Climate information
SUFAL II Baseline Report
The project “Scaling up Flood Forecast Based- Action and Learning in Bangladesh (SUFAL) – Phase II”, is aimed to strengthen resilience of communities to the impacts of frequent monsoon floods. SUFAL-II is being implemented in the districts of Kurigram and Gaibandha, Jamalpur and Bogura. In each district, two types of interventions (one intervention in one upazila) are being implemented. They are -
- Full scale implementation – Capacity development and support to communities to implement sector-specific early actions with extended lead times prior to monsoon floods.
- Partial scale implementation – Technical and capacity building support to the Disaster Management Committees (DMCs) and government officials, with the aim to demonstrate how the FbA mechanism can be operationalized in a district.
The selected areas in each district have ‘medium’ to ‘very high’ risk profiles as per INFORM Index on Risk Management. The risk profiles have been calculated based on the modelling of exposure to hazard, vulnerability and coping mechanisms in place.
Methodology
The baseline study uses a mixed method analysis. Thus, both quantitative and qualitative tools were administered to collect relevant data to assess the baseline status. The quantitative tool was administered to a sample of 1500 households, which were distributed across 60 wards. For the qualitative aspect of the study, a total of 28 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted with DMCs and local government officials and 30 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with the community members.
Key Findings
Background of respondents
Under the household survey, a total of 1494 interviews were conducted, of which 1394 interviews were conducted in three treatment groups and 100 interviews were conducted in the control group. The majority of respondents were female (74%), Muslim (95.7%), and of Bangali (99.8%) ethnicity. Approximately 79% of households reported a monthly income that exceeded 5000 Taka.
Floods in 2022
Of all the respondents, 78.4% experienced floods in 2022, with the highest occurrence in the month of Ashar - Srabon. Treatment group 1 (64.7%) and the control group (70%) had a lower flood incidence compared to Treatment groups 2 (89.1%) and Treatment group 3 (86.8%).
Early warning
Of all respondents in the three treatment groups who faced floods in 2022, only 36.3% received early warnings. It was observed that a higher percentage of respondents from the treatment group 1 (69.4%) received early warnings as compared to treatment group 3 (35.4%) and treatment group 2 (11.8%). Overall, out of all the respondents who reported receiving early warning, 85.8% reported that they received it 1 to 5 days prior to the floods. Television (40.1%) and friends/relatives (29.7%) were the primary sources of early warning information. Among other sources, only 8.5% of respondents reported receiving early warning via Audio calls, 19.2% reported from community volunteers (miking or household visit) and 1.2% via digital boards. Among those who received early warnings, 60.3% had information about flood intensity/water level, and 52.9% had information about the lead time. However, only 36.2% received guidance on early actions, 24.7% received livestock advisory, and 13.0% received agromet advisory. This indicates a lack of agromet advisory, flood preparedness advisory, and health awareness across all treatment groups. Overall, 67.8% of respondents found the early warnings timely and understandable, and 98.8% expressed trust in the early warnings. Read More...
- Full scale implementation – Capacity development and support to communities to implement sector-specific early actions with extended lead times prior to monsoon floods.
- Partial scale implementation – Technical and capacity building support to the Disaster Management Committees (DMCs) and government officials, with the aim to demonstrate how the FbA mechanism can be operationalized in a district.
The selected areas in each district have ‘medium’ to ‘very high’ risk profiles as per INFORM Index on Risk Management. The risk profiles have been calculated based on the modelling of exposure to hazard, vulnerability and coping mechanisms in place.
Methodology
The baseline study uses a mixed method analysis. Thus, both quantitative and qualitative tools were administered to collect relevant data to assess the baseline status. The quantitative tool was administered to a sample of 1500 households, which were distributed across 60 wards. For the qualitative aspect of the study, a total of 28 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) were conducted with DMCs and local government officials and 30 Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were conducted with the community members.
Key Findings
Background of respondents
Under the household survey, a total of 1494 interviews were conducted, of which 1394 interviews were conducted in three treatment groups and 100 interviews were conducted in the control group. The majority of respondents were female (74%), Muslim (95.7%), and of Bangali (99.8%) ethnicity. Approximately 79% of households reported a monthly income that exceeded 5000 Taka.
Floods in 2022
Of all the respondents, 78.4% experienced floods in 2022, with the highest occurrence in the month of Ashar - Srabon. Treatment group 1 (64.7%) and the control group (70%) had a lower flood incidence compared to Treatment groups 2 (89.1%) and Treatment group 3 (86.8%).
Early warning
Of all respondents in the three treatment groups who faced floods in 2022, only 36.3% received early warnings. It was observed that a higher percentage of respondents from the treatment group 1 (69.4%) received early warnings as compared to treatment group 3 (35.4%) and treatment group 2 (11.8%). Overall, out of all the respondents who reported receiving early warning, 85.8% reported that they received it 1 to 5 days prior to the floods. Television (40.1%) and friends/relatives (29.7%) were the primary sources of early warning information. Among other sources, only 8.5% of respondents reported receiving early warning via Audio calls, 19.2% reported from community volunteers (miking or household visit) and 1.2% via digital boards. Among those who received early warnings, 60.3% had information about flood intensity/water level, and 52.9% had information about the lead time. However, only 36.2% received guidance on early actions, 24.7% received livestock advisory, and 13.0% received agromet advisory. This indicates a lack of agromet advisory, flood preparedness advisory, and health awareness across all treatment groups. Overall, 67.8% of respondents found the early warnings timely and understandable, and 98.8% expressed trust in the early warnings. Read More...
Enhanced livelihoods and increased resilience of poor ethnic minority women and men rural areas to the effects of climate change and variability – Information for Adaptation in Vietnam (InfoAct)
The overall objective of the InfoAct Project is to enhance livelihoods and increase the resilience of poor ethnic minority women and men in rural areas to the effects of climate change and variability. This is to be accomplished through a specific objective (outcome) to ensure ethnic minority households in rural areas have improved access to and use of climate information, and resources to help increase their climate resilience. The InfoAct Project is focusing mainly on two target groups: (1) 5,000 ethnic minority households, especially women, in Dien Bien and Lai Chau provinces and (2) government authorities and service providers, namely Department of Hydro-Meteorology, Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) and the provincial VWU and CCD. As InfoAct was going to phase out after three years’ implementation and close all its activities by November 2021, an independent final evaluation was conducted to understand the project’s impacts/outcomes and key lessons learned. Read More...