Feature: Community action critical for disaster risk reduction

By The NewsDay | Apr. 4, 2022 | 5 Min read

It is at the local or neighbourhood level, that disasters like droughts and floods happen, lives and livelihoods are lost, houses and infrastructure damaged or destroyed and health and education compromised.

BY TONDERAYI MATONHO When disasters occur, the speed and effectiveness of response depends heavily on resource-less local organisations that represent the needs of those most impacted and most vulnerable, it has emerged.

In addition, it is also at the local level that many of the disaster risks can be addressed before disasters occur.

Just recently, this is exactly that happened in Nyatondo village, 10km to the north of Nyanga town, along the great Nyangani Mountain Range.

As Robson Nyatondo (63), a former soldier in the presidential guard unit, admires not only the water gushing out of the tap at his homestead in this village but also at the small dam recently constructed now storing water harvested from natural streams and rivers flowing across the mountain range.

“The success of pre-disaster action is to a large extent determined by pre-disaster planning and awareness and readiness within local communities, local government and civil society organisations,” said Nyatondo, secretary to the community-based organisation, Chitsanza Development Association (CHIDA), in a recent interview.

In this way, community action and partnerships with local government are central not just to minimising risk but also in responding to the impacts of climate change, he said.

“This also helps in shaping recovery efforts in ways that can strengthen local livelihoods and quality of life,” said Nyatondo, strongly bringing to attention the critical importance of community action for disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation.

Keep Reading

Despite geographical zones having been revisited due to changing climates, Nyanga district, drought-plagued, still falls within natural regions 4 and 5 and faces intermittent droughts and food shortages.

Ironically it is blessed with abundant natural water resources along the slopes of the Nyangani Mountain Range.

Realising their plight, villagers led by CHIDA, mobilised other villagers from Sedze, Mambemba and Bonde and with the facilitation of the Zimbabwe National Environment Trust (Zimnet), a non-governmental organisation, formed Chida, an umbrella body of 15 villages to harvest the perennial natural water from the mountain range.

“After going through traditional protocols and consultations with local government, we constructed four small dams for small-scale irrigation high up the slopes of Nyangani Mountain Range and nine water reservoirs below the range to receive the water from the small dams as the water falls by gravity and does not require pumping,” Nyatondo said.

“I can now draw water from the mountain for irrigation in my fields boosting household food security and am also practising agro-forestry, an adaptation measure to unfavourable impacts of climate change,” said Nyatondo.

Joseph Tasosa, the executive director of Zimnet, said: “The great work by this local community highlights the energy and creativity of disaster-affected communities as they reconstruct their environments and livelihoods far more effectively and far more cheaply, particularly within this current and costly changing climate.

“This is a classic case of capacities of community organisations and effective partnerships with local government to map disaster risk and vulnerability and develop measures to address them”, he said.

The water harvesting and natural resources management project was funded by the UNDP Global Environment Facility, Small Grants Programme from 2006-2015.

Amid regenerating forests, woodlands and wetlands, the water harvesting project in Nyatondo and neighbouring villages, now serves homesteads, fields, livestock, orchards, woodlots, tree nurseries and forest-based livelihoods and projects like bee-keeping.

However, in a bid to fight climate change impacts and environmental degradation at community level, one common criticism of a focus on community action is that this may take attention away from the changes needed within government.

Yet this criticism again overlooks the fact that getting the government to fulfil its roles and responsibilities on these fronts requires community organisation and action.

The chief executive officer for the Nyanga Rural District Council, Zefania Jaravaza said communities needed to be supported; neglecting community-driven initiatives contributes to persistent vulnerabilities and this calls for the recognition of traditional common property systems of resource management.

“To some extent, this focus on community organisation and action is appropriate for rural contexts but there are limits,” said Jaravaza, in an interview recently.

He observed that community organisation and action cannot design and build huge infrastructure critical for resilience to storms and heavy rainfall, for instance, storm and surface drains and road and bridge networks that can cope with sudden and much increased volumes of water.

“Working with local communities on risk mapping and awareness raising can lead to small works and provide a focus for small dams as in Nyatondo village, for example, making schools safer, increasing community knowledge of evacuation procedures,” said Jaravaza.

However, it does not put in place the large-scale infrastructure that reduces risk, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, experts note that the devastating Cyclone Idai in 2016 and subsequent cyclones and floods, illustrate the need for far better local, regional and national water management and a local administration that is far better prepared to manage floods and evacuate people.

“All communities, whether rural, urban, informal or peri-urban are now at risk from disasters, including climate change impacts and most of these belong to low-income groups”, said Luke Chinanzvavana, a disaster risk reduction and management expert in a recent interview.

“Community action and organisation cannot do anything if these settlements are on sites at high risk, for instance, on flood plains or steep slopes at risk from landslides and lack the infrastructure and services needed to reduce risk because local and central governments are unwilling or unable to ensure their provision”, he pointed out.

Another expert, Freddy Gwaimani, noted: “Community action and organisation cannot put in place the building codes and standards that help ensure infrastructure that can withstand extreme weather or where needed, floods and earthquakes.”

In addition, he said it could not bring in expert help on its own and large funding from outside in the aftermath of a disaster.

“Community action and organisation is not only about working with community organisations in rural and informal settlements at risk but there is need for a comprehensive web of institutions that ensure not only that these are provided but also that infrastructure and enterprises meet health and safety standards that take into account extreme weather and hazardous events,” he said.