Lessons learned from a long-term intervention on disability inclusive DRR in rural communities in Bangladesh

Not everyone faces the same risk from disasters. People with disabilities and other at-risk groups are often forgotten in disaster risk reduction (DRR) programs and left behind when disaster happens. They are excluded from disaster preparedness measures, are invisible when it comes to community mapping or evacuation, find it harder to access shelters and safe spaces due to environmental barriers or protection risks, and receive inadequate or inappropriate relief and support when they suffer from disaster loss. To address this disproportional risk of persons with disabilities, CBM in partnership with a national civil society organisation called Centre for Disability in Development (CDD), have started disability-inclusive disaster risk reduction (DiDRR) programming in rural communities in Gaibandha region, Bangladesh, in 2009.

During this Ignite Stage presentation, CBM highlight the main learnings from the long-term intervention on DiDRR. Not only do they present on the successful outcomes and replicable approaches, they also look at the remaining gaps, and critically reflect on whether the established community based DiDRR systems are able to continue working without further external financial and technical support from CBM.

Oliver has been working in the development and disability sector for more than 11 years. Since 2016 he worked as a Humanitarian Coordinator for CBM. Oliver is based in Germany and supports the global planning and implementation of humanitarian and DRR programs of CBM. As part of his role he is also involved in training programs that supports the capacity and development of disability inclusive humanitarian and DRR action.