GGCA Gender and Climate Change Training Manual - Women's ...

direct beneficiaries. The programme is not
designed to benefit these girls exclusively, but
rather it is based on the premise of using them
as facilitators to help promote information and
provide “social services” to the community as
a whole. The Sonderwater community of men,
women and children (approximately 3,000
households) will be the recipients of the “team
of leaders” and will work with these girls and
the local disaster committee to develop an
effective localized community-based disaster
plan. Local government representatives will
gain valuable insight into the risks facing their
constituents. This knowledge can lead to better
policies and support for future projects, leading
to more cost-effective disaster reduction
measures.
community. The practice does not seek to keep
intelligent girls in isolation but to develop them
as leaders, role models and facilitators to help
improve the conditions of the men, women and
children living within their community.
Adapted from:
International Strategy for Disaster Reduction. (2008).
Gender Perspectives: Integrating Disaster Risk Reduction
and Climate Change Adaptation. Geneva: ISDR.
137
This project addresses the social vulnerability
of women and girls in an effective, integrative,
cost-effective, participatory, non-technical
and easily replicable manner. Poor black girls
in South African townships are challenged
by cultural and social ideologies, which often
rank them as inferior. The initiative’s methods
look at why they are vulnerable – specifically
physiology, lack of resources, limitations on
access to information and nearly non-existent
decision-making power. It acknowledges the
complexity of external factors that contribute
to vulnerability, but also provides practical,
age-appropriate information and builds
capacity. This capacity directly encourages
and promotes the voices of these girls to be
integrated into decision making within disaster
planning but also gives them the foundation for
building greater respect as equals within their
Case study 1 / Module 4