Ajay R. GOVALE Program Director - United Way India Helpline - United Way of India & United Way Mumbai Helpline- United Way of Mumbai

1. Improving State of Community Based Disaster Preparedness
in Mumbai City
United Way Mumbai Helpline, An Initiative of United Way of Mumbai, India
Presented by: Ajay Govale
E-mail ID: ajay@mumbaihelpline.org

2. The United Way Movement
 Global movement, leverages corporate leadership for community development-
First United Way founded in 1887 in USA
 Community Impact Organization, 4500 United Ways across 48 countries
 Today tops list of world’s 15 largest charities - US$5.2 billion raised by local
communities across the globe this year
 Recognized among top 50 global brands by Forbes
United Way of Mumbai
 Founded in 2002, a premiere resource mobilization and community impact
organization. A pioneer in Corporate & Employee giving.
 Creating large scale, long term change in areas of health, children & education,
livelihood, civic issues and disaster rehabilitation
 Effective intermediary between the Government, Corporate and Development
sectors
 Result : efficient giving, sustainable change
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3. United Way of Mumbai-Recognition
 Best NGO at the Indo-American Corporate Excellence Awards by the Indo
American Chamber of Commerce
 BCI Continuity & Resilience Award by Business Continuity Institute UK and
KPMG
 Recognized by Mumbai’s Municipal Corporation for successful citywide
interventions for monsoon/ flood preparedness and monsoon related diseases
United Way Mumbai Helpline
 Special initiative of United Way of Mumbai- working towards a safer and
better Mumbai
 Key strength- mobilizing community stakeholders from government sector,
private sector and civil society for initiating collective actions to address key
challenges facing the city in Disaster Preparedness. Safety, Community
Safety
Health, Environment, etc.
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4. United Way Mumbai Helpline
 Concern about state of civic issues in Mumbai
 Desire for systematic disaster preparedness plan for Mumbai
 Need for developing a common forum for multiple stakeholders
directly or indirectly involved in disaster preparedness and
community resiliency
Mission Statement
To bring about significant, visible, measurable and sustainable
changes in the levels of Disaster Preparedness and Civic Issues in
the city of Mumbai, making it a cleaner, safer and a better place to
live in by instituting a strong and sustainable Citizens Movement
across the city.

5. Centre of Excellence for United Way’s National Helpline
 Drawing from the experiences and achievements in Mumbai;
United Way Mumbai Helpline spearheads United Way India
Helpline under the aegis of United Way of India
 Working closely with local United Way chapters in India for
nationwide replication of the programs for disaster
preparedness: Towards Building A Resilient India
 Cities covered under United Way India Helpline: Delhi,
Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Hubli-Dharwad, Baroda and
Chennai

6. Mumbai City: Characteristics & Vulnerability Analysis
• Fastest growing megacity and financial capital of India
• Haphazard urbanization process
• Unmatched pace of infrastructure development vis-à-
vis growing population (12.5 million population:
Census India 2011)
• Geographic location: coastal flood hazard, cyclone and
earthquake, 6 million population living in slums-
located in low lying areas
• Multiple agencies and governmental authorities
performing different functions with minimal efforts for
inter-agency coordination

7. Multi-stakeholder partnership approach by United Way
Mumbai Helpline (UWMH):
Objectives:
 To channelize disparate efforts of multiple (public and
private) stakeholders for disaster risk prevention, mitigation
and management
 To mobilize the NGOs, Civil Society Groups and corporates to
complement the efforts of government agencies in disaster
management
 Create on-ground network of stakeholders equipped with
know-how for disaster management

8. Key Strategies of United Way Mumbai Helpline: For
Effective Community Based Disaster Preparedness
1. MULTI-STAKEHOLDER PARTNERSHIP:
 Mobilize key government and private stakeholders for
participation in process of disaster preparedness at local civic
ward level
 Facilitate inter-agency interaction (during “peace” time) for
collective disaster response in times of disasters: role
identification, resource sharing and collaboration
 Capacity building of all the stakeholders by channelizing locally
available expertise and resources

9. Multi Stakeholders Partnership in the Community
It is an approach to involve community stakeholders in a public
discourse and collective actions on the issues that are
priorities for the community as a whole.
Essentials of this strategy:
 Community stakeholders: change-agents
 United Way Mumbai Helpline: Catalyst
 Issues/challenges are identified through a public discourse
and are not imposed
 Emphasis on complementing each other’s efforts and to
avoid duplication or clash of interest
 Collaboration Vs. Confrontation

10. Role of United Way Mumbai: Catalyst among the Key Stakeholders of
Society
State
U
Private Sector W
M
H
Civil Society
• Catalyst of change
• Facilitator for interaction & building synergies among the three sectors

11. Multi-stakeholder Partnership at United Way of Mumbai for
Monsoon Preparedness
Involves key representatives for better monsoon preparedness at
local civic ward level in Mumbai city
Platform for this process is
provided through Multi-
stakeholder Meetings
arranged regularly in each
Corporates ward with agendas such as
Monsoon Preparedness and
strengthening of safe house
Police (emergency shelters) etc. in
each ward.
Local Municipal Civil Defense
Ward Office,
Municipality Surface Transport
Hospitals Agencies (Railways,
Bus)
School/ Meetings hosted by local
College municipal ward office:
NGOs & CBOs, UWM as Catalyst
Volunteers Citizens Groups Fire Brigade

12. Implementation at Mumbai City Ward Level
Disaster Preparedness Process implemented at ward level in four adopted wards by UWM i.e.
K-East, K-West, G-North and A Wards of the city.
Multistakeholder Meetings for
Disaster Preparedness in each ward
Interagency coordination for
Implementation of plan of action
Information-Education-
Communication on vital aspects
related to Monsoon: Monsoon
Advisory, Informative Boards at
Low Lying areas with important
emergency contact numbers etc.

13. Key Strategies of United Way Mumbai Helpline:
Cont…
2. UWMH: Bridge between government and community:
 Percolate the efforts of disaster preparedness into the
community:
 Information dissemination & Awareness Generation
(Example: Putting up informative boards at flood prone areas, circulation of
emergency information among local citizens, etc.)
 Capacity Building of the community groups and citizens
 Community mapping: Anticipated Threats, Available Resources
and establish link between the two for disaster mitigation
 Mobilize additional resources with support from corporate
partners for community based activities

14. Key Strategies of United Way Mumbai Helpline:
Cont… on-ground network of trained community volunteers:
3. Creating
 Train various stakeholder groups: college youth, school & college
teachers, citizens, corporate employees, government employees,
shoe shiners, porters, street hawkers, etc. as First Responders
and link them with local municipal officials
 Over 15,000 stakeholders trained till date as First Responders in
Mumbai

15. Create on-ground network of stakeholders
equipped with know-how for disaster management
Channelizing youth power for safer Mumbai:
Trainings of College Students
Training of more than
7000 College Youth in
Mumbai and linking them
with the local civic ward
office

16. Disaster response trainings of key stakeholders:
By United Way Mumbai Helpline
More than 8000
community
stakeholders
trained
Community Police
Health Personnel
Volunteers
Citizens
B.E.S.T
Shoe Shiners
Employees
and Porters

17. Disaster response and management trainings of
key stakeholders in the community
Hospital Emergency & Disaster Preparedness Trainings for City Hospital
• Aims at training hospitals in Emergency Medical Services
• Trainings carried out at few major city hospitals.
• Plans are afoot to replicate the same in all other city Hospitals

18. Strengthening of Safe House Schools
Teaching and administrative staff
of the Safe House schools and
nearby community members
getting trained as First
Responders
UWMH volunteers carrying
out Need Assessment and
Resource Mapping within the
radius of 1.5 k.m. area
around the Safe House
school
Resource Map created by UWMH as part
of strengthening one of the Safe Houses-
Nityanand Municipal School in Andheri –
East, K- East Municipal ward, Mumbai.

19. Key Strategies of United Way Mumbai Helpline:
Cont…
4. Community Resilience Indicators:
 UWMH along with few other expert agencies has actively
contributed towards compilation of a community handbook with
indicators for assessing the level of community’s resilience to
disasters under the initiative of the Municipal Corporation of
Greater Mumbai.
 The resilience perspective provides a way of assessing the
resources and adaptive capacities of a community rather than
just its vulnerabilities. In this way, it provides a core set of
capabilities upon which to build adaptation strategies.

20. Key Strategies of United Way Mumbai Helpline:
Cont…
5. Post Disaster Recovery: Relief & Rehabilitation:
 Immediate relief and long-term rehabilitation of disaster victims
for faster recovery through Corporate Partnerships.
 Thorough need assessment in consultation with government and
local NGOs to avoid duplication and benefit right people.
 Mumbai Disaster Response Fund (26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks),
Bihar Flood Relief 2008, Karnataka Flood Relief 2009, Mumbai
Flood Relief 2005, Tsunami Relief 2004

21. Conclusion and Learnings:
 Community participation: crucial at all stages for a fool proof
disaster management plan
 Multi-stakeholder partnership and coordinated efforts is crucial
for efficient resource management and prompt disaster
response
 Resilient community requires its denizens to recognize their role
and equip themselves with appropriate know-how and
resources for active participation
 UWMH’s strategy is replicable in other parts of India and other
mega cities of the world

22. Making India A Safer & Better Place to Live in
United Way Mumbai Helpline,
United Way of Mumbai
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