Completed project
Building Community Resilience to Disasters in Upland Areas
June 2010 to August 2011 (phase 3)
$600 000 CAD
funding from the Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection service of the European Commission (ECHO).
Project jointly implemented by:
- ACTED
- CECI Standing Office of the Provincial CFSC of Nghe An Province
- Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Nghe An PPC Standing Office of the Provincial CFSC Kon Tum
- Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Kon Tum PPC
22,671 people
(population of 8 communes)
A participatory approach against climate change
The highland areas of Vietnam, where ethnic minorities are the main inhabitants, are particularly vulnerable to the consequences of climate change. In 2007, CECI and the French NGO ACTED launched a far-reaching prevention program in Kon Tum province. Following many successes, they initiated a new phase in three communes in Nghe An province.
In 2009, four days of torrential rain and a flash flood swept away fifty houses and destroyed many crops and livestock. Months later, drought and fires ravaged the crops of one sector, where more than 85% of the population live on subsistence farming.
To reduce the vulnerability of ethnic minorities to these disasters, CECI and ACTED employed a participatory approach. Representatives of the target communities were trained to organize awareness-raising workshops within their villages. Using this approach, the communities’ priority needs could then be identified and targeted: mapping of high risk areas, implementing early warning and evacuation systems, first aid training, etc. Dikes have also been built to prevent further floods and to reclaim farm land.
The project also includes children from primary and secondary schools. A teacher from the Quy Hop province says, “By working in the schools, we ensure that we are protecting the people most vulnerable to climate change: the youth. Through them, we are also reaching their families and therefore all of the community.”
The project has borne fruit. In June, typhoon Haima ravaged the Chau Dinh commune. The early warning systems ensured the evacuation of the village before it was hit by a three-metre high flood. Encouraged by this success, the project team is actively working with local authorities to expand this winning formula to a