IRM is well experienced and renowned in designing and conducting of CBDRM/ DRR/ DRM training programme for UNDP, UNHCR, SRSO, NRSP, UN-HABITAT, UNICEF, World Bank and Diakonie in different district of Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, KP, GB and AJK to strengthen capacities of vulnerable and hazard prone communities through emergency response capacity building and training thus saving lives and minimizing the disaster impacts and involving the community members in policy development concerning the subject matter in a participatory manner. IRM specifically work on the pillar related to “CBDRM interventions to regain a discursive space through which multi-sectoral dialogues on local DRR can be encouraged to collectively achieve the vision of risk-informed development”.
2: Relief& Rehabilitation Work in Earthquake 2005
Soon after catastrophe of earthquake 2005, IRM initiated its relief operation in AJ&K. It implemented various projects; however, some of the major projects are given below.
2.1 : Capacity Building of Community in Reconstruction Project
The project was funded by Asian Development Bank and IRM implemented with the technical support of UN-HABITAT in AJ&K.
Under the project targeted households were provided with Artisan Training for earthquake resilient house construction.
2.2 ILO- VTEC Muzaffarabad
Institute of Rural Management and International Labour Organization entered into an agreement in December 2005, to enhance the employable skills of the earthquake hit communities of Muzaffarabad, Azad Jammu & Kashmir. The objective of setting up the tented vocational center was to build the capacities of the earthquake affected people with a view to empower them economically and socially through employable skills training like Mason, Carpenter, electrician etc, thereby creating employment opportunities and ensuring improved access to services. VTEC was also in contact with UNDP for their livelihood project, Save the Children U.S, Islamic Relief, Sungi Development Foundation, Action Aid and Mercy Corps. NRSP NOVAIB project is also taking VTEC’s services for livelihoods training for their target communities.
2.3 : VTEC Rawalakot
In the wake of huge national tragedy of October 8, 2005, Under the project agreement with DFID, IRM’s Vocational Technical and Education Center (VTEC) Rawalakot started training activities to impart employable skills through technical and managerial skill enhancement training to the people of Rawalakot district Poonch. Initially, trainings were offered in trades that facilitated rebuilding efforts such as Carpentry, Masonry, Building Electrician, Welding, and Plumbing. Women specific trades like Papier Machie and Tailoring were also introduced.
From May 2006 to November 2006, 166 trainees graduated from VTEC Rawalakot in the trades of tailoring, masonry, carpentry, building electrician and plumbing & pipefitting. Out of the 166 trainees only 60 were women while rest of the trainees were men.
2.4 : VTEC Bagh
Soon after the tragedy of October 8, 2005, Institute of Rural Management (IRM) launched a Vocational Training Programme to develop a local system to train masons, welders and carpenters for shelter-reconstruction and rehabilitation.
IRM began with 30-day courses for plumbers and pipe fitters, masons and Carpenters. A 60-day course for Building Electricians was also begun. More than 150 men, most of them under 25, were registered and trained.
2.5: Training of CHWs
After the tragedy of October 8, 2005, NRSP and UNICEF forged forces in December 2005 to bring hope for respectable and sustainable livelihoods for the affected communities of Rawalakot in AJK through setting up a VTEC in Rawalakot. IRM trained 556 community health workers(CHWs), including 390 women and 166 men to in this critical situation in earthquake affected areas.
2.6:Community Health Workers (CHWs) Project
In collaboration with UNICEF started an intensive project of training 1000 Community Health Workers (CHWs) to meet the challenges of preventing winter related mother-child diseases, Acute Respiratory Infections (ARI) like pneumonia, bronchitis and other epidemic breakouts in the earthquake hit areas of AJK including Muzaffarabad, Rawalakot and Bagh districts. IRM trained 42 CHWs supervisors with a duty to give field monitoring and mentoring to newly trained CHWs. The participants of the training were selected from the affected areas in a participatory manner to ensure adequate representation of the communities. The training was divided into three segments of 5-days intensive classroom training, followed by field work spread over a period of three to four months.
2.7 :IRM Logistic arrangements
Institute of Rural Management was given the responsibility for logistic arrangements. The IRM staff guest house was converted into a warehouse to store tons of medicines, food, shelter and other relief goods arriving from around the country and the world. IRM also facilitated the boarding and lodging of 20 medical teams from Punjab Rural Support Programme (PRSP). Arranging helicopter transport for senior NRSP and RSPN officials as well as facilitating bookings for foreign delegates and donors to and from the affected areas, was also handled by the IRM administration. IRM was responsible for the training and capacity-building component in many earthquake-related projects.
2.8 :Reviving Education Project AJK Under the NRSP -USAID funded project,
with the objectives of reviving education in earthquake affected areas of AJK, a total of 144 temporary tent schools have been supported. Following were the three main components of the project;
Training of trainers for project staff Designing of SMC training Designing of a module ‘Teacher training in joyful learning’ Planning and facilitation in the implementation of training events Material development and monitoring Under the Teachers Training programme 201 teachers were trained in Muzaffarabad, 210 in Bagh and 212 in Rawalakot. School Management Skills Training programme trained 222 participants in Muzaffarabad, 218 in Bagh and 205 members in Rawalakot.
2.9: Chikar- Diakonie
Diakonie, a social service organization connected with Protestant Church in Germany, entered into an agreement with NRSP-IRM to provide sanitation and water management training to the affected communities living around Chikar in Muzaffarabad. NRSP-IRM with its vast outreach and established expertise in social mobilization as well as extensive experience in the fields of health and hygiene training extended its hand of partnership with Diakonie to deliver health and hygiene training to the effected communities of this area. European Commission Humanitarian Organisation (ECHO) Humanitarian Aid Assistance funded the project of Diakonie and NRSP-IRM signed a memorandum of understanding on April 15, 2006 for a capacity building project till October 15, 2006, during which IRM was to impart hygiene and drinking water supply management training through community mobilization. Orientation training for 10 days was conducted at IRM-Staff Guest House with a purpose of introducing the field staff of DEA to the theme and techniques of Social Mobilization. Afterwards a training of trainers (TOT) for 10 days was organized, attended by six Lady Health Workers, (LHW) from the Government Health Department and 12 local activists.
3: Relief Work in Flood 2010 Scenario
IRM established 03 tent cities in flood affected district Jamshoro, Sindh. Project name is
“Establishment of tent city for Flood affected displaced people of district Jamshoro, Sindh” funded by UNHCR. Under the project 2,500 families provided with transitional shelters and different camp management committees formed to manage the camp in the disaster scenario.
IRM has conducted Rapid Need Assessment covering 800HHds in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh.
IRM in collaboration with SRSO carried out the registration of IDPs and distributed cooked food among 674,242 families in Sindh Province.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa the outreach to beneficiaries included distribution of Tents, Hygiene Kits and Kitchen items to 1,700 flood victims.
About 12,000 affectees have been benefited from the Health, Hygiene and First Aid training conducted by IRM in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mianwali, Bhakkar, Rajanpur and D.G. Khan.
3.1 : Response to Disaster: Floods:
Following are the operational highlights of the IRM Flood relief activities:
In partnership with UNHCR, IRM provided tents to 2500 households in Sindh.
Under UNICEF’s WASH Project, 73000 households have been trained in health and hygiene. The project covers six districts of Sindh including Sukkur, Khairpur, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Shahdatkot and Kashmore/KandhKot.
As of December 31, 3,567,165 health and hygiene items including hygiene kits, Buckets with lids, jerry Cans, aqua tabs and pure sachets have been distributed in flood affected districts of Sindh.
As of December 31, 2010 IRM has supplied cooked food to 599,242 families in Sukkur.
Till December, 34,385 affectees have benefited from the Health, Hygiene and First Aid (including snake bite care) trainings conducted by IRM in Sukkur, Shikarpur, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mianwali, Rajanpur and D.G. Khan.
Rapid Need Assessments were conducted by the IRM staff in Sukkur, Kandhkot, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, Nowshera, Charsadda, Mianwali and D.G. Khan to determine the medical and economic recovery needs of the people in relief camps.
has taken up a project titled “House Reconstruction for Taluka Jati, District Thatta Sindh” with UNDP in Thatta. The project aims at rebuilding livelihoods, creating employment opportunities and empowering poor men and women.
3.2 :Disaster Risk Management Training:
IRM developed training manuals and designed and imparted Training of Trainers on Disaster Risk Reduction/Management for 1228 Govt Officials of Sindh South and North. This project was funded by UNDP. The main objective was to strengthen the capacities of Participants to mainstream the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management concepts, principles and practices in planning and implementation of community development efforts.
The training course enables the participants to respond efficiently and effectively with an appropriate Disaster Risk Reduction
UNDP – Community Based Disaster Risk Management Project (CBDRM) – Phase II
IRM has successfully completed CBDRM Phase-II in collaboration with UNDP Pakistan which was aimed to strengthen the capacities of eight target communities to improve disaster risk management, disaster preparedness and mitigation measures at community level. The intervention consisted on both structural and non-structural mitigations measures to enhance community level disaster management, community resilience by engaging local women, men and community level key leaders. Major targets achieved by IRM – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Team under CBDRM Phase-II include the reassessment of the interventions of CBDRM Phase-I, formation of community organizations, capacity building of 120 CO members and establishment of disaster mitigation and response system at community level, finalization and implementation of disaster mitigation plans/schemes and enhancing coordination and linkages to facilitate disaster risk reduction at local and district level among stakeholders and communities. The project intervention has provided opportunities to local communities for decision making without any discrimination which is one of the manifestations of poverty amongst other. The project provided decent representation to women in schemes[1] prioritization and selection keeping in view the local cultural sensitivity and norms and provided different opportunities for the local women to make decisions regarding community development, planning and implementation. Knowledge and information sharing with target communities and COs about climate change impacts, access to clean drinking water and sanitation services was discussed during structural mitigation schemes planning, implementation and meetings.
IRM also successfully implemented a UNDP funded project named “Early Recovery and Restoration of Flood Affected Communities in Sindh”, building the capacity of over 6000 beneficiaries. The project aimed to 1) To strengthen the capacities of vulnerable and hazard prone staff of local authorities and communities of District Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kandhkot through emergency response capacity building and training; thus saving lives and minimizing the disaster impact, 2) To build sustainable livelihood for poor and disadvantaged communities of target area and 3) To reduce economic risks caused due to natural hazards of the target communities living in the river basin.
Community Restoration of Sai Dino and Haji Ramzan Thahmeem under UNDP- 2011
IRM provided technical assistance and training facilitation as UNDP’s implementing partner, to achieve the goals of this project. The overall purpose of the project was based on the early recovery and restoration of the communities so as to reduce the current dependencies on the emergency flood relief funding and assistance. The long term objective of this project aimed to create and promote sustainable livelihood opportunities and to ensure that the communities could use self-reliant methods to work towards restoring their community infrastructure and build community shelters that are disaster resilient. The project was implemented in Tehsil Jati, District Thatta, Sindh, where the village communities of Sai Dino Hangora and Haji Ramzan Thahmeem, were the project beneficiaries. The target communities, particularly women, were provided with training so they can enhance their means of livelihood depending upon the need of the moment that suited the particular village needs. IRM, in collaboration with UNDP, offered its support in the shape of finding the instructors, provision of tools and equipments, facilitating training sessions, providing modules and other necessary arrangements.
IRM established 03 tent cities in flood affected district Jamshoro, Sindh. The Project titled “Establishment of tent city for Flood affected displaced people of district Jamshoro, Sindh” was funded by UNHCR. Under the project 2,500 families were provided with transitional shelters and different camp management committees formed to manage the camp in the disaster scenario.
Some of IRMs’ Recent Experience in DRR/M and Relief & Rehabilitation
IRM has 22 years experience in capacity building of the target beneficiaries for economic and social empowerment. IRM has imparted Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) training to the staff of various partner and Donor organizations. One of the major projects that build the capacity of community volunteers in CBDRM was under the NRSP-CBDRM project in Muzaffarabad, AJ&K. IRM has also conducted Hazard and Vulnerability Assessment in the earthquake affected areas of district Muzaffarabad. Other activities under the CBDRM project included; Community meetings on hazards and DP/DRR by SMTs at rural and town level, Building managerial capacity of COs through CMST trainings to CO members, Establishment of DMCs, Basic First Aid training to project trainers, ToT on First Aid from Pakistan Red Crescent Society to 4 project trainers, ToT from FOCUS to project staff on CBDRM, ToT from project master trainers to DMC members, Distribution of emergency response kits to DMCs, Training of community volunteers by DMC trainers, Conducting of simulation exercises in villages and towns, Preparation of disaster management database in the target area, Conducting of baseline survey on community awareness and attitude on DP/DRR, Development of training module for community needs and schools, Development of training schedule for school sessions, Conducting of sessions in communities, Conducting of sessions in schools, Collection of post-training data for KAP study, Identification of major hazard-prone spots in the target area, Selection of the most vulnerable hazard areas with support of technical advisors, Preparation of joint action plans by respective COs in the guidance of technical advisors, Implementation of small-scale mitigation projects of selected COs, Handover of disaster management database and maping of hazard-prone spots in the target area to related stakeholders at Taluqa and district level. The disaster management committees (DMC) formed under the project successfully worked with grass root level institutions to cope with expected human and manmade disasters.
Following are the previous operational highlights of the IRM Flood Relief activities:
IRM Experience in Relief & Rehabilitation
Relief Work in Flood 2010 Scenario
Sr.# | Training | Men | Women | Total | Project |
1 | Training Of Trainers (Subject Specific) | 364 | 38 | 402 |
UNDP-South |
2 | Disaster Response Management Training |
210 |
41 | 251 | UNDP-CRS (CIWG) |
IRM also successfully implemented a UNDP funded project named “Early Recovery and Restoration of Flood Affected Communities in Sindh”. The project aimed to 1) To strengthen the capacities of vulnerable and hazard prone staff of local authorities and communities of District Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Kandhkot through emergency response capacity building and training; thus saving lives and minimizing the disaster impact, 2) To build sustainable livelihood for poor and disadvantaged communities of target area and 3) To reduce economic risks caused due to natural hazards of the target communities living in the river basin.
Activity | Beneficiaries |
Capacity building community members in employable skills & providing income generation opportunities through providing linkages with existing MFIs and potential market system | 2,400 |
Provision of 05 goats set per vulnerable woman residing in the target area | 800 |
Capacity building of women in livestock management and primary treatment arrangements | 800 |
Capacity building of community members (farmers) in modern agriculture techniques in two days training event. | 2,000 |
One Day Training event on environment friendly agro Practices | 2,000 |
Relief & Rehabilitation Work in Earthquake 2005
Soon after catastrophe of earthquake 2005, IRM initiated its relief operation in AJ&K. It implemented various projects; however, some of the major projects are given below.
In 2007, IRM implemented two CBDRM projects in AJ&K and provided its expertise in the development of training module & manual, arrangement of DRR training etc.
IRM imparted training to the earthquake affected communities in Capacity Building in enterprise development.
Institutional Support of NRSP for Mainstreaming and Capacity Building of AJK Communities for disaster risk reduction (CBDRM)”
IRM provided training for the community members to orient them to the operation and maintenance of the drinking water supplies, Training of Water Management Committee, Training of Trainers for Village Health Workers in Hygiene Promotion for Earthquake 2005 affectees and Hygiene Promotion Workshop.
Contact: anwar@irm.edu.pk
IRM Head Office
IRM Complex
#7, Sunrise Avenue, Park Road Near
COMSATS University,Chak Shahzad
Islamabad, Pakistan.
Tel: +92 51 8742201-7
Email: info@irm.edu.pk
Web: www.irm.edu.pk