Local Capacity Development: Disaster Resilience in Myanmar

The project aimed to build the capacity of field-level humanitarian staff and civil society groups to prepare for and respond to natural disasters. The DRRLP's objective is to develop a manual and training program for training participants from local NGOs, local governments, and village leaders. The project works closely with the Myanmar Consortium for Disaster Risk Reduction (MCDRR) and strives to establish disaster committees in high-risk areas. The training program is designed to be interactive and respect the experience and knowledge of participants, while putting it into the framework of international humanitarian practice. The project has faced challenges in finding the appropriate level of difficulty for the trainings, as both the more experienced and less sophisticated groups contained variation. To address this, the DRRLP has experimented with separate basic and advanced manuals and workshops. However, it has also been challenging to find enough time for the training, as participants often take time away from other responsibilities. The project has attempted to address this by spacing out the trainings and allowing participants to continue learning through self-study. However, the new program is attempting to further improve this by providing more structure and support for the self-study. The project has also carried out two external evaluations, which found that the project was successful in developing local capacity and improving the understanding of emergency context and disaster risk reduction. One of the key findings from the evaluations was the eagerness of participants and potential participants for capacity building. However, the main challenges have been finding a cost-effective methodology to reach as many participants as possible and adapting to the diverse and evolving needs of the target groups. The project has refined its approach to respond to the needs identified during the evaluation of the previous year, making the manual and training program more practical and user-friendly for the target audience. The project has also led to several continuations and expansions of funding from the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), particularly as the situation in Myanmar becomes more open and the demands on local organizations increase. The establishment of the MCDRR is a step towards making the initiative sustainable, but it still requires moderate amounts of funding and outside expertise.