Grameen Swapna

Bangladesh is widely recognized as a country that is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change, due to its geographical position and low-lying flat topography. Within the past 15 years, the country has experienced an increase in the frequency and intensity of natural disasters. A lack of awareness and coordination among the people of Bangladesh about disaster preparedness, climate change, and its impact on the environment and human lives has made the Bangladeshi population even more susceptible to the effects of natural disasters.

Grameen Swapna’s disaster management programme helps communities become more resilient to natural disasters. We develop prevention and adaptation strategies while building the capacity of communities to respond rapidly and effectively. Our approach includes educating communities by blending indigenous knowledge with modern technologies for sustainable livelihoods. We provide training, simulation sessions and situation reports to both our staff and communities to improve preparedness. When disaster strikes, our emergency relief and rehabilitation support help communities restore their lives and livelihoods.

Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change due to global warming. According to current scientific understanding, the state of well-being and survival of the people in Bangladesh will be under serious threat from climate change over the coming decades. Bangladesh is known as ground zero for climate change. Frequent natural disasters and rising sea levels adversely affect the lives and livelihoods of tens of millions of Bangladeshis, threatening to slow down and even reverse the nation’s progress in poverty alleviation. In a country increasingly faced with such hazards, Grameen Swapna’s disaster management, environment and climate change (DMECC) programme is working to make communities resilient to the impacts of natural calamities. We provide financial and technical support for innovative livelihood strategies such as crab fattening and salt tolerant rice cultivation. These help affected people recover their losses from responding to disaster, readying for change natural disasters and incorporate them into the mainstream development process. We also provide training to enhance the communities’ capacity to respond to natural disasters more effectively. Our initiatives also include building disaster resilient habitats. In addition to DMECC’s efforts, Grameen Swapna’s interventions in the agricultural sector, such as salt tolerant rice, maize cultivation and crop diversification, are ensuring food security in disaster prone vulnerable areas. From programme design to implementation, we always give priority to the parallel development of women and men in our sustainable development interventions. Moreover, we also raise awareness at the community level through various trainings where women are the prime focus, something that contributes towards ensuring gender equality, the third Millennium Development Goal.

Providing relief to disaster victims was one of Grameen Swapna’s first missions when it started out. Emerging from the need to address disaster management more effectively, the Disaster Management, Environment and Climate Change (DMECC) programme start in 2007, since then, it has been working to minimise the effects of climate change and reduce the vulnerability of exposed populations, thus helping Bangladesh become a disaster resilient country. With the aim to improve the country’s coping ability to natural disasters, DMECC is working to build capacity and competence, both at the institutional and community level.

The Disaster Management, Environment and Climate Change programme (DMECC) of Grameen Swapna began with the following objectives:

 Create social safety net for the disaster-affected beneficiaries.
 To raise awareness of community peoples in local level on climate change impact on health;
 To assist the participants in understanding of the Climate Change Impact on health.
 To enhance Grameen Swapna’s institutional capacity to respond to natural disasters
 Build capacity at the community level on disaster risk reduction
 Increase adaptability and coping ability in natural disasters by conducting predictive research information transfer and education inrelation to environment, climate change and natural disasters

In order to enhance institutional capacity, the most significant initiative taken by DMECC has been the compilation of the Standard Operation Procedures. It holds a set of disaster management protocols during an emergency in order to ensure quick response and effectiveness. DMECC has also conducted trainings for Grameen Swapna staff from all levels in order to streamline and professionalize disaster management.

The programme has also taken many initiatives to address building community capacity. Trainings have been conducted at the grassroots level and community outreach efforts to spread awareness have also been implemented. Moreover, disaster resilient structures in the southern-most regions of the country have been built, further equipping the community to tackle disaster impacts. Alongside, an efficient weather forecasting system also plays a major role in disaster risk reduction.

Increasing adaptability and coping ability is also an important measure that is being addressed in various ways. Relief assistance is highly prioritized for disaster-affected areas after the emergency. Alternative livelihood options are given to vulnerable households in order to ensure sustainable living. Additionally, access to safe water and sanitation support is another important activity. DECC is also giving psycho-social training in order to provide counselling for trauma victims, with a special focus on children.

Disaster Management, Environment and climate change (DMECC) Programme Activities of Grameen Swapna;

Capacity Building Trainings
Grameen Swapna staff members have been trained health workers and health volunteers have received first aid and disaster management skills, in order to provide the community with emergency support in a time of crisis. DMECC also provided trainings to Grameen Swapna school teachers, Village Organisation leaders, and community leaders, all of whom represent individuals who are usually recognised as first responders during a natural disaster.

Updated Weather Forecasting System
In order to ensure the rapid dissemination of information on weather patterns, DMECC has taken a host of measures to update its offices and the community with real time data on weather patterns. In order to develop an early warning system, DMECC has made technological improvements that allow for more accurate and up-to-date weather updates to reach Grameen Swapna staff efficiently.

This has allowed all kinds of stakeholders within the Grameen Swapna networks to receive flood and cyclone warnings, but also cold fronts; heat waves; heavy rainfall; dry spells; and other climatic events that allow them to make necessary preparations

Alternative Livelihood
As part of its strategies to ensure adaptability, DMECC emphasises in providing sustainable long-term solutions as opposed to providing short-term reactive strategies by providing alternate livelihood options like cultivation of saline resistant rice, fish farming and crab fattening. The programme emphasises on giving importance to women centric households and other such vulnerable groups in a community. As a part of economic recovery, DMECC worked with the Aila-affected communities to rebuild livelihoods through the adoption of new technologies. Initially DMECC provided financial and technical support to enhance food availability which included alternative livelihood opportunities in the affected areas. To deal with salinity in the soil, Grameen Swapna introduced new high yielding saline tolerant rice and maize varieties in this region to restore food security and social safety nets. DMECC programme provided support for fish farming and crab fattening to restore their livelihood. These alternative livelihoods help people to restore their livelihoods as well as contribute to the development process.

Relief Assistance
Since inception Disaster Management and Environment Climate Change (DMECC), Grameen Swapna has had veteran experience in providing relief to disaster-affected rural poor. As a continuation of that legacy, the programme implements relief distribution during emergencies for disaster victims on a need based assessment, giving priority to women, children, the elderly and the physically challenged. Provision of relief has also been a key agenda for DMECC. During peak emergency, relief packages include daily essentials needed for survival. The programme also prioritises long-term sustainable solutions that allow victims to be self-sufficient, as was in the case of Aila. The provision of livelihood opportunities for the self-sustenance of ultra-poor thus forms a crucial component of DMECC’s disaster resilience strategy. Although a reactive measure, relief assistance is a major component of the programme for a country that is frequently affected by natural disasters. Recently, DMECC mobilised resources for relief distribution in cyclone & flood affected areas. Furthermore, the programme has been providing water and sanitation assistance alongside different forms of advocacy and structural support to provide aid to disaster affected communities. It installed latrines for sanitation and waste management, assisted with health support and shelter facilities and provided alternative livelihood opportunities in affected areas. It also distributes relief prioritising child and woman headed households; families headed by seniors or handicapped persons and women who are breastfeeding or pregnant.

Community Outreach
As a part of its community outreach efforts, DMECC actively engages in community outreach efforts to put disaster preparedness throughout the wider rural communities in operation at the risk-prone areas. For example, it has developed one page leaflets for Grameen Swapna staff, health promoters, teachers and community leaders that act as a simple reference tool for allowing quick response during a disaster situation and ensuring better knowledge retention.