Learning to lead: An Experience of “Building Resilience to Disaster and Climate Change Impact on Women and Children Project,” Banganga River Basin in Kapilvastu District, Nepal

1. Learning to Lead:
an experience of “BuiLding resiLience to disaster and
cLimate change impact on Women and chiLdren project,”
Banganga river Basin in KapiLvastu district, nepaL
1. The context of such floods have grown in severity and regularity in
recent years. Climate change, however, is the most oft-cited
Right across the world, natural disasters and climate change reason for the growing vulnerability of the plains. Although
are concerns which alarm governments and threaten disaster and climate change are bound to affect all Nepalis
populations. These phenomena pose a dire threat to the in one way or another, not everyone is equally vulnerable
sustainability of local and regional ecologies and have a to its consequences. Poverty, caste, origin, education,
devastating impact on the existing socio-economic patterns age, and gender are among the factors that may decrease
of human existence. Recurrent natural disasters already have people’s resilience to disaster and climate change. To build
a large hand in undermining the ability of communities, the resilience of the most vulnerable, who include women,
regions, nations, and the global community itself to meet children, the disabled, Dalits, indigenous ethnics groups,
basic development goals and their intensity, and possibly and migrants, DRR and climate change adaptation (CCA)
frequency, are likely to be exacerbated by climate change. In initiatives must be included in development plans and
light of these threats, disaster risk reduction (DRR) efforts are programmes.
central to meeting local and global development objectives
and to promoting adaptation to climate change. A study carried out in Banganga River Basin by National
Disaster Risk Reduction Centre (NDRC Nepal) in 2007-8
Areas within the Banganga River Basin experience floods with grant support from ActionAid Nepal) demonstrated
on an annual basis; in fact, for many reasons, the impacts that this basin is highly impacted by climatic variability

2. and frequent disasters and that the impacts of these two communities. The school-level awareness campaigns and
phenomena on people’s livelihoods and the environment safety drills and the integration of DRR into life skills education
have grown increasingly substantial. To address the DRR programmes have, without question, taught students, school
and CCA issues the basin faces, a six-month project called officials and communities how to reduce risks. As a result,
Building Resilience to Disaster and Climate Change Impact students and parents reacted to the earthquake of September
on Women and Children [38/10/N/419 (2011-12)] was 2011 calmly, without panicking, in marked contrast to their
launched in July 2011 with grant support from Canadian reaction to the August 1988 earthquake, which had resulted in
Cooperation Office Nepal. Its objective was to build the chaos and terror. They ascribed their composure to the ‘duck,
resilience of women and children, helping them to understand cover and hold’ drill 3200 students had practiced just a month
the adverse impact of climate change and protecting them before the quake struck.
from future disasters. The project’s key interventions were
based on the research findings of the 2007-08 NDRC study Various capacity-building initiatives enabled children to
and the major learning of the river basin and DIPECHO speak up about issues that affect their wellbeing and adults
projects which Oxfam Nepal had conducted during the fiscal started to see children as active players in DRR. Informants
year 2005-07 in neighbouring communities adjacent. The claimed and observation confirmed that children who are
Building Resilience Project contributed toward achieving aware, involved, and empowered are effective agents of
the five key priorities of the Hyogo Framework of Action1 change and excellent communicators within communities.
(HFA) and the five flagship areas of the National Strategy A survey administered to 240 respondents towards the end
for Disaster Risk Management (NSDRM)2. This report of the project revealed that knowledge about and the practice
summarises the key results of and learning from this project of community risk assessment has increased significantly
and suggests the path ahead. compared to the baseline situation and that attitudes toward
the endeavour are more positive. After communities had
Box 1: Socio-economic profile of the project area carried out participatory vulnerability analyses (PVAs), they
Banganga River 28 VDCs of Arghakhanchi, Kapilvastu and drafted DRR Contingency Plans, which they shared with local
Basin Palpa districts government bodies and VDC-level stakeholders in order to
Project VDCs Motipur, Banganga, Kopuwa and Niglihawa leverage internal resources. VDCs and political parties are
Total population 67,927 people in10,956 households now familiar with DRR and climate change and have started
Major target 4500 people in 800 households in the Tharu, to address these issues in their local plans.
groups Madhesi and hill migrant communities
Major livelihood Agriculture (70.6%), seasonal labour (15.3%), Following a school-based PVA exercise, the students of Shree
services (7.3%), business (6.6%) Secondary School in Niglihawa-2, Kushma VDC, pressured
Land tenure 73% cultivate their own land, 18% families the school management committees to trim the tall (and
cultivate their own land and sharecrop, and therefore unsafe) trees in the school compound
8% rent land and have requested that a fence be built
Months of food 23% year-round, 52% 6-9 months, 25% in order to prevent cattle from
sufficiency families 2-4 months wandering in. Students also
Source: CBS (2001) and NDRC (2009)
initiated sanitation campaigns
at the school. The most
apparent change, however,
2. Key results
is that students’ ideas are
starting to be heard.
2.1 Increased the capacity of local
communities, including children and
School-based Contingency
women, to develop DRR plans
Plans (which are closely
Training, DRR-based extracurricular activities, drills and
aligned with school
simulations filled the gaps in people’s knowledge about DRR
improvement plans) have been
and translated skills and knowledge into practice, thereby
drafted to designate areas as high-
enhancing the self-confidence and resilience of the participating
1 The five priority actions of the HFA are to (i) ensure that DRR is a national and local priority with a strong institutional basis for implementation,
(ii) identify, assess and monitor disaster risks and enhance early warning, (iii) use knowledge, innovation, and education to build a culture of safety and
resilience at all levels, (iv) reduce underlying risk factors, and (v) strengthen disaster preparedness for effective response.
2 The five flagships area are (i) school and hospital safety, (ii) emergency preparedness and response capacity; (iii) flood management in the Koshi River
Basin; (iv) integrated community-based disaster risk reduction and management; (v) policy and institutional support for disaster risk management.

3. , medium- or low-risk and to lay out evacuation routes to VDC by Indreni, in Tilaurkot
safe shelters. Schools have started renovating and improving VDC by SAGUN, and
toilets, organising sanitation campaigns, and and fencing in Saljhandi VDC of
school grounds, as is provided for in these contingency plans. Rupandehi by FEALPEC.
Another positive change is that, under the joint Indreni/
DCA programme, community-based early warning systems 2.3 Increased
have been established by exchanging telephone numbers of agricultural
upstream and downstream DMCs. Financial institutions are production by
more willing to provide loans to farmers to initiate climate- adopting climate-
smart cropping patterns. Delegations of DMC members adapted techniques
persuaded Kapilvastu DDC to ban the extraction of soil, The project invested time and
stones, and boulders from riverbanks and people have begun energy in introducing climate-
to practice farming along riverbanks. Besides conserving smart cropping practices. People
riverbanks, locals have re-started traditional irrigation learned why crops had failed in recent years and, after
systems, safeguarded the bridge over the Banganga River consulting agriculture technicians and agro-vets, adopted
at the Mahendra Highway, and indirectly contributed to more suitable seed varieties and new practices in order to
supplying clean water to the Jagadishpur wetlands. increase productivity. In coordination with the District
Agriculture Development Office, the project promoted
2.2 Retrofitted one school building and agroforestry-based horticulture and demonstrated
carried out bio-engineering work in two drought-friendly technology, including a system of wheat
sites in order to demonstrate a disaster- intensification. With project support, people started to
resilient approach to development cultivate peanuts, watermelon, and vegetables on the
To increase safety and to demonstrate earthquake-resistant degraded land along the banks of the Banganga River. Also
construction techniques, two rooms in one block of Shree along the riverbank, they planted fodder and forage species
Secondary School (870 sq. ft.) were retrofitted in a first-of- that have excellent soil-holding capacities and extended
its-kind effort in Kapilvastu. Though this particular initiative the practice of green fencing with Jatropha species plants.
will currently secure more than 900 student who attend this Farmers planted Indian ginseng (aswagandha), snakeroot
school, thousands of students in schools across Kapilvastu (sarpagandha), and asparagus (kurilo) for the first time and
will benefit from replicating the learning it generated. Many increased the area of ginger, turmeric, onion, and garlic under
organisations have already visited the school to learn about cultivation. Though the project ran just six months, each of
the retrofitting technology and the use of environmentally- the participating families was able to generate NRs. 18,000 to
appropriate construction materials. The contribution of NRs. 32,000 by selling farm products, and farm productivity
the National Society for Earthquake Technologies (NSET) increased 40-55%. After participating in trainings and seeing
in making design and estimating building costs was various techniques demonstrated, many began organic
commendable. farming, applying green manure and bio-pesticides, planting
local seeds, and adopting eco-friendly preservation practices
Before the project was launched, sediment deposition and and proper seed storage techniques. Demonstration plots of
riverbank erosion turned thousands of hectares of cultivated mustard and vegetables were planted in Kushma and Khuteni
land into desert, rendered hundreds of families landless, VDCs respectively to ensure a practical way of disseminating
and forced many to migrate to other villages. To mitigate knowledge about seasonal crop calendars, techniques
this devastating problem, the project constructed two bio- of land and seed bed preparation, nursery management,
engineering spurs, each 35 feet long and 15 feet wide, at transplantation, weeding and harvesting.
Motipur-5, Dhaneshpur VDC, drawing upon indigenous
knowledge. The spurs used a low-cost technology which drew A meteorological station the project established in Shree
upon the traditional skill of weaving bhakari/tati (bamboo large Secondary School in Kushma VDC recorded maximum and
basket) and comprised bamboo, jute sacks, sand, boulders and minimum temperatures, wind pressure, and rainfall using
the plantation of fast-growing fodder and grass. Together, the project-supplied apparatuses—a thermometer, a barometer,
spurs will conserve about 610 hectares of cultivated land of and a rain gauge. The station targeted students, with the
213 families. Bamboo spur technology has already replicated objective of making them aware of changing climatic pattern,
in three places by three different organisations: in Sauraha but farmers, too, benefited from increase information.

4. Before retrofiting After retrofiting
2.4 Formed and strengthened eight 3. Major learning
inclusive, active and well-coordinated DMCs
The inclusiveness of the eight DMCs formed under the  Efforts in social mobilisation and community
programme and, indeed, of the project’s approach as a whole empowerment are excellent because NDRC Nepal
has reduced discrimination and increased harmony among coordinated with local NGOs like SAGUN and
people. This inclusive approach has also helped formalise Indreni, which coordinate well with irrigation and
local networks, enabled children to be better monitored forestry federations. As a result, a strong synergy was
and protected in a disaster, and made it easier to mobilise created and the project was able to leverage additional
children and their families to respond to disasters. School resources.
based DMCs successfully addressed psycho-social distress,  The project succeeded in empowering communities
including the trauma, anxiety, and fear induced by disasters. because it used effective means of disseminating DRR
messages, including street dramas, drills and DRR-based
Each DMC at project communities established an emergency extra-curricular activities. Plays are especially good at
fund through small initiatives like encouraging nominal teaching: because of their emotional appeal, they are
monthly savings and running a “fistful of rice” campaign. very popular and their messages are remembered for
They also raised money by collecting levies from sand and long periods.
boulders extractors, charging fees to watch street dramas,  Grievances were few and apprehension minimal because
and encouraging donations to cultural programmes. the project adopted an appreciative inquiry approach.
PVA exercises helped people realise the nature of
2.5 Motivated the government to allocate and reasons for their vulnerability and sustainable
funding for and to support disaster livelihood and small-scale mitigation initiatives helped
response activities in four VDCs build trust.
The activities of DMCs are not limited within their communities;
they have started to form and strengthen DMC networks for
advocacy, lobbying and campaigning. DMC members visited 4. The path ahead
VDCs and the Kapilvastu DDC to mobilise external resource
and got a green signal from them. DMCs are increasingly  The inclusive DMCs formed do, in fact, execute DRR and
able to mobilise internal resources as well. For example, they climate change activities, but they are still nascent and
approached community forest users groups and the Kapilvastu need more capacity-building and backstopping in order
district forest and district soil conservation offices to get the to be able to address the most contemporary of DRR
seedlings and technical advice they needed to bioengineer a and CCA issues. There also needs to be support for the
spur; Kapilvastu District Agriculture Office to select climate- institutionalisation of their emergency funds.
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resilient crops; the media to disseminate  More emphasis needs to be placed on programmes rather
information; and local cooperatives to than projects, and DRR and CCA initiatives should be
investing more money in climate- linked with integrated watershed management plans
smart cropping patterns. Persuaded in upstream areas, particularly the President of Nepal's
by the recommendations of the Churia Programme.
Kapilvastu DDRC, a USAID  As this relatively small initiative had a great impact,
high-level mission visited the some funding should be channelled into piloting the
project’s sites to gather ideas local adaptation plan of action (LAPA) process at the
and exchange learning regarding local level. The project’s good practices need to be
community-based DRR and CCA replicated in other VDCs of Banganga River Basin and
initiatives. its learning disseminated, and follow-up activities must
be conducted in the project communities. More rights-
All the results discussed above based advocacy and campaigning should be designed
contribute to flagship areas 1, 2, 4 and 5 of and executed to make Banganga River Basin a learning
the NSDRM as well as to priorities 1, 3, 4 and 5 of the HFA. centre for DRR and CCA.
Dhruba Gautam, Ph.D.
Executive Director
National Disaster Risk Reduction Centre (NDRC Nepal)
New Baneshwor-34, GPO Box 19532, Kathmandu, Nepal • Tel/Fax: +977-01-4115619, 98510-95808
Email: mail@ndrc.org.np, drrgautam@gmail.com • URL: www.ndrc.org.np