Anita Sada is an active member of the Disaster Management Committee in her village in Nepal. Through training from the DIPECHO project, she educates community members on disaster preparedness and response. During floods, she helped rescue and support vulnerable people, especially women and girls. Anita believes the project has strengthened community capacity and organization, and that the committees will continue their work even after project support ends by demanding resources from local authorities.

1. STORIES OF CHANGE
“DIPECHO has helped us being organized and has
strengthened our capacity for disaster preparedness”
A fraid of being late, Anita Sada rushes to the meeting
of Koshi Savings and Credit Cooperatives. She was
busy with the household chores of preparing and
serving food to the family. On top of that she was about to
go to a nearby fair, a weekly market, to sell her oxen. Anita
Besides that she also
advises the community
people about possible
communicable diseases
ranging from the common
lives a very busy life. cold to swine flu. The
villagers are so aware that
She comes from a very poor Dalit family. Her workload has if the children catch
increased not only due to abject poverty, but also the communicable diseases
growing awareness in her. She needs to work hard to feed they are stopped to send
her 7-member family and to send her children to school. school until their recovery.
The 35-year-old woman, who lives in Mushahari village "We have even told them
not to shake hands with Anita Sada
ward no. 3 of Inaruwa Municipality in Sunsari district, is the Village Mushahari, Inurwa
member of Kansamadan Disaster Management Committee those people who sneeze,"
Sunsari district, Nepal
in the same village. She is a very active member of the she shares.
committee. One may wonder how such a busy poor woman
ActionAid has been working with most vulnerable
could find time for social work. She has a very clear answer.
communities in Nepal to improve their resilience to
"I divide my time to household work and social work. So it is
disasters. Recurrent disasters have been perpetuating
not difficult for me to do social work," she says.
poverty in this already impoverished society, where every
Anita grabs every opportunity to raise awareness among child born is born vulnerable to some or other form of
the neighbours and organised them through committees disaster risk. Since 2007, ActionAid is working through its
like those. The villagers' efforts to reduce the negative local partner UPCA in Anita’s community in Inurwa, Sunsari
impacts of disasters on their lives have become visible and district, helping people to adapt themselves to reduce
Anita's role is very crucial. impact of natural disasters on their lives and livelihood.
Anita, an emaciated mother of four children married off at Asked what inspired her to work for disaster preparedness,
an early age of 12, hides unbelievable courage and Anita says that with the beginning of the DIPECHO IV
patience. When there is no imminent threat of disasters, project came Mana Maya (miss) Niraula, a social mobiliser,
she goes around the village and asks parents and their of UPCA Nepal, a partner NGO of ActionAid Nepal. "We
children not play with fire lest their thatch roofed huts may always lived in the danger of being submerged. That fear
be gutted in fire. "In times like this while there is no such and the knowledge we got from the DIPECHO made us
threat of disaster, I counsel the villagers to avoid the danger more aware of our situation. This pushed me to work for
like that of fire," she explains. disaster preparedness," she adds.
Case study developed by Ram Sharan Sedhai, ActionAid Nepal. Photos by Ram Sharan Sedhai and UPCA Nepal.
This Story of Change narrates the experiences of Anita Sada, a member of the Inaruwa Mushahari Disaster
Management Committee formed under the guidance and support of DIPECHO project being implemented in
Nepal by ActionAid. The project entitled Surakshit Samudaya II: Building Disaster Resilient Communities, Nepal
is funded by European Commission Humanitarian Aid department and co-financed by Australian Government
(AusAID). For more information, please contact the DIPECHO Project Manager at mail.nepal@actionaid.org

2. During Koshi floods, we were able to help the flood affected people,
particularly the women and girls, who were more vulnerable than
their male counterparts
Through the DIPECHO project, the villagers have got Answering a query Anita said that her team helped the
training in search and rescue, fire fighting, first aid and affected people by preparing about 50 earthen ovens
masonry which have helped them to be more aware of the within hours and they also supported by arranging firewood
consequences of disaster and has instilled the feeling of besides looking after women, girls and children for
supporting others who are in distress. Now they have been accommodation and their special needs. They also guided
able to claim resources from the government agencies. the flood affected people on getting additional support
They were successful in getting medicines for first aid from from various sources.
District Health Office.
The villagers mostly Dalits from the community contributed
a lot during the disastrous flood in the Sapta Koshi River last
year. Men and women alike went to the flooded site and
supported the rescue and rehabilitation of the flood
affected people in 24 camps. Anita Sada was one of them.
Why did you go to rescue Koshi flood affected people?
"We had faced similar problems in the past. Therefore we
know the pains. So we decided to help them as they were
in distress. And we were able to help the flood affected
people particularly the women and girls who were more
vulnerable than their male counterparts," she explained.
Asked what had hurt her most during the rescue of flood Anita Sada and her colleagues with project team members from
affected people, she said, "The worst thing that took place UPCA Nepal, in their monthly meeting to discuss disaster related
during the disaster was a rape attempt at a girl of Dalit issues of the community
community by the suppliers of construction material
workers. And the caste-based discrimination practised even
during the disaster was most detestable thing for us. Some During the Koshi floods that displaced over 50,000 people
Yadavas, the so-called upper caste people, refused to drink from their homes, Anita and her friends who were trained
water given by a Dalit girl. Likewise the homelessness and under DIPECHO project worked tirelessly, helping the
hunger women children and elderly people were facing affected people to overcome the effects. They mobilized
were a heart-rending situation." money, resources and more importantly, spent time with
women and children living in the makeshift camps. Anita
Any other memorable incidents or moments! "Some understood that Koshi affected people needs someone to
women who were in their period remained hungry for two talk to in addition to the relief support.
days as they did not come out of their camps because they
had no clothes to replace the stained ones. This I had never Will you spend the rest of your life just helping the victims?
imagined. It made us more aware of the needs of women
during such tragedies. One more thing struck me: None of "No," pat came the answer, "I will manage my home and
the flood affected people said that they had got something work to minimise the risks of disaster and support the
to eat. It really took by surprise, she said. affected people at the same time."
Our DRR work is not just about building local institutions and providing life
skill training, it is also about changing perceptions and attitudes. It is about
building a culture of safety and resilience…, it is about rights… it is about
responsibilities… (ActionAid Nepal DIPECHO Team)

3. (During Disasters) we will demand resources from the municipality
and district administration office, district Red Cross, and district
development committee. So even if you (DIPECHO) leave, the
institutions will remain and the villagers would stay here.
Anita says that she feels good if she gets an opportunity to education, sanitation, environment and income generation,
share the knowledge and information he has with her she said. "It has helped us being organised and
fellow women and men. She also said that she felt unhappy strengthened our capacity for disaster preparedness.”
over being illiterate.
The most important thing is that it has capacitated the
women to the extent of claiming resources from the
government who earlier would not even face strangers,"
she further said. How do you plan to continue the
preparedness work once the projects are phased out?
"We have done two important things: One we have made
the people aware of the risks of disasters. Second, we have
deposited 30,000 rupees at Koshi Savings and Credit
Cooperatives through piggy bank system of saving. We will
mobilise the resource in need. Moreover, we will demand
resources from the municipality and District Administration
Office, District Red Cross, District Development Committee.
So even if you leave, the institutions will remain and the
villagers would stay here," she said.
Disaster Management Committee members of Mushahari in Anita has emerged as an inspirational figure who has
discussion with the DIPECHO project team (DIP IV, 2007-09)
during the project review phase
transformed herself from a hapless woman to a leader of
people. She has overcome the predominant prejudices,
transcended from being a hapless victim to a resource for
Anita's fame is not limited to her village alone. She even
the community; from a silent and mute witness to a vocal
goes around the districts to share her experience and to
aware the community people about the impact of disasters advocate for her people.
and ways to reduce them.
In a matter of few months, DIPECHO project was able to
Asked whether DIPECHO had really supported them in their facilitate radical changes in her thinking and actions, and
cause, she said that the project had benefitted them in real along with her, into the mindsets of hundreds of women
sense. "The project has taught us about the importance of like Anita.
DIPECHO project is implemented by ActionAid in Nepal through its partner orgnisations
to build capacity and enhance resilience among people who are vulnerable to disasters.
The project is funded by European Commission Humanitarian Aid department and co-
financed by Australian Government (AusAid). The project will be implemented in three
districts of Nepal, directly reaching out to over 13,000 people while working with the
government to strengthen the disaster risk reduction policy framework in Nepal.
Working together… for a risk resilient Nepal!