Cities by Women: Embedding Climate Change Resilience in Himalayan Cities

The research focuses on gender mainstreaming in the nexus of climate change, land use, and informal livelihoods in Himalayan cities. Expected activities include:
1) survey and mapping to examine how women in informal settlements use the urban spaces for their livelihoods and what the impacts of climate change on their daily activities are;
2) stakeholder workshop and networking to address and inform the urban policy about women’s role in building climate change resilience in Himalayan cities.

Keywords Gender, Climate change, Informal livelihood, Urban space, Urban planning

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What is Essential is Invisible’: Empowerment and Security in Economic Projects for Low-Income Women in Four Mekong Countries (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam)

This research project, using both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods, focused on women’s economic empowerment and social protection projects in four Mekong countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam. It involved an exploration of the gaps between the level of policy makers and intended beneficiaries in terms of their conceptions of the ideas of empowerment and security and their perceptions of what is happening on the ‘ground’. In addition, the research examined under what conditions empowerment (as locally defined) and an increase in a sense of security (again, as locally defined) came as a result of economic empowerment and social protection projects, and under what conditions there was no such apparent benefit – or even negative effects – in spite of the well-meaning intentions of the projects. One key finding is that empowerment is not a single recipe, it needs to be contextualized, and that for a large number of low income women in the four countries, empowerment was a social or relational process, an aspect of empowerment often neglected by donors and development practitioners.

Keywords Economic Empowerment, Income, Gender, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam

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Critical Factors for Post-Disaster Educational Continuity in Urban Flood Impacts in South and Southeast Asia

The research project investigated the critical factors for educational continuity in the case of urban flooding in South and Southeast Asia. The research studied three countries – Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam – which are recurrently affected by floods.  The research specifically aimed at extrapolating the main blockers and enablers of educational continuity. Towards this goal, primary, middle and high school educational institutions were selected for analysis in each country.

Keywords DRR, Education, Flood resilience

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Evidenced Based analysis of Flood Risk Management and Social Vulnerability – A System Approach in Sakon Nakhon Province, Thailand

The project aims to overview the status, risks and trends of the flood disasters in the Mueang District as a case to develop a system-based multi-disciplinary framework for local level risk assessment and recommend necessary future actions for decision-makers. The specific objectives of the project are; 1. To identify critical interdependent factors influencing vulnerability of the flood hazards. 2. To improve flood risk management by better understanding system behavior. 3. To understand a system of flood risk interventions across multi-sector levels and scales. 4. Identify the gaps and challenges and take actions on Risk Governance Mechanism at local level to improve and support long-term flood risk management. 5. To develop system based multi-stakeholder risk assessment tool for resilience index and recommend a community-based resilience framework for the flood prone community.

Keywords: System Approach, SDG, Social Vulnerability, Natural Disasters

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