Integrated Flood Resilience Program (IFRP)

KEY PROJECT INFORMATION

Implementing partner (IFRC/ National Society/ies):	Geographical coverage:	Type of intervention (sector/area):
BDRCS	Nilphamari and Lalmonirhat District	Multi-sector (DRR, Health and WASH, Livelihoods, NSD)
Expected start date:	Expected duration:	Number of people to be reached:
01-03-2018	3 years	The total number of direct beneficiaries of the project will be approximately 8,000 whereas the catchment population who will be indirect beneficiaries are approximately 16,000 people.
Project Implemented by:	Project Supported by:	Project Funded by:
BDRCS	IFRC	MoFA (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Republic of Korea)

 

2. PROJECT SUMMARY
The project will scale up the community resilience capacity of the disaster vulnerable households through Bangladesh Red Crescent Society’s via a community led approach.

The Project will be implemented at 4 communities of Lalmonirhat and Nilphamari districts.

Goal:

Strengthen community resilience for effective and efficient response to multi-hazards and climate-induced phenomena

Objective:

To build capacity of community to reduce the loss of life, livelihood and wellbeing in recurrent disaster and climate change risks through Community Based Approach.

Key Outcomes:

• Communities are capable to effectively respond to flood and adapt to changing climate
• Most vulnerable households have improved livelihood and shelter to withstand small scale flood
• Community people have increased access to appropriate and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene practice

BDRCS capacity is enhanced to deliver scaled up DRR programmes for disaster risk reduction.

3. CONTEXT ANALYSIS

Bangladesh, covering an area of 148,460 sq km in the Southern Asia with more than 168 million inhabitants, is one of the most densely populated countries in the world. Large rivers flowing from the Himalayas, such as Ganges from the West and the Jamuna from the North make the country an abode of deltas. The large rivers later converge to the Meghna to the South which subsequently discharges to the Bay of Bengal along with about 700 rivers and distributaries that crisscross the country. Two thirds of Bangladesh’s territory are less than 5 meters above sea level. The population is expected to rise to 259.9 million by 2100. Furthermore, Bangladesh is ranked 142 of 187 on the Human Development Index, indicating a low level of human development. Among the countries affected by climate change, Bangladesh, with its strong exposure to natural hazards, is ranked 5 out of 171 in the World Risk Index. Moreover, as per Inform Index for Risk Management Bangladesh is ranked as 24^th vulnerable country out of 191 to manage the humanitarian and disaster risks. It denoted that, Bangladesh is highly exposed to natural disaster where hazard Vs exposure ration is too high with a low quality of institutions and infrastructure management capacity. The lack of coping capacity is high with great number of vulnerable groups.

As well as human lives, the economy of the country is the most vulnerable to the direct impacts of the intensified natural disasters. According to the Asian Development Bank, 31.5% people are yet under poverty line which is the highest in South Asia. As a great number of people (66%) live in the rural areas and directly live on agriculture, they are nonetheless more vulnerable to flood and similar disasters. Being a developing country with a huge population it often becomes challenging for the country to manage such colossal disasters with limited resources. The most vulnerable population of the country suffer from poverty, epidemic diseases, dislocation, migration, etc.

Overview of the current situation

Flood is one of most chronological and devastating disasters for Bangladesh. and it has been affecting the country throughout history, especially during the years 1966, 1987, 1988, 1998 and 2004 and 2017. The 2007 South Asian floods affected a large portion of Bangladesh. According to prevention web Bangladesh suffered total economic losses due to different hazards of 285,400 million US$ in the last 10 years, where average annual losses by flood is more than 64%. Almost all sectors of the country, i.e agriculture, shelter, transport, land, education, forests, industries and other livelihoods of people, have been affected by flood. Though there is no statistical evidence but the frequency of flooding in Bangladesh has increased greatly in the 20th century.

There is indication that the inter-annual variation of floods and the areal extent of big events have increased since 1950. In line with this the northern part of Bangladesh is highly exposed to flood and climate change effect. The recent years’ devastation evidently shows that flood is still a matter of grave concern for Bangladesh. Moreover, recent analysis show, around 1.3 & 3.7 million people were affected and 216,010 were displaced by flood of 2014 & 2016, respectively. In terms of capacity and knowledge, flood affected people have very limited access to resources and scientific knowledge about coping with flood; however, they have traditional practices but no cumulative approach. According to a study by Hossain, Uddin, Rokanuzzaman, Miah and Alauddin, the most affected sector by flood is agriculture and properties whereby diarrhea and typhoid are the prevalent diseases.

The number of people at risk has been growing each year and the majority is in developing countries like Bangladesh with extreme poverty levels making them more vulnerable to disasters. Moreover, discriminatory and explosive practices such as taking high interest loan rate is quite common in the flood affected districts of Bangladesh, which make them even more exposed to the generational cycle of poverty. The recent experience of flood shows the same negative coping mechanism which causes them in further disaster risk.

Changing climate has significant impact on the Bangladesh and its footprint already been noticed in different area. In year 2017, Bangladesh faced two mega floods and even excessive rainfall in the months of October, which is quite unusual for Bangladesh. In some point August flood has accede the previous 20 years flood level which is beyond the prediction of the communities and cause huge damage of the lives and livelihood leading to have more disaster resilient intervention.

The Government of Bangladesh has several social protection programs or social safety nets in place to provide food security in the event of a disaster. Some of these programs, such as the Vulnerable Group Development program, are implemented over a period of 2 years. Immediate disaster assistance is provided through the Vulnerable Group Feeding program. However, this program is focused on the poor and not necessarily those most adversely affected by the disaster. The government also emphasizes on local level management by organizing and strengthening the local institutions and employing them from disaster response to risk reduction.

The South Asian country of Bangladesh , located next to India, is prone to flooding due to being situated on the Ganges Delta and being the basin for several tributaries flowing down into the Bay of Bengal.