Caritas India has designed a program to minimise the impact of disaster on livelihood of the people of Cuttack, Balasore and Sonepur districts of Odisha by strengthening the capacities of the people.

The programme was designed based on the vulnerability study conducted at Mahanadi Basin to identify and analyse food security and disaster related vulnerability and capacity of poor communities located at Mahanadi basin in Odisha.

Supported by Caritas Germany, the study will help to design the livelihood strategies for vulnerable populations’ in Odisha. It also intended to identify appropriate programmatic areas of interventions and doable actions on livelihood enhancement and Disaster Risk Reduction.

To bring clarity and efficiency, staff of the DRR and Livelihood programme were oriented on the different dimensions of “Enhancing Resilient Livelihoods to Reduce Disaster Risk in Odisha” programme which was shared with the partners during two days’ orientation from 26-27, June at Catholic Charities, Jatni, Odisha.

Dr. Pallab Kumar De, Thematic Manager of Caritas India presented the key connectivity between DRR and livelihood, core issues and possible roadmap for mitigating negative impact of disasters with the partners.

He also shared about the labour-based livelihood where most of the small landholders and landless rural households derives livelihoods by selling their labour. He pointed out that for their livelihoods, demand for labour, wage rates and prices of food are the critical factors.

Sharing about the exchange or market based livelihood, he said the rural households which produce surplus food and non-food agricultural products or non-farm goods earn their livelihoods by selling these surpluses in the market. The marketing system for these products and relative prices of what they sell and what they buy, affect their livelihoods.

He said, households without any income/earning/asset or able-bodied person to work depends for their livelihoods on transfers from the government or other social organizations. Therefore, Government’s social security and food assistance programs are important for them.

Disaster Risk Reudction aims to minimise vulnerabilities and disaster risks to avoid or limit the adverse impacts of hazards by prevention, mitigation and preparedness. The programme activities will reduce the direct impact of disaster on assets (i.e. houses are made more resilient to disasters, flood-resistant crop varieties are grown).

Recurrent cycles of flood/drought leave communities food insecure and create a cycle of indebtedness and poverty, affected households and communities are not prepared for such events. Traditional preparedness mechanisms are insufficient to protect livelihoods and assets.

Gaps also exist in accessing government schemes that could assist in preparation.  Knowledge of MGNREGA, WASH and First Aid practices as well as storage of seed, grain and fodder is limited.

Income affected as a result of disasters and community cannot cope up easily. During floods/droughts farmers lose their crops as well as the seeds.  Scientific practices for seed selection and storage are not followed.

Households are food secure only seven to nine months, following the December harvest which force them to migrate for labor jobs.

Under the strategic aspects, Dr. Pallab suggested to have Preparedness planning, Livelihood resilience measures, Access to Govt. entitlements and benefits, Disseminate good models for learning and replication and Advocacy in the programme.

Under the district level interdepartmental convergence process, Dr. Pallab and Mr. Varkey shared the initiative of Caritas India with OSDMA CGM Dr. K.L Misra at Bhubaneswar and apprised him about the programme. Dr. Mishra suggested to have formal letter of intent for collaboration and support from Caritas India which can be sent to all relevant departmental heads at district and block level.