Enhancing CBDRM in Oddar Meanchey

Summary

During the project period, disaster management structures at all levels were still being built, and non-existent in many areas supported by ZOA, thus lacking the full capacity to address the problems of drought or other disasters that arise in their communities. Strengthening existing VDMCs and CCDMs is necessary as well as expanding these structures to communes not yet covered.  The PCDM has been largely inactive to date and requires a lot more support to allow the potential for replication of DM structures to other parts of the province.

Drought continues to be the main issue of concern for all the communities in which HVCA was conducted over the last few years.  Drought in the context of Oddar Meanchey means highly irregular rainfall patterns, where farmers continue to lose crops because of their complete dependence on the natural rainfall pattern, as they have insufficient irrigation systems for water control and generally complete dependence on one rain-fed crops (rice) each year.  A new consequence of the changing rainfall pattern in 2007 meant extensive rainfall during August in Trapeang Prasat district, which destroyed many crops.

Activities included the section and training of VDMCs on role and responsibilities, and conducting HVCA which led to village DRR plans. The VDMCs were trained on leadership, decision-making and problem-solving and facilitation and communication skills. For some VDMCs who have previously received training on CBDRR, they were given refresher trainings and conducted a review of village DRR plans which included the updating of village maps and DRR measures. VDMCs were also coached on how to increase institutional capacity. Mitigation work was also conducted for VDMCs from their DRR plans.

CCDMs were also selected by the PCDM focal group and were trained by the PCDM with support from the NCDM which was focused on roles and responsibilities and how they can support VDMCs. The PDMC’s capacity were increased through trainings with NCDM, which involved identifying roles and responsibilities and conducing HVCA.

ZOA conducted workshops in the communes to combine village DRR plans into a commune DRR plan. The commune councils were trained to ensure the commune DRR plans are included in the commune development plans. The project also looked to encourage commune councils to allocate part of commune funds for participation in DRR plans identified by villages.

ZOA has met relevant DRR government and non-government institutions to determine the process and content of the project and has met with selected CCDMs and district offices of education to select primary schools to conduct DRR education. The CCDMs have trained teachers on theory and concepts of DRR through the use of DRR games, and supported teachers to conduct DRR education and games for selected school. Teachers have trained the upper classes to conduct child-to-child education with lower classes in the selected schools.

The project was supported by ECHO’s Disaster Preparedness Program (DIPECHO) and included the other actors as follows:

  • Population of the target villages and beneficiaries – participated in all assessments, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of project activities.
  • Village Disaster Management committees (VDMCs) –    Recipients of many capacity building activities and responsible for implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all inputs.
  • Commune Committees for Disaster Management (CCDMs) – Recipients of capacity building and responsible for supporting the VDMCs.  These CCDMs take responsibility for liaison with the commune council to ensure that the village DRR plans are integrated into the development plans.
  • Commune Councils – Members of the CCDMs and responsible for all commune level planning (including disaster management).  Key partners in ensuring that DRM plans of villagers are integrated into the local planning process.
  • Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) volunteers – As members of the VDMCs (and some CCDMs) and part of CRC national network of volunteers with responsibility for disaster management.  The CRC (National level) is currently reviewing its training to volunteers on issues such as first-aid but it is not yet sure if they can reach all provinces during the course of this action.  ZOA will keep in touch with CRC on this issue.
  • Provincial Committee for Disaster Management (PCDM) – Key partner of ZOA in the support to the capacity building of CCDMs.  A special focal group within the PCDM (18 focal persons) will be the focus for capacity building by the NCDM and expansion of CBDRM into new communes (including supporting new CCDMs to elect VDMCs and conduct HVCA in these villages).
  • Provincial Department of Water Resources & Meteorology (DOWRAM) – Member of PCDM with the specific responsibility for water management.  Takes responsibility for design, monitoring and follow up of DRR mitigation measures.  Responsible also for managing rainfall data.
  • Provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sport (DoEYS) – The DoEYS will be involved in the DRR activities in schools, through participation in discussion on the content of the materials to be used as well guiding the teachers in the selected schools to implement the agreed activities.
  • National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) – Although the project is in a remote province, policy-making at the national level has a strong influence and the NCDM takes the lead in this policy-making.  The NCDM also directly trains the PCDM and CCDMs, in cooperation with ZOA & Save the Earth.
  • Save the Earth, Cambodia – Local NGO partner of ZOA who will concentrate on capacity building of the PCDM working group and supporting them to expand CBDRM to two more communes.

The project ran for 16 months from August 2008 until February 2010.

 

Process


Prior to this project, ZOA had been implementing CBDRR in Oddar Meanchey province under the same support from DIPECHO. Significant changes were seen in the selected villages, and the purpose of this project was to consolidated and replicate the learnings from previous implementation with a stronger focus on increasing institutional capacity and creating stronger communication and coordination from the village-level up to the provincial and to the national disaster management centers. The role of the local government varied. The following describes the role of the local governments: • Commune Committees for Disaster Management (CCDMs) - Recipients of capacity building. Responsible for supporting the VDMCs. These CCDMs take responsibility for liaison with the commune council to ensure that the village DRR plans are integrated into the development plans. • Commune Councils - Members of the CCDMs and responsible for all commune level planning (including disaster management). Key partners in ensuring that DRM plans of villagers are integrated into the local planning process. • Cambodian Red Cross (CRC) volunteers - As members of the VDMCs (and some CCDMs) and part of CRC national network of volunteers with responsibility for disaster management. The CRC (National level) is currently reviewing its training to volunteers on issues such as first-aid but it is not yet sure if they can reach all provinces during the course of this action. ZOA will keep in touch with CRC on this issue. • Provincial Committee for Disaster Management (PCDM) - Key partner of ZOA in the support to the capacity building of CCDMs. A special focal group within the PCDM (18 focal persons) will be the focus for capacity building by the NCDM and expansion of CBDRM into new communes (including supporting new CCDMs to elect VDMCs and conduct HVCA in these villages). • Provincial Department of Water Resources & Meteorology (DOWRAM) - Member of PCDM with specific responsibility for water management. Takes responsibility for design, monitoring and follow up of DRR mitigation measures. Responsible also for managing rainfall data. • Provincial Department of Education, Youth and Sport (DoEYS) - The DoEYS will be involved in the DRR activities in schools, through participation in discussion on the content of the materials to be used as well guiding the teachers in the selected schools to implement the agreed activities. • National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) - Although the project is in a remote province, policy-making at the national level has a strong influence and the NCDM takes the lead in this policy-making. The NCDM also directly trains the PCDM and CCDMs, in cooperation with ZOA and Save the Earth. ZOA has played a key part in organising meetings and coordination between all development agents in Oddar Meanchey Province. This includes international organisations, non-government organisations, and provincial and district government departments. ZOA has established a provincial coordination working group which has taken responsibility for preparing the monthly Provincial Rural Development Committee (PRDC), executive committee meeting.
This project was able to address the needs of the most vulnerable communities in Oddar Meanchey Province, composed of returnees, internally displaced and immigrant families who do not own lands. Gender awareness is strong throughout the target area and, although illiteracy prevents many women from taking more active part in committees, women are quite vocal in village meetings and those who are on committees are as confident as the men. Throughout the target area there are many women village and deputy village leaders – these two districts have a higher proportion of women in these positions compared to other provinces in Cambodia. Children from primary and secondary schools were direct beneficiaries – key activities of the project were focused on DRR education and targeted 18 schools in the province. There are many disabled persons in the target communities, mainly the result of mine accidents during the long period of instability, which they have lived under for the 20 years before these districts were integrated into the government structure following the fall of the Khmer Rouge. Many of these disabled persons are members of the disaster management committees already established and perform well in their functions. Because of the lack of mobility as soldiers during the war, many disabled persons were given administrative tasks and since integration many of these have become leaders of the villages.
ZOA has trained technical staff in the VDMCs in participatory monitoring and evaluation and additional technical guidelines, which were appropriate to the structure that was developed. At the community level, the DRM facilitators and the project technical staff work in close collaboration with all committees to carry out participatory monitoring of the activities.

Impact


It has been almost a decade since its implementation, but one of the key impacts of the project is the drought risk reduction fund. It functions as a source of available funding that may be borrowed by a village who has been affected by the drought. The timeliness and availability of the resource has generated resolve among the beneficiaries to continue with the use of the ploughed land for rice planting rather than regress to the use of the swidden method of farming. This keeps the natural state of the forest safer than when the DRR funds were not available. This DRR fund has become the fallback support of all targeted villagers who do not yet have the necessary savings to be used in emergency situations. The absence of this resource would have pushed the affected villages to practice swidden farming again, causing more damage to the environment.