Project Summary Confrence "Enhancing the participation of people with disabilities in community-based disaster risk management in Vietnam"

Disaster Management Policyand Technology Center

Management - Cooperation - Work together

9:57:40, 16/03/2020 Quang Tri and Quang Ngai are two provinces in the project area with more than 50,000 people with disabilities and are considered as one of the most vulnerable groups and are particularly interested in natural disasters. Therefore, increasing the participation of people with disabilities in community-based disaster risk management is essential to minimize damage and increase the ability to actively respond to people with disabilities.

In the morning of September 28, 2018, in Hanoi, Disaster Management Policy and Technology Center (MARD) in collaboration with Malteser International (MI) organized the Project Summary Conference “Strengthening the Participation of people with disabilities in community-based disaster risk management in Vietnam”.Deputy Director General of Vietnmam Disaster Management Authority Nguyen Truong Son chaired the Conference.
Attending the conference were representatives of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs,Vietnam Association of People with Disabilities, Vietnam Women's Union, Hanoi Disabled People Association, Quang Nam, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh, Quang Binh, Steering Committees for Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue in Thua Thien Hue, Quang Binh and TP. Danang, Quang Nam, TP. Ho Chi Minh City, the Red Cross Quang Nam, Da Nang and more than 120 delegates from the Technical Assistance Group, Community Group, trainers and supervisors of the project in 4 project communes of Quang Nam province Tri, Quang Ngai and relevant agencies and related international organizations.

Mr. Nguyen Truong Son - Deputy General Director of VNDMA gave the opening speech at the conference.

The conference aimed to assess the achieved results and challenges in the implementation of the project "Enhancing the participation of people with disabilities in community-based disaster risk management in Vietnam" from May 2016 to September 2018.

The conference

The project has been implemented through various and diversified forms: Building the capacity of the commune technical assistance (technical assistance) group - with representatives of people with disabilities (PWD), organizing training courses in which The project trainers come from many levels (central, provincial, district) with many members (officials in charge of natural disaster prevention, Disability Association, Red Cross,Disabled People Association of Quang Tri and Quang Ngai ) communicate to raise awareness for the people, focusing on vulnerable groups. Tools such as hazard maps, household interviews, focus group interviews are effective tools when working with people with disabilities. Develop disaster prevention plans and response options based on the needs of the people (including people with disabilities). Plans are experimented through evacuation drills,it has changed the way Disaster Prevention Planning and Disaster Preparedness Plan in the communes of the two provinces, increasing the participation of people with disabilities in planning. The Commune Technical Assistance Group instructed village officials to write small project proposals ... These activities contribute to raising the social and community awareness about people with disabilities and helping people with enter and be confident in natural disaster prevention activities.

“Disaster risk management is the process by which communities (with vulnerable groups) take an active part in problem identification, cause analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation theimplementation of the plan to reduce vulnerability and increase community resilience to natural disasters. ”- Speech of Mr. Bui Quang Huy - Deputy Director of Disaster Managemen Policy and Technology Center.

Some key results of the project, such as: At least 50 officials of state agencies and other organizations working in the field of disaster risk and disability management have been strengthened in terms of skills. project planning, management, monitoring, and coordination, capacity building for people with disabilities to be a trainer for at least 100 members of the Union of People with Disabilities, Ministry of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs, DMPTC of project area, reducing the risks of natural disasters and the vulnerability of at least 1,200 particularly poor people at the project area in village level.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Nam, Association of People with Disabilities, Victims of Agent Orange, Sponsoring People with Disabilities and Protection of Children's Rights, Quang Tri presented the presentation “Building capacity to implement disaster risk management activities based on integrated community of people with disabilities”

Besides the achieved results, there are still some difficulties in the process of project implementation such as:
- Association of People with Disabilities is only available at provincial, district and commune levels. There is a lack of specific regulations on Technical Assistance Groups and Community Groups in natural disaster prevention and control systems.
- Changes in organizational structure and rotation of personnel involved in the project. Staff involved in the project concurrently many government jobs so it is difficult to arrange time to fully participate in project activities, especially capacity building activities.
- Commune-level disaster prevention officers, especially village officials have not updated or did not fully understand the content of the Law on Natural Disaster Prevention, legal documents, guidance on disaster prevention and integration, and disability integration. in Disaster Prevention.
- The content of the guidelines on Community-based Disaster Risk Management of Project 1002, including the disaster risk assessment toolkit, sample of Disaster Prevention plan and response plan of the Project 1002 ;The way of integrating the content of natural disaster prevention into the socio-economic development plan is not specific and follows closely the level of users (commune and village officials), especially the terms of natural disaster prevention, climate change, guidelines on how to calculate funding for socio-economic development solutions that integrate disaster prevention content.
- The implementation time is not much (02 years) so it is difficult to improve the capacity evenly for stakeholders at local levels.

Mr. Nguyen Van Vien, Head of Bich Giang Village, Cam Hieu Commune, Cam Lo District, Quang Tri Province presented the presentation of Disaster Risk Assessment and Commune Disaster Prevention Planning

- Strengthen communication and dissemination of legal documents on natural disaster prevention, new orientations and new methods in natural disaster prevention for officials directly working this field, social organizations and organizations of vulnerable people at all levels, especially at commune and village levels.
- About Technical Support Group, Community Group:
+ Each member of the Technical Assistance Group and Community Group must know and understand their specific roles and tasks and of the Group; Clarify the coordination mechanism between the two groups and with the Commune Steering Committee for Disaster Prevention and Search and Rescue and the Village Disaster Prevention Sub-Committee. For people with disabilities to participate in 02 groups, it is necessary to select representatives who have enough time to participate, enthusiastically with People with disabilities.
+ It is necessary to organize training for 02 groups before implementing activities. Especially, we spend a lot of time to discuss and practice using the Disaster Risk assessment tool, formulate important questionnaires, ask / expand questions, synthesize information and data. Particular attention should be paid to eliminate barriers for students with disabilities to ensure their participation and help improve the capacity of people with disabilities effectively.
- In assessing Disaster Risks, preparing Disaster Prevention and Disaster Preparedness Plan:
+ Flexible use of information and data collection tools;
+ Pay attention to the time and place of the disaster risk assessment to ensure the full participation of people, especially people with disabilities and children;
+ Supplementing a summary of natural disaster prevention activities in each period, including needs and solutions from the community.
+ Make a list and provide early warning and early evacuation solutions suitable to groups of subjects that need support to include in the disaster risk response plan.
+ The disaster response plan (early warning, early evacuation) needs to have a solution that is suitable for different groups of people in the community, including people with disabilities to ensure all people can access information,warning messages, proactive early evacuation or evacuation support solutions suitable for each object in the community
- Integrating the content of Natural Disaster Prevention into the Socio-Economic Development Plan:
+ Organizing training courses for key cadres or officials to prepare natural disaster preparedness plans and socio-economic development plans on: Awareness on Disaster Prevention, Socio-Economic Development Planning process and integrated method.
+ Integrated activities can only be done when activities in the Natural Disaster Prevention Plan are detailed and specific (Details of the content, quantity, and estimated budget to be implemented).
+ In the process of elaborating a natural disaster prevention plan, pre-determining contents and activities to be included in the socio-economic development plan. If it is not possible to include it in the socio-economic development plan, it should be included in the resolution of the People's Council.
- The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs shall coordinate the promulgation of a model of cultural houses in combination with natural disaster prevention to ensure accessibility and communication activities of natural disaster prevention for the community.

Mr. Tran Thien, Officer of Cam Thuy Commune, Cam Lo District, Quang Tri Province presented his presentation on Village and Commune Disaster Prevention Planning

Mr. Nguyen Van Hung, Technical Support Group of Hanh Duc Commune, Nghia Hanh District, Quang Ngai Province presented the presentation Writing a small project proposal to implement the Village Disaster Prevention Plan

Mr. Tran Tuan Kiet, Chairman of Quang Ngai Disabled People Association - presented a presentation on Supervising project activities

The conference was also heard very frank, practical and specific comments from representatives of agencies and organizations attending the conference. The representatives of the Ministries agreed and highly appreciated the results of the project, saying that the management of natural disaster prevention and control must have the contribution and participation of People with disabilities. Delegates also proposed recommendations for people to understand the needs of people with disabilities to help and support people with disabilities to integrate into the community, especially in natural disaster prevention. Regarding the activities of disability support organizations, the delegates desired the State to have the institution and necessary support for organizations to operate effectively to promote activities to support people with disabilities ...
Concluding at the Conference, Deputy General Director Nguyen Truong Son highly appreciated the results that the project has achieved. The project is small in terms of space, funding and location but has shown a lot of shortcomings in community-based disaster risk management. The project knew how to enable people with disabilities to actively participate in disaster risk management, be confident and actively contribute to the community. It is these people with disabilities that will help spread the success of the project, the model of the project will continue to be maintained and replicated.