Flooding of land and damage to housing

Summary

Hurricane Matthew led to the loss of 79 jobs and affected 20 homes of extremely poor families. As a result, this project’s activities included:

Land and home visits to assess and identify damage and meetings with the affected people to quantify agricultural and housing losses
Managing assistance with government institutions such as the Ministry of Agriculture, non-profit organisations such as SSID, Plan International and others operating in the province in search of support to assist those affected
Visiting affected families
Getting involved in the repairs of the damage.

Funded by SSID and the Ministry of Agriculture, the project lasted one year (2017).

Process

The community members identified their own problems and responsibilities together with the local organisations. Local skills and knowledge were used. The local government marked soil and supplied seeds. CBDRM activities were coordinated with local groups or entities and government representatives. These groups called for meetings, hosted meetings, made rapid community diagnoses, and formed small working groups. There was community participation from the beginning of the project. This coordination was led by the San Andrés Farmers Association and other community networks.

It was the marginalised population that was most affected by the event that motivated us to enter this community, since the floods damaged the land and agriculture, affecting the food, economy and health of this most vulnerable sector of the population. Therefore, they were involved in the actions of the project. Yes, disabled, elderly and Haitian nationals were included in the project.

Assessment activities were carried out in groups and visits to plots and houses to evaluate the agricultural loss and monitoring visits were carried out to follow up on the planned processes. This monitoring was coordinated by the Farmers' Association and the Ministry of Agriculture.

Impact

Since different sectors of the community were involved in the project from the beginning, participating in the decisions and actions of the project, this assures us the continuation of the project, particularly in the management role in favour of their community, allowing us to assure a 95% probability of continuation. Local resources in the different activities were taken into account, from material to human resources. A margin of 80% would be given. To date it has been continuous.

Although farmers were significantly affected, they were able to cope with their situation by seeking support due to the crisis caused by agricultural losses.

Summary

Process

Tell us about the extent to which the CBDRM intervention was ‘owned’ by the community. Were local skills and knowledge used? What was the role of the local government? How were the CBDRM activities coordinated? By whom?

To what extent were the most marginalised and at-risk groups included in the CBDRM process? Focus on women, children and youth, the elderly, and persons with disabilities. Are there any other marginalised groups in your society who were included in the CBDRM activities?

Were the CBDRM activities adjusted in any way to account for changing priorities and/or contexts in the community? If so, how? Think about mechanisms to monitor changes and learn from the activities, and who this monitoring and learning is coordinated by.

Impact

Please reflect on how well the initiative has been able to continue beyond the end of the programme. To what extent were local resources used for the CBDRM activities? How long since programme completion have the CBDRM practices continued?

Please describe how lives have changed since the CBDRM project. Think about different people’s levels of resilience and vulnerability.