Preparing fishers against natural disasters- project report

PFF in a joint venture with Oxfam Great Britain (GB) launched a Gift Unwrapped project, known as PKNA 71, for supporting people of Jatti, Thatta, to prepare them for the disasters like rainfall, cyclone and floods. Besides help them to uplift their economy and standards of lives. It started in August 2007 and successfully ended in April 2008. The over all objective of the project was to reduce the vulnerabilities of disaster prone communities through strengthened infrastructure facilities and response capacity.

Jati, the project area, falls in Thatta District of Southern Sindh. It faces floods, cyclone, heavy rainfall which has pushed to high poverty, unemployment discriminatory treatment towards women and other ills. In 1999, cyclone A2 had devastated them and their economy. People, particularly the fishers, have not forgotten the burnt of it. After A2 cyclone, flood from the river Indus hit them in 2005. In all this, the government has very limited role in the area to enabling people to cope with the consequences of floods and other natural disasters.
UC Activities Quantity No.of Villages Benef. HHs Benef. Pop.
Kar Malik Shelter 1 21 1081 2634
Latrine 35
Culvert 8
Agri. tool kit120
Hand Pump 22
Washing Pads 22
H.Hygiene material-21
Kothi Shelter 1 9 463 6405
Latrine 15
Culvert 2
Agriculture tool kit 50
Hand Pumps 8
Washing Pads 8
H.Hygiene material- 9
Total 30 1544 9039

Keeping in view the conditions, interventions were devised to support the most vulnerable families in Jatti areas. The most affected especially women and children were provided some facilities like construction of emergency shelters cum schools and communal latrines, installation of hand-pumps and construction of washing-pads surrounding the hand-pumps, construction of culverts around the irrigation channels and cluster wise health & hygiene sessions as to minimize the risk of loss of their lives during flood and other natural disasters. Besides, mock drills and distribution of printing material as well capacity building trainings were carried out.

Through extensive consultation meetings with the villagers in both UCs, 30 villages (21 villages of Union council Kar Malik and 09 villages of union council Kothi) Taluka Jati were selected for the interventions.

All the beneficiaries in the villages were identified by the community and preference was given to the disaster prone area communities in the villages by considering their socio and economic conditions and those who had suffered from disaster.

All project activities were being carried out with active participation of community people. There were intensive community meetings for all activities. In this regard, resolutions were passed, ToPs were signed. This process not only organized the CCBs but also democratized the process. This process ensured the community involvement for all activities. This process not only empowered the communities but created a sense of ownership among the community members.

Three main areas are intervened in the project: (1) Education & Emergency Shelter (2) Water and Sanitation and (3) Irrigation, Seeds and Agriculture Tool Kits

1)Education & Emergency shelter
This segment encourages communities (both women and men) to play an active role in establishing shelters cum Community Model Primary Schools.

SMC formation: During the Community Organizations (CO) meetings, School Management Committees (SMC) of village Kalkan Chhani and Ishaque Thahmior were formed on 25th October 2007 and 29th November 2007 respectively. As per rules and regulations both SMCs were formed at village level. SMC looks after the school matters and is responsible to resolve the conflicts by using the participatory approach. SMC is broadly responsible for the school related decisions including progress, routine school management matters, enrolment, attendance and communication with education department.

SMC Training: A two day training programme was conducted to make the community members and teachers understand their role and responsibilities. Through this training they were educated about maintaining records of financial matters of the School Management Committees.

Construction of School cum Shelter: Through a need assessment process two villages were selected for the school buildings. Both these villages are at the tail area of Tehsil and situated just at few meters distance from the Arabian Sea. These villages had no schools and had dire need of a shelter in the time of disaster. Also villagers had demanded that a school to be open for their girls.

By April 2008, about 40 students were enrolled in Kalkachhani and 30 in Ishaque Thahmior School. These schools are also provided with furniture. In the former school, one female and in the latter one male teacher are educating the children. These teachers were trained through capacity building workshop. The main modules of the training were integrated teaching methodology, concept of formal and informal education, teaching methodologies, class room management and teaching aid development. Education material was purchased for the schools which included wall posters, education kit and pictorial charts of useful items.

Mock drill exercises were organized for the students and teachers of both project schools, which has created confidence among children as well as knowledge about Disaster Risk Reduction, preparation, Early warning systems, importance of shelters and first aid etc..

Health Hygiene session: Under the project, 10 sessions on health hygiene were organized. In this regard, help was received from HANDS (an NGO working on health issues). These sessions were conducted in clusters with about 15 participants in each cluster. 165 females were trained on health hygiene issues i.e. how to protect lives in the disasters, deal with virus infection, malaria, hepatitis, neo natal care and so on.

Installation of Hand Pump & Construction of Washing Pads: In the project area, majority of people were deprived of drinking water, particularly women had great problems due to its non availability. They had to go far away through insecure passages. Total 28 hand pumps have been installed. It was difficult to discover sweet-water through boring system. After 64 bores, the project team became able to get 28 spots for the hand pumps.

These hand pumps have got washing pads around. Community people were mobilized to use the hand pumps & washing pads as they can bring improvement in their hygienic conditions by using clean water.

Construction of Latrine: There was no a proper latrine system in these villages that caused serious problems for women of the communities. Total 50 latrines have been constructed in these villages. Construction of latrine has minimized the health issues.

3) Irrigation, Seeds and Agriculture tool kits

Construction of Culverts: The construction of culverts on very small canals aimed to support the costal belt community regarding frequent movement at the time of disaster. In the project, ten culverts have been constructed. There is still dire need to construct culverts in the area.

Agriculture tool kits and seed were given to 170 poor women. Purpose of this distribution was to help women in their economic matters. These women were more vulnerable to any disaster or economic upheaval.

The project has produced a number of short term outcomes. In the first place, people have started taking interest to improve their lives by utilizing the services. In the second place, women have got enough time and energy for other activities which they usually used to spend in search of water. Also women are confident about growing their own vegetables. In this way, they are able to save time for their families as well as create a sense of effective use of water for more benefiting activities. Villagers claim that due to construction of culverts on the small streams their journey to the city has become easier.

On 16th April 2008, Chairperson PFF, Muhammad Ali Shah and Education District Officer Thatta, Qamar-ul-Zaman Siddiqui, inaugurated the shelter cum Community Model Primary Schools in both villages, i.e. Kalkan Channi and Ishak Thahmior. EDO appreciated efforts taken for establishing school cum shelter in far flung areas where the government has still not been able to reach. On behalf of education department, he announced that they would provide books to school children and also informed that soon the schools will be registered with education department.

Speaking on the occasion, Shah paid thanks to the Oxfam GB for its support in providing gifts to the people of disaster prone area. Besides, he recommended to Oxfam management to enhance such interventions for the area to increase the living standards by providing basic health awareness, increase education. Activities, like construction of Shelter, Construction of Culvert’s, Construction of regulators (for the drainage of rain water and restricting the movement of sea water to coastal areas) , Construction of Latrine, Installation Of hand pumps and Washing Pads surrounding the hand pumps and Health Hygiene Sessions due to hazards And its risk and need of these things.