Community Coping Skills

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Community Coping Skills

• PAHO Leaders Course
• November 2006
• Jamaica
• Lois Hue

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Introduction

• Disasters create situations which require
  enormous efforts on the part of community members
  to survive. Several skills are necessary, which
  if they are not innate can be honed and
  fortified. In addition there are several
  mechanisms at various levels national,
  regional, international which provide support
  to communities to facilitate coping and recovery.

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Objectives

• Through this session it is hoped that
  participants will
• 1. Have a deeper understanding of the skills
  necessary for communities to cope with
  disaster
• 2. Know the systems that are in place to help
  communities
• 3. Be able to identify challenges, lessons
  learned, good and bad practices at community
  level

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Objectives contd.

• 4. Have gained an opportunity to examine
  problems associated with community coping
  skills and have generated potential solutions
• 5. Review case of a major crisis and identify
  strategies for coordinating and delivering an
  effective response
• 6. Develop the skills and willingness to pass on
  what has been shared in this session

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Brainstorming

• What skills do you think are necessary to cope
  with community crises?
• Are you aware of any mechanisms in place to
  address these issues?
• What are they?

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Skills

• Evacuation
• Risk awareness management
• Organization of Search Rescue
• First Aid
• Damage Needs Assessments
• Decision making
• Communication

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Skills contd.

• Warning predicting
• Media relations
• Sensitivity to needs of the aged and differently
  abled
• Gender sensitivity
• Understanding how things work or are supposed to
  work
• Psychosocial Support

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International Strategies Mechanisms

• International Strategy for Disaster Risk
  Reduction
• ISDR ensures effective international promotion
  of, and coordination and guidance for, disaster
  risk reduction. The secretariat, accountable to
  the United Nations Under Secretary General,
  serves as a broker, catalyst and focal point for
  disaster risk reduction within the United Nations
  and among the members of the ISDR system

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ISDR contd.

• The ISDR advocates for commitment to disaster
  risk reduction and the implementation of the
  Hyogo Framework and reports on progress.

States/govs
Regional Orgs
International Orgs
ISDR (International Strategy for Disaster
Reduction)
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ISDR is responsible for

• Developing a matrix of roles initiatives
  related to the Hyogo Framework
• Facilitating the coordination of actions at the
  international regional levels
• Developing indicators of progress (HFA)
• Supporting national platforms and coordination
  mechanisms
• Stimulating exchange of best practices lessons
  learned

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Hyogo Framework for Action

• Governments of the world have committed to take
  action to reduce disaster risk, and have adopted
  a guideline to reduce vulnerabilities to natural
  hazards, called the Hyogo Framework for Action
• Collaboration is at the heart of the HFA. In
  January 2005, 168 governments adopted this 10
  year plan to make the world safer from natural
  hazards. It offers guiding principles, priorities
  for action and practical means for achieving
  disaster resilience for vulnerable communities.

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Priorities for Action

• 1. Make disaster risk reduction a priority
• 2. Know the risks and take action
• 3. Build understanding and awareness (use
  knowledge, innovation and education)
• 4. Reduce risks
• 5. Be prepared and ready to act.

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United Nations Systems

• The United Nations Disaster Assessment and
  Coordination team is a standby team of disaster
  management professionals who are nominated and
  funded by member governments, OCHA, UNDP and
  operational humanitarian UN agencies such as WFP,
  UNICEF and WHO.
• The UN can also make available Central Emergency
  Response Funds (CERF) to member states.

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The Sphere Project

• The sphere project was launched in 1997 to
  develop a set of universal minimum standards in
  core areas of humanitarian assistance.
• Aim to improve the quality of assistance
  provided to people affected by disasters and to
  enhance the accountability of the humanitarian
  system in disaster response.

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Sphere

• Sphere is based on two core beliefs
• 1. All possible steps should be taken to
  alleviate human suffering arising out of
  calamity and conflict.
• 2. Those affected by disaster have a right to
  life with dignity and therefore a right to
  assistance.

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Inter-Agency Standing Committee

• IASC established in June 1992 in response to UN
  General Assembly Resolution 46/182 on the
  strengthening of humanitarian assistance. It is
  an inter-agency forum for coordination, policy
  development and decision making. It initiated
  among other things, sector responsibilities
  allocated to individual organizations.

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IFRC shelter

• As the lead agency on emergency shelter, the
  International Federation of Red Cross and Red
  Crescent Societies has signed a MoU with the UN
  Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
  (OCHA)

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Full members
OCHA
UNHCR
UNICEF
UNDP
WHO
WFP
UNFPA
FAO
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Standing Invitees
WORLD BANK
International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA)
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR)
IOM
Office of the Special Representative of the
Secretary General on the Human Rights of
Internally Displaced Persons (RSG on HR of IDPs)
Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response
(SCHR)
American Council for Voluntary International
Action (InterAction)
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Task

• Develop a scenario and elaborate a plan for a
  response utilizing the skills honed in the
  community and drawing on the mechanisms that are
  available at the national, regional and
  international levels.

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Considerations

• Number and vulnerability type of threatened
  people
• Possible actions to be taken by the government,
  local authorities, NGOs
• Capacity of each stakeholder
• External aid that could be necessary, how to ask
  for it, who should ask, protocols to be followed

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Considerations contd.

• Previous community capacity and experience
• Available aid who supplies what
• Security who is responsible
• Psychological support available human resources
• Activities for reducing risks- who will carry
  them out

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Remember

• We cannot stop natural calamities, but we can
  and must better equip individuals and communities
  to withstand them
• UN Secretary General Kofi Annan
• Thank you.