Report of CARE and Save the Children DIPECHO Program in Nepal under the 6th Action Plan for South Asia

Background   
CARE, Nepal and Save the Children, Nepal have targeted backward communities and the people who are living in vulnerable areas. While targeting the communities and the people, they have selected the communities living in  hazardous areas. The primary beneficiaries of their projects are the local population of the most vulnerable communities in the underprivileged VDCs in the three districts (Bardia, Kailali and Dadeldhura) of Far West Nepal and one district (Siraha) in the East Nepal.

Purpose/objective (including evaluation questions)   
Major objectives of the evaluation were to assess, if the project activities of CARE and Save the children DIPECHO projects meet the 6th  action plan guideline and measure the effectiveness, relevancy, replicability, potential impact and sustainability of the actions in order to provide recommendations for strengthening the scope of disaster risk reduction initiatives through DIPECHO program in Nepal.

Methodology   
While carrying out the field study, the evaluation team adopted the following methodologies:
Review of related project documents/agreements/progress reports, country strategies website information, etc., key informant interviews and discussions in the office of I/NGO/s before departure to project sites, focus group discussions with the beneficiaries and other project stakeholders (including district and national), personal and physical inspections of the project sites, interviews with the executive office bearers of the government, I/NGOs after the field visits, and discussions with the service recipients, contact officers, related line agency officials, etc.

Key findings   
The findings of the evaluation are as follows:
 enhanced response capability of the local communities,
 awareness towards the causes and consequences of hazards
 learned the ways and means to cope with the disasters;
 capacity building,
 formation of response mechanism by formulating various committees and subcommittees
 voluntary labour contribution
 ownership
In sum, the projects have to a greater extent fulfilled the needs of the community people of the project sites. Full satisfaction, of course, can’t be obtained from such small projects with small funding. While all the four districts are vulnerable to multiple hazards and it is not possible to mitigate them in such a short project cycle and limited funds. However, it can be considered as path finder, eye opener and a good start. More importantly, this initiative taken by the Save the Children and Care Nepal needs to be continued on the one hand and replicated in other districts and communities of the country. The above conclusion is based on the reactions or views expressed by the community people and the disaster management government and non-government stake holders.

Recommendations   
 Involvement of local government stakeholders and particularly the community people is highly desirable from designing to implementation phase of the projects. Because, the participation of local community in DRR is very vital.;
 The hardware part should be given more weightage than the software;
 Project area should be extended while the project area and scope have been found small and limited;
 The support should also cover the recovery and rehabilitation as well.

Follow up (with reference to Action Plan) 
Recommendations will be incorporated while making the next year’s action plan.