia approach with fullest cooperation of members is very helpful for working/networking with the government.

34. THANK YOU Questions????