PLAN INTERNATIONAL

BANGLADESH
AUGUST 01, 2016

PROJECT PROPOSAL:

Plan International Bangladesh

Emergency response to flood affected people in North-East Bangladesh 2016
Background:
Incessant rain in the main river basins (the Brahmaputra, Jamuna and Ganges-Padma) which is
the upstream catchment of India accompanied by continuous rainfall in north-east Bangladesh
has triggered flooding in low-lying and Char1, vulnerable & densely populated areas. The
situation reached alarming levels since 19 July 2016 and downstream flow from upstream has
slowly increased the water level. Several areas in Bangladesh are experiencing floods since 22
July 2016. The flooding situation in the north and north-eastern regions is deteriorating as the
water level in the Jamuna, Teesta, Dharla, Ghagot and several other rivers reached above the
danger level and a total of 16 districts flooded. As per situation report of Food Security Cluster
(FSC) and other sources including government, it is reported that around 1.5 million people
(about 300,000 families) are affected in the north-east part of Bangladesh. As per media reports,
at least 14 peoples including two children were drowned in the floodwater. A total of 9,314 and

Flood affected household in Razibpur Upazila, Kurigram district, Bangladesh. Photo Credit: Plan International Ba
12,371 house fully and partially damaged respectively. In several districts, Aman paddy fields,
vegetable fields, saplings and seed beds have been flooded. The worst affected districts are
Kurigram, Gaibandha, Bogra, Sirajgonj and Jamalpur. In the Kurigram district alone 600,000
peoples affected, thousands of affected peoples forcing to move from their houses and took
shelter in flood shelters, road/embankments, and government local level buildings.
The flood affected families in these areas are in need of foods, safe drinking water, medicine,
oral saline, emergency shelter and latrines. As per government report 7,375 people have been
taken shelter, and many people living under the open sky with limited food that makes women
and children most vulnerable. Embankment failure/inadequacy is common to all over the
affected area. Agriculture and livelihood in terms of daily income opportunity for wage labourers
is severely affected. The most affected groups is small and marginal farmers and day/wage
labourers both in agricultural and non-agricultural sectors and they are facing an acute
cash/food crisis which will continue till next harvesting season. The food stocks of the affected
population have already finished as they are low or lower middle income people, and they are
1 Strip of a sandy land rising out of a river bed is known as char

now resorting to negative coping mechanism like taking high interest loan from local traders
which are at 5-10 times higher than the normal interest rate.

The main drinking water sources which are hand pumps as well as sanitation facilities have
been inundated, a number of hand tube-wells are contaminated by flood waters; people are
collecting drinking water from distance sources with potential risk of violence against women
and girls, flood shelters have inadequate WASH facilities in particular not having menstrual
hygiene, which is a concern for public health as well as protection. Open defecation and
polluted waters have greatly increased the risk of diarrhoea and water-borne diseases. Most
flood victims have not been able to access government health facilities. Lack of proper shelter
and sanitation facilities has increased the risks to women and adolescent girls, who resort to a
range of detrimental practices to avoid exposure (including waiting until nightfall to go to the
toilet, bathing in dirty water).Women and girls mostly deal with water, fuel and household work.
So during flooding situation women get an extra pressure to manage home and as a care giver.
On the other hand, lack of income generating activities and living with uncertainty and insecurity
increase violence against women including domestic violence. A remarkable number of
educational institutions in most affected districts have been affected by the floods and most
have been closed since flooding starts. As per government report- fully and partially damage of
education and religious institutions are 26 and 588 respectively. In many areas schools have
been unable to reopen because school grounds and class rooms have been flooded and
educational materials have been damaged. Schools that havent been damaged are being used
as temporary shelters for families who have lost their homes. Damage to infrastructure, roads
and communication systems have also caused schools to close for an extended period of time,
as has the unavailability of teachers who have themselves been affected by the floods. In
relation to this the public and final exam is very close will be held in November, therefore difficult
for the students from affected areas to participate actively due to the break of study during the
flood. If the flood situation will stay for long that will increase the rate of drop out due to break of
study and support from affected parents who lost their livelihood. Moreover, during emergency
situation regular protection mechanism system of local government and community base
mechanism usually does not work and get less attention. So need a special attention to
protection for girls and young women issue to be integrated through the emergency response
process. Of particular concern is the plight of adolescent girls who become vulnerable to both
sexual harassment and child marriage. Therefore, while child-friendly spaces will meet the
needs of the younger boys and girls, older girls will require separate attention. In emergency
situations, they may be called upon to support the mother/family with tasks that may require
them to move away from the safety of the family dwelling (such as collecting water, washing
clothes, etc.) or remain in the dwelling with younger siblings while parents go out to look for
support. Quite often, after a disruption in education, adolescent girls will not return to school as
theTube-well
family focuses
on rebuilding
their
lives. It isdistrict,
at this point
that they become vulnerable to
Flood affected
in Razibpur
Upazila
of Kurigram
Bangladesh.
child Photo
marriage.
Some
form
of
household
level
tracking
of
young
girls should be undertaken for a
Credit: Plan International Bangladesh
post-flood assessment of their status.

Rapid Needs Assessment (RNA):

Based on the above scenario, Plan International Bangladesh conducted a Rapid Needs
Assessment (RNA) together with Emergency Response Team (ERT) and strategic partners of
emergency response (RDRS & ESDO) for North-East flood. The assessment period was 30 th
31st July 2016.The RNA conducted in 8 Unions under 4 Upazila (Sub-district) which are
Razibpur, Roumari, Ulipur & Chilmari of Kurigram district, badly affected by the flood. Following
are the most priority needs of the affected people identified through RNA by Plan International
Bangladesh.
Key Findings from RNA:

1. Food Security & Livelihood:

Approximately 80% of the flood affected HHs lost their food stock and other HH utensils.

Short term food crisis appears more sticky than long-term, however there will still be a
significant impact on long term food insecurity due to the overall impacts on agriculture
and livelihoods. The flood affected people already lost their paddy fields, vegetable
fields, saplings, seed beds, and livelihood options. The assessment team revealed
following information in relation to food security and livelihood-

Flood affected people in 09 Unions under Razibpur, Roumari, Ulipur & Chilmari
Upazila (sub-district) of Kurigram district reported concerns about the impact of
long term food insecurity due to agricultural lands were washed away by flood
water in a high magnitude of flood, as well as damages of livelihood options;

Flood affected people in 12 Unions in same Upazilas (most vulnerable groups,

living below poverty level) are in need of immediate food support those took shelter
in the flood shelters, road/embankments, and government local level
buildings/schools etc.;

Agricultural land is still under water especially in Char (river basin) areas and it
may continue for the next 15 days. In addition to that- Amon seed bed (seasonal
paddy) destroyed fully. In that case, affected farmer will not be able to cultivate the
Amon rice in this season.

Most of the Char dwellers are day laborer (involved in agricultural and nonagricultural occupations) and marginal farmers. Due to the devastation of recent
flood, they lost their daily earnings which will take long time to restore their normal
income;

The marginalized populations have started negative coping practices such as less
intake of food in a day, taking loan from others with high interest, purchasing food
on credit, selling of cattle & HH assets etc.

2. WASH
Drinking water is a serious concern in the affected areas. Flood affected people in 12 Unions of
assessment areas (Razibpur, Roumari, Ulipur & Chilmari Upazila of Kurigram district) reported
that

Safe water sources are fully damaged/inundated by the flood water; peoples are using
drinking water from unsafe sources such as river water, contaminated tube-well and
collecting water from distance sources by local boat & Vela which is very risky due to
inundation.

Flood affected people reported that the household and community level latrines are also
fully damaged/inundated by the flood water;

It is observed that, there is a lack of toilet facilities for the people living in the temporary
shelters leading to open defecation and polluted waters have greatly increased the risk
of diarrhea and water-borne diseases;

Adolescent girls and women are at risks as not having toilet in open places at the day
time like as men/boys. They also explained their concerns/risks to use toilet in open

places at night which is related to overall safety and security, distance of open
place/facilities in public infrastructure.
3. Shelter

The assessment team revealed through discussion with local government authority (at
the union and upazila level) that, a total of 11,453 HHs fully damaged by flood and river
erosion, where 59,448 HHs partially damaged;

Those people took shelter in the flood shelters, road/embankments, and government
local level buildings/schools found helpless to get back their homes due to damages of
houses and incapability of rebuild those houses.

4. Child Protection

Overall living condition of affected people at homes and shelters (road/embankments,

and government local level buildings, schools) is not safe for the children. A large
number of children staying in the shelters without care (food, water, hygiene, educational
& recreational facilities);

The young children are moving here and there within flood water without help of their
parents, identified as life threatening such as drowning, snake bite, water borne disease
etc.;

Girl child are living in shelter without care and found at risks of physical abuse, emotional
ill-treatment, and maintaining proper hygiene including menstruation support;

It is also reported by the affected people that, there is increasing threat of their children
to involve them in the hazardous work (child labour) to maintain the family expenses,
also trafficking.

5. Education

As reported by the local education authority, 50% educational institutions are stopped
their normal education curriculum due to 2-4 feet of flood water, and rest are now using
as flood shelter. In that case, almost 80% schools of the affected areas out of their
education activities. Following is a glimpse of the education scenario.
Name of Upazila
Ulipur
Chilmari
Rawmari
Rajibpur
Total

Total education
institution
263
121
161
76
621

Total affected

241
80
151
67
539

87%

6. Health care:

Flood affected peoples living in the Char area not getting health service as all health
service centers (community clinics and Family Welfare Centre-FWC) are under water
and people cannot move to mainland.

There are risk of snake bite and more the ten cases are recorded by this time.

The water is going down in some points in Kurigram district but flowing above danger
level that may take 7-15 days to be normal situation of the water level. In this situation
there is potential risk of spreading out of water borne diseases. Furthermore the situation
may deteriorate more if raining more in mid-August 2016 as predicted by Flood
Forecasting Centre of Bangladesh.

Justification: Emergency Response for flood affected population:

These findings indicate that the flooding has a serious impact on the food, livelihoods,
education, child protection and WASH infrastructures of the poorest in the affected areas, and it
is predicated that there is a high possibilities to continuous deterioration of the flood situation. To
address and decrease further deterioration of the situation, the Government and humanitarian
agencies have been supporting the emergency response, with over BDT 55 million allocated by
the government to address immediate food needs in the affected locations. 13,000 metric tons
of rice has been allocated for distribution to the affected communities. However in the
assessment, the affected population has shared that the amount of rice and cash received by
government is inadequate to meet their requirements and very less than was expected.
According to the RNA, the affected population in the target area is struggling to meet their daily
requirements, including three times meal, as their food and income sources have been grossly
disrupted. Most affected population are day labourers, who depend on agriculture. They are now
adopting different negative coping strategies including borrowing at a high interest rate, selling
assets, limiting food consumption and other coping strategies which are harmful to their
wellbeing. There is a serious vacuum in WASH, food, education, child protection and health
related response activities, which poses serious disease and epidemic risks; risks of dropout
from schools; child protection risks such as violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect, GBV in the
affected regions. For the children and young people, living without proper sanitation and
adequate food consumption can have severe impact upon their growth with malnutrition and life
expectancy.
Given the prevailing needs and the gaps assessed in the humanitarian agencies and
governments response interventions, Plan International Bangladesh seeks to support the most
affected communities by providing them access to WASH facilities, unconditional cash support
to meet their immediate and basic food needs and contributing to the rehabilitation of affected
lands to therefore curtail the outbreak of nutrition, hygiene, sanitation, school dropout and
migration or displacement risks. Cash support work will equitably allocate among women and
men of each house hold with a preference to women headed household. Cash transfer also
ensure that women have true access and control over money. In addition, child protection and
EiE support will be integrated in efforts to continue childs protection and education in the
affected area. Plan International Bangladesh believes that with its expertise in Food Security
and WASH, child protection and EIE related activities, this proposed response will help
significantly to improve the situation of peoples badly affected by the flooding.
Plan International Bangladesh is responding to meet immediate needs in current flooding
situation in some of the affected areas since it beginning utilising own funds and pre-positioned
stocks. As of now, needs in particular with regards to immediate food needs, water
infrastructure, good hygiene practices, child protection and EiE persist and Plan is ready to
respond to these with the proposed project. However, Plan neither has other funding nor

another donor to support this intervention, thus 100% funding will be required from beginning of
August 2016.

Duration of emergency response:

3 months (August October 2016)

Target for project interventions:

WASH: 4,000 HHs

Unconditional Cash Transfer for food security and other basic needs: 4,000 HHs
Child Protection: 720 children through 24 CFS
Education in Emergencies: 10 schools badly affected by the flood

Project location:
Five unions of Ulipur and Chilmari Upazila, Kurigram district.

Mainstreaming Social Exclusion:

The cross-cutting issues will be mainstreamed throughout the project period; an equivalent
unconditional cash grant will be delivered to households people living with disability and elderly
people. In the course of selection of beneficiaries, women headed households and other
vulnerable groups will be given priority to involve with project interventions to reduce their
suffering. Cash transfer will have a monitoring system so that women have access and control
over the case in particular decision making. The need of diverse people in cross thematic areas
will integrated with inclusion lens i.e. inclusive WASH where necessary. Other dimensions of
social exclusion based on caste and ethnicity will be addressed through the beneficiary
selection process.
A number of households including persons with disabilities are affected among the flood
affected population. To ensure that persons with disabilities are able to access mainstream
emergency response interventions (WASH and food security) and that their specific needs are
addressed, the action will put a strong focus on disability inclusion. Plan International
Bangladesh has vast experience on disability inclusion through training, providing tools and
guidelines in identifying, assessing and supporting persons with disabilities in livelihood
planning and training provision.

Coordination with other agencies:

Plan International Bangladesh is an active member of both the INGO Emergency Subcommittee and the National Alliance for Risk Reduction and Response Initiatives (NARRI)
Consortium, which are both made up of other NGOs who respond during times of emergency.
Our membership of these groups means that we and other member organizations can
coordinate and complement each others responses and avoid duplicating efforts and reaching
the same target populations. Plan International Bangladesh is also a member of cluster groups:
WASH, food security, child protection, logistic and education in emergencies; reflecting our
expertise and focus on these specific issues. On the other hand Plan has a very strong
presence and coordination at the government departments at the local and national level for
disaster preparedness and emergency response. Strong coordination will be in place with local

government and district and sub district level authorities to avoid duplication. During the
implementation period, all agencies will participate in district level NGO coordination to update
on progress and challenges faced.

Overall Budget:

Budget requirement for emergency response: USD 600,000

Operational overview of the action: Log Frame

Title of the
Action
Principal
Objective
Specific
Objective

Emergency response to flood affected people in North-East Bangladesh 2016

To enable flood affected children, women and their families to resume their normal lives in five Unions of Ulipur and Chilmari
Upazila, Kurigram district of Bangladesh
Risks and
Objectively Verifiable Indicators
Sources of Verification
Assumptions
1. To support flood
No further
affected communities
Monitoring and evaluation
significant
particularly children,
floods during
reports
women and other
project
4,000 households (HH) benefited Beneficiary lists
vulnerable groups to
implementatio
Cash distribution register
(food and other unmet needs)
meet their basic
n
from unconditional cash transfers Community meeting resolution
humanitarian needs

NGO Bureau
of BDT 4,000/HH (one month
Photos
through unconditional
permissions
food ration as per FSC standard) End project report
cash transfer ensuring
and approvals
Government data (including
control over cash so
No local or
completion certificate)
that they can meet
political
their basic needs.
leaders
2. To support flood
4,000 HHs have access to safe
negative
affected communities
drinking water, sanitation facilities List of participants
influences
Attendance register
particularly children,
to reduce risk of disease
Hygiene promotion session
women and other
outbreaks, and hygiene
vulnerable groups have
information available to improve
report
access to safe water,
hygiene practices (three months
Session modules/ materials
basic sanitation, and
interventions as per WASH
Post monitoring report
hygiene promotion
cluster standard)
3. Flood affected boys
# of Child Friendly Space (CFS)
List of participants
and girls, and young
established
Attendance register
people are protected
# of girls and boys receive
Session modules/ materials
from violence in safe
appropriate community and
Post monitoring report
and supportive
family-based psychosocial
environments and are
support.
able to overcome

psychosocial impacts
of disaster

4. To ensure the minimum

standard of education
facilities for boys and
girls in flood affected
primary schools

# of girls and boys, parents, and

community members have the
knowledge, skills, and access to
services to prevent and respond
to violence, exploitation, abuse,
neglect and Gender Based
Violence (GBV).
# of Community Base Child
Protection Group play the role of
watch dog and support to
protection of women and Girls.
Access and learning
environments ensured in 10 flood
affected schools
# of boys and girls have access
to quality learning environment
and classroom facilities

School is functioning with

minimum standards
School attendance rate

Activities
Objective-1:
Activities
with short
description

Objective-2:
Activities
with short
description

1.1 MoU with pre-qualified emergency response partner and capacity building of partner staff
1.2 Organizing consultation meeting with local government officials to brief program details and seek support for
implementation
1.3 Organizing consultation meeting with targeted community people to aware them about the objectives and to involve
them beneficiaries selection process
1.4 Beneficiaries selection in collaboration with local government and community people
1.5 Transfer cash to the selected beneficiaries involving local disaster management committee
1.6 Ensure ongoing and post distribution of cash monitoring to ensure their control over cash
2.1 Assess the knowledge and practice of intended beneficiaries on WASH through FGD
2.2 Repair, new installation of inclusive tube wells (with a special of need of pregnant women and children, making proper
safety measures for adolescent girls, testing of water quality
2.3 Repair and new installation of inclusive household latrines
2.4 Distribute hygiene kits to affected families
2.5 Reach affected population with hygiene education through community mobilization
2.6 Ensure ongoing and post distribution monitoring
2.7 Ensure community womens leadership in emergency work in meaningful participation in committee, cash distribution,

Objective-3:
Activities
with short
description

Objective-4:
Activities
with short
description

purchase and monitoring

3.1 Functioning of 24 Child Friendly Spaces (CFS) for boys and girls
3.2 CFS volunteers trained on a curriculum of activities to build childrens resilience in coping with stress and emotions,
and their skills in reducing their vulnerability to future disasters (Male/Female)
3.3 Children (boy & girl) benefiting from regular psychosocial, recreational, social and educational activities.
3.4 CFS volunteers and parents/caregivers trained on Psychological Protection & Care services and First Aid
3.5 Self-care and parenting sessions with parents and caregivers of children
3.6 Strengthened community-based child protection mechanisms and referral mechanisms.
3.7 Functioning referral mechanisms and access to multi-sectoral services at union level
4.1 Creating learning environment in terms of access and classroom facilities in most affected 10 schools
4.2 Additional coaching for recovery of missing classes due to flooding through existing and hiring of additional locally
appropriate teacher
4.3 Additional locally appropriate teachers trained on the school curriculum
4.4 Distribution of education materials
4.5 Re-establishing WASH facilities in schools