Questions/Answers
Question 1
Please briefly describe the initiative, what issue or challenge it aims to address and specify its objectives. (300 words maximum)
Context: Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world mainly due to her geographic location. In the current social, economic and cultural contexts of Bangladesh, the women are very vulnerable to natural disasters. The differentiated impact of disasters on men and women is primarily caused by the existing manifested gender inequalities.
Under the strong will of honorable Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, women are now considered as a force of building gender equitable disaster resilience. They are well positioned to be ‘agents of change’ for disaster management and climate change adaptation in household, workplace, community and institutions.
Identified gap:
Women Volunteer perspective
Disparity in number- One third women in current CPP volunteer structure
Backwardness in capabilities
Lack of participation
Poor number of women volunteers in leadership role
Women’s access to information, early warning message and GBV concerns
Early Warning message limitations
• Understandability
• Accessibility
Gender Digital Divide
Gender based violence (GBV) risks in disasters
Practice and Perceptions:
Due to the custodian role of the women in the family, they decide to evacuate to shelter only at the twelfth hour.
Women volunteers cannot become fully active at the height of the cyclone as they have their responsibility in their own families.
Many women and girls are reluctant to move on common perception of their personal safety.
Women are considered primarily as recipient of Early Warnings but not ‘Agents of Change’.
Although the women manage their family in normal time, their potentialities are not considered for management in disaster situation.
Objective of the Initiative:
To identify policy gap and drive towards minimization.
To bring parity in volunteer number.
To enhance women leadership and role in disaster response.
To train, equip, motivate female volunteers.
To prepare Women friendly Early Warning (EW) dissemination system.
Question 2
Please explain how the initiative is linked to the selected category. (100 words maximum)
The targeted benefits stated below will ensure promoting gender-responsive disaster risk reduction services to achieve the SDGs.
Short-term benefit:
Disaster risk of women will be addressed more.
More women will take shelter in disaster situation.
Women will receive early warning properly.
Gender-based violence in disaster period will be reduced.
Access to disaster related information will be increased.
Long-term outcome:
Women empowerment and leadership in DRR will be enhanced.
Participatory and inclusive disaster risk management will be developed.
More women participation in DRR will help creating Disaster-resilient communities in coastal region, especially in marginal areas.
Question 3
a. Please specify which SDGs and target(s) the initiative supports and describe concretely how the initiative has contributed to their implementation. (200 words maximum)
The initiative will ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels disaster response in Bangladesh. Through proper training, equipping and motivation women volunteers will be enabled in information and communications technology.
b. Please describe what makes the initiative sustainable in social, economic and environmental terms. (100 words maximum)
The Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) has been serving the nation since 1972. Its remarkable achievement and around 50 years’ experience is lauded nationally and internationally as community based disaster risk management. As government is emphasizing women empowerment as a whole, and the initiative is going through an institutional approach, it will be sustainable with proper guideline and monitoring.
Question 4
a. Please explain how the initiative has addressed a significant shortfall in governance, public administration or public service within the context of a given country or region. (200 words maximum)
As described in Question 1, we identified women volunteers’ qualitative and quantitative backwardness comparing their male counterparts; women’s access to information, early warning message, gender based violence (GBV) concerns and persisting practice and Perceptions. We are minimizing the shortfalls by-
1. The number of women volunteers in CPP has been increased from five to ten in unit level to make the structure gender balanced. New 18,505 female volunteers were enrolled in CPP which was formally inaugurated by Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina in International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction (13 October 2020).
2. Women volunteers of CPP, alongside their male counterparts, are being engaged equally in every stage of approaching cyclone.
3. They are being trained and motivated through creating proper environment and opportunity to take up this challenging task equally.
4. They are getting necessary equipment and gears.
5. Policy formulated to ensure female CPP volunteers’ functional and leadership role in the management of cyclone shelters.
6. The women volunteers are with leadership role in identification and protection of most vulnerable people like elderly, pregnant, lactating mother, persons with disabilities, etc.
b. Please describe how your initiative addresses gender inequality in the country context. (100 words maximum)
Before the initiative, in CPP’s volunteer structure one third were female (18505 among 56515). Their capabilities were significantly low comparing to that of males. Lack of participation was seen in the past. The representation of women in the leadership of CPP was very appalling as well.
The quantitative and qualitative approach of women empowerment of CPP brought parity in numbers, created opportunity of leadership and thus impacted the gender inequality in disaster response in Bangladesh.
c. Please describe who the target group(s) were, and explain how the initiative improved outcomes for these target groups. (200 words maximum)
The primary target group of the initiative is women volunteers. In broader context, the target is differentiated impacted women of the community by the disasters, improved outcomes are as follows:
Women empowerment and leadership in DRR are being enhanced.
Participatory and inclusive disaster risk management will be developed.
More women participation in DRR will help creating Disaster-resilient communities in coastal region, especially in marginal areas.
The women death toll from the cyclone has declined due to increased access to early warning and life-saving services for women. The female-male death ratio from cyclones was 14: 1 in 1970, 5: 1 in 1991 and now reduced to 2: 1 in 2016 1: 1 in 2020.
Question 5
a. Please describe how the initiative was implemented including key developments and steps, monitoring and evaluation activities, and the chronology. (300 words)
Implementation status:
Policy interventions: Policy approach in enhancing women role in disaster risk reduction being formulated.
Quantitative measure in women empowerment of CPP: done
Qualitative approach in training, motivation, role and equipping with gears will be done by the financial year of 2020-21.
Women friendly Early Warning (EW) dissemination- Prepared.
Social measures (advocacy and engagement) are being arranged with community and stakeholders.
b. Please clearly explain the obstacles encountered and how they were overcome. (100 words)
The obstacles encountered were-
Due to the custodian role of the women in the family, they decide to evacuate to shelter only at the twelfth hour.
Women volunteers cannot become fully active at the height of the cyclone as they have their responsibility in their own families.
Many women and girls are reluctant to move on common perception of their personal safety.
Women are considered primarily as recipient of Early Warnings but not ‘Agents of Change’.
Although the women manage their family in normal time, their potentialities are not considered for management in disaster situation.
To overcome the barriers, motivational campaign were arranged in the coastal area of Bangladesh. Social measures (advocacy and engagement) were taken for-
• Creating community engagement and responsiveness
• Changing negative perception of women participation in disaster response.
Question 6
a. Please explain in what ways the initiative is innovative in the context of your country or region. (100 words maximum)
Under the initiative, we are trying to bring forward the changing context. In the changing contexts, it has been well understood that portraying women only as victims is a barrier for the development. Rather women should be considered as a force of building gender equitable disaster resilience. It has been seen that women play very active role in all aspects of disaster risk management and resilience building but these are rarely acknowledged, recognized and not included into formal systems. Besides, they can play a paramount role in the management, conservation and use of natural resources. Women also play vital role in advocacy and building social cohesion and community mobilization. Women and girls in any community should be considered as ‘Agent of Change’, not passive respondents. Efforts should be made to empower them socially and economically so that they can take charge of their own lives.
Our initiative, we think innovative, as we are promoting women and girls as ‘Agent of Change’. While recruiting new women volunteers, we find huge enthusiasm in young women to be social leader in disaster response.
b. Please describe, if relevant, how the initiative drew inspiration from successful initiatives in other regions, countries and localities. (100 words maximum)
Not relevant.
c. If emerging and frontier technologies were used, please state how these were integrated into the initiative and/or how the initiative embraced digital government. (100 words maximum)
CPP has full database of volunteers, active in national portal of the Bangladesh government. The new volunteers are already included in the database.
Question 7
a. Has the initiative been transferred and/or adapted to other contexts (e.g. other cities, countries or regions) to your organization’s knowledge? If yes, please explain where and how. (200 words maximum)
The initiative is not fully showcased yet. But Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief is considering the initiative of CPP as a “Road to enhance women role in Disaster Risk Reduction” in Bangladesh.
b. If not yet transferred/adapted to other contexts, please describe the potential for transferability. (200 words maximum)
The inclusion of new 18505 women volunteers was formally inaugurated by Honorable Prime Minister of Bangladesh. In that very event, at the same times, she unveiled the women empowerment of DRR journey in Bangladesh. So, the initiative is in the gateway to enhance women capacity development.
Question 8
a. What specific resources (i.e. financial, human or others) were used to implement the initiative? (100 words maximum)
No specific resources other than the regular funding of the organization were used in the resources. CPP volunteers are not paid. Under the regular reorganization of volunteer units, the new volunteers were recruited. Their training and equipment are being provided with government regular allotment to CPP. The motivational campaigns were made through CPP volunteer cultural unit.
b. Please explain what makes the initiative sustainable over time, in financial and institutional terms. (100 words maximum)
As the initiative is being done as institutional approach and aligned with government policy, it will be sustainable. Moreover, the Ministry of Disaster Management & Relief has taken it as one of priority program.
Question 9
a. Was the initiative formally evaluated either internally or externally?
Yes
b. Please describe how it was evaluated and by whom? (100 words maximum)
Being prepared
c. Please describe the indicators and tools used. (100 words maximum)
Being prepared
d. What were the main findings of the evaluation (e.g. adequacy of resources mobilized for the initiative, quality of implementation and challenges faced, main outcomes, sustainability of the initiative, impacts) and how is this information being used to inform the initiative’s implementation? (200 words maximum)
Being prepared
Question 10
Please describe how the initiative is inscribed in the relevant institutional landscape (for example, how is it situated with respect to relevant government agencies, and how have these institutional relationships been operating). (200 words maximum)
Being prepared
Question 11
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development puts emphasis on collaboration, engagement, partnerships, and inclusion. Please describe which stakeholders were engaged in designing, implementing and evaluating the initiative and how this engagement took place. (200 words maximum)
Being prepared
Question 12
Please describe the key lessons learned, and how your organization plans to improve the initiative. (200 words maximum)
Being prepared