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Usually, best melodies go hand by hand with good lyrics. We expect that the lyrics in the stories you are about to enjoy, will drive

you to the melody that best suits your imagination. The encouraging stories of some Women and Men who decide to volunteer to strengthen community resilience for climate change and disaster risk reduction are just a few examples of the things you/we can do, of the things UNV does. Next time, it may be a story of your organization we publish here. This issue will focus on UN Volun-teers who work for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) and the World Food Programme (WFP) in Community Resili-ence in Viet Nam, Timor-Leste, Thailand, Samoa, Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar; Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduc-tion in Fiji, Lao PDR and China; and in Cambodia, on Social protection in time of disasters… in the end, it is all about willingness!

East Asia and Pacific Portfolio Team

VOLUNTEERING FOR

COMMUNITY

RESILIENCE FOR

ENVIRONMENT AND

DISASTER RISK

REDUCTION

IN EAST ASIA

AND PACIFIC

2

UN Volunteers in East Asia & PacificUN Volunteers in East Asia & PacificUN Volunteers in East Asia & Pacific The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN

organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development, and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.

In most cultures volunteerism is deeply embedded in long-established, ancient traditions of sharing and support within the communities. In this context, UN Volunteers take part in various forms of volunteerism and play a role in development and peace together with co-workers, host agencies and local communities.

UNV works to protect the environment and mitigate the negative effects of climate change. Volunteerism plays and important role in catalyzing and promoting environmental action and disaster risk reduction. Partnering with governments, development actors and civil society, UNV manages a talented cadre of committed volunteers working around the globe. These volunteers are in a unique position to mobilize communities from the national to grassroots levels.

The East Asia and Pacific Portfolio covers 27 countries across the region: Cambodia, China, Cook Islands, Fiji, Indonesia, Kiribati, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nauru, Niue, DPR of Korea, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam. 18 out of these 27 countries are active (i.e. with UN Volunteers). The Portfolio oversees its countries and programmes through Field Units, staffed by a UNV Programme Officer supported by a Programme Assistant, or, in some active countries, a UNV Focal Point.

UNV’s Strategic Framework for 2014-2017 is the first of its kind, focusing on harnessing the power of volunteers and volunteerism to achieve internationally agreed goals for peace and development.

The Framework guides UNV’s work over the coming four years and reflects a focus on working more systematically with UN partners to jointly deliver more impact in our work for peace and development.

This Strategic Framework focuses UNV programmatic efforts in five key areas:

With an active roster of more than 25,000 vetted, well-qualified potential volunteers, over 300,000 potential online volunteers and a growing number of UN Youth Volunteers, UNV offers a much-needed resource for UN entities, governments and civil society to draw upon, and provides the opportunity to :

1) securing access to basic social services;

2) community resilience for environment and disaster risk reduction;

3) peace building;

4) youth; and

5) national capacity development through volunteer schemes

1. Enable the UN system to increase the voice and broaden par-ticipation of people within its work;

2. Advance the Post-2015 development agenda and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by mobilizing the commitment, solidarity and civic engagement that is unique to volun-teerism;

3. Strengthen social cohesion by promoting individual and collective action that helps resolve development problems and builds trust, which contributes to local, national and global efforts to eradicate poverty and sustain peace and development

UN Volunteers at work (L-R)

Akapusi Tuifagalele at the Samoa HFA

Workshop,

Zheng Xiao presenting at an Emergency

Kit Innovation Workshop at the Beijing

Normal University.

3

UNV Field Units in East Asia UNV Field Units in East Asia UNV Field Units in East Asia and and and Pacific Pacific Pacific

UNV Fiji MCO

Programme Officer: Ulla Helena Gronlund

Programme Assistant: Alesi Ali

UN University Volunteer- Youth Volunteering Officer : Mika Asai

UNV Lao PDR

Programme Officer: Carla del Castillo

Programme Assistant: Khamkhoune Xayalath

UN University Volunteer– Youth and Volunteer Coordinator : Yasunori Hatanaka

UNV Mongolia

Programme Officer: Miyeon Park

UNV Timor Leste

Programme Officer: Katerina Manova

Programme Assistant: Delfina Ferreira

Youth Networks Coordinator: Cherry” – Hyea Yoon Jung

UN University Volunteer-Communications Associate: Takumi Hashimoto

UNV Thailand

Programme Assistant:

Warunsiri Manaviboon

UNV Samoa MCO

Programme Officer: Jasmine Subaṣat

UN University Volunteer– Communications Assistant: Yuka Mikita

UNV Philippines

Programme Officer: Soojin Chen

Programme Assistant: Kenneth Maria Pinili

UN University Volunteer– Communications and Youth Networking : Yoshiyuki Fukuda

UNV Viet Nam

Programme Officer: Fiammetta Mancini

Programme Assistant: Tran Thi Kim Chung

UN Youth Volunteer - Communications, and ONE UN Communications: Jakub Zak

UNV Indonesia

Programme Officer: Lioba van Dam

Programme Assistant: Grace Panjaitan

UNV Cambodia

Programme Officer: Isabelle Devylder

Programme Assistant: Markara Nuon

UN Youth Volunteer - Communications, Outreach and Youth: Maeve Anne Halpin

UN University Volunteer– Youth Volunteering Specialist: Naomi Umeda

Malaysia:

Democratic People's Republic of Korea :

Nasantuya Chuluun

Sarah Ventress

UNV Focal points in Asia and PacificUNV Focal points in Asia and PacificUNV Focal points in Asia and Pacific

UNV China

Programme Officer: Eirene Chen

Programme Assistant: Xiaodan Zhang

UNV Volunteerism Engagement Associate : He (Amy) Wang

FU Intern: Xin Liu

Portfolio Manager: Rafael Martinez

Portfolio Associate: Sovannaroth Diep

Portfolio TeamPortfolio TeamPortfolio Team

UNV Myanmar

Programme Officer: Juan Miguel Sanchez Marin

Programme Assistant: Khine Shwe Wah

UN Youth Volunteer -Communications, Outreach and Youth: Agnethe Ellingsen

James George Chacko

Lum Sau Fong

4

When Marisa Foraci, a UN Volunteer, first received the call from UNDP Cambodia to work as an Economist in charge of the Social Protection Portfolio, she could not imagine that her work was going to be so focused on climate change or on disaster risk reduction. Prior to UNDP, Marisa worked at the World Food Programme (WFP) where she concentrated on natural or political crises. She said “I thought that the years to come were going to be focused just on formal social assistance and security ‘old fashioned measures” .

However this could not be further from the truth. After the first couple of months, as the most recent Cambodia National Human Development Report

NHDR 2011 indicated, Marisa realized how her work was interconnected with Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction. This approach is called adaptive social protection, and had been proposed as a recommendation in the NHDR.

Cambodia, Marisa explains, is a tropical and disaster prone area where floods are, together with drought and storms, one of the most disruptive ‘natural hazards’. Due to the effects of climate change, these hazards are impacting the livelihoods of more than the expected 80% of Cambodians, who are often among the poorest people who live in rural areas and depend on agriculture. While climate change makes these weather events more intense and frequent, people still are quite unprepared to cope with this change and struggle to adapt to it.

But are natural hazards by any means predictable? Is the misery that follows affected people avoidable? And yet what does Climate Change have to do with these

events?

Marisa comments that the scientific literature claims there is enough evidence to affirm that due to the effect of climate change, natural disasters are becoming more recurrent and more violent. Economists and livelihood specialists add that flood effects are greater in tropical areas and more disruptive in developing and least developed countries where the populations are still agrarian and where people’s livelihoods are strongly linked to weather conditions and trends. From the meteorologists’ perspective, climate trends are to a certain extent predictable, therefore the misery that they bring could be to the same extent mitigated. “Despite the good news” she says,

“it is equally alarming hearing them say that unless we make big changes in our life style, these hazards are not avoidable or escapable and their intensity is not always

reducible, at least in the near future”.

With this situation in mind Marisa patiently started working with the DRR and Climate Change colleagues to see where the synergies were and determine how to take advantage of them to their fullest possible extent. They soon realized that they were speaking the same language but probably targeting different groups. Their common goal was to reduce vulnerability to climate change, while targeting communities; in the case of social protection, the support needed to be on an individual basis.

Marisa and her colleagues found it was a perfect way of complementing each other’s work and eventually this good collaboration was translated into one research project on adaptive social protection and in programme, now still in the process of being designed, on sustainable and resilient livelihoods. This process was made possible by the extraordinary openness of the senior management to this new idea and supported by discussions and tailored trainings on disaster risk reduction and early recovery.

It is thanks to this intense year of collaboration and training that Marisa had the chance to be involved in a Post Flood Early Recovery Survey to measure the effects that floods had on the country and on the lives of the poor in 2013.

In the assessment, Marisa was in charge of contributing to design the methodology, as UNDP is the lead agency in early recovery, and of measuring the impact floods had on households and market prices. Marisa’s first impression while interviewing several poor households, together with other experts, was that the floods have had dreadful negative effects on the poorest population of the country.

The total damage and loss have been measured in over 356 million US$ and the recovery needs were 306 million US$.

“One important concern coming from the affected population and from the government” Marisa reflected that “there was in fact that no single element could have helped people getting better but a range of these elements were necessary to make people more resilient to floods”. She feels that if people would have known they were cultivating crops or doing animal farming in areas at risk they could have taken measures to prevent losing all their crops or livestock. If these measures could have been encouraged by Social Protection schemes giving to the most in need the right thing, at the right time and in the right place, integrated by community measures, much of the misery could have been avoidable.

While Marisa and her colleagues eventually managed to bring measures closer together and to integrate them in principle, they also realized a lot needed to be done in practice. The precious lesson she learnt from this experience is that climate change adaptation is directly linked to disaster risk reduction as both disciplines should be linked to social policies to tackle the vulnerability of agrarian societies. Marisa feels that pursuing the three objectives separately would only limit the gains achievable with an integrated approach and just partially make people resilient to natural disasters. Academia has already recognized that and has proposed and integrated an approach that combines different measures together known as adaptive social protection.

“As development practitioners and UN Volunteers we have the obligation to help these three worlds to reconcile and

reflect on the reasons that prevent them from being on the same page”.

Cambodia: Social protection in time of disasters

Photo credits: UNDP and HRF

Marisa Foraci

DRR and Climate change colleagues working on the

Post Flood Early Recovery Survey.

www.facebook.com/UNVCambodia?ref=br_tf @www.un.org.kh/unv/

Source: compilation of information gathered in the PFERNA

Report 2014 prepared by the Royal Government of Cambodia

with the technical assistance of UNDP.

Cambodia Floods

5

@http://china.unv.org/

After interning with the Disaster Management Team (DMT) at UNDP China for 10 months, Mr. Zheng Xiao recently became one of three national UN Volunteers who currently supports UNDP China’s efforts to strengthen community-based disaster risk reduction systems and practices in mainland China.

As a UNV Disaster Management Project Assistant, Zheng focuses specifically on the Sharing and Learning on Community Based Disaster Management in Asia (CBDM Asia) project sponsored by the Government of the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID). The project is designed to promote South-South cooperation on community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) between China, Bangladesh and Nepal, as well as with other developing countries in Asia. “Being a UN Volunteer allows me to enhance my personal impact, thus making a larger contribution towards improving disaster management in China,” he says.

Asia has been one of the regions hardest hit by natural disasters. In 2012 alone, natural disasters affected 290 million people in China, with 1,530 lives lost and a direct economic loss of 67.22 billion USD. In the past decades, great efforts have been made to strengthen community resilience and disaster preparedness in various countries in Asia, and rich experience has been accumulated.

Zheng feels that despite the increasing interest and need among countries to share and learn from each other, the lack of sustainable exchange mechanisms and coordination among disaster-prone Asian countries remains a significant challenge. Disaster preparedness as a globally recognized approach to strengthen community resilience needs to be further institutionalized and mainstreamed into the policies and practices of developing countries.

“Theory and policy research are of great help, but relying on merely these is far from enough. What’s equally important, if not more, is community-based practice and hands-on experience. Generally speaking, Chinese people’s disaster preparedness needs to be strengthened” states Zheng.

In the face of disasters, Chinese people are accustomed to relying on aid from the government, and many survivors lack awareness of their role and that of communities in disaster management. For this reason, the CBDM Asia project focuses on community-based awareness raising and disaster prevention, instead of just post-disaster reconstruction.

The project is currently being carried out in three demonstration communities: Mangshi in Yunnan Province, Ji’an in Jiangxi Province and Taizhou in Zhejiang Province, which lie respectively in Western, Central and Eastern China. At the end of May , Zheng Xiao and his colleagues organized and attended a three-day workshop on community-based disaster management held in Ji’an. The workshop consisted of experience sharing among Chinese, Nepalese and Bangladeshi government officials, disaster management practitioners at national and local levels, and disaster management experts. An emergency drill against flash floods was also organized to enhance local capacity for disaster management.

The drill consisted of emergent evacuation, relocation and relief exercises. During the drill, special attention was paid to vulnerable groups, such as the elderly, children and women, which have been assigned designated volunteers in case of a disaster. “What impressed me a lot” commented Zheng, “is how the local communities have given detailed consideration to both people and livestock”... Zheng clarified “For those in rural areas, livestock is their bread and butter, so the evacuation of animals is essential. The animals will also be taken good care of”.

In Mangshi, if disaster occurs, people will be evacuated and relocated to the emergency shelters. “What’s special in Mangshi is their production and distribution of shelter maps and risk mapping.” Zheng explained. To facilitate people living there, shelter maps have been handed out to community residents through which they can easily find the public bathrooms, psychosocial therapists and temporary clinics. With the help of both disaster experts and local residents, risk mapping was conducted in communities with 260 people directly involved and 15,000 beneficiaries. The map contains information about hazards, risks and resources that community members can get before, during and after disasters. The community members were comprehensively involved in the process, and local knowledge was utilized fully. Zheng commented that “risk mapping has not only provided an opportunity for the local communities to distill their own local knowledge and expertise, but also raised public awareness.”

As a postgraduate student specializing in English Literature, Zheng Xiao started his journey on the Disaster Management Team from scratch. “At first I barely knew anything about disaster prevention and relief. I was well aware that working in DMT would not be easy.”

Although he has only recently come on board as a UN Volunteer, Zheng Xiao has already begun the preparation work for the Mid-Term Research Peer Review Meeting for the CBDM in Asia project. Despite the challenges, Zheng is ready to meet them head-on:

“We’ll have a lot to do during the second half of this year, but it is work that brings rewards.”

China: South-South cooperation on community-based disaster risk reduction Zheng Xiao

DFID Emergency Drill Workshop in Jiangxi China

Natural Disasters in the Asia-Pacific Region (from January to June ‘14)

OCHA

Photo credit: Zheng Xiao

6

In 2012, Akapusi Tuifagalele joined the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR) Pacific Office as a national UN Volunteer Regional Disaster Risk Reduction Officer. His assignment entails awareness raising, campaigning, advocacy, and coordination of disaster risk reduction processes across 15 Pacific Island Countries. Previously, Akapusi was as a former Head of Fiji’s National Disaster Management Office, and his contribution to UNISDR has been quite unique. Akapusi comments that

“Disaster risk reduction is a critical development challenge in the Pacific, where small island states and territories face high vulnerabilities to natural

hazards and climate change”.

Pacific leaders, he says, are eager to present the Pacific as a leading world region in the development of a strategy that integrates disaster risk and climate change considerations into a single strategy of action. Akapusi’s role is to advocate and coordinate with countries to help them consider the integration of risk reduction measures into their economic development policies, so that disaster costs on damages and losses can be reduced.

When Akapusi joined UNISDR as a national UN Volunteer in 2012, he was overwhelmed to witness the progress that countries in the Pacific, along with other partners, such as the Secretariat for Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, had made on the Strategy for Disaster Risk and Climate Resilience Development, taking the region to another level.

Akapusi’s background is in disaster risk management and goes back to the early 1990s, where he has seen progress and changes already manifested to a very positive stance for Pacific Island Countries. In 2000, the UNISDR was created by the General Assembly to replace the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction instrument and operated as its Secretariat on disaster risk reduction. In 2005, the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) was endorsed as the global disaster risk reduction strategy for 2005-2015.

One of Akapusi’s first tasks with UNISDR was to coordinate and to assist reporting on the 2011- 2013 HFA review implemented in five countries; Fiji, Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, and Vanuatu. The review highlighted the unique pace of progress made by countries adopting disaster risk reduction in their policies for socio-economic development. Along with a UNISDR consultant, he facilitated the review through visits and consultations with these countries. From a disaster reduction lens, Akapusi noticed different levels of progress made by countries. Although this was premised on their different capacities, he urged them to continue the good work as their positive progress meant saving lives and sustainable development for their countries.

At the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management Climate Change Roundtable in July 2013 held at Nadi, and more recently in Suva in June in the Pacific Platform for Disaster Risk Management, countries re-affirmed commitment on the Strategy for Disaster Risk and Climate Resilience Development to be implemented by 2015. UNISDR’s strong view is that both disaster risk management and climate change complement each other and are both cross-cutting issues amongst sectors. There is tangible benefit to integrating these two processes into a single strategy.

Pacific island countries are surrounded by the vast Pacific Ocean; some like Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tonga, and Marshall Islands are atolls

and are already severely affected by sea level rise and climate change, and are in danger of becoming submerged under water

50 years from now.

Islands’ coastal beaches have been significantly eroded and salt water has actually intruded into arable lands and coastal villages. Some coastal communities have been recommended by their governments to relocate. This reality applies to the perils of the Pacific communities showing their extreme vulnerabilities and requires something to be done about it.

Akapusi feels that more work needs to be done at the national and community level to enable the platform to implement the Strategy. A notable program that he coordinates, which shows positive commitment to disaster risk reduction practice, is the International Day for Disaster Reduction (IDDR) where there is inclusive recognition of vulnerable communities, for example people with disabilities. UNISDR advocates that more than a billion people across the globe suffer some form of disability, and the Pacific is no exception. Therefore, the 2013 program theme was “Living with Disability and Disasters”. Some civil society organizations, namely Fiji Disabled Peoples Federation, Pacific Disability Forum, Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International and Akapusi’s office, served as key players in organizing the event in October 2013 in Suva.

The programme promoted and raised the profile of disability inclusion through media campaigns and public awareness. This was a fulfilling experience for Akapusi as he was involved directly by leading, talking, mixing, and becoming a part of the disabled fraternity. It was not just an emotional experience for Akapusi, he summarizes their conviction with a quote from the closing oratory speech of a class eight student from Nausori, Fiji: “kindness is a message that a deaf can hear.” This experience and program has changed Akapusi’s approach to disability and now he is a strong advocate of their campaign. Akapusi reflected :

“My work as a UN Volunteer has been very fulfilling experience that will linger in my mind for a long time. My office in UNISDR can definitely gain from this programme, and I look forward to

seeing more UN volunteers joining the disaster risk reduction and climate change fraternities to help out with Pacific communities”.

Akapusi Tuifagalele The Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world, experiencing frequent

and intense disasters. Small, vulnerable island states are isolated by vast expanses of ocean.

• Ten Pacific Island Countries (PICs) are in the top 31 list of countries most vulnerable to natural disasters. Vanuatu, Niue and Tonga experience the largest average annual losses in terms of GDP with 6.6, 5.8 and 4.4 per cent, respectively.

• In the Pacific region, communities are often hit the hardest by disasters.

From 2012 to 2013, the Pacific region has experienced several disasters, two severe floods in Fiji, Tropical Cyclone Evan that affected both Samoa and Fiji and the magnitude 8.0 earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Solomon Islands.

Source: SPC, SOPAC Report 2013, PDaLO Regional Disaster Impact Report

Fiji, Multi-Country Office: Disaster risk reduction and climate change through the Pacific lens

Akapusi Tuifagalele (center) at the Samoa HFA Workshop

www.facebook.com/pages/UNV-Pacific/821371431228607?fref=ts @http://www.fj.undp.org/content/fiji/en/home/operations/UNV.html Photo credit:Akapusi Tuifagalele

7

Minyoung Kim, international UN Youth Volunteer in Green Economy and Climate Change in UNDP Indonesia, is currently working for ‘Preparatory Arrangements for the Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund (PREP-ICCTF),’ which the ICCTF is currently operating under. This initiative is facilitated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

UNDP’s role in guiding Indonesia towards a

green economy

Under the UNDP’s assurance in fund management, the PREP-ICCTF has channeled a great deal of money into six ministry-level projects (since 2010) and other six Small Grant Program (SGP) projects (since 2014) based on three priority windows, namely the Land-based Mit-igation, Energy, and Adaptation and Res-ilience.

“To work in the PREP-ICCTF project turned out to be a great opportunity for me. The project itself with more than 4.5-year-history and invaluable lessons learnt serves as the best working place, collaborating with various stakeholders, as well as a learning opportunity, allowing me to understand climate change trust fund and the insight in its practices,” Minyoung says. ‘

In June, she and her colleagues arranged a three-day training of “Results-Based Management and Monitoring & Evaluation” for capacity development of the stakeholders including the Secretariat and implementing partners of the funded projects. Minyoung used the skills she learnt during the training in Geger, a sub-district of Bangkalan, Madura in East Java, when monitoring the status of Red Calliandra plantation and actual wood pellet production in the factory.

Geger was a bare land which suffered severely from frequent floods and droughts, and has now transformed into a green pioneer land. According to Minyoung, “this is attributed to the 30 years of reforestation, and community’s sustainable forest management.

Now the community benefits from floods prevention, low level of temperature during the year, and water availability to name a few.” With the ICCTF funding, since 2012 the community has undertook a new green initiative, ‘Enhancing Sustainable Management of Community-Based Wood Pellets Production as Biomass Energy to Support Low Carbon Economy and Climate Change Mitigation in Bangkalan, Madura, East Java’ implemented by the Ministry of Forestry. The project itself aims to boost up the community’s resilience more effectively by building up a Biomass Energy Estate (BEE) and community-based wood pellet factory as the means of improving local socio-economic condition.

Minyoung recalls that “it was impressive to find that with the previous success in realizing environment resilience and reducing natural disasters within the community, they are now ready to enjoy alternative financial income from the wood pellet production fully owned and managed by them.”

The spot check gave her a chance to see how the climate change project is implemented, how the fund contributes to this, and what the real impacts from this are.

Going forward

With the target of end of 2014, the ICCTF is transitioning into an independent national trust fund. Based on a stepping stone the UNDP has been arduously building for over five years, it is not unreasonable to foresee the ICCTF as the national climate change trust fund, channeling the seed money into climate mitigation and adaptation activities all around the Indonesia.

“Thinking that I am indeed a part of a notable moment in Indonesian climate change politics setting up the World

Second National Climate Change Trust Fund after the Amazon Fund in Brazil, is really encouraging and motivating me to pursue further my contribution in this novel project.”

Minyoung is planning to utilize her training allowance from the UNV Youth Programme to do courses in fund-raising strategy in early September. The courses would enable her to contribute more to fund-raising initiatives for the ICCTF beyond 2014.

Indonesia: Green Economy and Climate Change Minyoung Kim

Establishment of ICCTF and PREP-ICCTF

Responding to climate change emerging as a major threat to the national development agenda of Indonesia, at the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh in 2009, the President of Indonesia, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, committed to achieve a target of 26% reduction in carbon emissions from a Business As Usual (BAU) scenario by 2020, increasing up to 41% contingent on the provision of international financial support.

In line with this, two main action plans; the National Action Plan for GHG Emission Reduction (RAN/RAD-GRK) and the National Action Plan for Climate Change Adaptation (RAN-API) have been formulated with specific targets and activities. In order to put those plans into practice, the Government of Indonesia also established the Indonesia Climate Change Trust Fund (ICCTF) with the aim of creating nationally managed trust fund in September 2009.

A field visit to one of the funded projects in Madura Island June 2014

www.facebook.com/pages/UNV-Indonesia/138020349587681?fref=ts @ http://www.unv.org/en/what-we-do/countries/indonesia.html Photo credit: Minyoung Kim

Source: The International Disaster Database

8

Ms Rebecca Zorn, is a UN Volunteer from the United States of America, and has been working as a Disaster Risk Management Specialist for four and a half months at UNDP, Lao PDR.

She currently works as a Technical Advisor to the Integrated Climate and Disaster Risk Management (IDCRM) Project at the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment, Government of Lao PDR. The IDCRM project focuses on building the capacity of the government at the central, provincial, and district levels to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters.

Like many other countries around the world, Lao PDR recognizes the challenges that arise when economic growth has direct consequences on the environment. Cash crop farmers who are dependent on slash and burn agriculture to support their livelihood often disregard the dam-aging impacts of their practices. Slash and burn creates conditions that are more favourable for flooding, droughts and landslides.

The key to disaster risk management is to teach these individuals practical solutions so that they can continue growing cash crops, but in

a more sustainable way.

Changing farming habits and developing sustainable environmental practices will take time, so Rebecca’s project is also building capacity in emergency preparedness and response. Currently, she is working with provincial and district level officials, training them to assist villages that would like to put together community disaster management plans.

The teams work on building an information management and early warning system from the top-down. From the bottom-up, they are assisting villages in preparedness planning, ensuring they have proper shelters, evacuation routes, stockpiled materials, and are well-informed about what to do when there is a large scale hazard.

Officials are trained to think about disaster management in a more comprehensive way. “Instead of just responding to a disaster, we are training government officials to think about the entire scope of disaster management – the problem, cause and solution for the problem,” Rebecca says. During training, provincial and district level officials conduct joint assessments with the project leaders in villages. Together they anticipate a hazard, survey an actual event, respond appropriately in the village during the emergency, and discuss the disaster with villagers.

Rebecca talking to students in a school about disaster relief.

After analysing the hazards and root causes, the government officials put together recommendations for prevention, mitigation, and preparedness. The team then reviews the recommendations and speaks to the village chief to work to incorporate these recommendations into community disaster management plans. Rebecca says she always considers it a major success when government officials come up with specific solutions for disaster risk reduction, such as “planting a specific type of tree on a hillside that will stabilize a slope, therefore preventing a landslide, which also generates an income, boosting the livelihood of a village.”

In addition to conducting assessments, Rebecca also enjoys visiting schools to spread preparedness information. “We’ve visited several schools that have been hit by disasters in the past (floods, windstorms, landslides), and when we talk to the students we ask them why they think their village floods,” she says.

“Some students will answer ‘flooding happens when there is a lot of

rain,’ but others will answer ‘flooding happens because we’ve cut

down all the trees on the hillside. I always find it interesting to hear

different perspectives. It’s important to include children in disaster

risk reduction and value them as a capacity within the community.”

When Rebecca’s assignment ends, she hopes that many villages will

have disaster management plans in place and will be able to

immediately see the positive impacts of disaster planning, and serve

as models for other villages within the country.

“It truly takes a village. The whole community must be involved in

disaster risk management. From the youngest to the oldest of

villagers, they must understand the cause and effect, and be willing

to support safer practices.”

Rebecca Zorn Lao PDR: The Integrated Climate and Disaster Risk Management

https://www.facebook.com/UNVLaoPDR?fref=ts @http://www.unv.org/what-we-do/countries/lao-pdr.html Photo credit: Rebecca Zorn

Source: The International Disaster Database

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Priority Assets Creation

Rakhine State in Myanmar is deemed as one of the regions at greatest risk from natural disasters in the country. The region faces severe threats occasioned by regular cyclones and floods which have destroyed many coastal towns. Also, sectarian violence has compounded suffering there.

World Food Programme (WFP) is the main humanitarian organization providing food assistance in the State. In addition to the relief assistance, it is also implementing a wide range of asset creation activities in northern Rakhine to help the most vulnerable populations build common assets based on the communities’ greatest needs. Ranging from dam renovation, dyke and road construction to locally replicable erosion control activities, WFP provides many ways to strengthen community resilience in the face of environmental shocks.

Darko Petrovic (Serbia) is an international UN Volunteer Programme Officer responsible for one of these integrated asset creation projects that WFP is implementing in Ba Gone Nar, a village tract located in the Buthidaung Township and composed of both Rakhine and Muslim communities in the far north of the State. Following a proposal submitted by the community to WFP last year, “the primary problem to address is that the paddy fields used by these villages are situated in a natural flood plain that gets submerged in water throughout the rainy season, reducing dramatically the plain’s arable area and, hence, undermining the communities’ livelihoods” Darko explains.

Therefore, the project envisaged a broadening of the existing canal structure and its strengthening by erosion control measures to reduce the incidence of flooding. This would enable a greater cultivation and better yields from the flood affected monsoon paddy.

In a commendable exercise of ownership, the project discussions led by the Administrator of the Done Chaung Village (Rakhine) were jointly held with village elders and community members from neighboring Muslim communities.

“If all goes well, we envisage increased or improved cultivation on around 200 acres of monsoon paddy and people from both Rakhine and Muslim communities are supposed to benefit”, underlines Darko.

Projects that connect people

An equally important component of the project is the renovation, extension and elevation of a 3.1 kilometers of the village access road to facilitate access to markets, health, and education facilities by most remote villages, serve as a protective dyke against flooding, as well as enhance socio-economic interaction between Muslim and Rakhine communities situated alongside the road. In a context such as Rakhine’s, where the ethnic tensions are of great concern, initiatives like this are aimed to promote collaboration and interaction among communities, giving a complete new meaning to community resilience.

As Darko points out, “what amazed me the most was that in a highly politicized and somewhat charged context of Rakhine State, you actually still can find communities where the social fabric seems to be intact and where people prefer cooperation to confrontation, especially on development issues. The leadership of the Rakhine village administrator, his constructive interaction with both communities, and his insistence to make the project a success is commendable and inspires hope. We need to support it.”

When asked about the sustainability and future prospects for such projects Darko concludes: “These projects will only succeed if they are fully owned by both communities and the benefits are clearly defined and agreed upon to everyone’s satisfaction, we need to be very sensitive to everyone’s views. But definitely, as they are aimed to spur local development, capacity and resilience to shocks, they have a bright future in northern Rakhine.

We will have a lot of work to do”.

Myanmar: Building resilience together Darko Petrovic

• Myanmar ranked first as the ‘most at risk’ country in Asia and the Pacific in 2012 according to the UN Risk Model (OCHA, 2012)

• From 2002-2013, 8 major natural disasters killed more than 141,000 people and affected 3.2 million

• 2.6 million people live in areas vulnerable to natural disasters ranging from cyclones in the south to earthquakes in the north

• Myanmar forest cover has been reduced by 18% between 1990 and 2005, losing 466,000 hectares of forest a year (UN REDD 2013)

• In Myanmar, 6 million people would be affected by a sea-level rise of between one and five meters (ADB, 2012).

@www.mm.undp.org/content/myanmar/en/home/operations/united-nations-volunteers-in-myanmar.html

Darko Petrovic (kneeling in the front row) in Ba Gone Nar-a village in the Buthidaung

Township

Photo credit: Darko Petrovic

10

Jonathan Penilla, a national UN Volunteer, had no knowledge of UN Volunteers until Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines last year, rendering many people helpless. “At that time” Jonathan says “I felt that I really need to help the victims. But the question was how?”

Last January, Jonathan’s wife’s boss called her from an INGO in Manila and asked her to work in Roxas City, Capiz. It occurred to Jonathan “what if I also go to Visayas and work as well?” because if he worked there he could also help others.

A month later, Jonathan decided to go to Roxas City to apply. UNDP at that time was looking for a field monitor and Jonathan was sub-sequently informed that he would be part of UNV. Jonathan had many questions about his placement: What part will I play if I am a field monitor? How could I help?

According to Jonathan, It did not sink in until he started. “ I felt like I was just working in an ordinary office and monitoring a production of coco lumber. But when I went into the field and met the people working in coco lumber activities, I felt their needs”.

Jonathan feels that they need to move on from the trauma caused by Yolanda and to stand up again. He met the beneficiaries who received the free sawing of coco lumber, who wanted to give up because they said that there are a lot of organizations who do assessments but they do not help. That’s the reason why, according to Jonathan, that when organizations come to them asking to assess them, some will answer “no more assessments we will stand on our own”.

The typhoon had uprooted large tracts of crops and plantations particularly coconut trees in coastal areas. (e.g. Guiuan, Western Samar, Leyte, northern and eastern Panay and northern Palawan). These materials could be used to help meet the extensive need for construction materials for shelter reconstruction.

It was also important for such fallen trees to be cleared so that farmers or land owners could plant crops like rice, vegetables and corn, and also start to re-plant new coconut trees.

In order to meet these needs, UNDP in Roxas City, where Jonathan is assigned has collaborated with the Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), operating and managing the coco lumber production project.

This project begins in the farmers’ fields with collection and transportation support, straight through to the processing and distribution of the lumber back into the open market. The project delivers shelter programmes right into the hands of the farmers who lost their livelihoods from the typhoon.

Most of the beneficiaries of UNDP and PCA's partnership in Coco Lumber Activity in the Municipality of Pilar, particularly in Barangay San Fernando, said that many organizations assessed their place but no one came to help them fix their houses. Jonathan reflected “heir resiliency becomes their strength to stand up from the wrath of Haiyan”.

With the help of the UNDP project they rebuilt the houses using chainsaws provided by UNDP to cut fallen trees for lumber. “Even if the UNDP was not able to give them help in financial aspect, they said that this is more than money” Jonathan says.

Jonathan’s involvement as a national UN Volunteer, Field Monitor in the coco lumber project of UNDP goes beyond from merely monitoring the implementation of the project.

“Our part,” Jonathan concludes “is also to understand them by putting ourselves in their shoes to make us understand who they are. We monitor the production, the people, and all aspects related to the project. And most of all, we monitor the happiness of each of the beneficiaries. Our eagerness to help plus the resiliency of the people is the best part of our mission”

“As UNDP UN Volunteer field monitors we go beyond our jobs.

Being a UN Volunteer is not only about giving up material things but being with people at times of troubles. We listen, we smile,

we build up and we care.

Now I can say…..It is within me…I am a UN Volunteer!”

Jonathan Penilla (far right) with beneficiaries of UNDP and PCA's

partnership in Coco Lumber Activity in the Municipality of Pilar

Philippines: Strength and Resilience in Roxas City Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) swept through the central

Philippines on 8 November 2013, killing over 6,000 people and displacing some 4 million people, flattening homes and damaging schools, health centers and other infrastructure. Some experts estimate the storm was among the strongest ever to make landfall. On 9 November, the Government accepted the UN offer of international assistance. The Government also welcomed the deployment, in the initial phase of disaster response, of a large number of countries’ military assets. The humanitarian community’s one-year Strategic Response Plan calling for $788 million has been released and is closely aligned to the Government’s Yolanda Recovery and Rehabilitation Plan launched on 18 December 2013.

As a part of UNDP support to Typhoon Yolanda Recovery and resilience in the Visayas region (TRRV), UNV has mobilized 20 UN Volunteers; one international UN Volunteer for Livelihoods and Small Medium Enterprise specialist and 19 Field monitors.

All of the national UN Volunteers have started their assignments as field monitors for “Cash for Work”, a UNDP programme. However with the end of the emergency phase, their area of work has evolved toward technical work with the technical teams on DRR, Livelihood, and Waste Management.

Source : Typhoon Haiyan Consolidated Cluster Briefs, 14 May 2014, OCHA

Jonathan Penilla

https://www.facebook.com/UNVPhilippines?fref=ts @http://www.unv.org/en/what-we-do/countries-and-territories/philippines.html Photo credit: Jonathan Penilla

11

“Climate Change is not just an abstract idea to the people in the Pacific, it is a daily challenge”

says Youjin Jung, an international UN Volunteer serving as Climate Change and Environment Programme Officer in UNDP Multi-Country Office (MCO) based in Samoa. “When I received an availability check email from UN Volunteers, I had to enlarge the map to find Samoa, and was surprised that there were so many small islands states in the ocean”.

The Pacific is one of the most disaster-prone areas in the world and it is also highly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change and sea-level rise, thus heavily affecting people’s livelihoods. UNDP MCO Samoa works on many projects relating to climate change and environment and Youjin specifically works on projects related to climate change adap-tation and biodiversity conservation in Cook Islands and Niue.

“The work on climate change and environment conjures a vague image of talks among high level politicians or a symposium among scientists like we sometimes watch on TV. In fact, many projects related to climate change are complex and use technical jargon, so I used to think it was an idea detached from communities until I started to see the crucial link between climate change and people living in communities. The reality is no matter how high the level of discussion is and how complex the projects are, the ultimate goal of all these activities must be to enhance community resilience,” she added.

Youjin’s work involves project visits for monitoring and evaluation, reviewing project reports and proposals, and provision of technical assistance to the government for project implementation. She liaises with stakeholders such as community members, NGOs, governments, technical advisors and partner agencies in order to manage projects.

Cyclone Evan – December 2012

Cost of damages to the economy:

US$210.6 million (this is equivalent to about 30% of the total value of goods and services produced in the country in 2011 and the estimated value of destroyed physical assets represents 116 % of the normal value of construction activities at the country level)

Loss of Income

More than 66 % of households in Samoa were expected to experience the halving of income in the following year

Overall 49 % decline in income in 2013 before returning to roughly 92 % of 2011 levels in 2014

Source: Government of Samoa (2012), Shelters - Post Disaster Needs Assessment - folioing the tropical cyclone Evan of December 2012

Samoa, Multi-Country Office: Promoting community resilience in the Pacific One of the projects she currently deals with applies the principles of Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit-Sharing (ABS) in Cook Islands.

Youjin had a chance to attend the ABS workshop last year in Fiji, and it helped her facilitate the project development. “Cook Islanders have been using natural plant-based remedies to treat people for centuries. These have a high potential market value. In order to sell such products on a wider market, Research and Development (R&D) must be conducted to produce high value-added commodities such as medicine and beauty products”, she explains.

In this project there would be several potential stakeholders: community members who have traditional knowledge and plants in their lands, a research center to extract the genetic resources and prove its effect, and a company to promote this on the market. There should be some legal framework, administrative systems and rules and regulations to watch over the whole process to ensure benefit sharing to all those who are involved, especially communities. Youjin says,

“It is also very important that the project guarantees the sustainable use of natural resources.”

This project adapted ABS in Cook Islands also facilitates national capacity building, public-private partnership, biodiversity conservation, environmental sustainability, public awareness and community resilience.

Some challenges of development projects are common to all Pacific Island Countries (PICs), namely, high cost of travel and communication. This makes it difficult to monitor projects regularly, especially with limited funding. Another challenge she found is conflict of interests when community resilience can be achieved only when all the people from community to government, from national to international levels take it seriously and work together. “That everyone has different interests and has a say makes the project implementation very slow and volunteerism can generate the needed social cohesion,” she adds.

The Third International Conference on Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) was held in September 2014 in Samoa, drew the world’s attention to its unique difficulties and vulnerabilities in the Pacific towards sustainable development. I hope that the conference helped promote community resilience”, Youjin concludes.

UNV Multi-Country office: From left: Sho Matsumura, Youjin Jung, Yusuke Nii, Mohammad Alamgir, Eyob Ghezai Tewelde and Jasmine Subasat

Youjin Jung

www.facebook.com/pages/UNV-Pacific/821371431228607?fref=ts @http://www.ws.undp.org/content/samoa/en/home/operations/UNV/ Photo credit: UNV Samoa

Source: The International Disaster Database

12

James Ferguson, a Canadian lawyer, is an international United Nations Volunteer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Based in Mae Sot, Thailand, James regularly travels to the three refugee camps in Tak Province, where he conducts protection counseling and human rights training with refugees, usually with refugees who support unaccompanied and separated children (UASC), or children who are at risk of violence, abuse, neglect, or exploitation.

In July and August of this year, James traveled to all nine of the refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border, for the launch of a survey of UASC that UNHCR supports with monitoring and material assistance. "When I go to the camps I am always energized by the spirit of the community," James says, "the way the community constantly finds new ways to celebrate their resilience in the face of adversity." While James is the child protection focal point for the UNHCR Field Office in Mae Sot, he is also involved in many other areas of protection, including disaster prevention and response.

“Would you be surprised to know that most of the fires in refugee camps start in the kitchen?” asked James. Explaining, he says the building materials used to construct the homes in the “temporary shelter areas” (usually referred to as “refugee camps”) at the Thailand-Myanmar border are highly flammable, making fire a constant danger. When cooking implements are not well ventilated, or when heating elements are exposed, a small fire can easily start without notice and spread through a densely populated refugee camp in minutes.

There have been several devastating fires that have affected the area according to James. Fires have broken out in Mae La camp (Tak province) , Ban Mai Nai Soi camp, Umpium camp and Ban Mae Surin, destroying shelters and injuring refugees. In response to these disasters, James mentions that the communities pulled together to support all of those affected. Community leaders have organized Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), Community-based Organizations (CBOs), and government agencies to coordinate effective responses. Governments of other countries provided additional funding for food, shelter, non-food items, and the construction of fire-fighting stations.

“Unfortunately” James reflects , “the first measure of defense has been plastic bags filled with sand and water that hang from bamboo poles outside of houses.

These were made compulsory in all camps in 2013 to help prevent fires from spreading. This, however, is not enough”.

“An established principle of international protection is that humanitarian actors must avoid exposing people to further harm as a

result of our actions”.

In essence, James further clarifies, those involved in humanitarian response must take steps to avoid or minimize any adverse effects of their intervention. So UNHCR, in addition to being part of the overall coordination, and contributing to the construction and training on use of fire-fighting stations, has committed to promoting adherence to standards for shelter construction and camp management found in the Sphere Project’s Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Disaster Response (1997) (the “Sphere Standards”). The Sphere Standards, explains James, provides minimum standards on site planning and housing.

Although James says, “In reality, not all refugee camps in the world have been ‘designed’ or constructed with the Sphere Standards in mind, and not all locations identified for their construction are conducive to minimum site planning standards. Nevertheless, the Sphere Standards provide very important and useful guidelines for fire prevention in already existing refugee camps, such as standards on ventilation and fire-safety for cooking like the use of weather-protected openings to ensure adequate ventilation and to minimize the risk of respiratory problems.

“As humanitarian actors, we must provide a platform for the voices of refugees and – when it does not risk their safety – to give a face to the

millions of people of concern.

“It is equally important to regularly evaluate our work, to see where we have worked well, and where we could improve. We know the dangers fire poses from our past experiences, but we also have the knowledge to mitigate or prevent devastation. Protection begins most effectively from within the community, and as humanitarian actors, it is up to us to ensure that the community is strong and prepared to face the dangers that lie ahead.”

"As a volunteer at the Thai-Myanmar border for almost four years now," James reflects,

"I have come to appreciate the daunting tasks we volunteers

must undertake for the continued survival of the most

vulnerable populations in society. I feel so fortunate to

have had this opportunity.

“As humanitarian emergencies continue to break out across the globe, and with the state of global finances as they are, I clearly see the need for a programme like ours to bring competent vol-unteers to the places they are needed most."

Thailand: Humanitarian response in refugee camps

The poor, particularly in urban and urbanizing cities of Asia, are highly vulnerable to climate change because of their limited access to profitable livelihood opportunities and limited access to areas that are fit for safe and healthy habitation. Consequently the poor sector will likely be exposed to more risks from floods and other climate related hazards in areas they are forced to stay in. This also includes the rural poor who live in the lower Mekong countries are dependent on fisheries as their major livelihood, along with those living in coastal areas who are likely to suffer heavy losses without appropriate protection

The decline in annual flow of the Red River by 13 to 19% and that of Mekong River by 16 to 24% by the end of the 21st century will contribute in increasing water stress Source: IPCC 4th Assessment Report

James Ferguson

A fire in Mae La Temporary Shelter

Area in March 2014

https://www.facebook.com/UNVThailand?fref=ts @http://www.th.undp.org/content/thailand/en/home/operations/united-nations-volunteers.html

Photo credit: James Ferguson& UNHCR

Source: The International Disaster Database

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Timor-Leste: Strengthening Community Resilience to Climate Induced Natural

Disasters along the Dili—Ainaro Road Development Corridor

Timor-Leste is an island state vulnerable to natural disasters. As for the geological hazards, it can be affected by earthquakes and tsunamis, although their occurrence is rare in the country. However, the major challenges are created by climate induced localized disasters such as floods, droughts, landslides and destructive winds. The risk of disasters is aggravated among other things by the mountainous topography, intense deforestation rate and the slash-and-burn practice commonly used among the farmers.

Unfortunately, the occurrence of natural disasters will increase with climate change as the intensity of rainfall increases and prolonged dry seasons will worsen the droughts.

In addition to property losses, disasters hamper communities’ livelihoods. Currently 64 % of Timor-Leste’s labor force is working in agriculture which is often subsistence agriculture with low output. Therefore even low level disasters have wide implications to rural populations’ lives and food security. In 2007, a locust outbreak and drought conditions reduced the crop production by 30 %. One fifth of the population was left vulnerable to food shortages.

Furthermore, disasters impede economic development. In 2013, the Ministry of Social Solidarity of Timor-Leste spent close to US$4 million providing assistance to affected families. Fragile road networks in poor condition were especially vulnerable to landslides, resulting in communities being further isolated and their access to services and markets decreased. According to the Ministry of Public Works, 154 road/bridge locations were affected by climate induced disasters requiring US$ 75 million in reconstruction budgets in 2013.

The project that UN Volunteer, Tommi Kajander, has been

involved in, aims to strengthen communities’ resilience to

climate induced disasters along the road corridor between

Dili, the capital of Timor-Leste, and district towns of Ainaro

and Same in the south.

This to ensure the communities’ resilience is improved, and

national roads are protected from landslides and flooding.

Tommi facilitated the design of the project by arranging

meetings and workshops with stakeholders, arranged mis-

sions for the project development staff and reviewed project

related documentations.

The project is an inter-ministerial programme led by Ministry

of Social Solidarity (MSS). According to H.E. Jacinto Rigoberto

Gomes de Deus, Vice Minister of MSS, the prevention

measures for the natural disasters are a very important

addition to the disaster response activities. He further

stressed the need to ensure that communities themselves

benefit from the project activities. The project budget is US$

18.9 million and is supported by UNDP, World Bank and

USAID.

Tommi Kajander thinks that his UNV assignment has been

rewarding. The complex project set-up including several

governmental counterparts, NGOs, and donors has given a

comprehensive picture of the operating environment of Timor

-Leste.

Tommi Kajander

Tommi Kajander (left) – Environment special-

ist UNDP, Fidelio Da Costa – Gender specialist,

Justino Da Costa – Programme officer UNDP

(Sustainable development and resilience unit)

@http://www.unv.org/what-we-do/countries/timor-leste.html Photo credit: Tommi Kajander

Source: The International Disaster Database

14

“Even though I was more familiar with design engineering than with development projects before I came to Viet Nam, this once in a life time volunteer experience is a perfect opportunity for me to use my

technical knowledge to help reduce the vulnerability of the local communities in the mountain areas of Viet Nam.” Marcello Arosio.

For the past five months, the 26 year old Italian volunteer has been working as a UN Volunteer Specialist in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Viet Nam.

The project is working to increase the resilience of critical local infrastructure including irrigation systems, rural roads and river embankments, in the northern mountains areas of Viet Nam. By creating a supportive policy framework the aim is to make the area and its inhabitants less vulnerable to the adverse impact of climate change.

Marcello’s role is to support the National Project Coordinator by developing technical briefs, as well as assessing the potential risks that might delay or threaten the project.

Much of the existing infrastructure in Viet Nam will struggle to cope with the expected changes in climate over the coming years. According to an index of the vulnerability to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years, Viet Nam is ranked 23rd of 193 countries, and is one of 30 “extreme risk” countries. As new infrastructure may have a projected lifespan of between 50-100 years it is vital to ensure that it is able to withstand projected changes in climate.

Otherwise, the country risks investing in expensive infrastructure that will deteriorate well before the intended lifespan. It will also make disaster relief efforts more costly.

“I help to review the methodologies that are submitted by project consultants to assess climate change vulnerability, and to help to develop the policy that needs to be in place to promote climate change proof infrastructure” explains Marcello.

Vulnerable communities

In Viet Nam, it is more important than ever that the government, both at national and provincial level, invests in infrastructure that will be an engine to drive economic prosperity. “Throughout the project I provide technical support to the national consultants, to the international experts and to all the other project partners. Given the variety of tasks, I have my office always in my bag.

I share my working time between UNDP and a project office at the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). Every day I ride my electric bike through the crazy Hanoian traffic, with my laptop in the bicycle basket and my face covered by an anti-smog mask. This is the real experience of Viet Nam,” added Marcello.

“Despite the fact I am 8,000 km from home, I recognize that there are many similarities between Italy and Viet Nam in the

way we work.

In order to solve problems we need to have good coordination and collaboration between different components and project partners. I really enjoy the weekly meetings with the Project Director. Even though I am just on a UNV Youth assignment, my primary focus is to achieve the project’s objectives in the best and fastest possible way.”

This project is one of the first rural infrastructure projects in the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF) portfolio, and one of the first projects in northern mountainous Vietnam to undertake climate adaptation measures. “I am very excited to be involved in a new project that is crucial for the future of these vulnerable communities,” says Marcello.

The project, implemented by UNDP, in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), is supporting the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in Vietnam. The project capital comes from two sources, an ODA grant from GEF and a counterpart fund of the central government.

To conclude, Marcello uses a quote from Sophocles to explain what volunteerism means for him:

Viet Nam: Making mountainous communities less vulnerable In terms of vulnerability to the impacts of climate change over the next 30 years, Viet

Nam is ranked 23rd of 193 countries and is one of 30 “extreme risk” countries. The Climate Change Vulnerability Index evaluates 42 social, economic and environmental factors to assess national vulnerabilities across three core areas, including

(1) exposure to climate-related natural disasters and sea-level rise;

(2) human sensitivity, in terms of population patterns, development, natural resources, agricultural dependency and conflicts; and

(3) future vulnerability considering the adaptive capacity of a country’s government and infrastructure to address climate change effects. Countries most at risk are characterized by high levels of poverty, dense populations, exposure to climate-related events; and their reliance on flood and drought prone agricultural land.

Source: UN-Viet Nam Factsheet on climate change effects 2012

“The most beautiful work of a human being is to be

helpful to the next.”

Marcello Arosio

Article & Photos: Jakub Zak, One UN Communications Officer

Project site of the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF)

Portfolio in Northern Mountain Provinces of Viet Nam.

www.facebook.com/VolunteersInVietnam?fref=ts @http://un.org.vn/unv/

15

Cambodia Niet-Smajet អ្នកស្មគ័្រចិត្ត Myanmar

Say Ta Na Win Dan Viet Nam Tình Nguyện Viên Thailand อาสาสมคัร Asasamak Aur-fue-pue-prae

Mettra Karuna Karnhai Jit-asa Federated States of Micronesia

U N V Ea s t - A s i a a n d Pa c i fi c

China zhi yuan zhe 志愿者 East Timor Voluntário Fiji Ira dau veivuke Indonesia GOTONG ROYONG meuseuraya Palau

Solomon Islands Wantok Volontia Samoa Au’au’naga e ofo fua Vanuatu bislama Olgeta blong helpem olnawan Papua New Guinea Tuvalu Fesoasoani ki tino Malaysia sukarelawan Philippines Bayanihan Tokelau tino faigaluega ofo fua; tana fehoahoaniga Nauru Ateng puok Kiribati Te tia ibuobuoki

Lao People's Democratic Republic ອາສາສະຫມັກ

A sa sa mak Marshall Islands Kumit

Mongolia Sain duryn uil ajillagaa Sain durynhan

16

Professional Categories UNV provides more than 100 professions to the UN system

Hydrologist MEDICAL DOCTOR LAN Officer COORDINATOR Statistics Advisor URBAN DEVELOPMENT OFFICER

Environment Advisor AGRICULTURE OFFICER Community Development Officer ICT TECHNICIAN

LABORATORY OFFICER COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR MIDWIFE

Disaster Management Officer TRAINING OFFICER FOOD SCIENTIST ELIGIBILITY OFFICER HIV/AIDS Officer WEBSITE OFFICER CAPACITY BUILDING OFFICER ENERGY & ENVIRONMENT ASSISTANT

COMMUNICATIONS SPECIALIST UN Dispensary Physician ENGINEER

LOGISTICS OFFICER HEAD OF OFFICE YOUTH COUNSELOR

Crisis Prevention & Recovery Advisor Operations Officer PROJECT MANAGEMENT ASSISTANT Public Information Officer

Media Relations Officer HUMAN RESOURCES OFFICER DATA ENTRY ASSISTANT FIELD OFFICER HEALTH OFFICER PROJECT MANAGER Nutrition Officer Engineering Advisor LEGAL ASSISTANT CIVIL AFFAIRS OFFICER FINANCE ADVISOR Vehicle Mechanic SMALL BUSINESS ADVISOR Judicial Officer

Electoral Officer MONITORING AND EVALUATION OFFICER

REINTEGRATION OFFICER Economics Assistant

@ www.UNV.org www.onlinevolunteering.org https://www.facebook.com/unvolunteers @UNVolunteers