Mainstreaming Child and Women Centric Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA)

in the Hazaribagh Division of Jharkhand

February 27 – 28, 2017

AN EXPRESSION.............

As a commitment of Inter agency Group (IAG) supported by UNICEF Jharkhand with The

Janaki Foundation as the Executing Agency, Divisional level Consultation attempted to

build the capacities of stakeholders on Child and Women Centric Disaster Risk Reduction

(DRR) and Climate change adaptation (CCA) was held at North Chotonagpur division – at

Hazaribagh on 27st and 28th February 2017

IAG is conveying its sincere esteem and admiration towards Department of Home, Prisons

and Disaster Management government of Jharkhand and Shri D.C Mishra I A S

Divisional commissioner North Chotonagpur Hazaribagh

The guidance and direction from Divisional commissioner North Chotonagpur

Hazaribagh were imminence which resulted for a successful 2 days Divisional

Consultation of North Chotonagpur Hazaribagh.

IAG expressed its contentment and thankfulness to UNICEF-Jharkhand for guidance and

to way forwards the Divisional level Consultation to build the capacities of stakeholders

on Child and Women Centric Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate change adaptation

(CCA)

IAG also acknowledged the cooperation Deputy Commissioner of Hazaribagh, Ramgrah,

Chatra ,Dhanbad, and Bokaro and Deputy development commissioners, Secretary to

commissioner NCP, under secretary to commissioner NCP, Dy Directors of NCP , Addl

collectors (DRR), senior government officials, NGOS, Press personals for their cooperation

for successful Divisional level Consultation on DRR and CCA.

With Kind Regards.

Subir Kumar

Convenor IAG

Ranchi -Jharkhand

Mainstreaming Child and Women Centric Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in the Hazaribagh Division of Jharkhand

Minutes of the Meeting

Date: February 27 – 28, 2017 Venue: Conference Hall, Commissioner Office, Hazaribagh Division. Key Chair persons

Mr. D.C.Mishra (I.A.S), Divisional Commissioner, Hazaribagh

Secretary to the Divisional Commissioner Hazaribagh

Dr. Rahul Kapse, Health Specialist, UNICEF Ranchi

Coln. S. Srivastawa, DRR Specialist

Mr.Ajay Kuamr Under secretary office of the Divisional Commissioner, Hazaribagh

Mr Prem Kumar Dy Director Public relation office of the Divisional Commissioner, Hazaribagh

Mr. Ajay Kumar District Disaster Management Officer, Govt. of Jharkhand

Mr Subir Kumar convener Inter Agency Group

Mr. Ashish Kumar, Director, The Janaki Foundation

Mr. Kushal Mukherjee, Facilitator, Inter Agency Group Overview and Background Jharkhand is a disaster-prone state, with large parts of its territory exposed to both natural and man-made hazards. Furthermore, there is a strong body of evidence suggesting climate change has induced alterations to the frequency, predictability, and severity of natural hazards. Such developments have increased the propensity of hazards transforming into human disasters. Children, by definition constitute a highly vulnerable population, and are therefore particularly susceptible to the adverse effects of disasters. Disasters in Jharkhand are chronic and slowly causing huge loss in terms of human beings and economic losses. Drought is chronic disaster and sixteen year old Jharkhand has experienced ten full or partial droughts. The state gets 1000-1200 mm of rains every year but the run off of water is 85%. This has not only affected water availability at Surface or under ground level, but has substantially reduced the water index in atmosphere, soil and vegetation thereby adversely effective yield of food grains and growth rate of flora and fauna both. Pollution, global warming and dearth of suitable livelihood add up to the severity more. Lightning is another major disaster which every year claims more than 200 lives. Mining Disasters, Fire, elephant menace, thunderstorms are other disasters common in Jharkhand. Earthquake and floods are also likely. The consultation “women centric Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Change Adaptation and Children Centric Disaster Risk Reduction & Climate Change Adaptation” focussed on the deliberations to assess the child-specific impacts of droughts (climatological disaster), malnutrition and Japanese Encephalitis/Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (epidemic and biological disaster), among others in Hazaribagh Division where these disasters are increasing. Impacts can be age group-specific, with implications varying for infants, primary school aged children, and adolescents. Government of Jharkhand has taken various positive initiatives to reduce the risk of Disasters and Climate change, especially in recent past. The State Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authorities are more active with various institutional, planning, early warning, capacity building and infrastructural arrangements. The positioning of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Team and notification of all 24 Districts of Jharkhand as Civil Defence Districts has added strength to DRR & CCA planning, prevention, mitigation and preparedness of the state. While legal frameworks are necessary to provide a new direction to disaster management, this needs to be

supplemented by incorporating sound disaster risk reduction measures into our development decisions, policies and programs.

In the light of the Sendai Framework for Action (SFA), Jharkhand state Disaster Management Department in partnership with UNICEF, Inter Agency Group and The Janaki Foundation is moving forward to strengthen Disaster Risk Reduction Roadmap across the 05 Divisions and 24 Districts of Jharkhand in a participatory manner to reduce economic losses caused by disasters by 50 percent, and the loss of lives by 75 percent. The effort is to work in synergy and convergence with other development partners and the stakeholder Departments of Government of Jharkhand to mainstream Child and Women Centric Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) planning in the state of Jharkhand. The Janaki Foundation and Inter Agency Group has been an active partner in the planning process on DRR, draft the DRR Roadmap, conduct individual and multi-stakeholder consultations on the roadmap in Jharkhand. Plan of Action: Almost all the 24 districts are affected by different kind of Disaster. There is great need to strengthen the capacity of State, Division, District, Block and Panchayat level of departments, institutions and functionaries to respond to the Disaster at their own level in participation of community. It has the approval of Additional Chief Secretary, Home, Prison and Disaster Management Department, Government of Jharkhand and the programme is to be run in coordination and guidance of State Project Officer, UNDP. District and divisional level consultation will be done in overall supervision of respective District Disaster Management Officers. Jharkhand is mainly vulnerable to following kind of Hazards:-

Drought

Chemical and Industrial Disaster (CBRN)

Lightning Introductory Remarks and Lamp Lighting Session Officials from the Hazaribagh Division, Experts from Disaster Management Department, Government of Jharkhand, Inter Agency Group and The Janaki Foundation amongst others were in the panel of four core sessions that addressed resilient villages, resilient livelihood, resilient basic services, Gender Vulnerability and resilient geographies in the Hazaribagh Division Level Consultation on Disaster Risk Reduction. Divisional Commissioner – Hazaribagh Division, Mr. B.K.Mishra (I.A.S) served as the chief Guest and inaugurated the consultation.

“The roadmap would ensure that all the safety norms stipulated therein are adhered to by people as well as the government machinery,” said Mr. Mishra. He added that all buildings of public gather such as schools, hospitals, offices and government buildings should be built to be Disaster-resistant, and older buildings should be reinforced to be stable in the event of a disaster.

Setting the Context and elaborating on the objectives of the workshop, Mr. Subir Kumar, Convenor, Inter Agency Group said “Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptations (CCA) continue to be an evolving field. As disaster risks evolve, and DRR practitioners undergo cycles of learning and reflection, different concepts take prominence to understand and act on disaster risk reduction. He was of the view that Disaster Risk Reduction is an initiative with the policy objective of anticipating future disaster risk, reducing existing exposure, vulnerability or hazard, and strengthening resilience.” In his context setting dialogue – he further highlighted the key concerns and focus area for the future and hoped that the deliberations of the Consultation would better inform the participants on the DRR and CCA felt requirements and pave the way for developing an inclusive Roadmap for Jharkhand. Dr. Rahul Kapse from UNICEF was of the view that a disaster is an extreme disruption of the functioning of a society that causes widespread human, material, or environmental losses, exceeding the ability of the affected society to cope with its own resources. Disasters are either natural, such as floods, droughts, earthquakes and epidemics, or human-made such as fire, conflicts. It is essential to understand that natural hazards do not automatically lead to disasters by themselves. Indeed, the severity of a disaster depends on the intensity of the hazard and on the vulnerability of the people who are facing the hazard. Vulnerability is determined by social, economic, political or geographical inequities. The geo-climactic location of the Hazaribagh Division, combined with its high levels of socioeconomic inequality, suggests that the geography is highly prone to disasters. Dr. Rahul Kapse from UNICEF addressed that in During Disasters that there is a direct loss of life as people especially women have less knowledge about happening and are less prepared. This is primarily due to low access of information like TV and Radio. Vulnerable to Reproductive and Sexual Health especially the pregnant and lactating mother. In scenarios such as Disaster where things are scarce - cases of sexual violence, trafficking and bonded labour increase in high proportions as there is a loss of livelihood. The felt need and focus thus should be on Preparedness, prevention and Risk Reduction. At the Policy Level, efforts that can be promoted include Awareness and Advocacy; Gender Sensitive Risk Assessment-gender specific indicators; Analysis and Review; Gender –aware Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Products; Gender Responsive Recovery; Capacity Development

He further illustrated that as part of solution the need is to develop an innovative solution that addresses the concerns of the gender concerns and vulnerabilities in Disasters and supports in evidenced based planning and provisions for DRR and CCA within the government systems. To take the initiative forward, The Janaki Foundation is in the process of developing a Gender Equity Index for women in Disaster and Disaster like situations in Jharkhand where benchmarking can be done from the dimensions categorizing empowerment, social and economic, livelihood and political. To Support the effort, it is also in the process of developing a knowledge bank on Gender development promoting Gender Just Society focusing on Disasters and vulnerability. The effort is to serve as a one stop solution for all technical and knowledge related issues pertaining to Gender Development, Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptations. Mr. Ajay Kumar District Disaster Management Officer, Hazaribagh, Govt. of Jharkhand briefed the officials on DRR efforts being undertaken in the Division highlighting the focus and purpose of the consultation which is as follows: 1. Overview of Disasters in Hazaribagh Division and emergency challenges. 2. Child and women centric DRR and CCA: Challenges 3. Child centric and women centric Health management status and challenges. Coln. S. Srivastawa, DRR Specialist informed that with the enactment of Disaster Management Act, 2005, there has been a paradigm shift from the relief centric response to a proactive prevention, mitigation and preparedness-driven approach for conserving development gains and to minimize loss of life, livelihood and property. In order to discuss the issue of integration of disaster risk into development programmes and policies – a Division Level Workshop under the Government of Jharkhand – Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) initiative has been called to discuss the issue of mainstreaming and integration of Child and Women Centric Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) in the division and finalize the strategies and procedures for the same especially for Health, Education and Rural Development Sectors. He informed that the herculean task of providing relief is made easier through efficient and effective coordination amongst various departments in the state including Rural, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Urban Development, Disaster management besides the department of Agriculture. All these departments work in perfect tandem with the vision of controlling the drought induced distress as best as they can. The fact that the districts of Garwah and Hazaribagh were provided a special relief package of Rs.2.88 crores in 2014-15 to cope with “drought-like” situation is a perfect example of the State Government’s commitment to such exigencies. He further said that an inclusive planning is required that encompasses all the 24 districts is required to deal with the situation. This

could thus help in pooling of resources, avoid duplication and working with an integrated approach thereby facilitating key policy decisions and implementations on improving DRR and CCA in the State.

Mr. Nitish Priyadharsi , DRR and CCA Expert highlighted the DRR and CCA situation in Jharkhand and Hazaribagh, the growing urbanization, vulnerability and the challenges ahead saying "With urban population, poverty and destitution rising at an alarming rate in Jharkhand, there is an urgent

need for a well thought out strategy that mainstreams child and women centric DRR and CCA initiatives in Jharkhand. Citing examples of planning in developed nations like United States, he was of the view that proper attentions should also be made to silent disasters like malnutrition, solid and liquid waste management, safe drinking water amongst others. He opined that drought has become a chronic disaster and in sixteen years, Hazaribagh has faced ten full or partial droughts. This has not only affected water availability at Surface or under ground level, but has substantially reduced the water index in atmosphere, soil and vegetation thereby adversely effective yield of food grains and growth rate of flora and fauna both. Pollution, global warming and dearth of suitable livelihood add up to the severity more. Lightning is another major disaster which every year claims more than 200 lives. Mining Disasters, Fire are other disasters common in Division. In regards, a well thought out strategy is the felt need of the hour as preparedness to deal with the situation. Illustrating on `Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation efforts in Jharkhand: Challenges and options, Mr. Subir Kumar, Convenor, IAG said that it is crucial to acknowledge the good works undertaken by the government and other partners as part of the DRR and CCA preparedness. However, he highlighted that more committed efforts are required in the 04 Priority Areas that needs to be taken care off while working on Disaster Plans; and they include - Understanding Disaster Risks, Strengthening Disaster Risk Governance to Manage Disaster Risks, Investing in Disaster Risk Reduction for Resilience and Enhancing Disaster Preparedness for effective response, and to "Build Back Better" in recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction. He shared the demographic and the vulnerability indicators of the State and related efforts undertaken by the state on DRR and CCA in Jharkhand. Mr. Kushal Mukherjee, Facilitator IAG, Jharkhand was of the view that a better understanding of the geomorphology, geology, hydrogeology and natural resource base to aid in the planning and execution of soil and moisture conservation works. A ridge to valley treatment approach is suggested. Improving the livelihood base by other part time and secondary employment including artisanal work would help increase financial any flows in rural areas. The rural communities need to be exposed to many more livelihood options based on local resources, which include plenty of bamboo, neem, mahua, etc, where some creative ideas could generate good employment. These could include artisanal crafts, simple repair shops, etc. Changing farming cropping patterns to adapt to the changing climatic conditions would be an appropriate step in building land use resilience. One of the major gaps in the PDS seems the poor delivery at the last mile. Both quantity and quality are moot issues and need to be addressed. The monitoring of leakages seems inadequate. This would go a long way in meeting the nutritional requirements of the underprivileged communities. Water and sanitation effort shave t be stepped up especially in areas where open defecation is the norm. Among the recommendations, the strengthening of the water supply and sanitation needs to be taken up on a war footing. Children must also be taught to use toilets instead of going for open defecation. The second day of the consultation focussed on revisiting the District Disaster Development Plans as a group. This was presented by Mr. Ajay kumar District Disaster Management Officer, Hazaribagh, Govt. of Jharkhand. He illustrated on the specifics and chapters that contained the following components: Chapter I: Introduction, Profile, Geology of Jharkhand, Physical Regions, Climate, Temperature and Rainfall, Natural Endowments of the state

Chapter II: Hazard, Risk and Vulnerability Analysis, Disaster Profile, Disaster Calendar of Jharkhand & Map, Situation of Agriculture Drought, Proposed strategy on Integrated Agriculture Drought management in Jharkhand Chapter III: Urban Hazard Risk and Vulnerability Analysis, The polluting Industries in Jharkhand, Air Pollution in Jharkhand, Gaseous Pollution, Water Pollution Chapter IV: Capacity analysis of the institutions to respond to Disasters Chapter V: Disaster Management in Jharkhand; Multi-Hazard Disaster Management Plan, Trigger Mechanism Chapter VI: Proposed plan for the holistic Disaster Management in Jharkhand, Incident response System (IRS) Chapter VII: Minimum Standard of Relief Operation Chapter VIII: Standard Operating Procedures Chapter IX: Offences and Penalties Chapter X: Monitoring and Evaluation Chapter XI: Proposed Incidence Response System for the state While the officials of the key stakeholder departments of the Hazaribagh Division acknowledged the Hazaribagh Disaster Plan; they were of the view that much improvement are required on the same as this needs to be more area specific, focusing on vulnerabilities in Disaster, population vis-à-vis tentative budget provisions. Many officials saw the document for the first time and were of the opinion that this document needs an intensive reworking so that the department and the District owns it in regards to their responsibilities, commitments and mandate. This is in consideration of the fact that meteorological drought is almost a constant in the north and west, especially in districts like Hazaribagh and Garhwa. The rainfall Departure Index (DI) of Hazaribagh shows that between 2012 and 2015, the variance from normal has been on a declining trend. Hazaribagh witnessed a short burst rainfall in July 2015 wherein 50% of the 2015 rainfall fell in a single day. Symptoms of agricultural drought, hydrological drought, socio-economic drought, and ecological – all have been witnessed in these hard hit areas. These cumulative droughts have robbed underprivileged rural communities of any semblance of minimum “Quality of Life’ and has had a toll on the quality of the social lives of the women and children in Jharkhand. Hence a concerted evidenced based strategic effort is required to deal with the situation in an effective and efficient manner. Recommendations and Key Outcomes of the Hazaribagh Division consultation Economic growth in the Hazaribagh Region has been notably impressive in the last two decades but this has not resulted in substantial reduction in poverty and the progress on other human development indicators has been slow. During this period of high economic growth which has also seen major degradation of natural resources, there has been a shift towards a rights-based and people-centred policy framework, notable interventions being the recognition of rights to information, education, forest rights, and focussed food and employment programmes. However, Hazaribagh still faces numerous challenges, such as stagnant agricultural growth, rising inequality, unemployment, and inadequate access to public services for the poor. There has been a perceptible recent prioritisation aimed at reducing economic and social vulnerability of the poor and building the adaptive capacity of the poor (such as a re-invigorated shift towards improving investment in all kinds of infrastructure, focussing on creating employment-generating industries, imparting employable skills and training to a young labour force and enhancing productivity from agriculture and allied systems). In regards, the following recommendations were suggested as part of key outcomes from the consultation:

District Level Disaster Development Plan needs strengthening. In the Disaster Plan, Government relief and response operations proposed advocates for a generic approach to cater to the needs of affected populations. Negligible attention is paid to the specific needs of children, due to which the severity of impacts faced by them are often compounded. Additionally, while certain areas such as health and education have received policy attention, the psychosocial impact of disasters on children is almost absent as a consideration in policy planning and implementation. This needs to be laid up on Priority.

People Centric decentralized Drought Response Manual to be developed for the Division, with detailed guidelines on decentralized management.

Consensus was that the focus of the DRR and CCA preparedness should be on vulnerable and vulnerability especially the women and child. Vulnerability thus, may be predominantly determined by exposure, cultural practices, socio-economic status, and the capacity of public institutions in the community.

Water Sanitation, Hygiene

For safe drinking water – which is the basic entitlement, disinfection at source must be made mandatory with checks on the quality at source and at delivery.

Awareness Generation in regards DRR and CCA being very low in Jharkhand; consensus was derived that a concerted and innovative efforts is the felt need to inform and educate the masses regarding WASH, DRR and Child Rights.

Roof rain water collection units to be promoted for use in institutional toilets (PHCs, Schools and Anganwadis)

Child Education and Protection

Establish links of water scarcity and impacts on education; ensure school WASH facilities are functional.

Governance in Child Protection is critical in managing child protection.

Village Level Child Protection Committees (VLCPCs) and centres needs to be strengthened and they should work in close coordination with the Migrant Resource Centres

Support and care of migrant children through networking with local NGOs Health Development of MFR or First Aid Teams; Convergence with allied sectors; Contingency plan on seasonality (Drought-rainy season); Emergency Plan for Maternal treatment centre to address malnutrition during drought); Mapping of the District for Disaster Zone; Lack of IEC materials related to Disaster are the key challenges and the gaps that needs strengthening.

The initiatives of the Health Department thus should be: Effective supply of balanced noon meal schemes, at schools and anganwadis, to be made a

priority in drought affected villages

To Provide a direction to District Officials

Convergence of IDSP with DDMA

Provide well equipped Ambulance & HR for Trauma Management.

Pre stock of Life saving drugs & Medicines for vulnerability profile.

Availability of ORS at AWCs-HSC for distribution on demand and urgent situation

Institutionalize capacity building and knowledge transfer on food and nutrition. Place identification and preparation of additional beds and Funds availability for treatments of

malnutrition

Need & region based IEC to be developed.

Institutional guideline for safety measures and response to be shared with all functionaries.

Ensuring ambulance services for trauma.

Expansion of donor based list for blood bank.

Inclusion of one chapter for Disaster management in Sahiyya Training module.

Installation of Lightening conductor in all hospitals /CHC/HSC

Fire Fighting equipments at all the service delivery points Nutrition: Strengthening the malnutrition reduction process that is turning out as a silent disaster with grave results (with repercussions for health, education, and in the long term for livelihoods).

Efficacy in the supply of balanced noon meal schemes, at schools and anganwadis, to be a priority in drought affected villages

To lay intensive focus for reduction malnutrition that is turning out as a silent disaster with grave results.

Malnutrition is the crucial underlying impact of droughts. Emergency Plan for Maternal treatment centre to address malnutrition during drought

Strengthening the AWWS meeting focusing on Appropriate complimentary feeding practices

Supply of mid arm circumference tape at AWCs and old /defective Growth monitoring machines to be replace

Supportive supervision at AWCs on Growth monitoring

Coordination with health department and effective linkages with NHM program Rastriya bal swath yojana (RSBY)

Gender equality, equity, diversity

At the Policy Level, efforts that can be promoted include Awareness and Advocacy

Gender Sensitive Risk Assessment-gender specific indicators

Analysis and Review; Gender –awareness Disaster Risk Reduction Knowledge Products

Gender Responsive Recovery; Capacity Development

Gender sensitive IEC materials display at Dist Hospital-APHC-SHC-ICDS Dist /Block office

Livelihood – Agriculture and allied activities

The changing rainfall pattern due to erratic rainfall with high intensity showers and prolonged dry period is playing havoc with agriculture, especially in a situation of rain fed farming. It is recommended that the cropping pattern should follow suit and crops like minor millets, pulses, etc., with lower water needs and better resistance are adopted and with new cropping patterns developed.

The crop of paddy may be replaced with less water intensive crops like Corn, Millets, Kharif Sorghum, Kharif Mung, Pulses like Arhar and Urad in the long term

In this drought situation, there was no money with the cattle owner farmers to buy the fodder. Under such situation a small support through the subsidies for fodder and cattle feed purchase may be helpful.

The large animals may not be able to sustain in the drought, the promotion of small livestock like goat and poultry may be helpful for the communities. It will reduce the risks as well as will be able to sustain in the drought situation without much loss.

Since migration is a serious problem, it could be facilitated by the government with NGOs support and by setting up Migration facilitation centres. The tracking of children may be helpful to address many child right issues violation during the migration.

Skill Building on Kisan Credit Card (KCC). Maximum usage of it by Farmers to be ensured.

Institutional Capacities and awareness

Build institutional capacity in government by educating public officials on the unique impacts faced by children, and adopt measures to ensure a child-focused approach in all disaster mitigation, preparedness, and relief and response efforts of the government – so as to increase awareness.

Raise awareness of the very real psychosocial impacts, which children experience when disasters strike, and implement initiatives that promote the mental and emotional wellbeing of children, such as the creation of “child friendly spaces” in disaster zones.

Institute disaster risk reduction as a mandatory element of school curriculum in disaster prone regions, so that children’s awareness is increased and they are enabled to have greater agency in preparing and responding to hazards.

Improve district-level data collection on indicators related to disaster impacts, and address research gaps with respect to child-specific hazards (e.g. abuse and trafficking) and their deleterious immediate and long-term effects on children.

Building Construction Department (Building safety for Earthquake, fire & lightening)

Plan to be focused on Building safety for Earthquake, fire & lightening.

Installation of Lightening conductor in all the govt building and service delivery points Institutionalizing Convergence: Health-ICDS-PHED

Need & region based IEC to be developed

Awareness Generation in regards DRR-Sanitation –Health-Gender-Malnutrition in the AWWs / Sahiyyas’ monthly meeting taking consideration seasonality

Each AWCS-APHC-HSC-PRI-schools and other service delivery points must have Poster on DO and DONTS related to DRR

Tool kit/Protocol of Capacity Building to be disseminated