Through training and participation in VCAs, the
commune committees have also become fully supportive
of the CBDP programme.
Members of commune disaster management committees
play a key role in facilitating programme meetings and
activities. This is particularly important in a context
where conducting village-wide activities is traditionally
viewed as the prerogative of commune or village
authorities. Through these committees, it has also been
possible to feed the contents of the village disaster
reduction plans into commune development plans.1 For
example, in Kratie, one commune disaster management
committee reported that all the identified priorities and
projects in their commune development plan were
disaster risk related. This came about naturally since the
commune is one of the most flood-prone in the entire
province and serves to illustrate the links between
disaster risk reduction and development. In addition to
working closely with the commune disaster management
committees, the National Society has been more
proactive in involving other local stakeholders, such as
village health workers, community-based organizations
and village livestock agents.
The value of the CBDP programme is that disaster risk
reduction is now viewed holistically and the
identification of risk reduction measures is more
systematic. In previous years, for example, wells were
constructed without regard to known flood water levels.
Now, development projects also take into consideration
natural hazards and possible measures to reduce risks.