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Background

The last decade has witnessed a paradigm shift in most organizations and agencies from a traditional relief and disaster preparedness focus, towards a developmental approach incorporating hazard mitigation and vulnerability reduction concerns. In parallel with this paradigm shift, there has been growing evidence showing that top-down approaches may lead to inequitable, unsustainable and irrelevant results. Many top-down programs fail to address the specific local needs of vulnerable communities, ignore the potential of local resources and capacities and may in some cases even increase people's vulnerability. By the time of the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, held in Yokohama, Japan in 1994, a broad consensus was emerging in favor of Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM) approaches, which was later reflected in the Yokohama Message and Strategy.

Relevance of CBDM approaches

The relevance of CBDM approaches is also increasing in the light of radically changing patterns of disaster occurrence and loss, which have yet to be officially recognized by either governments or international agencies. While occasional large catastrophes associated with earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and cyclones continue to occur, the rapid increase in disaster occurrence and loss documented in databases such as DesInventar, is due almost exclusively to an exponential increase in the occurrence of small to medium scale disasters associated with socio-natural hazards such as landslide, flood, drought and fire. In the context of these new patterns of disaster occurrence and loss, CBDM approaches offer perhaps the only alternative for managing and reducing risks in developing regions, Asia included.

Need for Learning Opportunities

While the CBDM approach was officially blessed by the Yokohama Conference, and while a large number of organizations are already implementing CBDM projects and programs in the field, there is still little systematized knowledge and information on the CBDM approach available to inform practitioners and even less opportunities for learning CBDM. As such, the systematization of knowledge and information on CBDM approaches and the sharing of this knowledge through strategies such as networking and training, must be a key element in any viable and relevant risk reduction strategy in Asia and other developing countries in the region.

Recent initiative

In this context, a timely and unique initiative was taken up by ADPC in collaboration with Duryog Nivaran to organize its first Regional Course on Community Based Disaster Management (CBDM1). The course, organized in March this year, was probably the first in the Asian region. It was also a first collaboration between ADPC and the Duryog Nivaran network. The course was directed by Sanny Jegillos of ADPC. Mr. Andrew Maskrey, Coordinator of LA RED, was the Visiting Course Fellow and shared his networking experience and expertise in the course. LA RED, the sister network of Duryog Nivaran operating in Latin America has substantial experience in CBDM research, training, and application projects in Latin America. Duryog Nivaran researchers made presentations based on their research and community level experience in Disaster Management.

The course attracted 26 participants from 8 different countries in the region (Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Lao PDR, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka) as well as from multilateral agencies such as UNCHR and WHO. The participants came from well known organizations like CARE Bangladesh, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, Save the Children Fund, UK, Church World Service, Cambodia, Lutheran World Service, Nepal, Taru Leading Edge, India, the Corporate Network for Disaster Response and the Citizens' Disaster Response Center, Philippines among others. Most of the participants brought to the course significant experience in implementing CBDM projects and programs in Asian countries.

Future Directions

Although CBDM1 was a successful program, it is important to stress that most participants came from the international NGOs able to finance course fees and attendance. It is strategically important that CBDM training programs reach the far greater market of practitioners from indigenous and local NGOs, central and local governments and others, who are involved in managing local risk scenarios throughout Asia on a day-to-day basis. While future regional courses such as CBDM1 are likely to be oversubscribed, a strategy is required in order to make CBDM training available to local and national organizations in the Asian Countries.

The future strategies for training in CBDM approaches would probably need to include a number of different components: future regional training courses similar to CBDM1; national level training in cooperation with competent organizations in the different Asian countries; training-for-trainers programs in order to maximize diffusion of the CBDM approach in the region. It is also essential that the strategy integrates training with support to existing or potential networking initiatives in the region. If CBDM training is developed through network structures, then it will be possible to combine the advantages of a regional perspective, in the framework of a comprehensive strategy to promote the CBDM approach in Asia.