Building a safer island community

The Kandholhudhoo people’s former island was limit to the number of people who can live in one prone to regular fl ooding as a result of storms and new house - this limit (extended family criteria) tidal surges and was too small for the growing is to be determined by considering the unique population. This resulted in overcrowding and context of each island community, and using

congested living conditions. The ‘building back information from the database in consultation Shimizu/International Federation Yoshi better’ concept has been applied in the Maldives with the community. If the total number of family reconstruction programmes with the aim of members exceeds this limit a second house will reducing future risk from disaster and improving be allocated. To determine this limit, to validate living conditions. benefi ciaries, to include cultural gender considerations and to identify vulnerable groups a comprehensive database was developed.

A computer programmer from the Ministry of Planning and National Development was seconded to design a database to manipulate detailed data into information primarily for the attribution of houses. The secondary purpose of this database is to build the capacity of the island administration. Prior to the tsunami the island offi ce registries were limited, which made distribution of relief, transitional shelters and cash grants diffi cult to fairly administer and monitor. In the future the database designed by the Federation can be used by the island administration as a tool for Data entry by a trained member of the team development planning and will be an important The new island funded by the Federation for the resource in case of disaster. Benefi ciary communication Kandholhudhoo people is much bigger and is not prone to fl ooding. In order to ease overcrowding and provide enough shelter for the population Managing expectations and building trust: more houses are being built than were on the original island. However, this made benefi ciary A Maldives case study selection and verifi cation challenging as a fair method for allocating additional houses was The International Federation of Red Cross required. In order to do this, detailed and accurate and Red Crescent Societies promotes the information about each household was required in humanitarian activities of National Societies order to determine equitable criteria. among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief Guidelines outlining seventeen criteria to attribute and encouraging development support houses were jointly developed, in consultation it seeks to prevent and alleviate human with the government, by the British Red Cross, suffering. The International Federation, the French Red Cross and the Federation. Many National Societies and the International Maldivian families are very large, with extended A man from Kandholudhoo studies the criteria Committee of the Red Cross together families often living together. However, there is a constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies South Asia Regional Offi ce C-79 Anand Niketan New Delhi, India Tel: +911124111122, +911124111127 Fax: + 91 11 2411 1128

www.ifrc.org Crescent Societies © 2007 Cross and Red of Red Content and photos / International Federation

Tsunami survivors’ houses under construction on their new island home A new island home Strengthening relationships with benefi ciaries Disseminating information and listening to benefi ciaries

The International Federation of the Red Cross Working in true partnership with all stakeholders Communication with benefi ciaries should be Communication must be in the local language. and Red Crescent Societies is working to assist is essential and a key factor in the success of dynamic and genuinely two-way. Effective This means questionnaires, training, the Maldives to recover from the destruction this project. All stakeholders, including local communication and information sharing with enumerators’ notes, job descriptions, caused by the December 2004, Indian Ocean government offi cials and members of the affected affected populations decreases fear, manages presentations, criteria, posters, focus group Tsunami. The Maldives is unique in the South Asia community, were involved from the design stage expectations and builds trust. Tsunami evaluations discussions and community meetings. region in that prior to the tsunami there was no of the project and were active throughout the highlighted the need for improved communication Communities need adequate time to digest the Red Cross Red Crescent presence in country. process. This strengthened relationships between with affected populations and the importance information being disseminated before giving The Maldivian Red Crescent Society is currently the stakeholders and the affected population. of providing timely and practical information. meaningful feedback or making decisions (In under formation, therefore the Federation is Each member of the team brought different The process of verifying the benefi ciary list was this context two days was appropriate). implementing tsunami recovery programmes skills and insights to the process. The initial designed to provide a listening post, to respond to Publications/PR materials produced for donors without the benefi t of working with a national programme design was fl exible and changed a information needs and to strengthen relationships are generally not appropriate for benefi ciaries society. number of times to take new information and the with the community. and can be viewed negatively, therefore expressed needs of the community into account. publications should be developed specifi cally In May 2006, with technical support from the the Government of Maldives determined that each All members of the team were either based in the Although a community committee was already for benefi ciaries, and when possible, with community consultation and inputs. South Asia Regional Offi ce, a programme was three bedroom house would be a standard size of fi eld or spent signifi cant time in the fi eld. Conducting household interviews functioning it was quickly realised that this designed to consolidate the benefi ciary list for 86 square metres. committee was not representative of all groups Ensure each community meeting has a clear the Federation’s largest single relocation and A questionnaire was designed to collect given that the Red Cross Red Crescent is relatively within the community and had limitations in its objective/purpose and give people time to construction project in the world. In cooperation The Kandholhudhoo people currently live information about each household. Designing unknown in the Maldives. The team was also ability to widely disseminate information. The prepare. with the Government of Maldives, up to six in transitional shelters scattered on fi ve an appropriate questionnaire involves expertise, trained in interview techniques, basic database team conducting interviews were encouraged to Follow local etiquette and adapt to local context. hundred houses plus amenities, as well as a neighbouring islands in Raa Atoll. This case wide consultation and testing to ensure that skills, and was involved in community mapping, actively listen to the concerns of each household, Give and take information – listen and share school, health clinic and community centre are study illustrates how a benefi ciary selection and it is culturally appropriate, that there are no focus group discussions and public presentations. to gather and answer questions and gauge with communities/benefi ciaries. currently under construction on a new island verifi cation programme was used to strengthen ambiguities, and that the results will yield the community feeling as they went from shelter to Be ready to make changes to your program home. This new island is being built for the relationships with stakeholders, build local information required by the community and During this process it is important to check shelter conducting interviews. Key messages approach based on community consultation Kandholhudhoo community who were displaced capacity and improve communication and the decision makers. In the Maldives this involved information by comparing input from at least were conveyed through announcements on and feedback, otherwise the process is not from their small and very congested island after fl ow of information with the Kandholhudhoo a cycle of testing, seeking feedback, making three different sources - a process called television and radio. Presentations, focus groups genuine and trust and support for programs will it was ravaged by the tsunami. To ease congestion community. changes and repeating the process. One of the triangulation. Whilst a custom database was and community notice boards were put in place not be formed. as supplementary sources of information. A local Explain concepts in a clear manner without offi ce was established where the community was jargon. welcome to come and ask questions and observe Establish a fi eld presence to ensure accessible the process communication channels with benefi ciaries.

There are many constraints to maintaining The outcomes of this programme have been regular information updates and dialogue with the development of community trust, improved the Kandholhudhoo people. Among others, the communication channels, strengthened cost and logistics of inter-island transport which community infrastructure via an accurate kinship makes regular contact on fi ve islands expensive structured database (useful for regular civil and time-consuming, no national society with administration and in case of future disaster), whom to work, and limited time and resources. In and a fair and transparent method of benefi ciary this context it was important to carefully examine selection and verifi cation based on primary methods of communicating with the affected information from every affected household. This population. intensive process has enabled the Red Cross Red Crescent team to accompany benefi ciaries on a Transitional Shelters where the Kandholhudhoo people currently live Community meetings, presentations, posters and focus One of fi ve Red Cross Red Crescent notice boards that path to resettlement on their new island home. groups were used to raise awareness, explain, discuss provide information to Kandholudhoo people and debate the criteria.

Accurate, accountable, transparent: the making of a benefi ciary list greatest challenges was perfecting the translation designed to manage the vast amounts of and developing the questionnaire so that it information, the key to this process was working Guiding frameworks met the expectations of the community and the with local government administrators and The Maldives reconstruction programme uses a manner and increases accountability to both the Government. community members who were part of the This programme has been guided by the Code of of benefi ciaries, donors and the public and to benefi ciary list to allocate houses. Checking that affected people and those who gave generously team. They contributed a deep knowledge of Conduct for the International Red Cross and Red increase benefi ciary and community ownership this list correctly represents those affected by the to the tsunami appeal. However, checking the To conduct the interviews with each household the community and a vast array of secondary Crescent Movement and NGOs, which states that of programming. disaster and the most vulnerable is an essential list and verifying information is a sensitive and a team of ten members from the affected information including access to documents and in humanitarian work we shall attempt to build process in disaster relief and recovery. This challenging task that requires considerable time, community were selected. Top priorities included: records in Arabic. disaster response on local capacities and that The South Asia Regional Offi ce is committed to selection and verifi cation process ensures that effort and expertise. the creation of a gender balanced team, using ways shall be found to involve benefi ciaries; that supporting national societies in implementing houses are distributed in a fair and transparent local knowledge and building local capacity. A success factor in this process was a working we hold ourselves accountable to both those we this strategy, and in incorporating lessons Once a team was selected they were trained in environment that encouraged input, discussion seek to assist and those from whom we accept learned from the tsunami operation in future the principles of the movement. This was essential and debate from all team members. resources. It also supports key strategic areas programming. One of which is building capacity in the Responding to the Asia Earthquake and to more effectively communicate and share Tsunamis – Regional strategy 2: to communicate information with affected people in future in a way that maintains and builds the trust operations.