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Press Release 30th April : Regional Consultative Meeting for development of CBDRR Curriculum organized at NHQ, IRCS
   
‘Working in a co-operative and participatory manner with communities, if done properly, can reduce the impact that disasters have on the lives of people’ said Prof. (Dr) S.P. Agarwal, Secretary General of Indian Red Cross Society during the inaugural session of the Regional Consultative Meeting for Development of Community Based Disaster Risk Reduction Curriculum held on April 28th & 29th 2008 at Disaster Management Center, National Headquarters, IRCS.

Dr. Agarwal further stated that developing a standardized Community based Disaster Risk Reduction (CBDRR) Curriculum can truly be an instrument of change, if it is used in the right way. All over the world it has been proved that, given the right tools, people can
improve their lives dramatically. This curriculum will help facilitators to lead the process and encourage communities to make that change for themselves.
 
The technical meeting was one of its kinds and was organized for the first time by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Regional Delegation for South Asia. The representatives from the Country Delegation IFRC & National Societies (NS) of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, India and members from external agencies participated in the meeting. The objectives of the meeting were to understand the Training Needs Assessment for the NS based on current program and level of staff competencies, to represent the comparative advantage of existing training module of the NS by reviewing the current training courses and agreeing on the principles of Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) training curriculum for the NS. Consultants from Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC),
Bangkok who are providing technical support in developing the curriculum and relevant teaching/learning material, also joined the meeting.
 
Mr. Al Panico, Head of Regional Delegation, South Asian Regional Delegation stated that Disaster Risk Reduction is a global priority. It is the broad development and application of policies, strategies and practices to minimize vulnerabilities and disaster risks throughout society, through prevention, mitigation and preparedness. He further informed that DRR has been adopted by 28 Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies. He said that IFRC, SARD has initiated ‘building safer communities’ initiative to develop standardized DRR training curriculum targeting the field practitioners and the community in order to improve the overall quality and impact of the DRR training program outputs in South Asia.

Mr. Loy Rego, Head-Disaster Management Studies, ADPC stated that the participants present in the technical meeting can be regarded as focal persons not only for the development of the CBDRR curriculum but also for refining it from time to time. He also said that developing a standardized curriculum is a big challenge as there are variations in the countries of South Asian region. Therefore prior to it a common template developed by ADPC on CBDRM can be adopted by the National Societies.

During the meeting commonalities from among the existing modules of seven National Societies on CBDRM curriculum as well as uniqueness of each of the module was also i dentified. All countries have community level programs primarily focusing on
preparedness response and mitigation. They conduct training for raising awareness at the community level. They have training modules specific to region but lack comprehensive CBDP training curricula.
 
Indian Red Cross also highlighted its CBDRM programme, which is being implemented in different States and showcase the activities under the programme at community level. The forum was also apprised of the fact that NDMA has entrusted IRCS with the responsibility to formulate the CBDM guidelines at National level. Secretary General heads the task force for the same. Keeping in time with the initiative, Orissa State branch has developed IRCS CBDM manual and flip charts which focus on different issues. This was discussed in the meeting.

The major outcome of the meeting was that each participating National Society apprised their training needs for CBDRM which were country specific. This helped ADPC to have a
better understanding about the requirement of the region for developing a comprehensive Training manual and Practitioner’s Handbook which would subscribe to the need of all the in this region. Mr. Loy Rego, Head-Disaster Management Studies, ADPC appreciated the manuals of IRCS which would provide valuable inputs in the development of Regional Manual.
   
 
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