Strategies

A route towards poverty reduction

DW strategy for storm damage prevention and vulnerability reduction

DW works through the demonstrative effect of its projects to promote the wider adoption of a strategy that channels available resources into prevention rather than reconstruction, through vulnerabilty reduction to poverty reduction.
In Viet Nam DW’s disaster reduction focus is on developing the social and institutional processes that assist families to reduce their vulnerability in a sustainable manner through the preventive strengthening of domestic and small community buildings.
DW establishes families groups in villages and hamlets as the central actors in the implementation of a family based vulnerability reduction process.
DW promotes the idea of preventive strengthening through a continued programme of animation for awareness raising in the communes, making people aware of what needs to be done and how to do it.
The Commune Damage Prevention Committees (established by DW with the Commune People’s Committees) are helped to provide the necessary support and animation to encourage and help village family groups to undertake vulnerability reduction activities. Each commune establishes an action plan for prevention that includes work on houses and public infrastructure, but addresses other community concerns about their vulnerability to disaster and how to address these.
Families recognise that a safe house is an essential step to escaping from poverty, and they are ready to invest and borrow to get there. DW helps families by demonstrating that affordable credit can be provided to poor families to help them strengthen their houses and that these credits are repaid. In the past DW has supported the establishment of small credit funds for strengthening, and DW continues to look for financial mechanisms that can be supported locally, including exploring a greater role for insurance once a house has been strengthened .
DW develops practical capacity to prevent damage through training workshops in each commune. For some, it is the first opportunity to receive training of any sort.
DW also helps the development of new “safer building” components that can me made locally and sold to make houses safer.

DW works to establish the mechanisms and activities that can be continued in the future at affordable cost to the communes and the beneficiary families and without external support. These combined actions encourage families to invest their resources in prevention.