INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL HAZARDS CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECT IN VANUATU DIVISION, V O L U M E 1 , I S S U E 1 M A R C H 2 0 1 7 VANUATU METEOROLOGY AND GEO-HAZARDS DEPARTMENT WELCOME to this first edition of INSIDE THIS ISSUE: the IRCCNH Project newsletter Welcome to this 1 Edition climate change and natural What is the IRCCNH 2 hazards in Vanuatu. In this Project? first edition, we provide East and West Tanna 3 an overview of the IRCCNH Baseline Survey Project approach and First Micro-projects in 4 locations and some high- Tanna Island lights of components past Government assist 5 activities in various project farmers with sites in Vanuatu. We hope agriculture tools you will find it to be in- Interview: Staff profiles 6 formative and interesting to find out the type of activi- New Disaster Centers 7 for Torba and Tafea Brian Philips, Project Manager, IRCCNH Project ties the project is imple- provinces menting in your areas in the Welcome to our stakehold- newsletter is an initiative to past years in terms of Strengthening of the 8 ers, partners and readers to share information on the addressing issues concern- Early Warning Systems in Vanuatu this first edition of the project’s activities to ing climate change and Increasing Resilience to increasing the resilience of natural hazards. You can VARTC Develops 8 Climate Change and Natural find out more by contacting our people and communi- improved crop varieties Hazards (IRCCNH) Project ties to the issues affecting our office in Port Vila or by newsletter. This quarterly our countries as a result of checking the NAB Portal. Government assists 9 communities with VT12 million worth of sawmills Project mid-term 9 review brief report Villagers benefited 10 from water tanks Ministry of Climate 10 Change Contact IRCCNH Project, Project Management Unit (PMU), Climate Change Division, VMGD Office, Ministry of Climate Change and Natural Disasters, PMB 9054, Namba 2 Area, Port Vila, Vanuatu, Ph: 678 24686, Email: piccap@vanuatu.com.vu INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL hazards PROJECT MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 2 WHAT IS THE IRCCNH PROJECT IN VANUATU? increasing community resilience in coastal areas through the strength- ening of methods, processes and protocols for climate change adap- tation (CCA) and disaster risk man- agement (DRM) and enhancing community and eco-system Based Adaptation and DRM in coastal Its areas and on active volcanic islands (two coastal and volcanic areas development councils identified Gaua and Tanna. This component also focuses on the objective is core of the project which is com- munity investments through micro- to help projects and building resilience in terms of improving access to fresh increase the water, developing options for improved crops and increasing resilience of access to government services such as health and trade centers. communities Component 3 is looking at promoting improved technologies in Vanuatu A project activity in Tanna—doing the baseline survey consultation with facilitators for food crop production and resili- Union (EU) Global Climate Change- ence to climate change through the to the The Increasing Resilience to production and distribution of Climate Change and Natural Alliance (GCCA) Program. Its devel- opment objective is to help increase improved plant genetic material and impacts of Hazards (IRCCNH) Project in distribution of improved Agricultur- Vanuatu is a project belonging to the resilience of communities in Vanuatu to the impacts of climate al Technologies to support on-farm climate the Vanuatu Government and is variability and natural hazards on production and resilience to climate currently implemented by the change with farmers. variability Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo- food and water security as well as livelihoods. In this regard it pilot Component 4 looks at Rural hazards Department (VMGD) Water Security by improving the and natural under the Ministry of Climate investments in priority villages in Vanuatu to increase the resilience to increased access to secure water Change and Natural Disasters. supply by strengthening the rural hazards on Other government agencies the impacts of natural hazards and climate variability and change, water supply through the comple- involved in the coordination and tion of the national inventory of food and implementation of the different strengthen disaster risk management systems, and support recovery rural water systems, updating rural components of this project are the water supply standards and guide- water efforts post Tropical Cyclone Pam National Disaster Management lines, improving outreach to Office (NDMO), Department of that hit Vanuatu in March 2015. partners and the installation of security as Local Authorities, Department of There are four components to this rainwater catchment and storage well as Agriculture and Rural Development project and Component 1 is look- systems in affected communities. (DARD), Vanuatu Agriculture ing at institutional strengthening for At this stage of the project, the livelihoods. Research and Training Centre climate change and disaster manage- focus is concentrated on communi- (VARTC) and the Department of ment sectors in terms of strengthen- Mines, Geology and Rural Water ty investments that is building ing of the National Advisory Board Supply. community resilience through to Climate Change and Disaster Risk The Project got its funding from the micro-projects. The current Reduction in Vanuatu (NAB) Secre- Global Environment Facility (GEF), tariat, strengthening the National micro-projects on Tanna focus on The European Union (EU) Africa, Disaster Management Office water systems rehabilitation, and Caribbean Pacific (ACP) Natu- (NDMO) and strengthening the Early establishment of emergency evacua- ral Disaster Risk Reduction (NDRR) Warning Systems (EWS) at the tion centers, strengthening feeder Program through the Global Fund Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo- roads and building multi-purpose for Disaster Reduction and Recov- hazards Department (VMGD). rain harvesting water systems. ery (GFDRR) and the European Component 2 is focusing on Look up the NAB Portal Website on the following link: http://www.nab.vu/projects/increasing- resilience-climate-change-and-natural-hazards-vanuatu for more information about this project. “NAB Portal provides information on events, calendars, project profiles and information, documents, news and many more. Book mark www.nab.vu in your internet browser today.” Increasing resilience to climate change and natural hazards project MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 3 EAST AND WEST TANNA BASELINE SURVEY IRCCNH Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) baseline survey field data collection and data entry was implemented in collaboration with the Vatu Mauri Consortium (VMC) and the Project Management Unit (PMU) at the Vanuatu Department of Meteorology and Geo-hazards Department (VMGD). The survey commenced in February 2016 with a training of the VMC facilitators and led onto the launching of the baseline in May 2016 at Lounapiktuan village on West Tanna. Data collection was only started in late June 2016 and finishing in early September 2016. A show of hands agreeing to water as their priority during the Tanna baseline To some extent, some identification of risks exercise in one of the villages in Tanna. and vulnerabilities were sought through this comprehensive baseline survey. The baseline survey assessed a total of 220 villages of East and West Tanna. Baseline data was then analysed and produced village profiles and reports for the 220 villages and the reports show the current situation of these villages. Current situation covers topographic situations, a history of natural disasters in the area, land degradation issues, availability of natural resources, social relationships, water and sanitation situations, infrastructure types and every- thing one needs to know about a village. The baseline profiles and reports were then Tafea province and VMC heads at the official launching of the Tanna baseline used by the Tafea Provincial Technical survey in Tanna. Advisory Commission (TAC) in September 2016 to select fifty (50) micro-projects for the island of Tanna. These are small community investments focussing on increasing resilient livelihoods through increased access to fresh water and access to improved agricultural root crops and improving roads to enable access to trade centres and medical services. The selections were centred on the decree of vulnerability and isolation of each of the communities. The ground project operations team includes the provincial water engineer, the provincial disaster officer and the provincial project officer who work very closely with the project team in Port Vila to coordinate Field data collection in Tanna the implementation of the micro-projects on the ground in Tanna. INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL hazards PROJECT MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 4 FOUR MICRO-PROJECTS LAUNCHED ON TANNA Four micro-projects were launched safe and secure water supply for in Tanna at the end of last year the designated communities that 2016, which benefited many are resilient to climatic changes communities by accessing clean and and natural hazards and also to safe water. The micro-projects enable communities to take were mainly on rain water charge of and maintain their catchment and water gravity fed water supply systems without systems. The communities benefit- external support in future. It is ed from these micro-projects were also to ensure that water systems Iatukwei, Imaio, Enima, and Launela- and pipeline networks are pen. The completion of these water sufficiently scalable and can systems benefited a total population support future additional load of 561 people and 230 households such as adequate water supply in North West, South East and for additional communities and West Tanna Area Councils. projected population increases. The launching ceremony of these Itukwei community These sites were selected by the micro-projects also marked the Tafea Provincial Technical handing over of the completed Advisory Committee (TAC) water systems to the benefited based on the results from a communities in Tanna. These baseline study conducted in projects were part of the World Tanna in 2016. The baseline is Bank funded project called the part of the community assess- Increasing Resilience to Climate ment and contains the following Change and Natural Hazards sections; general information, (IRCCNH) in Vanuatu. baseline survey workshop partici- pants, geographic and population The launching of these micro- profile, committees, economic projects were attended by the and asset profile, infrastructure World Bank team members, Tafea and communication profile, village provincial Secretary General, access, wash situation, risk profile Director of Water Resources and and natural resources profile. staff from the Ministry of Climate Enima community Change from Port Vila and Tafea Access to water is currently con- provincial government. sidered the main priority on the island of Tanna, Cyclone Pam had The objectives of establishing such an adverse effect on many of the micro-projects scheme under the water systems and this coupled with the extended and extreme IRCCNH Project are to provide a El Niño event (2015-16) that has Imaio community affected the area for the past the water systems in these areas 10 months has meant that the are not sufficiently resilient to current water systems have natural hazards and climatic not been able to cope with the effects. It is the intention of demands from the communi- these micro-projects to alleviate Launelapen community ties. These factors indicate that this problem in future. Increasing resilience to climate change and natural hazards project MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 5 Vanuatu Government Assists Communities With Vt32 Million Worth of Agricultural Tools After Cyclone Pam The aim of this initiative is to support our rural communitie s and especially local farmers Left: VMGD Director David Gibson handing the tools over to Antoine Ravo from the Department of Agriculture in with the Port Vila. Right: Tools being transported to the islands during distribution. necessary The Government of the Republic identified farmers based on a With this objective, it was the tools of Vanuatu has assisted local distribution plan prepared by the Government’s wish to use some needed to communities with Vt32 million Department of Agriculture and of the project resources to worth of agriculture tools as part Rural Development in close coordi- contribute to the Government- bring about of its response, recovery and nation with the Food Security and led recovery efforts as an imme- quick reconstruction efforts to its people Agriculture Cluster in Vanuatu. diate response to the effects of recovery to to the effects of Tropical Cyclone Tropical Cyclone PAM. This The purchasing of the tools was their Pam in 2015. decision, part of the Post Pam made possible through the Increas- Action Plan of the IRCCNH subsistence The official handing over of ing Resilience to Climate Change project, was also critical since our and agricultural tools took place at the and Natural Hazards (IRCCNH) country’s population is highly agricultural Department of Agriculture and Project in Vanuatu, which is reliant on subsistence farming for Rural Development (DARD) currently managed by the Vanuatu activities Meteorology and Geo-hazards food security. between the representatives of the from the Ministry of Climate Change and Department (VMGD) through its Distribution of the farming tools effects of Natural Disasters and the Ministry Project Management Unit (PMU). have began in mid-June 2015 Cyclone of Agriculture. The project is jointly funded by the through the Logistics team at the Global Environment Facility (GEF), National Disaster Management Pam. The aim of this initiative is to the European Union (EU) and the Office (NDMO) with close support our rural communities and Global Facility for Disaster Risk coordination with the Depart- especially local farmers with the Reduction (GFDRR), and adminis- ment of Local Authority (DLA) necessary tools needed to bring tered through the World Bank and the Agriculture Department about quick recovery to their Group. (DARD). The dispatching of these subsistence and agricultural tools ended beginning of August activities from the effects of The IRCCNH project is a Govern- 2015. The tools were distributed Cyclone Pam. ment owned Project with an overall to over 32 Area Councils development objective to help The total quantity of agricultural reaching over 17,594 households increase the resilience of communi- tools are 21,900 bush knives, 4,300 and benefiting over 84,792 ties in Vanuatu to the impacts of axes, 800 spades and 2,200 crow individuals in Tanna, Tafea outter climate variability and change and bars. The distribution of tools have islands , South Pentec ost , natural hazards on food and water already reached the affected rural Ambrym, Paama, Epi, Efate and security as well as livelihoods. communities mainly to the the shepherd’s group of islands. INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL hazards PROJECT MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 6 Profile: Interview with Provincial Disaster Officers Daniel and Fisher In all our newsletters for this year, ing from the elders and people issues by attending various we will present two officers who on traditional coping techniques trainings, workshops, meetings are working under the IRCCNH has helped build my skills in and participating in the estab- Project in Vanuatu. They will be disaster preparedness, which I lishment of CDCCCs through discussing their work, what made also use in my awareness in the community based DRR them do this job and what they disaster preparedness in processes. When I joined the like about their job. In this first communities around Tanna. IRCCNH project team in 2014, issue of the IRCCNH project I felt like I already acquired newsletter, we are presenting our What made you work in the knowledge and experience to two provincial disaster officers area of Climate Change better perform my responsibili- from Tafea and Torba provinces. Adaptation and Disaster ties as outlined for the Provin- Daniel Samson is our provincial Risk Reduction? cial disaster and climate change disaster officer in Isangel, Tanna officer position. My great and Fisher Young Dinh is our pro- I want to work in the area of achievement in 2016 is the vincial disaster officer in Sola, climate change and disaster risk development of the Torba Vanua Lava. The two officers were reduction because I want to help Mr Fisher Young Dinh Provincial Disaster response the first PDOs in Tafea and Torba my community on ways they can plan. Thank you to the Red provinces and represents the be well prepared before any What is your home island/ Cross and funding from the National Disaster Management disasters can happen and how country? ECHO for their assistance in Office (NDMO) in the two they adapt in situations where completing this response plan. provinces. Their positions were climate change issues can affect I come from the island of Vanua What made me to work in funded under the IRCCNH Project. them, which is already regarded Lava in the Torba Province in DRM and climate change is as a cross cutting issue amongst Vanuatu. working and helping the rural many sectors in Vanuatu and the communities. world as a whole today. I also What was your education believe that equipping our background? What part of your work do people with the right knowledge you like the most? is very important to keep them I attended Arep Primary and went safe from any disaster events at to Lycee de Bougainville to As many communities still all times in future. complete my secondary educa- need to be better prepared to tion. Because I have interest in cope with climate change and What part of your work do computing science, I went on to disasters facing them today, an you like the most? do Computer Hardware and ongoing challenge is to build Networking at the Edwards their resilience. I love to travel I like to provide awareness and Computer Foundation. From basic trainings on climate change there I completed an online and disaster risk reduction is- Diploma in Computer science “I see that many Mr Daniel Samson: sues and to our local disaster with the Pakistan Institute of communities still committees in our different Computer Science. Then from What is your home island/ communities. I believe that 2012 to 2014 I did an online need better country? providing our people in the course on Disaster Risk Manage- preparations to cope communities with the right in- ment and currently doing a with disaster and I come from the island of Tanna formation, knowledge and train- degree program with USP in in the Tafea Province in ing on how to become resilient climate change Computer science. Vanuatu. before, during and after a disas- issues, an ongoing ter is very important, and so What made you work in the challenge is to build What was your education providing trainings to our com- area of Climate Change their resilience background? munity disaster and climate Adaptation and Disaster Risk change committees (CDCCC) Reduction? through my work”. I only completed secondary and to help set them up in the school level in Tanna and since communities in Tanna is what I My knowledge and experience on then I have been participating in enjoyed most in my job. DRR was developed while working to the islands to visit the com- a lot of disaster risk reduction with the Red Cross from 2011 to munities mostly on boat and I and climate change adaptation 2013 in a DRR project called, enjoyed setting up these Com- trainings over the years, which “I believe that “Together Becoming Resilient”. munity Disaster and Climate has helped to develop my equipping our During those years I was employed Change Committees knowledge and skills in the are- as the Vanua Lava Sub-branch (CDCCC) and providing them as of climate change and disas- people with the officer and Torba Branch Officer. with the adequate information ter risk reduction in Vanuatu. right knowledge is My prime responsibilities are to on disaster issues and later These trainings have also build very important to work with three pilot communities revisiting them. my interest and experience into in Vanua Lava and to manage other running activities that can help keep them safe from Red Cross Sub-branch officers in To find out more information my people, community and any future disaster other islands around Torba Prov- about their work, contact island on how to prepare events at all times”. ince. It was during those years that Daniel on tafeadisastero- towards any disaster events I became familiar with the DRR ficer@gmail.com or Fisher on happening in future. Also learn- and DRM and climate change fdinh@vanuatu.gov.vu. Increasing resilience to climate change and natural hazards project MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 7 New Disaster Centers for Torba and Tafea Provinces Two new fully equipped disaster 358,450. The Isangel center is centers worth over 52 million worth Vt25M and the Sola center vatu were built for the Torba and is worth Vt22.3M to build. The Tafea provinces under the two centers each housed a Increasing Resilience to Climate Change and Natural Hazards conference room which will be (IRCCNH) Project in Vanuatu as used as the national disaster part of its continued efforts to operation center, two office strengthen the government’s spaces, a media room, storage capacity to response effectively and archives room, a server and timely to disaster events in Vanuatu. The project also support room, kitchen, bathroom and a two officers to look after the reception area. The handing over centers for both provinces. ceremonies of the two buildings Both Torba and Tafea provinces largely contributed to the pro- are a strategic sites for this gress of the Government’s ongo- The NDMO office at Isangel, Tafea Province. project because they have active volcanos and are more prone to ing efforts to improving emergen- cyclones and other natural cy response services through the hazards, which makes them National Disaster Management susceptible and vulnerable to Office (NDMO) to the two Prov- Natural Hazards. inces. Their Provincial Disaster The completion and opening of Officers were stationed at the the two centers at the end of 2016 marked a success by the sites since April 2014. The national government in fulfilling its IRCCNH project’s overall efforts to providing easy access to development objective to help disaster management services to increase the resilience of help people in rural communities communities in Vanuatu to the in their preparedness for natural disasters by decentralizing impacts of climate variability and services to these provinces. change and natural hazards on The total cost for building the shelter, water supply as well as disaster centers were Vt47, livelihoods. The NDMO office at Sola, Torba Province. Drawings of the two buildings built in Sola and Isangel provincial headquarters . INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL hazards PROJECT MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 8 Strengthening Early Warning Systems ening multi hazards standard oper- age of our monitoring. It also ating procedures currently estab- improve good coverage as we now lished by VMGD under the Ministry through this project have been able of Climate Change and Natural to put some stations in our remote Disasters. To support the strength- and isolated islands in Vanuatu. The ening of the country’s Early Warn- new seismic stations are built in ing Systems, this component has Santo, Malo, Malekula, Ambae, Mae- Seismic station assisted with the refurbishing of the wo, Lopevi, Vanua Lava and Tanna. built at the multi hazards warning center by Construction works on all sites have Ambanga site on integrating operations of the weath- been completed last year and the island of er forecast and Geo-hazards moni- currently undergoing installation Ambae. toring divisions and at the same work on sites by the Geo-hazards time linking it with the National Division’s technician’s team. The two The Increasing Resilience to Climate Disaster Operation Centre and stations on Ambae and Lopevi will Change and Natural Hazards Project strengthening multi-hazards activi- also help with the monitoring of the in Vanuatu (IRCCNH) has helped to ties in Vanuatu. The main purpose two volcanoes located on Ambae and strengthen the Early Warning Systems of this part of the project is to Lopevi islands. The addition of these (EWS) in Vanuatu through the work monitor earthquake detection new stations will now leave Vanuatu of the Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo- which will help to lower detection with a total of nineteen (19) seismic hazards Department (VMGD) in its times, which means that now we stations altogether operating around Volcanic and earthquakes monitoring can locate the earthquake infor- the country. Their current locations throughout the country. This has been mation within two minutes. This in number of stations for each island are done by establishing real time data turn improves our EWS in Vanuatu. four stations on Efate, two each for communication networks linking the Also, by increasing the number of Tanna, Malekula, Ambrym, Ambae existing volcano, seismic and weather seismic stations around the country and Santo and one each for the observing stations with the national will also help to locate more earth- islands of Vanua Lava, Gaua, Maewo, data and warning center and strength- quakes and will expand the cover- malo and Lopevi. VARTC Develops improved crop varieties One of the key components of the vars for distribution to farmers in IRCCNH Project in Vanuatu is collaboration with the Department focussing on the promotion of of Agriculture and Rural Develop- improved technologies for food crop ment (DARD). The other area of “Visit production and resilience to climate support through this project is sup- www.nab.vu, or change. This component provided porting the distribution of improved send an email support to develop approaches, agricultural technologies to support to strategies and technologies for on-farm production and resilience commp@mete adapting to climate change and to climate change through the distri- o.gov.vu to get responding to food security and bution of improved plant material to more infor- market demands. This is done farmers in at least five key food crop Yam pollination technique at the VARTC through the production and distribu- areas. It also supported the imple- mation on tion of improved plant genetic mate- mentation of farmer training and Vanuatu Agriculture Research and climate change rial to further enrich their gene pool technology delivery systems in at Training Centre (VARTC) based in and disaster of root and tuber crops under least key food crop areas and Santo. During the past two years, the risk reduction ongoing international collaborative supported the adoption of improved project has already successfully devel- issues in agreements. This component also cultivars and technologies by farm- oped six improved kumala varieties Vanuatu.” enhanced the ongoing process of ers that enhance farm incomes, food and yam breeding amongst other selection and multiplication of supe- security and improved resilience to improved planting materials which rior lines of root and tuber crops the effects of weather extremes and have been distributed to over one erosion which are effects of climate other impacts of climate change. thousand farmers throughout the change and to expand field testing This component of the project is country. More updates on the new and multiplication of improved culti- currently implemented by the crop varieties developed by VARTC will be in our June issue. Increasing resilience to climate change and natural hazards project MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 9 Government Assists Communities With Vt12 million Worth Of Sawmills The Government through the Increasing Action Plan, supported by the Resilience to Climate Change and UNDP in collaboration with the Natural Hazards Project in Vanuatu project and NGO partners, to (IRCCNH) has assisted local communities salvage and utilize fallen trees in with over Vt12 million worth of Sawmills the affected communities mainly as part of its commitments towards in Tafea and Shefa as the two response, recovery and reconstruction most affected Provinces. This is efforts to its people to the effects of to help people build back their Tropical Cyclone Pam. The official houses damaged and destroyed handing over of the 9 Lucas Mills and 18 by cyclone Pam. According to the mini-mills took place at the Department Department of Forests records, of Forestry Office in Port Vila between some 90 hectares of woodlot the Director of Forests Hanington Tate were newly established in 2014 in and the Director of the Vanuatu Meteor- Tafea province and some 109 ology and Geo-hazards Department hectares in the central region (VMGD) witnessed by staff of both including Shefa province. This is in The handing over of sawmills between VMGD and Forestry Directors Departments and Donors. The handing addition to some 1,400 hectares and looking on is a representative from the World Bank. over ceremony largely contributes to the of woodlot previously established progress of the Government’s recovery in Tafea and some 500 hectares in Shefa was based on the amount of trees plan and an important partnership initia- Province. All these plantations were destroyed in the two Provinces during tive established between the Vanuatu damaged by Cyclone Pam and the mature the recovery and reconstruction as- Government and its donor partners in trees required milling. Therefore this plan sessments. The islands who benefited providing such important assets to the will mainly assist small holder woodlot farm- from these forestry tools were Epi, recovery efforts especially related to ers and community based forestry within Bunigna, Tongariki, Tongoa, Emae, Ma- shelter needs for affected communities. these two Provinces with portable and kira, Efate, Erromango, Aneityum The Department of Forests is taking lead mobile sawmills. The decision taken by the and Tanna. These are the islands who in this initiative by putting together an Government in bringing this action together were hit hard by Pam. PROJECT MID-TERM REVIEW society network and The overall outcome of the Mid Term the Vanuatu meteorol- Review was a reminder on the overall ogy and geo-hazards development objective of the project department through which is building community resilience to the PMU as the coordi- climate change and natural hazards. The nating government mid-term review also evaluated the coordi- agency. The first meet- nation of the project in terms of financial ing was held at Aquana management and procurement and the resort which focused management of component 2 which is on Project Management community investments or micro-projects. Unit presenting the There was an urgent need to finalise the progress on all project micro-project manual which existed in components to the draft and develop a micro-project selection World Bank Team and criteria for selection of micro-projects. all participating agen- The Mid Term Review confirmed the sites Mid term review internal discussion with implementing agencies cies. This looked at the which were Tanna and Tongoa-Shepherds summary of the as the two sites to focus on. Another The mid-term review as stated in the progress of the project from 2012 to significant change that caused delays in IRCCNH grant agreement eventuated in November 2015. The most significant implementations for almost 6 months was November 2015 after a preparation mission change on the project was the impacts of the coordination of component 2 micro- in March 2015, with the various thematic the devastating tropical cyclone Pam, projects by then department of local workshops and wide consultation organized which hit Vanuatu on March 2015, which authorities. During a World Bank mission that helped lay the foundations for a clear forced the development of technical note after the Mid Term Review mission, which understanding of all actors on what to number 5, a concept paper with the new was six months later the coordination of expect and what was expected to be priorities requested through the clusters component 2 was given back to the achieved out of the process. The process to the IRCCNH project. This looked at Project Management Unit at VMGD, which involved a mission team from the World livelihoods, water rehabilitation, shelter, then saw a quick start to the rolling out of Bank, the implementing agencies, the civil emergency tools and natural resources. component 2. INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL hazards PROJECT MARCH 2017 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 PAGE 10 Villagers Benefited From New Water Tanks nity. A new rain water catchment system was installed for this community and was handed over to them in November 2016. This new system provided much relief to the community as they can now access water for drink- ing and cooking at no costs and close to home. This system is one of the first micro-projects on rain water catch- ment systems for Tanna under the World Bank funded project in Vanuatu. Salok Harry a woman leader in this community shared their story of how hard it is for women and other family members in accessing water in their community in the past. When the pro- ject team approached her, she was The rain water catchment system in sitting under a nicely local built hut with Launelapen village. Insert, Salok Harry her daughters sewing island dresses for collecting water from the new tank.. them. Their hut is close to the road In Tanna like the rest of Vanuatu, tradi- water in this community has been a where the newly rain water catchment tionally, women and children are the problem for decades. The village’s only system for their community is located. primary collectors, users and managers of gravity fed water system was installed When asked if this new system helped household water. When water systems way back in 1988 by the government them in terms of accessing drinking break down women and children are the and from time to time got contaminat- water compared to what they have most affected, since they then have to ed by dead leaves and mud during experienced in the past, she responded travel far to search for water for house- heavy rain. When this happened, peo- with a big smile saying that now women hold use. According to a baseline survey ple will have to use other alternative and children do not have to walk hours conducted under the IRCCNH Project in sources, which most times people walk to get water or do washing from Vanuatu, the Nariakene Community in for around fifteen minutes to get there. Lenakel beach, which many times Launelapen Village in West Tanna identi- Collecting drinking water is the wom- involved huge transport costs for some fied livelihood and water access as issues en’s responsibility and they spend three families. “Now we can only get our of concern which they need support with to four hours daily just completing that containers to this tank to get our water from the national and provincial govern- task. Given these circumstances, the for our children and now we can stay at ment. They have a population of 156 need for improved access to water and home and do other work instead of people with 68 households. Access to sanitation was urgent for this commu- spending most of the day just collecting water,” She said. Meteo Building Nambatu INCREASING RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE PMB 9054 AND NATURAL HAZARDS PROJECT IN VANUATU Phone: 24686 / 22331 Fax: 22310 Mifala i stap long Web! www.nab.vu Increasing resilience to climate change and natural hazards project MARCH 2017