Rama Rao Dammala is Senior Manager – Disaster Risk Management at Child Fund India.
The inclusion of children in risk reduction approach in the local developmental planning not only contributes to a more robust response mechanism of a country, it realizes global development goals at the local level because sustainable development is only realized when all members of the society are allowed to live, contribute and thrive, children included.
India is among the world’s most disaster-prone countries – almost 85% of India’s area is vulnerable to hazards such as cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, droughts, etc., and at least 75% of the coastline is prone to cyclones, tsunamis, and storm surges. In 2019, disasters affected India the hardest globally – the country recorded nearly 20% of the 11,755 deaths and 24.5% of the 95 million people affected.
As the global average temperature gradually increases along with environmental degradation, India will only witness an increase in devastating floods, cyclones, and prolonged droughts, further exacerbated by the human-induced conflicts and other elements of discrimination such as race, caste, gender, poverty, and disability.
Amidst an actual disaster, more than 50% affected population comprises children – they are the most vulnerable section of society. However, their voices and concerns are missing from the policies and disaster risk reduction plans in most cases. They are reduced to being passive receivers of solutions that may not be optimal for them.
A disaster changes a child’s life within a few moments, especially for those living in poverty or vulnerable situations. They receive a disproportionate share of the burden, both in the near and long term. Children are directly affected by death and injuries, and disasters exacerbate diseases related to malnutrition, poor water, and sanitation. Children abandoned by, separated, or orphaned from their families are also vulnerable to trafficking, exploitation and abuse. Despite the colossal impact of a disaster on their lives, children are left out of the community level’s resilience-building processes and beyond.
However, ChildFund India believes that children can be more than passive victims of disasters. The organization’s child-centred Disaster Risk Reduction (CCDRR) Program recognizes children’s right to participate in processes affecting their lives, the leadership roles they can play, increased resilience, and a greater sense of control security can be achieved through Child Centred DRR.
ChildFund India helps deprived, excluded, and vulnerable children develop the capacity to improve their lives and the opportunity to become young adults, parents, and leaders who bring lasting and positive change in their communities. The promotion of CCDRR is essential for ChildFund India as part of Child Rights since, under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), children have inalienable rights in all circumstances – disasters included. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction to emphasize the inclusion of children in DRR planning, recognizing that they, along with the youth, are agents of change who need to be supported to contribute to disaster risk reduction, in accordance with legislation, national practise and educational curricula.
We, therefore, build the resilience of children and communities living in disaster-prone areas by imparting awareness, building capacity and facilitating convergence with local governance across eight States – Odisha, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Madhya Pradesh. Here, the children lead the resilience-building processes; and the adults by giving inputs from a child’s perspective often overlooked by adults. Together, they create DRR mechanisms by leveraging local support and resources that can be activated to respond to any emergency and increase resilience during normalcy through disaster risk reduction planning and implementation.
Children also participate in the Village Disaster Management Committees (VDMC), a community-level structure that governs disaster management activities before, during, and after a disaster at the community level. They bring children-related issues and also influence government disaster management practices especially at the local governance level.
Children, along with the youth, mothers, and male adults of the community, are included in the response structures. They are trained on specific task force skills – Early Warning, Search and Rescue, First Aid, Relief and Shelter Management, and Psychosocial Task – that are required during an emergency, as per the National Disaster Management Authority guidelines. They have very clear roles and responsibilities in pre-disaster, during, and post-disaster, honed over time by executing mock drills, training, and conducting quizzes at community levels. Youth and adolescent girls are among the key members of the task forces and they play a vital role at the time
of disasters.
Schools and other learning centres form a very important part of a child’s life since these are the epicentre of their social interaction and learning. Therefore, children are trained in school safety program; making their school and neighbourhood safe. They lead the school risk assessment plan, prepare school safety plans, and oversee its implementation with support from School Management Committees (SMCs). They also undergo training in first aid, basic evacuation skills, and psycho-social support to deal with school-level emergencies; these skills prove handy during disasters too. For children who are too young and thus most vulnerable to disasters, mothers are engaged in the Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS), aka Anganwadi-level safety exercises where mothers lead the safety building measures at the ICDS to ensure their ward’s safety and ICDS surroundings
in consideration.
For instance, in 25 villages in the Mahakalpara Block in Kendrapara District, Odisha, ChildFund India has been engaged in CCDRR activities since 2016 because the District is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the State; it is riddled with cyclones, floods, storm surges and agricultural losses every year, causing damage to life
and economy.
The ChildFund India team has trained over 1,000 volunteering children and other members of the district in CCDRR. Children identify and analyze various risks at the community level using a participatory approach along with adults and prepare the plan to mitigate and/or reduce the risks. When a disaster is in progress or a warning is announced, the volunteers gather in different task-forces. They use megaphones with sirens, drum, flag, and bell to warn villagers, take the most vulnerable people to the evacuation sites, undertake rescue and first-aid operations, and use radio communication equipment to inform authorities.
While children are key players at the community level during the DRR planning and execution, ChildFund India views their inclusion in local governance development is a key to sustainability and prolonged success. Children and youth are trained and encouraged to participate in local government-level planning to ensure cohesiveness in their community-level plans and that of the government, demand resource allocation where needed, demand greater accountability and development service delivery.
To ensure that children’s viewpoints and contributions are brought to the government officials’ notice, ChildFund India encourages children to share their experiences on Disaster Risk Reduction Planning and Risk Governance at the district, State and national level platforms.
Our experiences working with children has proved time and again that if given a chance, children can assume leadership roles in the resilience-building process if they are provided with opportunities and requisite capacity. For example, children can provide leadership to identify micro-level risks at a village to share their experiences at the national/global level platforms. They understand their issues better and can develop a plan to address the issues with clear timelines.
Disasters are a continuous occurrence, and therefore resilience-building needs to be a continuous process too. Newer members of the community need to be continuously trained as per their shifting roles. This requires sustained interventions and resource allocations as part of our developmental planning. The inclusion of children in risk reduction approach in the local developmental planning not only contributes to a more robust response mechanism of a country, it realizes global development goals at the local level because sustainable development is only realized when all members of the society are allowed to live, contribute and thrive, children included.