Supported by From the People of Japan PROGRESS REPORT The Programme for Emergency Assistant0 to Poor and Vulnerable Community in Ethnic Minority Areas and Yangon The Programme for Emergency Assistant to Poor and Vulnerable Community in Ethnic Minority Areas and Yangon PROGRESS REPORT 1 CONTENTS COMPONENT ONE: LOW-COST HOUSING 5 1. Introduction 5 2. Objective 6 3. Programme components 6 4. Progress report coverage 7 5. Background 8 6. Project components 8 6.1 Community Mobilization 10 6.2 Beneficiary selection 10 6.2.1 Beneficiary selection criteria 10 6.2.2 Selected beneficiaries 10 6.2.3 Formation of AUC and IAUC 11 6.2.4 Allotment of apartment building and apartment units 11 6.2.5 Community Implementation Agreements (CIAs) 11 6.2.6 Additional support 12 7. Construction 12 7.1 Buildings under construction 12 7.2 Progress up to date 12 7.3 Challenges 15 7.4 Conclusion and Recommendation 15 COMPONENT 2: COMMUNITY WORKS 16 8. Building on experience 16 2 9. Target geographic areas and beneficiaries 16 10. Agreed actions 18 10.1 Community mobilization 18 10.2 Community engagement 18 10.3 Gender mainstreaming 19 11. Activities Undertaken during the Program 19 11.1 Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion 20 11.2 Community infrastructure 20 11.3 Capacity building and training 23 12. Monitoring and Evaluation 23 13. Challenges 24 14. Lessons Learnt 24 15. Recommendations for future interventions 24 16. Expenditure 5 3 ABBREVIATIONS AUC Apartment Users’ Committee CIA Community Implementation Agreements DHUD Department of Housing and Urban Development DSA Daily Subsistence Allowance DRD Department of Rural Development IDP Internally Displaced People KIA Kachin Independence Army VDC Village Development Committee WASH Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Education WFW Women for the World YCDC Yangon City Development Committee 4 The Programme for Emergency Assistant to Poor and Vulnerable Community in Ethnic Minority Areas and Yangon PROGRESS REPORT 1. Introduction The Programme for Emergency Assistance to Poor and Vulnerable Community in Ethnic Minority Areas and Yangon is aimed at supporting vulnerable people in communities that have been experiencing a series of socio-economic setbacks due to conflicts, repeated natural disasters and extreme weather conditions in the Mansi and Momauk Townships of Kachin State, Pekon Township in Shan State, as well as Dagon Seikkan Township in Yangon Region. Armed conflict has severely affected ethnic communities in Myanmar in recent years. In Kachin State, many people were displaced from their homes due to armed conflict, and are accommodated in Internally Displaced People (IDP) camps or other host communities. In addition, Myanmar ranks first on UN-OCHA’s list of most at-risk Asia-Pacific countries in 2012, with an increasing trend in medium to large scale events, particularly those associated with hydro-meteorological hazards such as floods, cyclone, flashfloods as well as earthquakes. Meanwhile, Myanmar lacks capacity for adequate planned responses to such emergencies and disasters, and hence response is often slow and inadequate. This project addressed the unmet emergency needs of the most affected poor people in conflict-affected communities, as well as people who are at higher level of disaster risk exposure. The project consisted of two components, the first involving low-cost housing construction targeted towards people living in squatter conditions in a flood-prone area of Yangon; and the second focusing on community infrastructure and WASH, targeted towards the most poor and vulnerable communities in conflict affected and disaster-prone areas of Kachin and Shan States. The second component was completed in July 2016. 2. Objective This project was framed within the overall objective of helping Myanmar’s poor and vulnerable communities affected by conflicts and natural disasters to address their emergency needs to restore their normal life, and to sustainably improve quality of life through the restoration of shelter, water supply, sanitation and community infrastructure, as well as housing construction. 5 3. Programme components The project consisted of two main components, as described below. Component one: emergency support through housing construction to poor and vulnerable people living in squatter conditions in the impoverished Dagon Seikkan Township of Yangon. Low-cost individual housing construction methods are utilized, incorporating disaster resilient features to cope with disasters such as cyclones and flooding. A community-based, participatory and home-owner driven process is to be applied for housing construction and maintenance of homes after completion. Component two: emergency support to poor and vulnerable communities living in conflict and disaster-prone villages of Mansi and Momauk Township (Kachin State) and Pekkon Township (Shan State) to restore their normal lives and build resilience to future disasters through the improvement of community infrastructure and water and sanitation facilities, applying disaster risk reduction principles. Likewise, a community-driven approach was applied to this component to empower communities and build social cohesion. 4. Progress report coverage The present progress report is divided in two, the first part describes the ongoing component 1, and the second part describes the completed component 2 that ended on 31 July 2016. 6 COMPONENT LOW-COST HOUSING 1 5. Background Yangon has approximately 300,000 squatters, many from Ayerawady Region who arrived after Cyclone Nargis hit in 2008, and others from various rural areas that migrated to the former capital in search of job opportunities. After Hlainghthaya, Dagon Myo Thit (Seikkan), located in the eastern part of Yangon and originally planned as an industrial zone, ranks second in squatter population with over 50,000 squatters. Living conditions in these squatter settlements suffer from ov ercrowding, inadequate accommodation, limited access to clean water and sanitation, lack of proper waste disposal systems and deteriorating environment. UN-Habitat received funding from the Government of Japan to assist the Government of Myanmar addressing the problem of squatters through a pilot project to provide housing and basic facilities to most vulnerable families. In this context, a low cost housing project to serve 240 families in Dagon Seikkan with 12 numbers of 5 story buildings was planned for construction with minimum land use. Land was made available by the Myanmar government. The project is being implemented under the “People’s Process”, a participatory approach adopted by UN-Habitat, in which beneficiaries are involved in decision making processes and are considered major stakeholders in the implementation of After Hlainghthaya, Dagon Myo Thit the project. After finalization of beneficiary selection and designing of the (Seikkan), located in the eastern part of buildings, Apartment Users’ Committees (AUCs) were formed for each building, Yangon and originally planned as an and for common works such as compounds and other works, one Integrated Apartment Users’ Community (IAUC) was formed. industrial zone, ranks second in squatter population with over 50,000 squatters Although land for 12 buildings was allocated by the government, some part of land is still occupied by squatter families. As such, all 12 buildings could not be started at once and it was decided that construction would be initiated for only 6 out of the 7 Over 50,000 squatters 12 buildings where land was available. The beneficiaries also agreed on starting the construction of the 6 initial buildings, which would provide benefit to 120 families. The construction of second phase (remaining buildings) will take place after the government provides a new construction site. After a process of social mobilization and rigorous beneficiary selection, a Community Implementation Agreement (CIA) was signed between UN-Habitat and the respective Users’ Committees on 1 April, 2016 for the initial 6 buildings. The funds were planned to be disbursed in 4 installments to the AUCs/IAUC based on the progress of work, and contractors to be paid accordingly. Since, the scale of the project is large and capacity of the community to manage the construction limited, there was need to hire a contractor. UN-Habitat facilitated the process of hiring through an open bidding process. The bid evaluation was done by a committee represented by Department of Housing and Urban Development (DHUD), Yangon City Development Committee (YCDC), UN-Habitat and a design consultant, S&A Co Ltd. From the final evaluation, “Civil Tech Co. Ltd.” was selected to undertake the construction works. For the design and technical supervision, a design consultant was hired. The consultant carried out a detailed survey, soil investigation, construction design and cost estimating. The consultant is also supporting construction supervision and quality control. A contract signing ceremony took place on 1 May, 2016 in Dagon Seikkan between the IAUC on behalf of all beneficiaries, and the contractor “Civil Tech Co. Ltd.” with participation of Embassy of Japan, DHUD and YCDC. The design and supervision consultant “S&A Co. Ltd.”, as the contract manager representing the IAUC on technical matters concerning construction activities was also present, and signed as witness on the agreement. The contractor mobilized its human resources and equipment to the construction site and compound works immediately, and commenced the construction of the buildings. The project is expected to be completed within