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Role of Women in Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) in Rural Communities of Kailali District:

A Comparative Study

FIELD RESEARCH REPORT

Submitted to

DIPECHO SAMADHAN II Project, CARE Nepal

By Central Department of Home Science and Women Studies

Padma kanya Campus,Tribhuwan University 20 March 2009

Supported by

The European Commission through its Humanitarian Aid Department

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STUDY TEAM

Team Leader Dr. Harinder Thapliya

Field Coordinators Ms. Ishwari Acharya Ms. Anila Shrestha

Ms. Roshani Pradhan Ms. Neera Shrestha

Student Field Researchers

Astha Ghimire Shivani Palikhe Bibha Prajapati Meena Pandey Anju Devkota Pramila Kayastha Biju Aryal Moon Gurung Ambika Ghimire Suman Khatiwada Bandana Sharma Pooja Bhandari Arpana Gautam Sharda Poudyal Dipti Neupane Ritu Bhatta Ganga Sunwar Samjhana Phuyal Laxmi K.C. Ram Maya Lamichhane Kalpana Nepal Uma Kumari Bam Leena Bista Ujjala Shrestha

Acknowledgement

Central Department of Home Science and Women Studies (CDHSWS) would like to express its sincere appreciation to DIPECHO-SAMADHAN-II under CARE-Nepal for providing the opportunity to conduct the field research for women studies program under Tribhuwan University. The study was conducted with financial support from DIPECHO SAMADHAN-CARE Nepal. The present study entitled “Role of Women in Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) in rural communities of Kailali district: A Comparative Study” attempts to assess the role of women in CBDRM in the rural communities of Kailali district. This study has attempted to make a comparative analysis with the DIPECHO and Non-DIPECHO project communities’ women, in terms of their awareness and disaster preparedness as well. In the course of the completion of this study, the assistance and tireless cooperation extended by DIPECHO Project Manager Sanjukta Sahany, Country Director Alka Pathak, Assistant Country Director Diawary Bouare, Gender and Social Inclusion Advisor Indu P. Ghimire, SAMADHAN team and other staff of CARE Nepal for their constant guidance and support. We would also like to thank the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Department for their funding support in this study. Besides we would like to express sincere gratitude to all respondents of Dhansingpur VDC and Munuwa VDC of Kailali District. The key informants selected for this study deserve special thanks for invaluable inputs provided by them with a great sense of patience and cooperation. This work would not have been completed without the continuous help and suggestions provided during the field research by CSSD- Program Officer Shree Lal Pokharel, and Kailali based ICBO(Institutional Capacity Building Officer) Dinesh Prasad Baral. Similarly Social Mobiliser Heera Saud, FAYA staff Karuna Adhikari and CARE Nepal staff Shanti Chaudhary who took the study team in the respective communities in the field area also deserve appreciation in this regard. Last but not the least, special thanks goes to the faculty members and students of Central Department of Home Science and Women Studies associated to this research who has have done their respective jobs with sincerity and commitment. I would also like to extend my heartiest gratitude to all concerned administrative staff of CDHSWS for providing logistics and other supports for this study. Prof. Dr. Harinder Thapliya Chairperson CDHSWS PK Campus , TU

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List of Tables

Table no. Titles Page No.

Table 1 Ratio of the dead and the affected persons in disasters 15

Table 2 Steps taken in the arena of Disaster Management Nepal 17

Table 3 Number of HH according to the VDCs 25

Table 4 Age of the Respondent 29

Table 5 Caste and Ethnicity of the respondent 29

Table 6 Religion of the Respondents 30

Table 7 Marital Status of the Respondent 30

Table 8 Education Status of the Respondents 30

Table 9 Occupation of the Respondent 31

Table 10 Type of House 31

Table 11 Agricultural land 31

Table 12 Size of agricultural land 32

Table 13 Annual Income of the Respondent 32

Table 14 Types of Family 32

Table 15 Participation of women by groups. 33

Table 16 List of groups by respondent number 33

Table 17

Distribution of respondents and their participation by types of activities 36

Table 18 Support by family members on child care 40

Table 19 Indigenous Mechanisms and strategies 41

Table 20 Modern mechanisms and strategies 42

Table 21 Effectiveness of project activities 43

Table 22 Effectiveness of IEC materials for raising awareness. 44

Table 23 Effectiveness of Awareness Initiatives 45

Table 24 Respondents’ Suggestion 45

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List of Figures

Figure No. Title

Page No.

Figure 1 Factors of motivation for group involvement in DIPECHO area 34

Figure 2 Factors of motivation for group involvement in Non DIPECHO areas 34

Figure 3 Distribution of respondents by type of training taken 35

Figure 4 Knowledge on DIPECHO in the DA 38

Figure 5 Knowledge on DIPECHO in the NDA 38

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List of Acronyms

ADPC Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre

CBDRM Community Based Disaster Risk Management

CDHSWS Central Department of Home Science And Women Studies

CSSD Conscious Society for Social Development

DA DIPECHO Area

DRRC Disaster Risk Reduction Committee

DRRP Disaster Risk Reduction Preparedness

EOC Emergency Operations Center

EU European Union

EWS Early Warning System

FAYA Forum for Awareness and Youth Activity

FGDs Focus Group Discussions

GO Government Organization

HH House Hold

GON Government of Nepal

IDNDR International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction

IEC- Information, education and communication

INGO International Non- Government Organization

NAP National Action Plan

NCRA Natural Calamity Act

NDSR National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management in Nepal

NGO Non- Government Organization

NDA Non- DIPECHO Area

SAARC South Asian Association of Regional Countries

UN United Nations

UNDP United Nation Development Programme

VDC Village Development Committee

WB World Bank

WHO World Health Organization

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ABSTRACT . DIPECHO SAMADHAN II is the Community Based Disaster Risk Management project of CARE Nepal being implemented from 1st October 2007 supported by European Commission through its Humanitarian Aid Department This project is being implemented in two Far Western Districts (Doti and Kailali) of Nepal The project aimed to build resiliency among communities, specially the poor marginalized and socially excluded to withstand natural hazards with less losses in lives and assets. . The study was conducted in two areas: Dhansinghpur VDC where DIPECHO SAMADHAN II project was implemented and Munuwa VDC where the project related to Maternal and Neo-natal health care; and HIV/AIDS was implemented by Care Nepal, which is located in the Kailali district of Nepal. The present study entitled" Role of women in Community Based Disaster Risk management (CBDRM) in Rural Communities of Kailali District: A Comparative Study" with the broad objective to assess the role of women in CDBRM in the rural communities of Kailali District and have comparative analysis with the DIPECHO/ SAMADHAN II and Non –DIPECHO/SAMADHAN project communities in terms of their awareness and disaster preparedness. The study is based on a combination of both quantitative and qualitative data analysis of 360 women of Kailali district comprising 180 from DIPECHO area and 180 from non- DIPECHO area. The collected data were analyzed quantitatively through questionnaire survey and SPSS 11.5 program. Focus group discussion, key informants information and case studies were used to analyze the qualitative data. The majority of the respondents in both the areas were less literate who lived in poverty and frequent flood often pushed them into further poverty trap. It is apparent from the research that the household works were predominantly women’s domain in both areas. Men’s migration to India made the community women responsible to look after farming too. The involvements of women in groups were higher in DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area. Forty nine (49%) percentage women group members in DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area were seemed to be participating in group discussions regarding designing the program activities. They were confident enough to participate for rescuing other’s life and managing immediate services in the community. The research showed that women’s self- esteem in the DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area was higher and they were more confident compared to Non- DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area women. In DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area the respondents involved in groups were mostly in Disaster Risk Reduction Committee (DRRC) and were motivated by the local social mobilizers. They played a great role to coordinate the local women to be associated in the groups. In the non- DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area few women were in other women's group which was not functioning well due to the lack of coordination. The respondents of the DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area had taken different trainings and through these trainings they had developed their capacity in terms of their knowledge, skill, information and language for the management and preparedness of the disaster. Women of DRRC were playing different roles in the community level to reduce the risk of the disaster and also increasing their capacity to survive from the future disaster. The women had participated in different activities like information, education and communication (IEC) designing, awareness initiative and community based disaster risk management activities of the

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DIPECHO/SAMADHAN project to save the community people from the risk of the disaster where as respondents of non-DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area saved the survivors from individual level by giving shelters at their houses. The respondents of both the areas have their own indigenous coping strategies and mechanisms to deal with the flood. Along with the indigenous practices, the respondents of DIPECHO/SAMADHAN area have learnt new and scientific practices from SAMADHAN II, which helped them to improve their practices to minimize the risk of the disaster. Comparatively the women of Dhansingpur were practicing improved indigenous practices than Munuwa VDC though some women of Munuwa knew the new practice for disaster mitigation and recovery through transmission from Dhansingpur. The women of the non-DIPECHO/SAMADHAN demanded projects like DIPECHO/SAMADHAN in their area also. The effects of the DIPECHO/SAMADHAN project activities, IEC material and awareness initiatives were fruitful for the respondents who were literate and educated. The less literate respondents felt the IEC material difficult to understand. Among the awareness initiatives street dramas and songs were popular and effective. The women in groups were found to be very vocal, confident and informative about the disaster preparedness methods. They expressed that their self esteem and confidence has increased a lot by participating in the project activities. They were happy to share that they not only saved their family members but also were able to help others in the time of disaster. Hence, to attract the participation of the women and there upon to achieve the much envisaged goal, people from different sections of the communities irrespective of gender, class, ethnicity and socio-economic background can be included.

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Table of Contents Acknowledgement.................................................................................................................1 List of Tables.........................................................................................................................2 List of Figures .......................................................................................................................3 List of Acronyms ...................................................................................................................4 ABSTRACT...........................................................................................................................5 CHAPTER I

1.1 Background ............................................................................................................9 1.2 Statement of the problem: ....................................................................................12 1.3 Rationale of the Study: .........................................................................................13 1.4 Objective of the study: ..........................................................................................13

1.5 Limitation of the study: .........................................................................................14 CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW:

2.1 Historical background ...........................................................................................15 2.2 Landmarks in Disaster Management in Nepal ......................................................17 2.3 Effects of disaster on Human Being .....................................................................18 2.4 Effects of gender implications of disaster: ............................................................18 2.5 Effects of disaster on women................................................................................19 2.6 Disaster preparedness..........................................................................................20 2.7 Indigenous method ...............................................................................................20 2.8 Modern method ....................................................................................................21 2.9 Disaster Management Planning............................................................................21 2.10 About the Project ..................................................................................................22

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY:

3.1 Research design and research method.................................................................24 3.2. Selection of sample ...............................................................................................25 3.3. Data collection procedure......................................................................................26 3.4 Data Processing and Analysis ...............................................................................28

CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS OF DATA AND FINDINGS:

4.1 Description of Samples............................................................................................29 4.2 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents ..................................................29 4.3 Role of women in CBDRM in DIPECHO SAMADHAN II .........................................32 4.4 Vulnerability of women in relation to poverty ...........................................................36 4.5 Vulnerability of women in disaster prone areas in relation to less literacy and ignorance..............................................................................................................37

4.6 Vulnerability of women in relation to gender inequality ...........................................39 4.7 Coping Strategies and Indigenous Mechanisms used by women ...........................40 4.8 Effectiveness of project activities.............................................................................43

4.9 Effectiveness of IEC Materials ................................................................................44

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4.10 Effectiveness of Awareness Initiatives………………………………………………….44 4.11 Respondents’ Suggestion for the Improvement of the Disaster Preparedness Activities.................................................................................................................... 45 CHAPTER V CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS:

5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................47 5.2 Recommendations:...............................................................................................48

References ANNEXES Annex 1- Case Studies Annex 2-Photos

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION:

1.1 Background Disaster (from Middle French désastre, from Old Italian disastro, from the Greek pejorative prefix dis-bad+aster star) is the impact of natural or man-made hazards that negatively affects society or environment. The word disaster's root is from astrology: this implies that when the stars are in a bad position a bad event will happen. Effects of disaster (especially flood) threaten very survival of millions of people. They have to part with their belongings as land. This leaves them in the state of crisis and challenges the people to meet their daily needs for food, water and shelter. In short, a disaster may have the following main features such as unpredictability, unfamiliarity, speed, urgency, uncertainty and threat. Thus, in simple terms we can define disaster as a hazard causing heavy loss to life, property and livelihood. For example, a cyclone killing 10,000 lives and a crop loss of one crore can be termed as disaster. (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, goggle search) Hazards are routinely divided into natural and humane – made, although complex disaster, where there is no single root cause, are more common in developing countries. A natural disaster is the consequences when natural hazards (example, volcanic eruption and earth quake) affects human. There is always human activity involved in such disaster (Wikipedia.org/wiki/disaster). Human Vulnerability, caused by the lack of emergency management, leads to financial, environmental, or human impact. This understanding is concentrated in the formulation: “disaster occurs when vulnerability “. A natural hazard will hence never result in natural disaster areas with vulnerability, e.g., strong earth quake uninhabited areas. The term natural has consequently been disputed because the events simply are not hazard or disasters without human involvement whereas human disasters are made by human action, negligence, errors, or involving in the failure of system. Human–made disasters are in turn categorized as technological or sociological. Technological disasters are the results of failure of technology, such as engineering failures, transport disaster, or environmental disaster. Sociological disasters have a strong human motive, such as criminal acts, stampedes, riots, and war. Human –made disasters are fire, mines, explosives etc. (http://en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/disaster). Disaster holds back development and progress towards achieving the development goals. Yet disasters are rooted in development failure. This is the core conditions for integrating disaster risk reduction into development. The drought experience provides an example of the impact of natural disasters on lactating mothers and their children in 1987, a major drought hit thirteen states with differing intensities (Rao, 1998). Another example we can take the Tsunami of December, 26 on 2004 which swept North Sumatra, Thailand India and then reached Africa. The occurrence of earthquake in Pakistan killing 73000 people in the year 2001 followed by several deaths in the wake of Tsunami reflects this reality. In South Asia also, Nepal suffers the most when judged by the number of deaths compared to the number of affected persons by disasters as shown below. The proportion of number of

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deaths to the number of affected persons of Nepal is the highest in the SAARC region. (Nepal Country Report 1999, Ministry of Home Affairs Nepal). The Himalayan region of Nepal can be considered as one of the severest flood hazard zone of the world. Besides, Heavy precipitation, high wetness and steepness of watersheds and river channels contribute to flood magnitudes. Mainly, the middle Hills are prone to landslides and the Terai to flood and fire. Thus, flood, landslide and fire are the most frequent natural disasters in Nepal. These disasters occur almost every year in one part of the country or the other causing loss of life and heavy damage to physical properties (Nepal Country Report 1999, Ministry of Home Affairs Nepal). In Nepal, Official static’s of recent years say that about 1000 people die in Nepal every year due to the natural hazard events; about 300 deaths occur only due to floods and landslides. The country suffers a direct loss of an average of nearly 1208 million Nepali rupees per year. The accompanied indirect losses, in terms of lost time and opportunities, and the lack of services and the repercussions thereof, may be several times more than the above figure. This is a huge impact to neglect, especially if one considers that the losses due to natural hazards are increasing alarmingly. (Nepal Country Report 1999, Ministry of Home Affairs Nepal). The occurrence of earthquake on 1990 B.S. and 2045 B.S., flood of Khoshi and far western region on 2065 are some of the examples of disaster in Nepal. The ministry of Home affairs reported, 1537 people were died, 185 were missing, 1044 were injured and 106737 families were affected during the period of 2058(2000/2001) to 2063 (2005/2006). (Page no. 6, Impacts of Natural Disaster in Nepal, Author Rishi Raj Dhahal) Disaster on human being results on serious food shortages and inadequate nutritional levels, and in some conditions when communities are divested with natural disasters people are displaced from their original lands and due to internal wars, the collapse of food production system in the region concerned often result in hunger and later famine. Both the risk of vulnerability and the impacts of disaster are disproportionately carried by those who are already socio -economically and physically disadvantaged. Knowledge, skills, power relations, gender roles, health, wealth, race/ethnicity, age, physical and disability also help to shape differential risk and vulnerability levels and determine individual’s ability to bounce back. The most vulnerable to disaster include the very young and very old, the poor, ethnic minorities, physically and mentally disabled, and women, particularly the poor, elderly and those who are pregnant. (Disaster & Vulnerable groups: En-gendering Disaster Preparedness, Manjari Mehata). Gender is a matter of culture: it refers to the social classification into masculine and feminine behaviors. (ANN OKELEY, 1985). Gender system in tradition with house hold and economic structures and cultural norms interact to determine the extent and kinds of resources and opportunities males and females are exposed to, existence and absence of which often have the power to determine life options. In addition gender plays major role in the participation, involvement and in decision making of resource allocation, mitigation and preparedness of disaster. A gender approach is important to identify men’s and women’s differing vulnerabilities to crisis as well as their different capacities and coping strategies in order to design effective relief program.”

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Women are not the passive victims of the development activities but step in as first responders helping to search out and rescue survivors. Later, women who are able will help replace disrupted services (e.g. safe spaces for abused women, child CARE, peer support), host displaced women and families, meet broader community needs as volunteers, use established and emergent women’s organizations to fund raise and advocate for the needs of vulnerable people at risk of being overlooked, and in other ways work through and outside of traditionally gendered jobs, occupations and social roles to help move their communities forward.,( Enarson, Elaine, 2001. What women do: gendered labor in the Red River Valley flood, Environmental Hazards 3/1: 1-18) Disasters can hit girls and women hard. Sometimes they are less likely to protect themselves than men and their neighborhood to live through a disaster because they put others first and aren’t always free to act in their own best interests. Often, women lack the information or spare time or extra income it takes to prepare their homes and workplaces for s like disaster. And afterwards, most women around the world have less money, land, political influence, and other. At the same time disaster leave women and girls including mother with heavier responsibilities and workloads and often-poorer health. Women are more vulnerable to disaster through their socially constructed roles. Following the above constraints and challenges, different activities and preparedness approach is being conducted by organizations. The organizations develop different plans of actions and strategies for the disaster strike areas based on modern methods and technologies. The local people also have their own indigenous methods and mechanism which they apply to be saved from the disaster. These methods and strategies are divided into two categories: which are Indigenous method and Modern Method. Disaster act and the modern technologies were developed gradually as per experience but people from different community have been using and developed their own indigenous method. Experience has also shown that poor people had their own coping strategies in order to overcome from effect of disasters using local resource and their own capabilities. But in modern method covers communication plans with easily understandable terminology and chain of command, development and practice of multi-agency coordination and incident command, proper maintenance and training of emergency services, development and exercise of warning methods combined with emergency shelters and evacuation plans stockpiling, inventory, and maintenance of supplies and equipment. The National Water plan(NWP) of Nepal has prepared to operationalize the water sector strategy (WSS) of Nepal approved by HMG/N in January 2002. In this plan the government has defined the WID water induced disaster in order to reduce the effect of flood. For this the government had set targets in order to identify potential disaster zone, provide emergency relief materials to establish warning system DIPECHO/ SAMADHAN II is a project of CARE Nepal supported by European Commission through its Humanitarian Aid Department is being implementing in the 9 VCDs ( 6 in Doti district and 3 in Kailali district) of Nepal. The project aims at bringing resiliency among communities in order to enable the community people withstand and minimize the impacts of natural hazards. Main activities of the project includes capacity building through trainings: awareness raising through IEC materials: Promoting early warning through the promotion of indigenous mechanism and constructing small scale mitigation structures (SAMADHAN II, 2008). Dhansingpur is one of the VDCs of Kailali district where the present

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research activity has been carried out to assess the role of women in disaster preparedness and risk management together with FAYA and CSSD local organizations. These two local organizations are partnering with CARE Nepal to implement the project activities at the community and district level. The project is supported by the European Commission through its humanitarian Aid Department under the DIPECHO IV Action Plan for South Asia and is being implemented from 1st October 2007. During the conceptualization of this project, other stakeholders including the local government representatives were involved in providing suggestions and their views. Due to this, feeling of ownership was developed more, which is the key objective of any community-based project. This project is the first of its kind in the country where the local artists, community, government representatives, NGO’s and INGO’s were actively involved to develop IEC materials. This created a possibility for the targeted community to have greater ownership in the whole initiative. The IEC design workshop was helpful for the targeted community to reflect and actualize their vulnerability more and come up with the request for mitigation measures. The main objective of DIPECHO SAMADHAN II is to build resiliency among communities, specially the poor, marginalized and socially excluded to withstand natural hazards with less losses in lives and assets. 1.2 Statement of the problem: . Men and women are both important part of society. It is fact that men and women not only play different roles in society, with distinct levels of control over resources but they have different needs. Most often women are oppressed due to discrimination of gender division of responsibilities. and they are lagging behind in all kinds of social, economic and cultural aspects of human life. They are overburdened with multiple roles and due to patriarchal social system their roles are mostly invisible. They are more involved in the informal sector work such as agriculture, domestic work which has no economic return, security, little or no health facilities and no access to group formation. The informal and agricultural sectors are usually the most impacted by natural disaster, thus women become over-represented among the unemployed following a disaster. In this particular areas (where the DIPECHO SAMADHAN II project II is implemented) of study, women's status is not different at all. Besides these women’s primary role or work is reproductive role i.e. child care, household work, and looking after sick and elderly people that prevent women’s mobility and access to information on disaster prevention, mitigation and preparedness. Thus, women’s visibility and involvement always remains low in the society resulting non-addressing the women’s needs. They have limited access to social networks, transport, economy, resources, literacy, employment, freedom from violence and decision making process which is essential in disaster prevention, mitigation, preparedness and rehabilitation. Disaster often affects human being by destroying the life, property, and environment in which they live Disaster can cause to increase women’s vulnerability. Disaster may increase female-headed households because due to the loss of assets male members of the household may migrate out for work leaving the women to perform multiple roles. Women’s multiple role especially reproductive roles reinforce special care to women during pregnancy, childbirth but in most of the cases disaster relief fund and facilities seems to be gender neutral. In order to overcome immediate effect of disaster, relief funds are

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distributed to the survivors. The appropriate variables and indicators should be considered while developing the Disaster Management Framework. A gender sensitive framework is needed time and again. The need of the poor people during disaster is immense but the fund provided as such as response is inadequate with compare to need. Mostly development organizations consider people as beneficiaries; however they are change agent of the society. As there is strict gender division of work, mostly development agencies program increases women’s work if they do not reflect role transformation on their projects. As it is found in most cases project work and other type of social change and leadership nations women are always considered as less capable in performing physical work. 1.3 Rationale of the Study: While the impact of the disaster on women is severe, this study presents a picture of small section of the larger community Natural disaster often provides women with unique opportunity to challenge and change their gendered status in society: because of gender based inequalities , girls and women are typically at higher risk(UN,2004). Women have effective role on mobilizing the community respond on disasters; for example, forming groups and network of community people, local leaders, school teachers and other stakeholders for essential preparedness and mitigation of disaster (Elain,2001). At the same time, if women get involved in decision making process they may get platform to share their experiences on how women are disproportionately affected by the economic and social dislocations of households that are caused by disaster. Thus, the present study is to assess the role of women in CBDRM of DIPECHO SAMADHAN II in the rural communities of Kailali district. This study is about the roles and responsibilities of women, the strategies adopted by local people for disaster preparedness and its effect on women. 1.4 Objective of the study: General objective: To assess the role of women in CBDRM in the rural communities in Kailali district and have comparative analysis with the DA project and NDA project communities in terms of their awareness and disaster preparedness. Specific Objective: To assess the role of women in community based disaster risk management in

DEPCHO SAMADNAN II project communities and CRADLE project communities. To assess the vulnerability of women in disaster prone areas in relation to the

illiteracy, poverty, ignorance and gender inequality. To assess effectiveness of the project activities, IEC materials and awareness

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initiatives. To identify the coping strategies and indigenous mechanisms used by women during

the disaster situation. To collect the information about the effectiveness of DIPECHO SAMADHAN II

project in one of the VDC of Kailali in relation to increased awareness and capacity building of poor women in disaster situation.

1.5 Limitation of the study: Under the monitoring and the supervision of the faculty members of Post Graduate Diploma on Women studies program of Padma Kanya Campus/TU one-month study was carried out This report is about the assessment of the role of women in disaster preparedness program conducted by DIPECHO/ SAMADHAN II, the CBDRM project in Nepal. The study is limited in terms of gender, theme, objective, and geographical location. This study is exclusively focused of disaster preparedness project on women of Kailali districts in two VDC (Dhansinghpur and Munuwa) in line to the objectives mentioned above. Thus the information gathered is specifically applicable to the researched areas in Kailali and cannot be generalized for overall Nepal and global level on considering women’s involvement in preparedness and mitigation of disaster. .

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW:

2.1 Historical background Disaster holds back development and progress towards achieving the development goals. Disasters are rooted in development failure. This is the core condition for integrating disaster risk reduction into development. The drought experience provides an example of the impact of natural disasters on lactating mothers and their children in 1987; a major drought hit thirteen states with differing intensities (Rao, 1998). Another example that we can take is that of the Tsunami of December 26 on 2004, which swept North Sumatra, Thailand, India and Africa. The occurrence of earthquake in Pakistan killing 73,000 people in the year 2001 followed by several deaths in the wake of Tsunami reflects this reality. Hundreds and thousands of people died and were missing and the facilities in the large areas were destroyed. Tsunami Aceh that happened last year swept the Aceh - North Sumatra till 10 km from coastal lip. Town of Banda Aceh, which is close to epicenter of earthquake and located at elbow coast was hit by Tsunami. People, who did not anticipate the natural disaster, panicked and tried to save themselves. Public facilities, buildings, houses, shops, roads/streets, access of transportation were broken. Damaged bridges of coastal circumjacent were not parried again and fell to pieces as it was swept by very strong wave Tsunami. It was the most destructive natural disaster in this century. Natural disaster had impact to the human being and also to the environment. The survivors faced different kinds of psychological and physical problems, hunger and security problem in the refugee camps. It also had an adverse effect on the environment. In South Asia also, Nepal suffers the most when judged by the number of deaths compared to the number of affected persons by disasters as shown below. The proportion of number of deaths to the number of affected persons of Nepal is the highest in the SAARC region. (Source: Road to Resilience to Disaster: Realizing HFA in Nepal; A National Position Paper, 2008) Table 1: Ratio of the dead and the affected persons in disasters

Country 1983-92 1993-2002 Bangladesh 0.07 0.02 Bhutan No data No data India 0.01 0.01 Maldives Not available Not available Nepal 0.25 0.34 Pakistan 0.03 0.07 Sri Lanka 0.01 0.02 Source: World Disaster Report

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A recent study (UNDP/BCPR, 2004) ranked Nepal, in terms of relative vulnerability to earthquakes, as the eleventh most at risk country in the world, and thirtieth with respect to floods. Another report (World Bank 2005) classifies Nepal as one of the global ‘hot-spots’ for natural disasters. The ‘Des Inventor’ database in Nepal prepared for 1971-2003, shows the trend of one disaster event with two resultant deaths occurring every day over this period. Among the major hazards, floods and landslides are the most recurrent in Nepal, claiming on an average of about 211 lives annually in the past ten years. Official statistics of recent years say that about 1000 people die in Nepal every year due to the natural hazards; about 300 deaths occur only due to floods and landslides. The country suffers a direct loss of an average of nearly 1208 million Nepali rupees per year. The accompanied indirect losses, in terms of lost time and opportunities, and the lack of services and the repercussions thereof, may be several times more than the above figure. This is a huge impact to neglect, especially if one considers that the losses due to natural hazards are increasing alarmingly. (Source: National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management in Nepal (NDSR) - 2008) The Himalayan region of Nepal can be considered as one of the severest flood hazard zone of the world. Besides, heavy precipitation, high wetness, and steepness of watersheds and river channels contribute to flood magnitudes. Mainly, the middle Hills are prone to landslides and the Terai to flood and fire. Thus, flood, landslide, and fire are the most frequent natural disasters in Nepal. These disasters occur almost every year in one part of the country or the other causing loss of life and heavy damage to physical properties. (Source: Nepal Country Report 1999, Ministry of Home Affairs, Nepal) The occurrence of earthquake on 1990 B.S. and 2045 B.S., flood of Koshi and far western region on 2065 are some of the examples of disaster in Nepal.

Nepal faces diverse disasters. These are Flood and Landslides, Fires, Epidemics, Windstorm, Hailstorm, Thunderbolt and the Earthquake. But it is the earthquake, which towers over the rest of its mates when evaluated in terms of the number of deaths. One can see the coverage of disasters that has taken place in the last two decades.

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2.2 Landmarks in Disaster Management in Nepal Nepal has been facing disasters since a long time. The disasters were managed in an ad-hoc basis in the past. It was in the year 1982 that disaster management in Nepal took an institutional turn after the enactment of Natural Calamity Act (NCRA, 1982). Nepal was a pioneer in this sense because no other countries had such an Act not only in the South Asian but also in the whole of the pacific region.. The neighborhood have made considerable advance, Nepal still finds itself lagging far behind in the arena of disaster management. The entry of UNDP in the disaster scene created awareness about the disasters, which was otherwise in shadow till then. Some of the other important steps taken in the arena of Disaster Management in Nepal are as follows. Table 2: Steps taken in the arena of Disaster Management in Nepal Year Steps taken for Institutional development 1982 Enactment of the Natural Calamity Relief Act (NCRA) 1984 Study by UNDP about threats of disaster and study about the need of

foreign help 1987 Establishment of a Unit under the Ministry of Home Affairs related to

disasters 1989 First Amendment of NCRA, 1982 1990 A study Report about Strategy for Training on Disaster Management 1990 Formation of a National Committee to celebrate the decade of 1990 as

an International Disaster Reduction 1991 Preparation of Comprehensive Disaster Management Plan 1992 Second Amendment of NCRA, 1982 1993 Organization of a 15 day Training for Government Officers by the

Government in collaboration with UNDP/DHA 1993/94 A two week training on disaster Management organized on the request

of the MoHA by USAID and ADPC, Bangkok 1994 Preparation of action plan with the help of UNDP, Nepal 1996 Beginning of capacity building program for Disaster Management in

Nepal by UNDP 2001 Establishment of a Department of Narcotics Control and Disaster

Management 2003 Disaster Impact Assessment made mandatory in the Tenth Plan

Document in the execution of a Development Project 2004 The Department of Narcotics Control and Disaster Management

reduced to a simple Branch 2005 Participation in the Hyogo Conference 2007 Preparation of the Drafts of the Act, Policy and Strategy on Disaster

Management in Nepal Source: Road to Resilience to Disaster: Realizing HFA in Nepal; A National Position Paper; July 2008

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2.3 Effects of disaster on Human Being Disaster on human being results on serious food shortages and inadequate nutritional levels, and in some conditions when communities are divested with natural disasters people are displaced from their original lands. Due to internal wars, the collapse of food production system in the region concerned often results in hunger and later famine. Those who are already socio-economically and physically disadvantaged disproportionately carry both the risk of vulnerability and the impacts of disaster. Knowledge, skills, power relations, gender roles, health, wealth, race/ethnicity, age, physical and mental disability also help to shape differential risk and vulnerability levels. The most vulnerable to disaster include the very young and very old, the poor, ethnic minorities, physically and mentally disabled, and women, particularly the poor, aged and those who are pregnant and lactating. Social vulnerability is an important concept, underscoring the ways in which and the reasons why, people’s differential access to and control over resources (such as land, money, credit, good health and personal mobility) are closely interwoven with their ability to survive and recover from disasters (Enarson, n.d.2). Disaster and reconstruction work over the past three decades have highlighted the extent in which the poor are the most vulnerable and most seriously affected by natural hazards. (Disaster & Vulnerable groups: En-gendering Disaster Preparedness, Manjari Mehata) 2.4 Effects of gender implications of disaster: Gender is a matter of culture: it refers to the social classification into masculine and feminine. (ANN OKELEY). Gender system in tandem with house hold and economic structures and cultural mores interact to determine the extent and kinds of resources and opportunities males and females are exposed to, existence and absence of which often have the power to determine life options. A gender approach is important to identify men’s and women’s differing vulnerabilities to crisis as well as their different capacities and coping strategies in order to design effective relief program.” Gender relation in particular, appear to be a “pre-condition” of people’s ability to anticipate, prepare for, survive, cope with, and recover from disasters. Disaster assessments from around the worlds suggest that there is a pattern of gender differentiation at all levels of the disaster process: exposure to risk, risk perception, preparedness, response, physical impact, psychological impact, recovery, and reconstruction. (WHO, 2002). Women’s and men’s responses to these crisis situations, as well as their abilities to cope with them to a large extent reflects their status, roles and positions in society: because of gender based inequalities, girls and women are typically at higher risk than boys and men (UN, 2004:7; Enarson 2001b; 2002; Chew and Ramdas, 2004: SEEDS, 2005). Women are not the passive victims represented by the media but step in as first respondents helping to search out and rescue survivors. Later, women who are able will help replace disrupted services (e.g. safe spaces for abused women, child CARE, peer support), host displaced women and families, meet broader community needs as volunteers, use established and emergent women’s organizations to fund raise and advocate for the needs of vulnerable people at risk of being overlooked, and in other ways work through and outside of traditionally gendered jobs, occupations and social roles to help move their communities forward. (For discussions from the US see, among others,

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Enarson, Elaine, 2001. What women do: gendered labor in the Red River Valley flood, Environmental Hazards 3/1: 1-18) 2.5 Effects of disaster on women Disasters can hit girls and women hard. Sometimes they are less likely than men in their neighborhood to live through an earthquake or eruption because they put others first and aren’t always free to act in their own best interests. Often, women lack the information or spare time or extra income it takes to prepare their homes and workplaces for extreme events like cyclones. And afterwards, most women around the world have less money, land, political influence, and other. At the same time disaster leave women and girls including mother with heavier responsibilities and workloads and often-poorer health. Not all women are more vulnerable than the men around them to disasters but in every culture and society, a great many girls and women are at high risk. Part of the answer is physical. Women may be less mobile than many men before and after childbirth and are more likely to have health problems related to old age than men, who tend not to live as long. Part of the answer is economic. Women are the poorest of the poor. In many parts of the world, they rely on the local water, animals, and land for their income so natural disasters hit them hard. Part of the answer is social. Women provide food, water, fuel wood, and other necessities of life for others. Generally, they are also the ones who care for infants and children, older people, and others in their community and household who live with disabilities or illness. Also, more women than men live alone. Widows, women heading households alone, and women who have left their homes and moved their families to the city or even another country are especially likely not to have secure incomes, savings, or credit. They may be newcomers without many friendships or isolated from others because of the language they speak. And part of the answer is political. Many women are made homeless by male violence, long before an earthquake or volcanic eruption. Generally, men make the key decisions about disasters—how and when to prepare, evacuate, rebuild, or relocate. Women do not enjoy their full human rights in most societies and cultures today, and this too makes it more difficult for them to cope with the effects of disasters (Source Handbook for estimating the socio - economic and environmental effects of disasters). As women are primarily responsible for domestic duties such as childcare and care for elderly and disabled, they don’t have the liberty of migrating to look for work following a disaster. Men often do migrate, leaving behind very high numbers of female-headed households. The failure to recognize this reality and women’s double burden of productive and reproductive labor means that women’s visibility in society remains low, and attention to their needs is woefully adequate. Because housing is often destroyed in the disaster, many families are forced to relocate to shelters. Inadequate facilities for simple daily tasks such as cooking means that women’s domestic burden increases at the same time as her economic burden, leaving her less freedom and mobility to look for alternative sources of income. When women’s economic resources are taken away, their bargaining position in household is adversely affected. Disasters themselves can serve to increase women’s vulnerability. Aside from the increase in female-headed households and the fact that the majority of shelter residents are women, numerous studies have shown an increase in levels of domestic and sexual violence following disasters. As one of the primary aspects of

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women’s health in particular, reproductive and sexual health are beginning to be recognized as key components of disaster relief efforts, however attention to them remains inadequate and women’s health suffers disproportionately as a result. (Gender and natural disasters) 2.6 Disaster preparedness Preparedness is a phase where emergency managers develop plans of action for when the disaster strikes. Common preparedness measures include the communication plans with easily understandable terminology and chain of command, development and practice of multi-agency coordination and incident command, proper maintenance and training of emergency services, development and exercise of emergency population warning methods combined with emergency shelters and evacuation plans stockpiling, inventory, and maintenance of supplies and equipment. An efficient preparedness measure is an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) combined with a practiced region-wide doctrine for managing emergencies. Another preparedness measure is to develop a volunteer response capability among civilian populations. Since, volunteer response is not as predictable and plan able as professional response; volunteers are most effectively deployed on the periphery of an emergency. Preparedness helps reducing vulnerability to disaster and reducing impact of disaster. But preparedness should consider the context and the need. Preparedness could be at different level Majority of the households in the developing world are headed by women, which have significant implications for the influence of women and their contribution to the socialization process of individuals, family units and the community. Essentially, the role of women in the Preparedness Phase ranges from teaching simple everyday safety measures in the home, to hazard identification in the community. In the preparedness phase, suggested areas in which women can contribute include: Practice of safety measures in the home; Education of the community in skills for use in the response phase e.g. First Aid; Identification of community resources; Preparation and implementation of family disaster plans; Participation in the testing of community disaster plans; Participation through women’s groups in public awareness and information programmes; Evacuation of vulnerable individuals and community groups e.g. the elderly, persons with physical and mental disability; Learning construction skills to assist with the provision and maintenance of safe housing. (Role of Women in Disaster Management (Source: Audrey Mullings & Gloria Noel, Pan-Caribbean Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Project (PCDPPP) Staff Members, UNDRO NEWS, September / October 1988) 2.7 Indigenous method Disaster act and the modern technologies were developed gradually as per experience but people from different community have been using and have developed from generations their own indigenous method. Experience has also shown that poor people have their own coping strategies in order to overcome from effect of disasters using local resource and their own capabilities. For example: putting the valuables at the higher places, constructing the wall with the paste of grass and mud and others.

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2.8 Modern method Several measures have been developed for mitigation and prevention from disaster. These include training and empowerment, policy formulation, people’s involvement and participation in rescue, relief and care, and infrastructure development. 2.9 Disaster Management Planning Ninth Plan (1998 A.D. to 2002 A.D.) underlines the need to strengthen the disaster management capability by adopting various possible means. The plan envisages that an attempt should be made for prevention, mitigation, and reduction of natural disaster through more advanced geological, hydrological, and meteorological technology. Hazard mapping, vulnerability assessment, risk analysis, and early warning system have to be developed for which well-trained and efficient human resource should be made available. The plan also stresses the need to strengthen the capability of fire brigade. The Plan suggests that the policies and regulations concerning disaster management should be amended according to the need. The plan emphasizes the importance and need for national and/or international assistance. Responding the call of United Nations, Nepal has constituted a high level National Committee for the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) which is Chaired by the Home Minister and represented by other high level dignitaries from Governmental and Non-Governmental agencies. The IDNDR national committee formulates policies for natural disaster reduction. The National Action Plan (NAP) of GON has been prepared under the direction of the IDNDR National Committee. The NAP includes activities on disaster preparedness, response, mitigation, rehabilitation, and reconstruction programs. The NAP specifies the responsibilities of various disaster actors with specified time frame according to which they should implement their disaster reduction jobs by formulating special course of action and should mobilize the available resources in the given period. In this way the objectives of NAP are under implementation. The disaster preparedness plan includes the following activities: Measures related to national policy and planning for making institutional arrangement,

providing legal framework, adopting national policy and plan on disaster management. Measures related to geological, hydrological and meteorological hazard assessment

and environmental engineering studies. Infrastructure specific and hazard specific preparedness measures. Measures related to strengthening fire fighting capabilities in fire prone areas. Measures related to awareness raising, training, rehearsal, simulation activities. Measures related to establishment of disaster management information system and

stock piling of emergency supply materials. Risk assessment for development planning. Policies on the role of NGOs, local community, private sector and also people's

participation especially women and socially disadvantaged groups. Incorporation of environment impact assessment for disaster reduction development

planning.

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Promotion of regional and sub-regional cooperation between countries expecting same types of hazards.

Establishment of documentation centre on disaster activities. Source: Nepal Country Report 1999

2.10 About the Project DIPECHO SAMADHAN II, the CBDRM Project of CARE Nepal is being implemented from 1st October 2007 supported by European Commission through its Humanitarian Aid Department under the DIPECHO IV Action Plan for South Asia. A total of 13,811 populations covering 2,209 households in 30 communities under 9 Village Development Committees (VDCs) in 2 districts (Doti and Kailali) in the far west of Nepal are the direct beneficiaries under this project. Two local organizations are partnering with CARE Nepal to implement the project activities at the community and district level. The two target districts are prone to multiple hazards where communities are poor, marginalized and socially excluded from the mainstream. The geographical positioning, poor literacy, limited livelihood opportunities, marginalization, poor communication, and lack of political will make the communities in the far west more vulnerable to multiple hazards. The map shows the remote positioning of the targeted VDCs in the project districts. The DIPECHO SAMADHAN II project aims at building resiliency among communities in order to enable them withstand & minimize the impacts of natural hazards. Main activities of the project include trainings & orientations for Capacity Building & Awareness Raising of the communities, teachers, & students on Disaster Preparedness. Promoting Early Warning System (EWS) through popularization & improvisation of indigenous mechanisms, strengthening EWS by strengthening resources & skills, construction of small-scale mitigation structures are other key activities. Other key aspect of this project is to improve the community ownership of the preparedness initiative, coordination with government & important stakeholders for sustainable impact of the project at different levels. (Source: Mid-term assessment of DIPECHO SAMADHAN II, May 2008) During the conceptualization of this project, other stakeholders including the local government representatives were involved in providing suggestions and their views. Due to this, feeling of ownership was developed more, which is the key objective of any community based project. This project is the first of its kind in the country where the local artists, community, government representatives, NGO’s and INGO’s were actively involved to develop IEC materials. This created a possibility for the targeted community to have greater ownership in the whole initiative. The IEC design workshop was helpful for the targeted community to reflect and understand their vulnerability more and develop community

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contingency plan in their respective communities. Some of the activities done under this project were as follows: Advocacy and public awareness Local capacity building Mitigation work Education Research and dissemination Facilitation of coordination Institutional strengthening Source: Internal Report, CARE Nepal, 2008

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CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY:

The overall approach to the research process concerned to this study is presented in this chapter. To attain the objectives, the present study has adopted both field and desk researches From the field primary data have been collected while desk research have been adopted to collect and review all relevant literatures Secondary information on women’s involvement in disaster preparedness and mitigation was gathered through the reports of different projects, seminars and workshops of different organizations, published and unpublished journals and newspaper cuttings. Internet sites were also a major source for gathering information For primary information the following methods and procedures have been applied. 3.1 Research design and research method The design and methods used for this research are: 3.1.1 DIPECHO and Non- DIPECHO area group The research design adopted for this study is basically descriptive and explanatory. The women beneficiaries of the DIPECHO SAMADHAN II project participated as DA group and women who were not participating in any disaster preparedness program participated as NDA group. Dhansingpur VDC and Munuwa VDC of Kailali District were selected for DA and NDA group respectively. The research was designed to assess the role of women in CBDRM in the rural communities of Kailali district and have comparative analysis with the NDA group in terms of their awareness and disaster preparedness. In the NDA not a single project was implemented (According to FAYA staff Karuna Adhikari) . Because of the Tarai agitation the roads were blocked in regular basis, The communities of Munuwa VDC were nearby Dhansingpur, and preference was for nearby communities 3.1.2 Quantitative and Qualitative methods Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in this research. For the quantitative method, a sample survey was conducted. For the qualitative method Focus Group Discussions (FGD) were conducted and case studies were prepared. Observation was done for women’s vulnerability in disaster due to geographical location of the research site and poverty. Women’s indigenous mechanism for disaster situation in the communities also was observed. Observations of the health posts in both the VDC’s were undertaken to know the types of cases the women of the VDC’s had faced out of the disaster. A leadership training program conducted by the CARE Nepal and its partners was also observed in Dhansingpur VDC to find out the types of IEC materials used, women’s proportional number and their participation in the discussions and the presentations.

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3.2. Selection of sample 3.2.1 Research site Dhanshinghpur VDC and Munuwa VDC of Tikapur in far western part of Nepal were selected as the research site for the aforementioned research. 3.2.2 Study Area Kailali district, a part of Seti Zone, is one of the seventy-five districts of Nepal. The district, with Dhangadhi as its district headquarters, covers an area of 3,235 square kilometers (1,249 sq mi) and has a population (2001) of 616,697. Dhangadhi is a center of attraction of not only Kailali district but of the whole Seti zone. The district also contains Tikapur Park, one of the biggest parks in Nepal, and Godha-Ghodi Tal Lake. (Source- tourism board) The area of research was focused mainly in the two VDC’s – Dhansingpur and Munuwa in order to conduct a comparative study of the participation of women in the disaster preparedness initiatives. Some details about the study area: The total population of Dhansinghpur is 11,000. The female comprises of 50.5% and the male comprises of 49.5%. There are about 1100 to 1200 students in the school. More girls are enrolled in these schools because the boys are enrolled in the boarding school. Here the marriage starts from 18 in the non-educated family and 20-22 in the educated family. Women are seen to be engaged in various groups such as the Ama Samuha, Mahila Samuha, Laxmi Samuha, mix Samuha and others. Details about the households of Dhansinghpur in the research areas is as follows: Table 3: Number of House Hold of Dhansinghpur according to the VDC’s S. No Name of the area No. of household 1 Mallaha Tole 57 2 Toil Gaun 45 3 Ram Danda 35 4 Ram Nagar 85 5 Phanta 44 6 Banga 79 TOTAL 345 During the time of the flood, 1550 homes were provided with the relief funds and this was contributed by CSSD, Lutheran, Digo Bikash, Badi Samuha etc. There are 9 wards in Dhansingpur out of which ward no.1 (Mallaha Gaun) was the most affected where the flood hit 60% of the total population. Tikapur is a Village Development Committee in Kailali District in the Seti Zone of western Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 25639 residing in 3804 individual households.

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Dhansinghpur is a Village Development Committee in Kailali District in the Seti Zone of western Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 8952 residing in 1446 individual households. Munuwa is a Village Development Committee in Kailali District in the Seti Zone of western Nepal. At the time of the 1991 Nepal census it had a population of 9276 residing in 1173 individual households. 3.2.3 Sampling of respondent In the initial stage a consultation between the Central Department of Home Science Women Studies and CARE-Nepal was made. A purposive sampling of taking 6 communities of Dhansingpur VDC (DA) and 3 communities( shankerpur, Girdharpur and Pharela ) of Munuwa VDC (NDA) was conducted. The women of Dhansingpur VDC and Munuwa VDC were chosen as the respondents. 3.2.4 Sample size The total sample size was 360 respondents; 180 respondents each from the DA and NDA groups were selected for the research. 3.2.5 Stratification of sample Respondents for the DA group were taken from the six communities i.e. Mallah Tole, Toli Gaun, Ban Gaun Pudatole, Fhanta, Payal Ramnagar and Ram Danda Dailekhtol of Dhansinghpur VDC. These areas were selected for the purpose of including the beneficiaries of DIPECHO SAMADHAN II Project. For the NDA group, Munuwa VDC was selected since there was no project launched by DIPECHO and other organizations in disaster. This was done for the purpose of comparing the change brought about by the DIPECHO SAMADHAN II among the women in disaster preparedness and mitigation. 3.3. Data collection procedure 3.3.1 Orientation for Enumerators One-day orientation on objective of the study, collection of data and interviewing method was conducted for the Enumerators (students of women studies) in Women Studies Department. 3.3.2 Supervision and Monitoring While conducting the survey interview, FGD’s and the key informants interviews, the enumerators were supervised and monitored frequently to evaluate their performance for data collection. This helped in ensuring the quality of research and supporting the enumerators in need. Day to day sharing and discussion among the enumerators and teachers were conducted to discuss on their experience/problems and to formulate

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strategies suitable to the research objectives. 3.3.3 Collection of data Data collection tools: Semi- structured questionnaire, Focus Group Discussions and Case Studies were used for data collection. Observation was also made to collect information, which was not addressed in the above-mentioned tools. Semi-structured questionnaire were prepared – Both open and closed ended questions

were involved in the questionnaire to find the quantitative information and to supplement the quantitative information by the qualitative one. The questionnaire contained the demographic and socio- economic characteristics of the respondents and their households including women’s preparedness in disaster to fulfill the objectives. The questionnaire was pre- tested the next day the researchers reached in the field and necessary correction was made, as the respondents were not available at Kathmandu. Minor revisions of questionnaire became necessary during the field visits.

Check lists for Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and key informant interviews – Check lists were used as an instrument of data collection in FGD and Key informant interviews. Checklists were formulated to assess the women’s capacity building and decision making, coping strategies and indigenous mechanisms, effectiveness of the awareness program and IEC materials, women’s role in disaster CBDRM and so on.

Meena Ojha Field Officer, CSSD; Jayashra Sawant School Teacher, Rastriya Secondary School; Shree Lal Pokherel CSSD Program Officer; Hira Saud Social Mobilizer, CARE Nepal; and Karuna Adhikari of FAYA and Khagendra Saud member of Dhansingpur VDC were the key informants for the research work. Interviews of the key informants were taken at their workplaces. This allowed them to be more comfortable and share their experiences and views more openly.

Focused Group Discussion – To supplement the quantitative data collected through the sample survey qualitative information was collected through the FGD by using checklists. Two FGD’s were conducted in each sampled ward. Between the two FGD’s in each ward, one was conducted exclusively with the women’s group and the other was conducted with a mixed group, where male also participated. About 8–12 participants were not involved in the survey, were chosen for each FGD.

5 Sample Survey – On spot face-to-face interviews were carried out with the use of semi-structured questionnaire for the survey purpose. The assigned enumerators conducted these interviews and most of the questionnaires were based on objectives along with few open questions. Before the interview, the respondents were briefed about the purpose of the study and ensured confidentiality. For the purpose of the On Spot Survey, the enumerators visited the households of the sampled respondents and interviewed them at their place of living.

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Case study – For the collection of the qualitative information, case studies of both the

beneficiaries and non-beneficiaries women of the study area were prepared. Case studies were prepared to complement the quantitative findings.

Consultation and Sharing – The whole process of data collection was performed in cooperation and coordination with CARE Nepal, CSSD and FAYA, through the central level CARE in Kathmandu and Kailali based organization. Consultation and sharing with Dinesh P. Baral – Project Officer – SAMADHAN/CARE Nepal, Kailali; Shree Lal Pokharel District Project Officer; Rishi Ram Bhattarai – Assistant Project Manager – SAMADHAN/CARE Project, Doti; Anup G. Fainju – Project Officer, Practical Action; Shanta Upadhaya- ICBO, SAMADHAN-II was held twice in the field and discussed the research process extensively. Information and experience gained during the research was shared by the students with the above CARE staff and the staff of partner organizations on the last day of the field trip. The interaction was very insightful as the students raised many questions on the basis of their experience during the research and the staff of CARE and partner organization clarified on each issue raised. Problems faced by CARE-Nepal and partner organizations while implementing DIPECHO SAMADHAN II Project and including more women in the groups were also questioned.

3.4 Data Processing and Analysis 3.4.1 Processing and Analysis of quantitative data The quantitative data has been edited (data entry, processing, scrutiny, tabulation etc.), post coded and analyzed using Statistical Data management software program SPSS (Statistical Program for Social Sciences) which is one of the popular tool for analyzing the data under social science research, and presented in the form of facts and figures. 3.4.2 Processing and Analysis of qualitative data Qualitative data were analyzed in a systematic scientific order. For this purpose, the open questions were noted down and later on clubbed according to their commonalities and presented in the form of facts and figures. Finally, the statements made were analyzed in terms of understood meaning and its guided perspective that would be presented in report as examples.

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CHAPTER IV

ANALYSIS OF DATA AND FINDINGS:

4.1 Description of Samples This study includes two set of samples. The type one sample comprised the women from the DIPECHO SAMADHAN II project area of Dhansingpur VDC of Kailali who are the beneficiaries of the project while the type two samples comprised of women of the Munuwa VDC of the same district where DIPECHO project was not implemented. 4.2 Demographic Characteristics of the Respondents Table 4: Age of the Respondent Age of the respondent DIPECHO % Non-DIPECHO % Below 20 19.4 10.6 21 – 30 31.1 33.3 31 – 40 24.4 27.2 41 – 50 14.4 20.6 50 and above 10.6 8.3 The above table represents different age of respondents from DA and NDA groups below 20 yrs – above 50 years. The age of respondent between 21-30 years is highest in both the groups. The lowest percent of the age of the respondent is above 50 years. The data representing the age of the respondent below 20 years is starting from 13 years and above who are the school going children encouraged by the teacher to participate in the DA group. Table 5: Caste and Ethnicity of the respondent Caste / Ethnicity DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % Brahmin / Chhetri 29.4 13.3

Janajati / Newar 36.7 78.3 Dalit Group 33.9 8.3 In the Nepalese socio- economic situation, the diversity of caste/ethnicity is very important factor. Nepal has a caste system that categories people into a hierarchy of caste. Similarly, socio-cultural diversity in Nepal exists in terms of the ecology such as Terain/plains, hill and mountain. The table shows the caste/ethnicity feature of the respondent from both DIPECHO and Non- DIPECHO Groups. The number of respondents belonging to Janajati/Newar has the highest percentage than Brahmin/Chettri and Dalit(socially excluded in terms of resources access) groups from DA. Similarly, in Non-DIPECHO groups also, Janajati/Newar has highest percentage followed by Brahmin and Dalit. But in comparison the DA has more Dalit group than NDA. As the respondents were mainly from the Tharu community which falls under Janajati we can see that in both the groups the

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percentage of respondents was high in Janajati than any other caste. The percent of Dalit in DA is more than in NDA . The CARE Nepal seems to have integrated dalit people however in NDA (Munuwa) did not come as respondent. Table 6: Religions of the Respondents Religion DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % Hindu 97.8 99.4 Buddhist 1.1 0 Muslim 1.1 0.6 The above table shows the religion of the respondents of DA and NDA group where the percentage of Hindu was the highest. Similarly, the lowest percentage in the DA Groups was Muslim and Buddhist. In the NDA groups, no one from the Buddhist category was found in the research. Table 7: Marital Status of the Respondent Marital Status DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % Married 80 94.4 Unmarried 13.3 2.2 Widowed 6.7 3.3 The above table shows the marital status of DA and NDA groups. The majority of the women were married in both the areas with (80%, 94.4%) respectively. In D A group 13.3 percent of the respondents are unmarried and the 6.7% are widowed. In NDA group 2.2% were unmarried and 3.3% widowed women. The table gives a clear picture that in DA more respondents are unmarried and widowed than NDA. This indicates that single women are free to participate in any group activity. Table 8: Educational Status of the Respondents Education Status DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % Less literate 63.7 76.1 Literate 36.7 23.9 Break down of Literate Non Formal Education 45.5 48.8 sPrimary Level 28.8 20.9 Secondary Level 18.8 14 S.L.C level 4.7 2.3 Intermediate and above 3.1 14 The above table shows the educational status of the respondents of DA and NDA groups. In both the groups less literacy is high. In DA the literacy rate 36.7% exceeds the National Level literacy rate of women which is 34.6% according the 2001 census. Among DA group more women (28.8%) has up to primary level education compare to 20.9% in NDA. Similarly the percentage of respondents who had completed secondary level is 18.8% in DA and 14% in NDA. But there is a notable fact that 14% of the respondents in the NDA

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had higher level of education compared to 3.1% in DA. Table 9: Occupation of the Respondent Occupation DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % Agriculture 77.8 46.1 Service 3.3 3.3 Manual / Labor work 13.9 41.7 Others 5 8.3 Students 0 0.6 Most of the respondents were involved in agricultural occupation with 77.8% in DA and 46.1% in NDA group, followed by the labor work for daily wages. From this we can also see that the respondents in NDA were mainly engaged as wage laborer who worked in others agricultural land since they had very few or no land of their own. Low percentage of the respondent was in the service sector in both DA and the NDA groups. The other occupations included small shops, selling vegetables. Larger percent of the respondents were farmers who had limited knowledge, skill and equipment. The indigenous equipments in their possession were not adequate to divert the strong current during flood and hence they were in utmost need of modern mechanisms which they couldn’t afford due to poverty. Table 10: Types of house Houses DIPECHO % Non – DIPECHO% Roof of straw 97.8 49.2 Mud wall 82.8 83.8 Tin roof 42.2 22.3 Cemented 6.1 8.4 The above table shows that 98% of the respondents in DA had houses with straw roof whereas NDA has only 49% respectively. 42% of the respondents of DA had tin roofed house compared to 22% of NDA and very few of the houses were made up of cement in both DA and NDA, comparatively NDA had better construction of houses than that of DA. Table 11: Use of agricultural land Yes/No DIPECHO Non- DIPECHO Yes 82.8% (149) 77.2% (139) No 17.2% (31) 22.8% (41) Total 100 %(180) 100%(180) The above table shows the use of agricultural land of respondents of DA and NDA, which is 83% and 77% respectively. In comparison of both the groups DA were using more land for agriculture than that of NDA.

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Table 12: Size of agricultural land Kattha DIPECHO Non- DIPECHO 0 - 5 Kattha 23.5% (35) 29.5% (41) 5 - 10 kattha 26.8 %(40) 29.5%(41) 10 - 20 kattha 12.8 %(19) 17.3%(24) More than 20 kattha 36.9 %(55) 23.7%(33) Total 100%(149) 100%(149)

The DA respondents had 37% had more than 20 kattha Agricultural land compared to NDA which has only 24%. However, only 24% of respondent had less than 5 kattha Agricultural land compared 30% of NDA. Hence, we can see that the DA respondents had more of agriculture land compared to NDA. Table 13: Annual Income of the respondent’s family Annual Income DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % 0-10 thousands 41.1 36.1 10 - 15 thousands 16.7 20 15 - 20 thousands 11.7 12.2 20 - 30 thousands 30.6 31.7 The above table reflects the total annual income of the family members of the respondent. 41% and 36% the respondent of the DA and NDA group respectively were less than 10 thousands annual income. All the respondents family income was below poverty line, in comparison the NDA had slightly more annual income than the DA. Table 14: Types of Family Types of Family DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO % Joint Family 61.1 51.7 Nuclear Family 37.2 46.1 Extended Family 1.7 2.2 The table shows that the majority of the women were living in a joint family in DA group. In NDA group nuclear family is more than that of DA group and very few were living in extended family in both the groups. This shows that majority of women had to take care of large number of families in these groups. 4.3 Role of women in CBDRM in DIPECHO SAMADHAN II The household role: The evaluation of reproductive role is prerequisite in order to analyze the role of women in community based disaster risk management project. The women of DA and NDA took prime responsibilities to look after the HH duties. Most of them cooked, fetched water and looked after their children and elderly people. Most of time, they are working outdoor either in the field or in the work place. They even spend some time on livestock raising in addition

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to domestic chores. From respondents view it was found that many male members have migrated in India in order to seek job as a result the women were also undertaking the responsibilities of the men. Thus, the women of both the areas were doing multiple roles in their day to day life. The Community Role 4.3.1 Role of women in CBDR management Table 15: Participation in group activities DIPECHO % Non- DIPECHO %Group 69% (125) 16% (28) Non group 31% (55) 84% (52) Total 100% (180) 100% (180) The above table shows us that the women of DA were involved more in group i.e. 69% whereas 16% of NDA involved in group. It was found many women were involved in more than one group in the DA area such as Aama, Laxmi, Jivan, Nirmala Ekata samaj, DRRC, CSSD and Krishi Samuha. These groups were active in one or more of the activities like: Saving and credit, maternal and neo-natal health care, HIV/AIDS, improvement in agriculture and livestock and local haat bazaar and so on. Table 16: List of groups by respondent’s number

DIPECHO Non- DIPECHO Types of Group No. % No. %

Disaster Risk Reduction Committee (DRRC) 93 51.7 - - Emergency fund raising committee 06 3.3 - - CSSD(local organization) 17 9.5 - - Ama Samuha 23 12.8 - - Nirmala Ekata Samaj 09 5.0 - -

Jivan Samuha 13 7.2 16 8.8 Krishi Samuha 13 7.2 04 2.2 Laxmi Samuha 21 11.7 04 2.2 Unidentified Samuha 11 6.1 04 2.2 CSSD is a local organization. Here it is taken as a group according to the responses of the respondents they were involved in the activities of CSSD The above table shows the distribution of women in DA and NDA in different groups. The women of DA are participating in different groups with largest number (93) in DRRP followed by Aama , Laxmi, CSSD, Jivan, Krishi, , Nirmala Ekata and emergency fund raising groups. But very few (28) in NDA were associated with different groups. In DA many women were involved in more than one group. 6.1% and 2.2% of women respectively from DA and NDA didn’t know the names of the groups they were involved in. Out of the 93 respondents involved in DRRP groups of DA, 35 women (37.6%) reported

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that they are the members of executive body in their groups which represent women in leadership position. Factors of motivation for group involvement

Fig 1: Factors of motivation for group involvement in the DIPECHO areas

0% 22%

46%

18%

14%

Media

Member of the family

women local socialmobilizerNGO official

Relatives and Friends

Fig 2: Factors of motivation for group involvement in the Non-DIPECHO area

0%0%

39%

0%

61%

Media

Member of the family

women local social mobilizer

NGO official

Relatives and Friends

The above figures show that 46% participants of DA group members were encouraged to involve in the group by local social mobilizers followed by family members, NGO officials, relatives, and friends. In NDA group, greater percent (60.7%) of the women were encouraged by relatives and friends whereas members of the family encouraged 39.3%. The figures show that women local social mobilizers play a great role to coordinate the local women to be associated in the groups. The same was expressed by the officials of the DIPECHO–II during the consultation and sharing and the participants of the FGD. The Ama, Laxmi, Jivan, Nirmala Ekata samaj are female only groups where the women do savings and credit, and health related activities by themselves. CSSDis the partner of the Dipecho-II.

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Among the 125 respondents in DA who were involved in the groups, 51% said they just attend the meeting and come back but 49% said they speak in the group, participate in discussion. From the focus group discussion it was found that in the mixed group also women’s voices were heard and they also participate in decision making. Types of Training taken

2

10

33

48

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Fig 3: DISTRIBUTION OF RESPONDENT BY TYPE OF TRAINING TAKEN

First aid skill training

Search and rescue training

Leadership training

CBDRM training

No training

Among the 93 respondents involved in DRRC, 2% have taken first aid skill training, 10% are trained in leadership building capacity, and 33% have received training on CBDRM. None of the respondents were trained in search and rescue as men were mostly selected for such type of training because the criteria developed for membership in the group was not gender friendly. 4.3.2 Women’s active participation in different CBDRM tasks Among the mutliple roles (productive, reproductive, social/community, and political) of women, community role is one of the most important role prescribed by the society. Women are performing different tasks/roles to prepare themselves for the reduction of the disaster risks in the community. According to the FGD’s and the informal talks with the community people, women are taking part different tasks which can be categorized in 5 different types mentioned below: Type 1: Community Awareness program

(a) Writing script and playing in street drama, (b) Writing the songs related to disaster risk management and singing songs, (c) Writing early warning message and disaster preparedness message for FM radios, (d) Door to door program

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(e) Early warning for making the community people alert to face the disaster. Type 2: IEC

(a) IEC material preparation designing (b) Distributing the IEC in the communities.

Type 3: By serving the injured using first aid skill training provided to them Type 4: Helping in preparedness mitigation process like

(a) Forming the emergency fund committee (b) Collecting the fund (cash and kind) for emergency fund (c) Knotting net for making small dams (d) Planting trees (e) Raising the road/path level (f) Teaching the students in the schools for disaster preparedness

Type 5: They could rescue the flood survivors by swimming Table 17: Distribution of respondents and their participation by types of activities

DIPECHO Types of activities No. %

Participation in designing IEC materials 4 4.3 Participation in writing script for street drama 4 4.3 Participation in writing message for radio program 2 2.2 Participation in writing the songs related to disaster 2 2.2 Participation in singing the songs 2 2.2 Participation in drama 4 4.3 Participation in collecting fund 12 12.9 Participation in rescuing people from the flood 6 6.5 Participation in knotting net 7 7.6 Participation in planting trees 3 3.3 Participation in awareness (door to door program) 12 12.9 No participation 35 37.6

The above table shows the number of women who were actively involved in various tasks for disaster preparedness out of 93 respondents. 38% respondents were not able to participate in any of the activities because of various reasons (pregnancy, study, household work etc.) 4.4 Vulnerability of women in relation to poverty The information for women's vulnerability was mostly collected through qualitative methods using FGDs, informal and formal consultation and sharing with DIPECHO officials,

36

respondents and key informants in the field. Respondents’ occupation their annual income, home ownership, land size and the roofing/types of house were taken as indicators for measuring women's economic status (poverty). The analysis of the data reveals that a majority (77.8%) in DA and 46% in the NDA has agriculture as the main occupation for livelihood followed by wage labor, service and others respectively. The table 9 of occupation shows more percent of the respondents of NDA depend on wage labor for their livelihood than DA. Comparatively, the respondents of both the groups have almost similar poverty level which is less than one Dollar/day which shows that most people living in that area are below poverty line. To supplement the income for survival, almost all the male members of both the areas migrate to India for wage labor which has increased the number of Women Headed Households. To migrate to India often the family takes loan for the travel and until the male member sends some money back the women are required to arrange for the repayment. The absence of male members and added burden of responsibilities to feed the family and loan repayment, the women had to seek alternatives of income. So they cannot afford enough time to take part in community activities. In the DA women who have taken part in CBDRM activities also said they are overburden and sometimes cannot attend the meetings as they have to look for earning for family survival. Due to poverty and lack of time women are not even able to make use of good opportunities which are being provided in their communities. As a result these women who lack knowledge to save themselves and their family in times of disaster become more vulnerable and dependent on others. Types of houses were also taken as one of the indicators of poverty assessment. Two most common types of houses found in the study areas were: Tharu house and Achhami house. The Tharu houses (one roomed, thatched roof) belonged mostly to the poorest of the poor and who are more vulnerable than the Achhami houses. The Tharu and Janajati people could not afford an attic at their houses to save their belongings during flood time. In Achhami houses most of the house had a small attic, which could be used at the time of flood to store belongings, and even family members could take shelter at time of heavy rainfall. It was found out that almost all the house has mud and grass walls. The floodwater easily makes holes through it and there is high risk of collapsing the house in case of severe rainfall. From FGDs it was found that due to lack of money and food, the women and their family members had to starve many days until the relief materials came in their areas. Some took refuge on the roof tops of their houses while some took shelter in neighbors’ houses, school, health post etc. 4.5 Vulnerability of women in disaster prone areas in relation to less literacy and ignorance From the research it was found that woman from both the areas who were literate and the

37

women who had higher level of education were more aware of disaster preparedness and most got the opportunity to take part in these activities. The women who were less literate especially in the DA were found less confident to share about the community level risk and disaster management activities. Many of them could not read and understand the IEC materials as a result they had less opportunity to benefit out of IEC materials. The old women shared that the pictures were small in size and was not properly visible from a distance. It was found that the respondents were not aware/ did not know the name of the project or the organization supporting in the disaster preparedness project. They knew the project only through the people who visited them that is mostly the social mobilizes. Some respondents (33.3%) from the DA did not know the name of DIPECHO SAMADHAN II which is there for them to make them aware about the disaster and prepare them to be save from the disaster(fig. 4&5). But 67percent of the respondents knew

Figure 4. Knowledge on Dipecho II in the DIPECHO area

67%

33%

Yes

No

Figure 5. Knowledge on Dipecho II in the Non DIPECHO area

11%

89%

Yes

No

about the Dipecho/ Samadhan project. Ignorance among the women obstructs them in involving in the project activities and achieving valuable knowledge and skills as beneficiary of DIPECHO II in DA. It is found from the FGDs and the interview that the women of the active members of the samittees are ignorant about the IEC materials. One of the participants of the FGD (women group) in Ramdada, Deilekhtole said proudly "My daughter–in-law is the member of the samittee.

38

She goes for the door to door orientation program". But when she was asked about the hoarding board on the cross roads of the village, she did not know what was that about. This case is due to the lack of sharing knowledge of the samittee member among the family members. They were very shy and even did not want to tell their names and were ignorant of the names of the groups they were involved in. This type of ignorance was observed during the FGDs where the researchers had a hard time to extract information from them. It was also observed that language was the barrier for them to unfold themselves in front of the researchers. 4.6 Vulnerability of women in relation to gender inequality Migration of men in Kailali district is very common. However there is a good practice that most of men return to their house during rainy season in order to be with family member during flood. Last year’s flood was unexpected and came after rainy season was over. Thus most of the male members went back to their work place leaving behind their family members to cope with flood. Being women, they have to bear multiple roles. Their social as well as biological reproductive role makes women more vulnerable. Due to their affection and emotional attachment with their children they could not leave them alone at the time of disaster. In Mallahotal, a women climbed the roof of the house holding one small child tight to their chest and the other one with the other hand and remained there during heavy rain which made her and her children more vulnerable. Some of the socio cultural practices of the community on women stands as a hindrance and pulls them towards vulnerability. An example can be taken of the Pahadi community of both the researched areas where the women during their menstrual period has to practice Chaupadi ( staying separately outside the main house without touching anyone). This was a challenging moment for these women at the time of flood. As most of the women had to stay at one room together during disaster, they were not allowed to stay with others in safe places. During rescue time also, men hesitate to hold their hands and they also hesitated to catch others hands to be rescued during menstrual period, which made them more vulnerable. The belief that "Women are physically weak and men are stronger" is deeply rooted in the society. With this social concept and belief in mind, The DIPECHO project has given more priority to the male members in the training of search and rescue. As a result no respondent who was involved in this research was involved in the training of search and rescue task-force. In the FGD there were Tharu women in the DA who appeared physically stronger than men and had also taken part in rescuing the survivors during disaster period. So being unequal in the eyes of the society in gender quality, women are thus having less opportunity for different types of initiatives in CBDRM. Cultural norms of do not allow women to touch men.

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Table 18: Support by family members for child care DIPECHO Non-DIPECHO Relation

No. % No % Husband 13 7.2 08 3 Mother-in-law 41 22.8 22 12 Father-in-law - - 01 0 Sister-in-law - - 10 5 Daughter-in-law 22 12.2 23 12 Sister 05 2.8 10 5 Daughter 18 10 14 7 Self 81 45 92 51 Total 180 100 180 100 The above table shows that majority 81 (45%) in DA and 92 (51%) in NDA of women take their small children with them when they go out of the house for group activities. Then mother-in-laws are mostly taking care of their grand children when their mothers go out for works/meeting/training. The table depicts that the reproductive role of women is shifted from women to women only, though 7.2% in DA and 3.3 % in NDA have taken over their wives responsibility. 4.7 Coping Strategies and Indigenous Mechanisms used by women The community people have some of their own means to prepare for the flood and some scientific measures have been shared by the DIPECHO project for disaster preparedness. Respondents of both the areas were asked whether they were prepared for the flood that took place on the September 2008. 147 numbers out of 180 (82.8%) respondents in the DA and 129 (71.7%) from NDA reported they were prepared for the regular type of flood that used to come every year but they were not prepared for the sudden flood that occurred after the rainy season was over. This time the flood came at night and the water level was also unexpected higher than previous years. Table below reveals the indigenous mechanisms and strategies used by the women in disaster preparedness.

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Table 19: Indigenous Mechanisms and strategies DIPECHO NON

DIPECHO Indigenous mechanisms

No. % No. %

Keeping Belongings at the higher places 42 23.3 52 28.9 Transporting the valuables in Dunlop to the safer places

68 37.8 103 57.2

Storing food grains in the daivre (mud containers)

79 43.9 82 45.6

Plastering the cane frame of the house with the paste of mud and grass

91 50.6 87 48.3

Making small dam at the entrance of the house with the mud and grass

83 46.1 79 43.9

Keeping mobile chulo 78 43.3 68 37.8 Attic (small floors at a height) at their homes 98 54.4 98 54.4 Keeping all valuables on wooden beds with robes on its four legs and pulling it towards the ceiling of house

51 28.3 111 61.7

Making a trench in front of the house

68 37.8 78 43.3

Note: The number of respondents exceeds due to multiple answers Before the implementation of DIPECHO/SAMADHAN project in the areas, the indigenous mechanism was in practice for the disaster preparedness since the flood occurs in the regular interval. The indigenous mechanism for disaster preparedness is still in practice in both the DA and NDA. The women have their own indigenous coping strategies and mechanisms to deal with disaster. On regular basis they have been keeping the belongings at the higher place inside their house. During the time of floods they transported their valuable goods in Dunlop (wooden cart) and kept on higher and safer places in their village. The Tharu villages have their traditional ways of storing food grains in large mud containers. These containers are special in their kind as they are made of mud and grass. In comparison to simply mud utensils it lasts longer when in contact with water. It is called daivre /Dairy. It has wooden legs and is raised at one and half feet from the ground. In the focus group discussions in Munuwa and Dhansingpur the women shared that they are experienced by the flood coming every year and that they have learnt this practice of keeping the grains in those containers from generations. The houses were found to be made of mud and bamboo sticks. First the bamboo sticks are used to make a frame and then the mixture of mud and grass is pasted on the frame. The women told that such houses last longer than simple mud houses. In mud houses when the water hits the base of the walls, the mud dissolves and the whole wall comes down. But in such houses the wooden frame and the mixture of grass and mud helps the walls to stay longer even though the base melts. They shared that when the water level reaches up to the legs they make a small dam like

41

structure at the entrance of the house with the same mixture of mud and grass. This helps to prevent the water from entering into the houses. Surprisingly it was found that most of the houses had mobile ‘Chulo’ (cooking mud stove). The specialty of these stoves is that they can be carried anywhere and used anywhere during the time of the flood. Some women shared that they used their chulo on the ‘thanti’ (traditional attic) and cooked food for the family when their ground floor was flooded with water. The families who are economically sound have houses with a traditional attic (thanti). A small staircase leads to this attic and the attic is mainly used for storing grains, valuable belongings and even family members use it for sleeping purpose. Families who do not have attic used their wooden bed in a traditional way for storing valuable belongings and even to safeguard their children when water entered their houses. They tied ropes at the four legs of the bed and raised the beds at a certain height and tied it on the ceiling of the house. This was found to be an effective technique in most of the villages in Munuwa VDC. Table 20: Recent Technology and strategies

DIPECHO NON DIPECHO Recent technology No % No %

Seeking help from the neighbors and relatives

33 18.3 69 38.3

Seeking help from VDC office/schools

41 22.8 09 5.0

Seeking help from health post

23 12.8 05 2.8

Raising the road level by putting clay from both sides

117 65 05 2.8

Planting tree at the banks for the river

03 1.67 07 3.9

Climbing up on the roof of the house

40 22.22 - -

Contributing in emergency fund

120 66.7 - -

Discussing in the meetings of community level CBRDM

24 13.3 - -

The above table shows the modern mechanisms and strategies used in disaster management by DA and NDA. The respondents of the DA are active participating in the collection of emergency funds and using help from the health posts and other scientific measures learnt through the project. In the NDA most of the villagers in these VDC’s were poor and lacked resources to cope with the flood for a longer time, most of the families sought help from their neighbors and their relatives who were economically sound. They were comparatively less aware of the others measures to face disaster as compared to the DA communities. The women told that due to insufficient safe areas they had to stay in large numbers in the

42

available rooms. Even in times of difficulty the women had stories to share about moments of laughter while seeing each other stumbling and falling in mud. The communities’ togetherness and support was the strength that helped them fight the disaster. 4.8 Effectiveness of project activities DIPECHO project of CARE Nepalis implementing different activities in the six different communities of Dhansinghpur VDC of Kailali district. The main activities are Disaster preparedness, Mitigation, and Recovery. For the preparedness of disaster, the projects conducted are (i) Skill Training

(a) First-aid (b) Search and rescue.

(ii)Designed IEC materials (poster, flip-charts, calendar, school reading materials, and even some fun books to the children which helped in preparedness of disaster) and communicated the themes of the IEC through door to door awareness and distribution of calendar to each household of the six communities. (iii)Conceptual Training/ Orientation training

(a) Leadership capacity building (b)CBDRM (community based disaster risk management)

For mitigation of the disaster, the project conducts mitigation activity where it distributed the mitigation materials; boats, life jackets,head lights, rope, first-aid kit and whistles to the community people during the disaster period. (iv) Street dramas, songs and radio programs were prepared in local language and played in places where it was possible for every household to visit easily, and message for disaster preparedness was broadcasted through local FM radio. Table 21: Effectiveness of project activities

DIPECHO NON DIPECHO Categories No. % No. %

1) DRRC a) Skill Training 30 16.7% - 1.1%

b) Conceptual Training i. Leadership ii. CBDRM

63 32,2% - .6%

2) Mitigation Materials 90 50 - - For the recovery there is no immediate action done, but safe shelter for evacuation is under construction which would be helpful in future in the emergency period. Question was asked to the women how far the project was effective in terms of their capacity building and in terms of survival during disaster time. 16.7 of the respondents said

43

skill training was effective where as 32.2% respondents reported the conceptual training effective for them as it helped to improve/build their human capacity. From the respondent's point of view conceptual training were more effective than skill training. The trainings helped them to develop skills, knowledge, language and information. 50% of the respondents opined that mitigation was effective for the survival of the community people during disaster period but the provision of the boats, life jackets, etc, were not sufficient. 4.9 Effectiveness of IEC Materials The IEC materials designed and prepared with the coordination of local partners involving local people were : the posters, flipcharts, calendar, school reading materials, even some fun books to the children which helped in preparedness of disaster. Table 22: Effectiveness of IEC materials for raising awareness Categories DIPECHO NON DIPECHO

No. % No % Posters and flip-charts 102 56.7% 2 0.8% Calendar 98 54.4% 10 5.65 School Reading Materials 30 16.7% - - Hoarding Board 63 32,2% 45 25 Among the IEC materials, posters and flip charts were found most effective. 56.7% respondents indicated it as effective, because it can be understood easily and it is regarded as a good means of information on how to be prepared in the management of the risk due to the disaster. The respondents who said the IEC was less effective were less literate goups. Similarly 54.4% felt calendar to be effective. Only 16.7% voiced the school reading materials effective, as some did not have access to the materials. Those who said effective were the mothers of the children who had taken part in the schools in DRRP. The hoarding board, which gives the message of safe place during flood in the community, was not readable to the illiterate respondents, so only 32.2% could read and understand it. The effectiveness of hoarding board, posters, charts and calendar were transferred from the Dhansinghpur VDC to Munuwa. 4.10 Effectiveness of awareness initiatives Among the awareness initiatives of DIPECHO/SAMADHAN II street drama was felt most effective followed by door- to –door campaign(Table. 23). Thirty seven(36.7%)respondents said street drama was in local language . So they could understand it and its message. The message was about planting trees, raising the level of the road to control the water level, protect the valuables, construct the houses with log legs,etc. The message was what we dhould do when the sudden flood comes. The drama was entertaining and own local sisters and brothers participated in the drama. The radio program was not popular, as most of the household had no radio set to listen to it

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Table 23: Effectiveness of awareness initiatives Categories DIPECHO NON DIPECHO

No. % No. % Street Drama 66 36.7% 2 0.8% Songs 11 6.1% 3 1.7% Door to door program 53 29.45 1 0.4% Radio program 31 17.2 1 0.4% 4.11 Respondents’ Suggestion for the Improvement of the Disaster Preparedness Activities Table 24: Respondents’ Suggestion Categories DIPECHO NON DIPECHO Involve more women in CBDRM 68(37.8%) - Increase the number of local women volunteers 103(57.3%) 17(9.3%) Coordinate for group formation 7(3.9%) 67(37.2%) Provide immediate emergency relief to all the effected households in terms of shelter, food and medical supplies, and awareness and preparedness activities for long term preparedness

160(88.8%) 93(51.7%)

Provide more boats to the community, so that the community can earn by the boat after the flood is over

78(43.3%) -

Provide adequate specific relief services/ materials for pregnant/lactating women and old people

28(13.3%) 23(12.8%)

Distribute adequate IEC materials/school books related to disaster management

57(31.7%) 30(16.7%)

Regular awareness initiative program (drama, song, door to door campaign) is needed in regular basis

68(37.8%) 21(11.7%)

Women’s role in community tasks for disaster management should be recognized by the household members

37(20.5%) 7(3.9%)

Involve representative of local women groups in the planning process of relief distribution

33(17.2%) -

Samadhan project should also work in Munuwa VDC

- 70(38.9%)

To build dam in their area for permanent resolution fro flood relief

91 (50.6%) 70 (38.9%)

To provide upland/higher place to build houses 39 (21.7%) 17 (9.3%)

Majority (57.3%) of the respondents from DA suggested to increase number of women social volunteers whereas 37.2% NDA respondents suggested to coordinate for group formation. 160 (88.8%) of the respondent in DA areas and 93 (51.7%) of the respondent in

45

NDA areas said that there must be the provision of immediate emergency relief packages to all the effected households in terms of shelter, food and medical supplies, and awareness and preparedness activities for long term preparedness for disaster. The 43.3% respondent of DA group suggested providing more boats, life jackets, and other materials used for rescuing the victims where as none of the NDA respondents showed any interest for this. It shows that they were unaware of these things as they did not get any training regarding such initiatives. 31.7% of respondents of DA group requested that the IEC materials distributed was not sufficient, 37.8% of the respondents from DA wanted regular awareness programs to be held in their community. 50.6 % of the DA and 38.9% of NDA respondents requested for building of dams in their area for the permanent solution as they were tired of the flood coming every year and causing disaster in their community. Similarly 21.7% and 9.3% of DA and NDA suggested for upland/higher place to build houses. In all the DA respondents were happy with the initiatives of the DIPECHO project and they felt the need of more of such initiatives in their communities. They were capable to identify both the short term and long term needs for disaster preparedness in their community.

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CHAPTER V

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS: 5.1 Conclusion The study was conducted in Kailali district of the Far western region of Nepal. The study gives an overall scenario of women's involvement in the disaster preparedness and the factors effecting them during the disaster. In general the majority of the respondents were from the Janajati group in both the DA and NDA areas, which is followed by Disadvantaged groups/ Dalits, and Brahmin/ Chettri. The literacy rate of the DA groups among the women respondents is higher than that of the national level which is the result of effective Non formal education in these areas. The study shows that the posters and pamphlets were the effective tools of IEC in the DA areas whereas in the NDA groups the people were not aware of these information. Being an effective means of delivering the information in the DA areas, the quantity of the posters and pamphlets was not adequate in the areas. Whereas, there was lack of awareness among the people in the NDA groups about the IEC materials and the information it delivers. Street Dramas and trainings were also effective means for awareness in these areas. These were more interesting and effective to understand the information on disaster management. The vulnerability of the women in the disaster prone areas can be elaborated from the qualitative study. In the DA areas the majority of the people were involved with the agriculture as their primary occupation. In both DA and NDA areas the majority of the men from each households are migrating to India for employment which has resulted in the over burden of work for women. The women were involved in the daily chores, agriculture and taking care of their family member, which has resulted them in limited involvement in development activities. The level of literacy is directly proportional to the ignorance of the women in these areas. The women who have at least got the NFE are actively participating in the CBDRM activities, which were observed in the DA areas whereas in the NDA areas the women are comparatively less educated. The culture of these areas bounds women and men of their specific roles. The women in the DA groups are actively participating in the programs related to disaster management. Developing IEC materials, awareness campaigns, door-to-door programs, street dramas etc are some of the activities the women of these areas carry out in the areas and the neighboring VDCs. However the women in the NDA groups are not aware of these programs and their scope. Indigenous coping strategies has an important role in the helping the community people to protect themselves in times of flood in both the areas. They have been using it from generations and are cheaper for the community people to adopt. In context to the impact of the DIPECHO /SAMADHAN II project to ,the project has given more chance to the women of the community to be the member of the groups. The

47

formation of group to local people created room for making them aware about existing problem. They learnt to think critical question about existing practices They could organize themselves in order to gain strength for facing problem This has helped them to come in front and participate in many trainings along with the men of their community. They have received exposure and developed new skill. This has helped to increase their self-esteem and confidence. The family members even take pride to tell others as how the daughter in laws and daughters are working for the community. They feel they are more empowered as compared to before and have been encouraging others to come out of their houses and take on leadership role in their community. They are proud of how they helped their families and their neighbors in the time of disaster. 5.2 Recommendations: 5.2.1 Construction and maintenance of damps: There should be construction and proper maintenance of damps. For the constructions the local laborers should be mobilized which not only helps in construction but also helps create employment for the local people, which reduces poverty of the Kailali District. 5.2.2 Provide relief package: The relief packages should be distributed to the flood victims immediately by different organizations, which should contain necessary items like food and other non- food items. There should be equal distribution of relief packages to all the victims and should not have any political interference. 5.2.3 Training in Local Language and improvement in IEC materials: The awareness training program should be in local language since a lot of people living in that area are from Tharu community and they barely speak or understand Nepali language. Training in any other language would be less effective. And the IEC materials should also have slogans in the local language itself, with lots of picture then that of word because the people of that community are mostly illiterate. The pamphlets should be of bigger size as some of the old people were unable to read it from a distance.The IEC materials also could be increased as per the number of the respondents 5.2.4 Adequate preparedness materials: There should be enough relief's and preparedness materials provided to the rescue teams working in the emergency periods. The materials like boats, life jackets, headlights; whistles should sufficient for the community. 5.2.5 Cover other VDCs: The DIPECHO/SAMADHAN II covers only 6 communities of dhansinghpur VDC’s, whereas these are not the only affected community. The whole of Kailali district are equally and

48

someplace are even more affected by the flood. So the DIPECHO project should also cover other affected VDCs. 5.2.6 Women should be included in search and rescue task force: Women's physical strength is mostly overwhelmed by the society, due to which they were not included in the search and rescue committee. But Tharu women were observed who was self involved in rescuing the victims during the disaster period. Hence, women should be included in the search and rescue task force committee. 5.2.7 Provide income generation activities to reduce poverty: The collected funds by the community are basically saved for emergency period and the collected funds mostly remain idle during other time. The funds collected can be used in better cause, like giving loans to establish an agro-based industry in the community, to build shelter centers, this could increase the number of female to participate in the awareness and preparedness programs given by different organizations. This will also encourage the male members to stay back in their own area once they realize there is more income generating opportunity for themselves. 5.2.8 Strengthen the impact monitoring system of the project : Should develop mechanism that each and every committee members share their knowledge and activities among their family members. The monitoring system should measure the dissipation of the learning in the wider scale among the family members of the DRRC group members and their communities. The materials/items provided to the community should be checked from time to time to ensure the optimum utilization during need. 5.2.9 Community based child care center: As per the table18 it was reflected that 45% in DA and 51% in NDA of women take care of their children themselves in their work and in outside work. Even in the FGD the women with young children were not able to fully concentrate in the discussions. A community based child care center if can be set up in the community can be of great help to the women to share some of their reproductive roles. 5.2.10 Strengthen the indigenous mechanisms: Since the majority of the people are poor more and more measures should help the women to strengthen their indigenous measures for disaster prepardness. Project should look into ways to strengthen the mud houses, food storage utensils, support for houses with wooden legs. The project can encourage people to build low cost thati. 5.2.11 Aware the community on the social issues Practices like chaupadi is prevalent in the communities. This makes the women more

49

vulnerable during flood as they are expected to stay far from their household during menstruation. The project can ensure this issue in it’s awareness program that is a part of the project activity.

50

References

1. (2008). Road to Resilience to Disaster: Realizing HFA in Nepal, A National Position Paper

2. ANN OKELEY. (1985). Sex Gender and Society. London:Gower Publishing Co. 3. Audrey Mullings & Gloria Noel,( 1988).Role of Women in Disaster Management: Pan-

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Plans, Perspective Plans. Kathmandu: ISRSC 10. Mehata, Manjari (nd.). Disaster & Vulnerable groups: En-gendering Disaster

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ANNEXES

Annex-1 Case Studies Case Study- 1 Ratna Chaudary, a 17 years old girl lives in Bangaun, Dhansinghpur(3), Kailali which is a remote community of Far Western Region of Nepal. Her family consists of 11 members in which she is the second of the siblings. She is a intermediate level student of management. Beside studying she is actively involved in various youth & disaster management clubs. Her family supports and encourages her in development work of the community. She is the chair person of “Disaster Risk Relief Committee (DRRC)”. DRRC has total of 13 members which includes 5 males and 8 females. The committee basically works for disaster management by providing awareness programs, companying, training, developing IEC materials. Ratna also collected Rs. 5 monthly from every house hold for rising the emergency fund. She ensures that every 1 member of each household attends the meeting which is held on the 7th day of every month. She conducts street dramas, gives ideas to develop IEC materials and goes to every household to create awareness regarding disaster management. She has played and directed street dramas in various VDC’s of the district in different possible languages. Being born in a poorest of the poor, she has not only contributed to create awareness among the family members but during the flood she actively participated in rescuing the flood victims and provided them with the life jacket which was distributed by CARE Nepal. After the flood she used the emergency fund collected by them, by distributing food and other necessary items. When asked about her recommendation for the development agencies, she says “My active participation is not all what I want, I want every people of my community to actively participate. In order to resolve the problem of our area, this issue needs to be raised at a higher level. Instead of relief package, provide us with training that will increase our skills to prepare us better for forth coming floods. With this the government needs to develop some mechanism to our river.” Ratna Chaudhari is a girl of determination and courage who feels that the cause of problem is the every least developed community is the lack of knowledge and skills among the community.

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Case study 2 Hiradevi of Karmadada Mother’s Group and her contribution in disaster relief Name : Hiradevi Saud Age : 40 Address : Karmadada-3, Tikapur Occupation : Housewife Family No : 6 Hiradevi Saud, a 40 year’s old woman is residing in Karmadada-3, Kailali in a very remote village of Far Western Region of Nepal with her husband, two daughters and two sons. Besides housewife, her major occupation is agriculture. Her husband is also a farmer but due to economic hardships, he doesn’t have any alternatives rather than to go to India and work as a manual worker. Her younger daughter has already left her school due to financial problem. It’s being very difficult for Hiradevi to send her eldest daughter to school. But due to her daughter’s intense desire to study, she even couldnot stop her from going to school. So, Hiradevi has bought two bee-hives for her daughter to pay her school fee. She gets Rs. 300 from per kg of honey bee. Hiradevi is one of the active members of Karmadada Mother’s Group. She has also received 3 day training through Redcross related to disaster preparedness mainly in the areas of First Aid. She is now well aware about using bandages and sutures and providing support to flood victims. Redcross has given one first aid box with delivery kits, bandages which she keeps in her house. She got a very good opportunity to learn many preventive measures about preparing oneself against flood. She along with her mother’s group has started one savings and credit account in assistance ship with Redcross. In the initial phase, they had only Rs. 700 in their account. But now the sum has reached to more than 60,000. They conduct different deusi, Bhailo program for fund raising along with their male counterparts. They withdraw the money only when somebody is in need for e g. severe flood victims, people with burns, fractures etc. She has also contributed to make different canals, small bridges and drainages in her village. Along with Hiradevi, all the members of Mother’s Group have made each wooden boat in their houses. She has also learned boating from the training given through the Redcross. Redcross has given one mike which is being used to warn the community about the flood. They all have made “Thati” in their houses to keep some of their valuable things. They also do collect different food items like rice, wheat, lentils for the emergency purpose from every household. When asked about the impact of flood relief materials, she expressed “Yo rahatko samagrile gaunma bekarma daju bhai bich lafada matra gareko cha”- because of the unequal distribution of relief packages, it has been a bone of contention among villagers and there is still a huge gap in between haves and haves not, rich people are being richer and poor being always poorer. In spite of multitude of health problems like gallstone, gastritis and uterine prolapse, she

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has been actively participating to rescue flood victims. Once she has financially supported one girl to send her to Hongkong for her check ups. Hiradevi is a very strong woman with a long term vision. Before joining to Mother’s Group, she was a very shy person. She even could not put her views in front of anyone. After attending meetings, trainings and other community works for one year, now she has gained confidence to put her views in any public gatherings. Being the poorest of the poor, she does not focus only for the short term relief programs rather she wants those programs and packages which will help her community in the long run. With this vision in her mind she urges government and other concerned people to provide land in a safe place along with ambulance, dams and nets in her village. She has a very strong determination to serve her community people. She always wants to be a role model and wants to see her community people to rescue away permanently from the life-threatening complications of flood. Besides Disaster Risk Relief groups, there are various likely minded groups which are active in the community working in the disaster management. Karmadada Mother’s Group is one of such example. The case of Hiradevi clearly highlights how other groups can be coordinated for efficient support in disaster management in the future.

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ANNEX-2 Photos

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