The widespread discussions which crystallised in the Yokhama Declaration and the efforts made by various agencies at all levels focus on reducing the impact of disasters through measures of preparedness, mitigation and prevention. At community level it means reducing the vulnerability and increasing the capacity to face the hazards and learning to live with disasters. While the communities have their own traditional coping mechanisms, these need to be streamlined and augmented. We are looking at CBDP in this context.

In the case of development there has been a forward movement from distributing medicine, clothes and food to community mobilisation and empowerment. While some agencies maintained that welfare measures are needed as entry points to mobilise the community, agencies like Caritas India showed that people can be mobilised and empowered without such material incentives.

However, the welfare approach continued in the case of disasters. The people were always seen are helpless victims, incapable of helping themselves. The people also saw the agencies as providers who will fulfil their needs and expectations.

Taking a lesson from the development sector, the model of CBDP promoted by Caritas India is based on the paradigm shift from dependency to self-reliance in the context of disasters. This change is the primary focus. People are motivated and empowered to become proactive and prepare themselves with an attitude of self-reliance, depending on their own resources, without material input from the agency. It is also noted that temporary behaviour change may not necessarily indicate change of mindset.

This implies a change of mindset in the implementing agencies to have confidence in the capacity of the people. It rests on the belief that even the most vulnerable persons and groups can become stakeholders by contributing to the process. The agencies’ change of mindset will be revealed in their attitudes and their policies.

Dimensions of CBDP: We are also looking at CBDP as a programme in its various dimensions:

Fist and foremost it is a programme of people’s effort for reducing impact of disasters by the reducing vulnerability and increasing the capacitoies of the community.

Implied in this is also a methodology of accelerated social processes, leading to rapid empowerment, mainstreaming the weaker sections, and promoting social cohesiveness bringing together all sections of the community. Once this happens in the context of disaster preparedness, it serves as a strong platform for the community’s resilience.

The empowering process of CBDP and the ensuing proactive mindset triggers other processes as the empowered community takes initiatives in various fields of development, analysing and addressing problems, claiming their rights and obtaining governmental support through advocacy and lobbying.

There is also a new way of advocacy included in CBDP in the form of linkages aimed at policy changes, ultimately transforming the mindsets in, and the policies of, the governing structures.

People’s constitutional right to participate in the government’s decision-making process (participatory democracy) is incorporated into the methodology which ultimately is supposed to transform the governance, giving transparency and accountability to the governing structures and promoting a bottom up planning and decision-making process in the place of the current top-down approach. Getting the people’s plan of action passed in the Gram Sansad/Gram Sabha is the first step towards this process which is taken forward up to the State level through positive, constructive and responsible advocacy at all levels.

Participatory methodologies are used to ensure community ownership. Contextualised PLA has been used due its capability to stimulate the self-esteem and instil self-confidence in the people to take action, besides being a tool for data collection. Here, PLA is not PRA. The emphasis is on community’s learning and action. The process of conducting PLA, is as important as the data collected. The primary outcome is the changed mindset. The agencies’ confidence in the people’s ability to analyse their problems and find their own low-cost, indigenous solutions beginning with their traditional knowledge, lays the foundation for the community-based process of CBDP.

Leadership, Commitment, Team work: The leadership is very important in a process of change-management. The end may seem formidable and impossible. But the committed leader, who has the vision, takes the community forward by gradual steps, through a community based process, until the community confidently moves ahead. The commitment of all the stakeholders is equally important all should function as one team.

Focus: CBDP promoted by Caritas India focuses on Preparedness for natural disasters, namely floods, cyclone, earthquake and landslide. Mitigation, prevention etc. are not included. The methodology is applicable to all disasters. But at first only one type of disaster is addressed. Once the process is internalised, it can be applied to any disaster. Since preparedness for Drought should include mitigation measures, it is not included in the usual CBDP. There can be a separate programme for Drought mitigation.

Advocacy and Partnership – CBDP as Hub of convergence: CBDP brings together the community, institutions within and outside the community, the elected and administrative governing institutions, the NGOs, all working together with spirit if commitment and team work with the community in focus. All see themselves as co-workers. This is not just linkages).

This is different from the traditional understanding of advocacy based on the negative approach where the government and community are seen as opposite parties, the community criticising the Government and “struggling for their rights.” CBDP is based on the convergence of good will and believes in mutual trust and partnership. The mindset gets of all get changed in this process.

Thus the principle of “Do no harm” is incorporated into CBDP as it brings together all sections of the community promotes an advocacy of convergent action.

Whole Community Approach (no target group): Since there is no material input involved, there is no obligation to limit the involvement to any target group. Keeping the focus on the most vulnerable groups, the whole community is motivated to become responsible to take care of the weaker sections. Thus CBDP becomes instrumental to promote community values.

Fast moving programme: Since there is no material incentive in the programme, it needs to be very intensive and fast-moving to see tangible results in very short span of time. Staff motivation as well as community’s motivation very much depend on the speed of the progress. Visible signs of rapid change of mindset and behaviour makes it unique, with the enthusiasm generated at all levels by the thrill of achievement and attracts the attention of the government personnel to be involved with a sense of ownership.

Direct method: Cutting across hierarchies, the lowest levels interact with the highest levels in the regularly conducted review-cum-planning and training workshops, and this leads to accelerated capacity-enhancement. These meetings, where the staff of different organisations assemble, create an atmosphere of healthy completion as well as mutual enrichment, leading to rapid advancement of the programme. Direct method of training and opportunities of cross learning lead to cross-motivation and sense of ownership among the personnel involved, accelerating the process of change.

From Disaster Preparedness to Disaster Management: Once the governmental institutions come closer to the community with a changed mindset, further interaction is supposed to motivate the government to supplement the community’s efforts with measures of mitigation and prevention in a community-based process. Thus CBDP opens the door to a process of community-based disaster management, though CBDP itself does not include mitigation and prevention within its ambit.

Phasing: CBDP is a very complex programme and so, including all the components at the outset can offset the process, making it a bundle of activities, reaching nowhere. There is need to have phased interventions, adding more and more components as the community’s receptivity expands.

Sustainability: The basis of sustainability is first and foremost the changed mindset, supported by the knowledge, awareness and practice becoming habit. Institutions within and around the community, governmental and non-governmental are roped in, to support and supplement the efforts of the community. Systems and structures for coordination are created to sustain the process, together with the Panchayat and the governmental institutions. Experiencing the support from all quarters, the community is all the more empowered and motivated to carry on the process with a sense of pride and self-reliance.