Role for flood-hit in building a resilient Kerala

Kudumbashree will collect feedback of affected communities using a mobile app

Kochi, Kerala, 17/08/2018: Residents of a housing colony near Kampanipady in Kalamassery, north of Ernakulam, being rescued in a fishing boat by fishers from Chellanam from their heavily inundated neighbourhood on Friday. Photo : Thulasi Kakkat.

The government is giving the final shape to a major governance initiative aimed at giving the flood-affected people a voice in the disaster recovery and reconstruction planning process.

The Janakiya Pankalithavum Punarnirmanavum initiative has been piloted in flood-affected panchayats of Wayanad and Alappuzha. It will be soon rolled out in Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Ernakulam, Thrissur and Idukki. The feedback and voices of the flood-affected will be collected from 511 disaster-hit grama panchayats, reaching out to nearly 1% of the affected. It will be collected through the Kudumbashree network of local self-governments using a mobile app. The State and district-level administrators will have direct access to the data through a feedback dash board.

First of its kind

“This would be the first such initiative in India where creating the scope for marginalised people who are at risk to communicate their grievances is being attempted,” said Ajith Chacko, Chief Operating Officer (Livelihoods), National Rural Livelihoods Mission Programme, Kudumbashree.

Major partners

Besides Kudumbashree, the partners include the Kerala State Disaster Management Authority, Local Self-Government Department, Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA), UNICEF, United Nations Develop Programme (UNDP), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Riddhi Foundation, Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities-Network (CDAC-N) and Sphere India.

The project will take into account the special needs of groups that tend to be left out of large recovery and reconstruction programmes, besides giving attention to the gender and other diversity of the communities using a comprehensive set of common tools and protocols.

“The initiative will provide information support in a more dynamic mode enabling decision makers to address grievances of those who may be inadvertently left out,” said Janki Andharia, Dean, School of Disaster Studies, Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai.

The key objectives of the project include improving communities’ access to information about recovery, reconstruction and support assistance available to them and ensuring that they could provide their views on their post-disaster needs by communicating their issues and concerns to the government authorities.