Partners in Rhyme: CBDRM in Kabul

In yet another example of regional cooperation among members of the network, Coalition of Afghan Relief (CoAR) is implementing Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) in a province called Badghis in Afghanistan, with the support of Christian Aid and in collaboration with SEEDS India.

The project aims to reduce the vulnerability of the people of Afghanistan, who have suffered due to 57 large-scale disasters in which 20,000 lives were lost and nearly 3,361,178 affected or displaced.  Their vulnerability has escalated because of the two decades of internal conflict raging in the country.

Currently the CBDRM project is being implemented in five main villages, which consist of 13 sub-villages in Qala Naw of Badghis province. It provides the opportunity for reconstruction and rehabilitation of the villages and of supporting the villagers’ spirits and raising their capacity to reduce risks of natural disasters.

As a precursor to the CBDRM project, SEEDS conducted an orientation workshop in March 2007 for members of CoAR, Skills Training and Rehabilitation Society (STARS), and AHDA (an NGO from Herat).

Some of the topics covered during the two-day programme were as follows:

• Definition of Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk.
• Vulnerability profile of Badghis Province
• Identifying problems, and solutions, and thereby ascertaining stakeholders responsible to undertake risk reduction activities in accordance with the Disaster Management cycle.
• CBDRM: definition, and awareness to the community regarding the requirement of the community participation in the process.

The workshop provided an opportunity to share with the participants the methodology that needs to be followed in the implementation of CBDRM in Badghis. The first step towards this would be a vulnerability analysis of each village in the province. This should be followed by identifying the most vulnerable and most influential villages.

The workshop resulted in strengthening relations between the two partners, who have worked closely together in the past.

Shivangi Chavda, SEEDS with Mr. Naeem Salimee, CoAR and other staff at the Training Workshop