Paper details
| Paper authors | Janki Andharia |
| In panel on | Aligning Large Scale Development Programs with Community Resilience |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Embedded within the idea of enhancing accountability to affected (and at-risk) population, this paper critically engages with the idea of what it means for disaster
preparedness and response interventions to “leave no one behind”.
This paper is based on empirical work conceived by UNICEF India, and operationalized with a consortium of partners in the context of severe floods in Kerala (India) in 2018 where 5.5 million people were affected in 11 out of the 14 districts of the state. As a methodological innovation, newer and dedicated pathways were created for receiving community feedback including grievances from the most marginalized and vulnerable households and individuals.
This was conceived across phases of a disaster that enables transformation of governance systems and made post-disaster recovery people-centered. For the first time, community feedback mechanism was introduced in the country by the government, using their community structures. A significant aspect of the study is the inclusion of large sample of persons with disability (PwD). Documenting their differential and unique experience of surviving devastating floods, could provide a fulcrum for public policy discussions and influence programmatic outcomes. Within disaster affected communities, reaching those communities at the margins of civil society and creating a space for continuous monitoring enables robust, inclusive and dedicated last mile coverage, as the study reveals.
The aim of this praxis oriented action research was also to institutionalise a community
feedback or a grievance redressal system, within a community system that has proven to be highly resilient and responsive. It represents possibilities of how we may
transform our methods of conceiving policy research with commitment to action, making the process more participatory and helping the most affected to be part of the decision making process, especially building on their feedback as well as addressing their grievances, which need immediate redressal during humanitarian response and disaster recovery.
Janki Andharia and Arya Namboothiripad
Presenters
TISS