Jamaica: 'Women key to DRR programmes' - ODPEM

Project Coordinator of the Tropical Storm Gustav Recovery Programme, which was run under the auspices of the Office of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Management (ODPEM), Kirk Frankson, has defended his organisation’s training of more women than men in construction skills, as a way to ensure that knowledge is passed on to the communities.

“One of the things we realise, in doing training at the community level, is that it is easier to recruit and mobilise women. Using women also allows the information to be disseminated at a greater level. Females are more likely to pass on the information to their male counterparts, as opposed to males who are more restrictive with information,” Mr. Frankson said.

He was speaking at a Think Tank at JIS Head offices, located at 58a Half Way Tree Road in Kingston, on Wednesday March 2.

The project coordinator also said that males who turn up for the training sessions often resisted instructions.

“We skewed it towards training more females than males, so that we can then transfer knowledge to other members of the community. In the actual training sessions, the males who were trained as carpenters were somewhat resistant to coming to another simplified training session,” Mr. Frankson added.

ODPEM Director General, Ronald Jackson, speaking at the function, concurred with Mr. Frankson.

“One of the things we found in our community work, is that women are key to the decision making process in the communities, in the disaster risk management programmes that we operate. Women are very much in the forefront and the key decision makers on the ground,” Mr. Jackson said.

He said that women are the ones who react first to events in the communities, and also the ones who come out to the training events. He, however, expressed concerns about the absence of the men at many of these events.

“When we speak about gender in Jamaica, we often focus on the failing of the male in the household and the fact that boys are not doing well in schools. We also focus on empowering women. What we really need to reflect on as an organisation is how to re-engineer a balance,” he added.

Mr. Jackson said that the ODPEM also looks at the needs of the elderly, when it plans disaster risk reduction programmes.

“We are going beyond the generalist approach, looking at the issues of gender, age and at special interest groups to see how we can address their needs,” he added.