Resilience building: A guide to flood, cyclone, earthquake, drought and safe schools programming

This guidance document is meant to support practitioners working in disaster prone contexts to develop and implement more effective integrated resilience programming. It promotes programming that cuts across different fields of work like rights awareness, food security, emergency preparedness, livelihoods, education, health etc.

The publication includes recommendations for developing resilience programming regarding:

• floods:
  • raise awareness of flood resistant houses by providing training on suitable construction methods;
  • encourage media (TV, radio, newspapers) to improve coverage of flood risks and household preparedness
  • advocate for safety net programmes to support the most vulnerable women and their families
• cyclone:
  • promote coastal forestation/ mangrove plantation to protect against high wind speeds;
  • identify local seed varieties that are able to withstand cyclones as well as related floods;
  • advocate with the government for the construction and retrofitting of cyclone shelters.
• earthquakes:
  • train people in essential life-saving skills during an earthquake including identifying safe locations;
  • support local governments in the design and testing of evacuation plans, routes and centres;
  • support governments to ensure that all tradesmen are trained in earthquake proof building practices.
• drought:
  • provide easy to understand meteorological forecasts to farmers and advice on drought preparedness;
  • train women and the larger communities on diversified livelihoods;
  • advocate and support local governments to promote sustainable water management methods.
• safe schools:
  • conduct regular mock drills with students and teachers;
  • support schools in developing a curriculum inclusive of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction;
  • hold governments to account for required retrofitting of school buildings.