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Participatory Assessment of Climate and Disaster Risks

423.11.2022   10:58

In the frame of capacity building for its partner organizations "Bread for the World" (Brot für die Welt) organized an online training course, to which also staff members of the Women's Public Union Erayim have been invited. The course took place in May 2022 online with participants from Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The participants were introduced to PACDR - which stands for Participatory Assessment of Climate and Disaster Risks. Following the international online training course, an internal training course for staff members of WPU Erayim has been conducted in the Russian language. Two staff members of Erayim have been developing their skills in conducting this process for the beneficiaries across the Kyrgyz Republic. In the course of the internal Training for Trainers, Altynai Sabyrbekova and Abdylas Koshumbaev translated and adapted the materials and the process to the Kyrgyz context and conducted a testing phase within the staff members of the organization. After implementing further adjustments a first pilot has been conducted with the beneficiaries in the south of the Kyrgyz Republic.

WPU Erayim was the first organization in Kyrgyzstan has conducted a participatory climate and disaster risk analysis in rural areas using the PACDR tool. This tool is used around the world in different communities in Africa, South America and Asia. And for the first time in Central Asia, it is being piloted in Kyrgyzstan. The first process has been conducted in Akman village of Bazar-Korgon district on November 22-24 2022.

The process has been led in the Kyrgyz language by Altynai Sabyrbekova and Abdylas Koshumbaev, who were specially trained facilitators of WPU Erayim. For four days they have worked with representatives of the community - with women, members of self-help groups, local administration and farmers among others, who engaged in the process with curiosity and commitment. The process has been also supported by the local authority, AA, that provided space for the process in their meeting hall. It is worth noting that this rural district has been cooperating with Erayim for many years and has been supportive of the activities of the local community. Each of the projects conducted by WPU Erayim and implemented in collaboration with the local people is aimed at improving the lives of the rural population, strengthening the friendship and unity of the people of different ethnicities and religions, empowering women, addressing environmental issues, supporting schoolchildren's initiatives. The participants of the process have analysed and discussed changes in time and the consequences of climate change and natural disasters in the region where they live. They identified three most important issues to be tackled with diverse short, - mid-and long-term measures: improving the water canals, tackling the problem of air pollution caused by burning the trash and flooding. Also, further natural disasters that happen every year focused on the question “what are their consequences and are there any preventive measures?”. In this respect, it has been pointed out that the canal in the Akman village has not been properly maintained or repaired for a long time, and the village is been flooded every spring. As a result, crop fields are washed away, the soil deteriorates, and due to drought, farmers do not grow a good quality crop in the quantity expected. And farmers who do not grow crops, get into chains of debt and go into poverty. Often, due to a lack of money earned and high prices of living people from rural areas are forced to go abroad to work to earn a living for their families back in the villages in Kyrgyzstan. The pressure on the family members is high, being away disagreements arise and conflicts are difficult to be solved with the distance between the conflicted parties, families break up and marriages end up with divorce. So it is not only the economic challenge that makes out the problem but also the chain reaction caused by it targeting family and community life too. As much as the latter, flooding is another significant problem in rural areas. Residential buildings and infrastructure is deteriorating. Cultivated lands become unusable. Infectious diseases appear, and air pollution harms human health. This causes an increase in food deficiency and the deterioration of food quality will increase, along with the decrease of productivity of the lands.

The above-mentioned problems have been analysed and after having identified their consequences, the participants of the process focused on elaborating on the existing protective measures against such disasters and planning the ones not yet in place. Several ideas for measures have been presented. For example, cleaning up the canals regularly, building additional canals, introducing water-saving measures, setting up drip irrigation in the fields, growing crops and fruits that are less sensitive to water shortages/ drought, reducing landfills and producing organic food, and planting and growing more trees.

- This process is very important and necessary. We can see the needs in communities, and this is also what the process participants share with us as their feedback. For the first time using such a tool to assess natural disaster risks and plan measures to counter them has proven to be suitable and needed in Kyrgyzstan. And we started with this process for the first time in Kyrgyzstan in the rural area of Akman. All participants in the process showed their interest, commitment and involvement, and clearly and accurately identified local problems. They analyzed each mentioned problem, noted its consequences, and determined the effectiveness and sustainability of the countering measures in place. Now, after our common sessions, the work of the community group will continue - the self-organised group wants to present the need for action to the local administration, and - as money and other resources are needed- they will have to seek support from local and perhaps even international organizations.

What I can say, is that a huge work has been already done - we have faced the reality as it is now. Usually, we are indifferent to the environmental issues around us. If there are mudslides, we immediately blame the government. "They don't work. They don't dig canals to stop the water from overflooding the land". When asked, "Where do these climate changes and natural disasters come from? Where are the roots and what are the consequences, what is the nature of the risk problem?" - no one can answer. During this process, we have addressed these questions and sought answers on the local level. We looked at our village, in our neighbourhood and identified the risk factors of natural disasters, which are a major problem in this particular rural area. We discussed and planned what needs to be done in the short, mid and long term to mitigate the risks. If all the knowledge gained is applied in practice, there is great confidence that the situation on the local level within this particular community will improve," says the process facilitator, Altynai Sabyrbekova.

And, according to one of the two facilitators, Abdylas Koshumbaev, such processes will be organised in other regions. The main goal is to elaborate and assess the climate conditions locally and through the PACDR tool to analyse and assess natural disasters so that targeted disaster prevention and mitigation measures can be implemented.

Sarah Niemann, an ASA program volunteer from Germany, and Julia Suchar, an organizational development and fundraising expert in WPU Erayim, also participated in the training and provided input and support to the participants. Kishimzhan Boronbaeva, the SHG coordinator for Jalal-Abad province, Maksat Pirmatov, the project coordinator and Aziz Orozaliev, the project coordinator for children's SHG, conducted the organizational work to make sure the process works smoothly.

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Baktykan Azhymamatova, Jalal-Abad province

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