The project supported by Give2Asia: ‘Awareness and Training to help people cope with floods and improve their quality of life’, earlier implemented in 35 schools and 20 villages, was later extended to training the teachers of all the 234 schools of Jarwal Block in flood affected Bahraich District of Uttar Pradesh. CEE Himalaya organised and conducted various programmes and workshops to educate, and to raise awareness in students, teachers, villagers and the representatives of the school departments on the need for capacity building to deal with alter situations. The activities were fulfilled through various programmes listed below.
Permissions were obtained from the Director - Elementary Education and Director - Secondary Education for conducting DRR Preparedness programmes in the schools of Bahraich as well as all the flood affected 23 districts of UP. Permission was obtained from the Director SCERT for conducting teacher training through the DIETs of the concerned districts. CEE Himalaya and RCE Srinagar organised four teacher training workshops (TTWs) on DRR Preparedness for the teachers of Jarwal Block of Bahraich District, Uttar Pradesh, with financial support from International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) and Give2Asia. All the four TTWs were conducted at the Block Resource Centre (BRC), where teachers of all the 234 schools were trained.
Along with the DRR training, the TTW participants were also apprised of the Niti Aayog’s Report ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts - Baseline Ranking and Real-time Monitoring Dashboard 2018’ which has eight districts of Uttar Pradesh included amongst the 101 most backward districts identified. CEE team brought out details of the ranking which is based on performance in five sectors, viz. Health and Nutrition, Education, Agriculture and Water Resources, Financial Inclusion and Skill Development, and Basic Infrastructure. Since Bahraich ranks 96th overall and 100th in education, CEE exhorted the participants to work together and improve the ranking of the district in all sectors.
The representatives of CEE Himalaya, Programme Director Dr. Abdhesh Kumar Gangwar and Programme Officer Dr. Apurva Rai were invited as resource persons by the Uttar Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (UPSDMA), Lucknow, to train the government officials of UP on Early Warning and Indicators of Heat waves. The two one-day training programmes had about 80 participants besides the UPSDMA officials.
The session covered the topic of managing heat waves - before, during and after. It concluded with making participants to understand the need for efficient and effective measures to protect ourselves and others during heat strokes. The session also brought out the need for Community Based Disaster Management Plans, capacity building required for Gram Panchayats and municipalities to handle disasters, and how DRR needs to be made part of every Gram Panchayat Development Plan.
CEE Himalaya, in collaboration with State Council for Educational Research and Training (SCERT), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and Directorate of Elementary Education, Uttar Pradesh, organised a one-day workshop to review and revise the School Disaster Management Plans (SDMPs) and Village Contingency Plans (VCPs) prepared by the teachers and students with the participation of School Management Committee, members of the Gram Panchayat and village community at the Nyaya Panchayat Sansadhan Kendra, Purva Madhyamik Vidyalaya, Jarwal, Bahraich. The 234 government schools of Jarwal Block are divided into 10 Nyaya Panchayat Resource Centres (NPRCs), with one NPRC member in each responsible for the activities of teachers in the school falling under that NPRC.
The teachers of all the schools of Jarwal Block were trained by CEE in DRR Preparedness through four Teacher Training Workshops (TTWs) and were subsequently given the responsibility of preparing the SDMP of their school and the VCP of the village where their school is located. At the review workshop, CEE helped finalise the SDMPs and VCPs for all the 234 schools and 78 Gram Panchayats of Jawral Block.
A two day skill development training on February 20-21, 2018 was proposed under the activity of Demonstration-cum-Training on livelihood improvement activity for the women of the flood affected villages of Chudipurwa, Dhobinpurwa and Barkhandipurwa of Jarwal Block near Ghaghara. Master Trainers Ms. Aarti Rana and Ms. Kavita Mishra trained the women of the riparian communities in alternate livelihood options, through developing their skills in making handicraft items and in marketing and sale of the products made. As part of this workshop, CEE conducted a session focused on Disaster Risk Reduction, Environment Protection and Livelihood Improvement of the people affected by the Ghaghara River floods. Elaborating on CEE’s programme on awareness and training on DRR preparedness for school children and teachers and the members of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, especially the elected representatives, the Gram Pradhans, and the village community in Jarwal block, CEE requested the workshop participants to extend their cooperation in making CEE’s progtamme successful in their villages.
CEE organised a workshop for M.Sc. Environmental Science students, Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, on May 25, 2017. The workshop was attended by 16 Professors, 26 Masters students and 11 Research scholars. The workshop focused on making every citizen Climate Smart, Sustainable and Disaster Resilient.
A DRR Network of RCEs at the Asia Pacific level was launched at the 9th Tongyeong ESD International Forum ‘Sejahtera Forest for All’. Abdhesh Gangwar made a presentation and highlighted the efforts of RCE Srinagar and CEE Himalaya in developing this Regional Network, and spoke on how different countries, especially less developed countries, can take advantage of the network to in-build DRR Preparedness that can compare with advanced and developed countries like Japan and Republic of Korea.
Established as a Centre of Excellence of the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India.
