Ethiopian Red Cross Society launches disaster risk management project

Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS) in collaboration with the Netherlands Red Cross launched Partners for Resilience phase II (PFR II) disaster risk management project which will be implemented for the coming four years in Ebinat and Simada districts, in Amhara region. The Project is an extension of PFR phase I project. 

Kasa Shibesh a mother of two sons and one daughter is a resident in wergaja kebele in Ebinat district. She said that as a widow daily laborer I had no option but to live in extreme poverty and raise three of my children alone. When the Red Cross came to us extreme poor people among the community were selected and given five goats for each of us. As a result, I am now food-secure and have four cows. In addition, currently both my sons and my daughter are able to go to school. The elder one is now a high school student Kasa explained. 

During the PFR I project primarily awareness raising trainings on issues of environmental protection, natural conservation, community health, and agriculture were given to the community followed by environmental protection and water-shade development interventions which resulted in rehabilitation of the highly degraded area. The PFR II which will be implemented in the coming four years is aimed at supporting cascading of the national disaster risk management policy to regions, incorporating integrated risk management into investment plans as well as scaling up best practices of disaster risk management. 

Opening the launching workshop of PFR II project at Bahir Dar, Binalf Andualem Deputy Head of Amhara Regional State said that undertaking various disaster risk reduction projects, ERCS is contributing a lot for implementation of disaster risk management policy. He said that It is believed that the disaster risk management project which will be implemented in the coming four years in our region will help introduce and sensitize disaster risk management policy and strategies thereby strengthen community resilience to possible disasters and reduce vulnerability of the people. 

Dr. Ahmed Reja President of ERCS on his part noted that undertaking community based disaster risk management to create resilient community to adapt to effects of climate change has been becoming a critical issue; therefore, we will focus on implementing projects that create resilient community such as PFR I and II. 

W/ro Mulu Solomon Board member at ERCS also said that the income generation schemes in PFR I in Ebinat which enabled the extreme poor members of the community become food-secure and helped them develop entrepreneurial mindset is one to be mentioned; on the other hand, in order to curve preventable disaster from happening, the PFR II project embraces working in collaboration with all relevant stakeholders to implement integrated risk management which I think shows that the project will result in better achievements in the future. 

The PFR II integrated risk management project which is financially backed by the Netherlands Red Cross is a one million Euro project, it is learned.