“Promoting traditions, reducing risks" NEW DELHI, 26 March 2009:
UNICEF has completed the 15-month long Community-Based Disaster
Preparedness (CBDP) project in West Bengal, India. About US$
400,000 million (280,000 Euro) contribution for this
intervention was provided by the Disaster Preparedness Programme
of European Commissions Humanitarian Aid (DIPECHO) under its 4th
Action Plan for South Asia. UNICEF’s global experience has
demonstrated that community-based risk reduction efforts, which
are approached from a social and behaviour change perspective,
will ensure that children and families understand the simple and
practical actions required to protect lives and personal
properties in the case of natural disasters. UNICEF-supported
CBDP projects are excellent examples of mainstreaming of
practices which effectively lead toward empowering communities
and their capacity to deal with disasters, with due attention on
specific vulnerabilities and needs of women and children. While
the history of UNICEF’s CBDP int