Accelerating Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction:
Atullya Foundation organized a two day conference on Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction on 6th and 7th of September 2022 at Hotel Himalaya, Lalitpur. The main objective of the conference was that voice of the concerned stakeholders and organization working on the issue of disaster risk reduction would reach the government which in order will help in the policy making.
The conference had participation from various governmental, non-governmental organizations along with People with Disabilities. The main objective of the event was to identify major learnings, challenges and opportunities on Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal and its way forward. The program aimed to identify the challenges of Disability Inclusive disaster risk reduction and show a way forward.
Mr. Dilliram Sharma, Secretary of the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens, Mr. Pradip Kumar Koirala, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs and Tammie Harris of the USAID, TAYAR Nepal, Improved Disaster Risk Management Project,jointly inaugurated and released the Nepali, English and Braille versions of the guidebook ‘Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction Informative Handbook’ which is now owned by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The chairperson of Atullya Foundation Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Pallav Pant welcomed all the guests and participants and gave a short introduction on the importance of Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction further mentioning that importance should be given to disability-friendly infrastructures, awareness, change of conception of people on disability and accessibility in policies. He then requested meaningful participants from all the participants.
“The government has planned to formulate policies regarding people with disabilities”. This was cited by Mr. Dilli Ram Sharma, Undersecretary, Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen (MOWCSC). As stated by Mr. Sharma, ‘Women children, senior citizen and People with Disabilities are more at risk from disaster as shown by the situation from 2015 earthquake. Considering this, the ministry has been working to revise policies and implement program in such a way that it address these issues’.
Mr. Sharma further added that the Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizen (MOWCSC) has already started the planning for policy formation and the first phase of discussion is already commencing. Moving forward, the undersecretary has confirmed his commitment to include the collective feedbacks and suggestions to include the issue of disability on upcoming policies as discussed on the forum. The ministry of women, children and elderly will be collaborating with national, international agencies as well as local level to further enhance a work on the rights of Persons with Disabilities and make sure it will be implemented effectively in future.
Mr. Pradip Koriala, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs explained that this conference has been organized in order to see whether our policies and rules are Persons with Disability centric or not. He further mentioned that the guidebook will be showcased in the upcoming Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (AMPCDDR), 2022 and we will also learn what other nations are doing regarding this.
Ms Rama Dhakal, Vice President, National Federation of Disabled Persons (NFDN) shared that disaster preparedness is extremely important. Severe disability, unseen disability and psychosocial disability face more hardships during disaster so orientation on making these group safe is necessary. She further said that focus should be given to prepare proper tools and communication materials and requested USAID to work with local Organizations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDS) and utilize local resources by proving them proper trainings.
Mr. Surya BahadurThapa, Chairperson, DPNet Nepal said that after being sensitized regarding marginalized community inclusion, the organization is continuously playing a role of a pressure group and advocating on prioritizing Disability inclusion. He further added that all ten categories of Persons with Disabilitiesneed to be included in the planning and policy-making process. Lastly, he mentioned about online resource center of the organization where more than a thousand resources are available.Ms. Tammie Harris from USAID, TAYAR Nepal informed that USAID is supporting Disaster Risk Reduction preparedness at this level and they are working with municipal partners to work on capacity building. USAID also responds to acute situations such as COVID pandemic and security need. She further stated that USAID TAYAR Nepal worked with Atullya Foundation on Disability Inclusion and the guidebook is a major achievement for which USAID team is very proud.
Similarly, Mr. Dijan Bhattrai, Undersecretary, National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) stated that he was there to show the commitment that NDRRMA is with everyone in this. He also mentioned that NDRRMA is on the end phase of preparing Gender Equality Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI) strategy which focuses on how DiDRR can be incorporated and also mentioned that the nation’s main concern should be towards minimizing the effect of disaster.
In the two-day conference, on the topic of Past, Present and Future of Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction in Nepal, the former president of the National Disabled Federation of Nepal, Dr. Birendra Raj Pokharel said – “Although there are various policies, rules and regulations, the policies and regulations have not been implemented properly in the field of disability inclusive disaster risk reduction and the consequences faced while implementing these previous policies have not been addressed or considered while formulating new policies”. In addition he emphasized that the written materials or information should be made accessible.
Similarly, Mr. Pradip Koriala, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs said, ‘There were some gaps and necessity which needs to be identified in the field of Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR) in order to work further effectively.” Another speaker Dr. Bijaya Bajracharya from Association of International NGOs Nepal (AIN) said, ‘Till date priority was given and policies were focused only on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) that too giving main priority to women. At present, we not only consider GESI (Gender Equality and Social Inclusion) but also Gender Equality Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI)’.
One of the representative from National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA), Mr. Rajendra Sharma Gautam said, ‘Despite, insufficiency in policies related to Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction (DIDRR), strict implementation of existing policies needs be done in order to reach to the next level in the short period of time.’ Later in the program, some of the participants recommended that technical and operational challenges should be addressed by the nation. It was suggested that gaps, achievement and way forward with policy level intervention should be discussed. Similarly, Mr. Bed Raj Dhungana, from Nepal Hemophilia Society said that vulnerability and problems of people living with hemophilia towards disaster needs to be addressed.
He also requested for provision of speedy health care facility during disaster period. Ms. Satya Devi Wagle representing Persons with Disabilitiesquestioned how concerned stakeholders were planning to implement DIDRR inclusive at local level and stated that people with hearing disabilities are not able to access information due to communication gap and that the information provided are not accessible. Mr. ArunSaiju, from NRA16 said that he has not been trained to rescue people living with disabilities nor he has the knowledge. He then stated that site responders or rescue team have no knowledge and have not received any training on rescuing people living with disabilities so would like to request to facilitate a training program for them.
Tika Dahal from Nepal Disabled Women Association (NDWA) spoke on the disabilities related to spinal cord injury and autism. She mentioned how women with disabilities have several barriers and are subjected to abuse during the time of disaster along with the obstacles faced during rescue period. She gave an example of Nepal earthquake 2015 and shared how women with disabilities were being subjected to exploitation and mistreatment while living in a shelter. She further added that the lack of disability friendly infrastructure makes Persons with Disability more susceptible during disaster. She stated that right recognition of disabilities is very crucial along with research and actual data for the further planning. She also highlighted about need of coordination among governmental and intergovernmental agencies.
Dr. Rabindra Baskota, a Ministerial representative of Health-Leprosy Control and Disability spoke about the working efforts made by Nepal government to make a disability inclusive health services. He spoke about how the ministry is formulating a 10-year plan and policy for operation of the Disability Rehabilitation services in all the provinces. Likewise, he also shared about Hospital Disaster Risk Management (HEOC) strategy which includes three main pillars: Pre-hospital care, Hospital Care and Post-Hospital Care. Lastly, he spoke about the plan of establishment of Central Level rehabilitation Centre for the Person with Severe Disabilities.
Binda Magar, an advocacy specialist of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) gave insight on the overall works done in accelerating disability inclusive along with the prospective of “Leave No One Behind”. She talked about how United Nations (UN) system have their own strategy of making disability inclusive. She mentioned about Disability task force which inspects whether Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) is being implemented in the UN office or not. Furthermore, UNDP has Country Program Document for making the Disability inclusion. She shared about the study research on massive Gurkha Earthquake of 2015 where the study found the insufficient access of disability friendly areas, mislead of disability data gap. She then talked about the need of better coordination and collaboration from all sectors for making inclusive Disability.
Ministry of Home Affairs, Under-secretary Mr. Tulsi Dahal, spoke about broadening the capacity building and early preparedness on disaster time. He further stated that the policy formulation and implementation data are dis-regulated and the Person with disabilities should be given priority in rehabilitation as well as in early preparedness and in rescue phase. Attention should be given to provide trainings to the first responders for the effective management. He also spoke about how we need to make community and family members of Persons with Disabilities aware by giving out proper information.
Representative from Ministry of Women, Children and Senior Citizens (MWCSC), PratibhaRai admitted that the policy regarding Persons with Disabilities is not disaster friendly. The information and feedback concerning the forum will be integrated in coming policy formation. Policies related to Persons with Disabilitieswill include safety based, custom, categories and specialized information with disability types with nature and severity of the disability in mind.
During the discussion session of ‘Collective effort for climate change ‘ Mr. Umesh Balal inquired about the role of front line person or responders in the rescue of Persons with Disabilities. He addressed the gaps in policy level and disaggregation on integration within the local level. He also queried about the effects of climate change especially focusing on people of disabilities. He stated that the issue of disability sensitivity during times of disaster is already mainstreamed while the actual implementation or work action is not taken seriously. Similarly, Mr. Dharma Raj Uprety from Practical Action stressed the role of community mobilization on accelerating the collective effort in disaster relief response at times of need through tailored information generation from localized community, collective effort can become inclusive at this level from planning to implementation.
Mr. Rajendra Sharma from National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority (NDRRMA) shared his experience regarding a simulation exercise in Tikapur which emphasized the communication gap between National Info Outlet and targeted group or community through Meteorological Information integration, impact mapping, and identification of Persons with Disabilities in household or individual level in risk prone area and finally collaboration with community, the communication flow can be amplified for active mobilization. NDRRMA will be moving forward with that action plan in mind.
Ms. Shanti Kandel, from Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM) shared “The communication or information on disaster risk is informed in relation to national accessibility and dissemination from that point within communities. The process of advocacy and awareness is continued with great vigor from DHM which can be shown to be effective”. Further research on technical forum and collaboration will be needed which is seen to be lacking majorly, for more effective implementation of disaster related communication and mobilization. DHM promises to give continuity to further improve, implementation effort for better results with feedbacks regarded from this forum.
In the topic of the Sendai framework for a resilient society, Kush Kumar Joshi of Nepal Business Initiative (NBI) talked about the understanding of disaster risk reduction, disaster risk reduction governance, investment for resilience, and pre-preparation for disaster risk reduction. He said that on behalf of private sector, they were working on preparation of earthquake related guidelines and manuals for Persons with Disabilities.
Mr. Rishiraj Acharya of the Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration said that 12 tasks that needs to be done by the municipality have been determined and that the municipality will establish a management fund and prepare a disabled-friendly legal framework. He informed that we can adopt Sendai Framework for the risk reduction and environment has been already created so that most of the works can be done by the private sector, municipality and rural municipality.During the program, Ms. PoojaKoirala, of Nepal Red Cross, informed about the need to move forward by correcting the mistakes in the policy, keeping in mind the lessons learned from the past. She emphasized that the youth should be trained to play the role of helpers during disasters, and while talking about disasters, attention should also be paid to disability-friendly disaster risk reduction.
On behalf of National Disaster Risk Reduction Center (NDRC), Shyam Sunder Gyawali emphasized that the base for local bodies to do work has already been established. He said that future policies and action plans should be prepared by taking into account of the studies on disability-friendly risk reduction conducted at different times. He emphasized that if we can move forward by examining knowledge and synthesizing the problems to achieve the goal, it will help in reducing and minimizing risks.Rama Dhakal, the vice president of the National Federation of Disabled Persons, said that there should be a disability-friendly communication system for early notification during disasters. She emphasized on the need to develop a mechanism to make accessible for people with all kinds of disabilities.On behalf of the Nepal Blind Association, Ms. Ichha KC raised the problem that the Devanagari script used in government offices is in a Preeti Font and because of that it is not friendly for the visually impaired.
According to her, he suggested that if such documents are made in Nepali Unicode or Roman, they will be friendly even for the visually impaired.
In the program, Ms. Maya Bika from Karuna Foundation Nepal emphasized that hospitals and public institutions should be disabled friendly. She also suggested the government to pay attention to such matters and provide them proper information.During the program, Mr. PawanGhimire, Secretary General of Nepal Blind Welfare Fund, revealed that disabled people do not have knowledge about how to manage their waste, and said that if they can be made aware of how to manage such waste in the future, it will help reduce environmental pollution.
For the closing, former Under Secretary Mr. Kedar Neupane reviewed the two-day program and said that there should be equal access to the relief materials distributed during the disaster, the state should address the lack of pre-preparation and advance information flow before the disaster, the disability disaster-friendly rehabilitation program should be conducted and also talked about the lack of disaster audit in our country and if this situation of audit is addressed properly, most of the issues related to Disaster Risk reduction will be solved.
In the end of the program, Mr. Pallav Pant, chairman of Atullya Foundation, emphasized that non-governmental organizations and government organizations should also include the private sector in future programs. He highlighted the situation where the representatives of various private organizations operated by persons with disabilities are mostly leaving the program related to disability.
