Urban Empowerment Project
Project Overview:
Urbanization is one of the most dramatic global social transformations of the present society. In Bangladesh the urbanization is happening very rapidly In recent years and it is estimated that by 2030 countries half[1] of the people will live in the urban. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society in their strategic plan 2021-2025 enlisted ‘urban multi hazards’ as one of the six humanitarian challenges that the society seeks to address and in recent years, has focused on urban interventions mostly in Dhaka, Gazipur, Narayangonj and Barisal linking both humanitarian assistances involving preparedness, response, and disaster risk reduction with long term development cooperation projects. Additionally, BDRCS has regularly responded to urban disasters and invested systematically in promoting risk preparedness and safe behavior especially with regard to earthquake preparedness. Though these interventions have led to strong experiences in the urban sector, nevertheless, in the absence of long-term strategy and holistic urban programing, the urban initiatives hitherto have been at best piecemeal and continue to fall short in enabling the emergence of BDRCS as a credible and strong urban actor. Despite the considerable ambition and organizational niche, BDRCS needs to answer what type of an organization it wants to be to sustainably offer urban services that are aligned to its competencies and respond to priority urban needs.
Thus, the present project intends to support BDRCS in establishing an urban strategy which, among other things, will define a suitable urban portfolio, the organizational capacity requirements, and a strategy to attain both. On the other hand, the project seeks to support accomplishment of unfinished business at Gazipur through reinforcing community and institutional capacity (both municipal and community based) so that community resilience outcomes become sustainable and can be managed by community institutions in partnership with City Corporation. This will mean building on the results of the present phase: securing financial and operational viability of SWM operations, capacitating and connecting community institution to leverage government social protection, deepening institutional capacity in reducing disaster risks and promoting safe behavior, and ensuring water and hygiene safety.
( [1] Needs to check the reference, to be added later)
Project Impact, Outcome and Output:
- Project Goal or Impact: BDRCS has a sound urban profile as an auxiliary to the government informed by evidence based and replicable resilience outcomes.
Outcome:
- Outcome-1: The sustainability of resilience outcomes in cooperation with authorities and community institutions is ensured by BDRCS.
- Outcome-2: An urban strategy of BDRCS is developed based on appropriate approaches and tools, which enables the organization to fulfil its auxiliary function towards the urban authorities.
Output:
- Output-1.1: Integrated SWM systems are scaled up and economies of scale are leveraged for their long-term viability.
- Output-1.2: Institutions (DMC, WDCC) are strengthened, and community sensitization is reinforced to consolidate on DRM, WASH and Social Protection gains made in the previous phase.
- Output-1.3: GCC in cooperation with community-based institutions, is enabled to successfully manage the SWM system followed by its wider replication.
- Output-2.1: Urban capacities are established at BDRCS with dedicated HR and delegation of authority for urban engagement in order to develop a well-defined urban long-term strategy.
- Output-2.2: A regional strategic hub is operationalized generating evidence to inform BDRCS’ decentralization strategy
Project Location and Beneficiaries
The project in Gazipur will be expanded to cover all blocks in Ershadnagor ward. It will benefit 39,769 people from 8,485 households. On the other hand, BDRCS NHQ will vehicle the development of urban strategy through its city units in 12 city corporations across the country. This will enable BDRCS to understand the diverse context specific urban risks and hazards, the spatial diversity in urban migration trends, the priority needs especially of the most vulnerable population groups, and existing institutional capacity to steward urban transformation. Such an understanding is expected to drive the formulation of a comprehensive and holistic urban strategy.
Evaluation Report
