• Rainwater collection and storage for drink-ing purposes is an ideal drought prepared-ness tool for arid and semi-arid areas that do not have suitable groundwater potential;
• Intensive community awareness-raising, and mobilization, together with consistent involvement and capacity-building are key to ownership and sustainability;
• As rock catchments depend on suitable ge-ological features, the type of water supply
structures involved must be strategically combined with other types of structures – such as protected wells, sand dams, and so forth – so as to ensure a strategic spread of sources in drought-prone areas.
• Decentralized point sources are an excel-lent option where other options are too expensive or do not exist.
• Communities adopt and ‘own’ such ideas and approaches immediately.
• Community capacity can be built so that beneficiaries themselves can own, operate, maintain and manage their water.
Challenges: The major challenge for this project was that there could be competing demands on beneficiaries’ time. The project approach required the beneficiaries to provide all the local labour and materials. A cash-for-work approach helped to address this issue but could not cover the full amount of time required for completion of the work involved. However, these constraints did not diminish the enthusiasm of the beneficiaries in building ‘their’ rock catchments. To improve simi-lar projects in the future, additional refresher train-ing and closer involvement of other stakeholders are necessary. To maintain the success of this pro-ject in replication, community mobilizers should travel frequently to the field, at least twice a week.
Potential for replication: This project can be easily rep-licated elsewhere in similar environment, provided that funding is available. In fact, Welthungerhilfe is already replicating this approach in some neigh-bouring districts in Kenya. However, replication of this project in a different context requires careful assessment of local social, political, and cultural patterns. In scaling up the project the following fi-nancial, technical and political constraints should be expected: funding, suitable geological features
and availability of technical expertise in remote rural areas (UNISDR, 2008).
5.2.3 Reinforcing beneficiaries’ skills in disaster risk management in Senegal (ECA, 2015)
Context: In 2009, floods in Senegal affected nearly 40,000 homes. In some rural areas, the rising wa-ters washed away harvests, seed stocks and crops.
Given the urgency, FAO funded and implemented a project aimed at boosting agricultural activi-ties and strengthening the capacity of vulnerable households affected by floods and climate-relat-ed hazards in the Saint Louis region in northern Senegal. This initiative was carried out in collabo-ration with local community leaders and training modules were developed focusing on the link between climate change and food security in the Sahel.
The approach adopted is considered a good prac-tice as it is participatory and because the disaster risk management training sessions, which hinged on promoting resilience and changes in the be-haviour of local actors, helped to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable households to react to and cope with climate hazards. The initiative built ca-pacity in the identification and assessment of risk at the community level.
Outcome: The project succeeded in boosting agri-cultural activities through improved seed distri-bution and capacity-building/training (train the trainers) of over 60 community leaders, who will train others, and strengthening the capacity of over 2500 vulnerable households to withstand flood hazard risk. It led to the development of contingency plans and examined practical exam-ples of community resilience in the medium and long term.
Success factors and lessons learned: Disaster risk reduc-tion can be mainstreamed into agriculture and land use practices to build local resilience to
cli-mate-related hazards. Knowledge, innovation and education can be used to build a culture of safety and resilience at the local level.
Challenges: Local frustrations and scepticism re-garding the new initiative being a remedy to per-ennial displacement and loss of lives, properties and livelihoods.
Potential for replication: The disaster risk manage-ment training sessions helped to strengthen the capacity of vulnerable households to react to and cope with climate hazards. The approach and methodology can be easily adopted, especially in the context of capacity-building and sustainabil-ity of the livelihoods of vulnerable communities at the local level.
5.2.4 Collaboration between the National Emergency Management Agency and six Nigerian universities to mainstream disaster risk reduction into university curricula (ECA 2015).
Context: Nigeria is periodically affected by vari-ous forms of natural and man-made hazards.
The dominant natural hazards in Nigeria include floods, landslide, strong winds, heat-waves, de-sertification and epidemics. Climate change is in-tensifying the frequency and magnitude of these hazards, particularly, the hydrometeorological hazards. Man-made hazards are also very com-mon and these are often caused by ethnic, politi-cal and religious conflicts.
With a low human development index, 68 per cent of the population living below $1 a day, an under-five mortality rate of 141.9 per 1000 of the population and a poor corruption perception in-dex, as well as recent acts of terrorism, the Nigerian population is highly vulnerable to disasters.
Taking into account the very weak institutions in-herent in the country and in the quest to improve human understanding of disaster risk reduction issues, the National Action Plan on Disaster Risk Reduction seeks to build and strengthen hu-man and institutional capacity with a focus on disaster risk reduction. The National Emergency Management Agency has developed a pro-gramme of collaborating with six universities se-lected from each geopolitical zone of the coun-try in order to address hazard risk and build resil-ience. The centres in the universities undertake postgraduate programmes in disaster risk man-agement/reduction and development studies and award degrees and certificates. In addition, the National Emergency Management Agency, in collaboration with the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council, took steps to incorporate disaster risk reduction into basic and post-basic education curricula in Nigeria.
This programme is regarded as a good practice, as it continuously ensures the building of capacity while promoting and coordinating research ac-tivities related to disaster risk reduction/manage-ment along international practices and in line with the priorities of the Hyogo Framework for Action.
It enhances awareness on the importance of dis-aster risk reduction and fulfils some of the man-date of the National Emergency Management Agency.
Outcome: The initiative has improved capacity-building in disaster risk reduction through the promotion and coordination of research activities related to disaster risk reduction/management in Nigeria. Since its inception, about 500 practition-ers have been trained and re-trained. This has also led to the organization of international confer-ence on disaster management to improve deci-sion-making and international cooperation. The development of a disaster risk reduction/climate change adaptation curriculum and its integration into four carrier subjects: Geography, English, Civil
Education and Health Education in the post-ba-sic curricula has enhanced awareness of the rel-evance of disaster risk reduction for stakeholders in the educational sector and the importance of increasing capacity in that regard.
Success factors and lessons learned: There must be con-tinuous monitoring and review of the curriculum so as to retain the disaster risk reduction and de-velopment elements in the programme. Effective disaster risk reduction mainstreaming into differ-ent sectors of the economy cannot be achieved without adequate understanding and partnership with relevant stakeholders in those sectors Challenges: Disaster risk reduction is still a relatively new approach in the country. As such legislative provisions and the level of awareness of the sub-ject remain quite low. In addition, the capacity for teaching, mentorship and research on disaster risk reduction-related issues is grossly inadequate.
Potential for replication: The programme can and should be replicated in other contexts, particularly as a way to fulfil the mandate of most national and state focal agencies on disaster management by building capacity on, and creating awareness of, disaster risk reduction and its associated activities.