8/10/2019 Microsoft Word DWF Good Practice 3 Cultural Activities DWF 0

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Name of the project:

Prevent typhoon damageto housing, centralVietnam

Place: Thua Thien Hueprovince

Time:since 1999

Project goals: Stabiliseand improve the economicsituation of poor &

vulnerable families andcommunities in CentralVietnam; Reduceeconomic shocks tofamilies and communitiescaused by damage tohousing and publicbuilding; Encourage theapplication of flood andstorm resistant techniquesin existing and newbuilding; and Create theenvironment in whichthese actions can takeplace

Good practices results:

More than 50 shows withsong and theatreperformed so far in thecommunes Legend, song,poem and theatre playabout cyclones (7 playsand several songs written)

Legal approach:Thisactivity is directed byHYOGO priority 4 onpublic awareness and task12 of the Vietnam second

National action plan forDisaster Mitigation andManagement.

History:The programmekicked off in 1999 and isstill continuing with furtherphases planned. Phases 1and 2 were implementedfrom 1999 to 2003 fundedby the CIDA and Phases345 supported by theECHO through itsDIPECHO. The currentphase runs through to

2008

Summary:

The Vietnam coast is hit by tropical storms and typhoons and associated flooding at arate of 4 to 6 a year or more every year. Almost regular disasters cause extensive andrepeated damage to housing and infrastructure as well as losses to agriculture andfisheries. Typhoons and floods in 1999 destroyed 10,000 houses and damage 470,000in central Vietnam. However, one of major issues is that families did not know thatpreventive strengthening is possible. Thus, when disaster occurs, the loss of a houserequires many millions of Dong to pay for repairs. From 1999, Development WorkshopFrance (DWF) started its Prevent typhoon damage to housing project in Thua ThienHue. To address this issue in each commune DWF organizes a wide variety of culturalactivities to convey the message of prevention. Local people need to be aware that

prevention is essentially easy and affordable, and they need to know that it is muchcheaper than rebuilding after a disaster.

The cultural activities have been undertaken in diversified forms which encourage theparticipation of different groups of people (children, youth and families) in everycommune. The project also communicates with schools, especially primary level forchildren activities. Cultural activities include the organisation of concerts with localmusicians, singers and poets, many of whom perform their own materials written forthe project. There are theatrical plays some written and performed by project staff,others by local troupes. The project provides songs and text used on communeloudspeaker systems, and it makes use of radio and TV. Some practical information isreinforced with handouts and home-visits by project staff.

Each activity a play, a concert - deals in its own way with the risk of storms, the

damage they cause and the action that one can take to reduce vulnerability. Theseactivities also provide villagers with new techniques of house strengthening which ismore storm resistant.

Along with regular activities in the communes, in special occasions, the projectcooperates to organize huge community events. In 2006 during a special damageprevention week a decorated truck toured each commune with a full-size safe houseon the back with suggested building techniques, attracting many stares and questions.Especially, in March 2007, with the support of DWF 14 schools of 13 partnercommunes organized activities on the occasion of March 26

th(Liberation of Hue

anniversary). During this time, most of DWF team members, who participated in theseactivities, realized that all teachers and pupils were very enthusiastic. In addition to thatthese activities were well organized by the team as they have chosen excellent way to

do it. Among these activities, the most remarkable ones are drawing competition withthe topic Xangsane Cyclone and art show with the play "Sustainable and Safe house".The play written by Thuy Xuan Primary School, was performed in several schools, andenjoyed by local people and children.

Mr. Sau, headmaster of Loc Tri Primary School which did not have enough timefor the art show highly appreciated the play. He planed to organize someactivities about Cyclone Prevention and an art show with a play Safe house.Next year, on April 30

thand May 1

st

Interestingly, DWF uses a variety of local traditional and popular media tocommunicate the message that prevention is important in reducing the vulnerability ofhomes. Some of these ideas, like the legend of The Mountain King and the WaterKing, are traditional. It explains why we have floods and storms annually as the fight

between Son Tinh (Mountain King) and Thuy Tinh (Water King) and how Son Tinhalways conquers Thuy Tinh to remain peace and safety for his people.

The cultural activities are an ongoing process with different events happening regularlyin each commune.

Getting the message across using cultural activities

8/10/2019 Microsoft Word DWF Good Practice 3 Cultural Activities DWF 0

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Innovat ive:

Awareness raising is a very important element in development work. To include messages in local cultural activitiesand traditional legend modification is a real innovation. Imbeding in cultural activities is an alternative for traditionaltraining, workshops or meetings to transfer the message. These activities always attracted a vast number of localpeople to participate, resulting in an increase of the message sent to target audiences. For example, in 2003, DWF

composed the play Home Story (part 2) about cyclone prevention. The play was performed in the communes andattracted hundreds of local people.

Furthermore, messages on prevention are transferred more clearly, easily and friendly to local people. Being part oftheir own cultural activities, people feel easy to accept new concepts.

Mrs. A- Wife: - I remember last year whenever typhoon comes, my hearts was nearly fell out. Doyou still remember, beside resistant techniques, how to prevent from typhoon DWgave us?

Mr. A- Husband: - Why not? Ill tell you: close doors and windows tightly to avoid the wind to get intobecause it will collapse home; plant trees as wind-breaker... Remember? I plantmany trees around our home both for income and prevention. In some years, ourhome will be much safer.

Mrs. A- Wife: - You are getting better....(Abstract from play Sustainable and Safe House acted by children in March 2007)

Different:

Together with other strategies of the project, cultural activities contribute to the effective results of the effort toencourage the application of flood and storm resistant technique in the community. This method of sending theinformation really works. It seems to be a simple method but it has a remarkable impact on the local community.Taking cultural situation of villages in Thua Thien Hue as well as in other developing provinces in Vietnam intoconsideration, one can easily see that local people have few chances for public recreations and festivals. Suchcultural activities like plays, concerts, songs and contests are expected months before they happen. Therefore,many of the cultural activities are designed to be memorable - events that one will recall maybe months or evenyears later.

Sustainable:

Culture is the spirit of each community, thus messages from those activities can remain in the mind of its populationfor a long time. If the songs and the plays are interesting and enjoyable, people tend to repeat them in other dailyconversations or commune festivals without any project context.

Besides, this strategy creates a good start for behaviour change. As the information is transferred clearly and in afriendly manner, first knowledge on disaster preparedness and the demonstration of safe house in villages convincevillagers to take trial practice and thus to sustain their behavior of applying storm resistant technique.

Replicable:

Most of cultural activities are very easy to apply everywhere. The project has developed many good plays whichrequire only 4-6 amateur actors/ actresses. The plays are about daily life of local people so their sceneries andcostumes are simple with household tables, chairs and normal clothes. Songs about disaster prevention werealmost re-worded or parodied from traditional and popular songs which are very familiar with villagers.

A popular song in Vietnam Ngau Nhien was adapted for prevention message: House was reinforced,typhoon you come for what? Although you come, we wont get problem for we finished reinforcing....

All other activities such as community shows or children drawing contests are the success of the local peoplescreativeness and intelligence.

Contact details:

Guillaume Chantry, Coordinator,Development Workshop France Hue Thua Thien Hue, Tel: 054 84 82 31, email: dwvn@dwf.org