Founder

Khan Bahadur Ahsanullah (R.)

Project Introduction:  
The UN World Disaster Report 2012 ranks Bangladesh as the 5th most at-risk country in the world in terms of disasters. It further identifies Bangladesh as a county with high vulnerability, great susceptibility to hazards, lack of coping and adaptive capacity of local and national communities and institutions. Climate change adds a new dimension by substantially increasing the frequency and intensity of existing climatic events (floods, droughts, cyclones, etc). Bangladesh is also situated in a seismically active zone and therefore highly vulnerable to earthquakes. Accelerated and unorganized urbanization and high population densities amplify the vulnerability of the existing and emerging cities and this can lead to mass casualties, injuries, epidemics and destruction of infrastructure in the case of an earthquake, flood or a cyclone.The National Alliance for Risk Reduction and Response Initiatives (NARRI) consortium is implementing the 7TH DIPECHO Action Plan in 7 districts of Bangladesh with the financial assistance of European Commission Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection (ECHO) and Cordaid. It has separated focus on urban, rural and national level advocacy works in 7th DIPECHO Action Plan. The project has a goal and a specific objective to achieve with 4 results where result 1 focuses on rural interventions, result 2 focuses on urban interventions, result 3 focuses on advocacy initiatives and result 4 focuses on early warning system. For the DIPECHO VII project in Bangladesh, NARRI will be represented by six implementing partners: ActionAid (AA), Concern Universal (CU), Concern Worldwide (CWW), Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), Oxfam GB (OGB) and Solidarites International (SI). NARRI was formed in September 2010 with the aim to strengthen the disaster preparedness and risk reduction efforts in Bangladesh and to contribute towards meeting commitments for the Hyogo framework of Action (HFA 2005-2015). NARRI provides coordinated emergency response with wider outreach programs. The consortium works closely with the Government of Bangladesh at both local and national levels, relevant ministries, development partners, and international and national organizations. NARRI’s five year strategy (2011-2015) promotes development of comprehensive risk reduction programs and interventions at national and local levels, as well as contributing to coordinated actions, shared learning and good practices.

Goal and Objective: Goal: To increase resilience and establish a culture of disaster risk reduction among communities and institutions vulnerable to natural hazards in urban and rural areas of Bangladesh.

Specific Objective: To promote standardized DIPECHO urban and rural CBDRR models with a focus on inclusion and replication through integration into DRR instruments and development programs.

Outputsà Resultsà Outcome:  Replication à Standardization:Result-1: A rural CBDRR model is scaled up and replicated through integration into development planning and implementation processes.

Result-2: An urban CBDRR model is demonstrated and replicated where key urban stakeholders develop capacity to carry out coordinated response and mainstream DRR into development.

Result-3: Implementation of DM policy framework is enhanced by strong coordination and evidence based advocacy to MoDMR and MoLGRD&C.

Result-4: Targeted communities are receiving appropriate early warning messages in emergency situations and are undertaking prescribed behaviours.

Who the project will serve/is serving (gender disaggregated data if possible by category of recipients): 13 partner organizations.The direct beneficiaries are members of communities and institutions in geographic areas targeted due to their extreme vulnerability to earthquakes in the urban areas. In the project targeted areas, special consideration has been given to socially excluded and marginalized community members who are most vulnerable to various natural disasters. The proposed intervention has targeted women, children, persons with disabilities and the elderly and will ensure the inclusion of these socially excluded groups and their mainstreaming throughout disaster planning and management.As per NARRI’s urban model, the project will target DDMC, CCDMC, WDMCs and other relevant GO line departments as part of local level advocacy and accordingly the DMC members and targeted GO officials will be the direct beneficiary. Also at community levels, urban volunteer and general mass will act as direct beneficiary. While DMC, GO officials and volunteers will be targeted for institutional strengthen and capacity building, the general population will be targeted for mass awareness and community mobilization activities.The project will directly work with approximately 1,10,957 persons living in the most vulnerable and disaster-prone areas of Urban area of Dhaka City. However, the benefits will gradually be shared by a wider portion of the total population and larger portions of local communities.

Project Duration : 18 months.
Start date : 1st March’2013
Financial partner (Donor) : ECHO and Cordaid

Implementing partner : Concern Universal Bangladesh is the working partner.
Project Location/s and number of Field offices : 7 Wards of Mirpur, Dhaka City. Field Office- 01.
Budget with annual breakup :  BDT. 81,69,899.96
Number of project staffs and volunteers : Project Staff- 10 & Volunteers- 561

Contact Person     : Mohammed Roushon Ali, Project Coordinator
E-mail                       : m.roushan@ahsaniamission.org.bd, roushon.du@gmail.com