The Integrated and Efficient Response to Wenchuan Earthquake Affected Areas and Children: Social Damage Assessment and Children Rehabilitation A Proposal to Cisco China Wenchuan Earthquake Taskforce (WET) June 29, 2008 Section I – Background The Wenchuan earthquake has claimed 69,186 lives, and resulted 18,457 people missing. 37,417 people were injured (June 27, 2008). 14 million people lost their homes and millions are now living in the temporary shelters. Four days after the earthquake, the Wenchuan Earthquake Taskforce (WET) was jointly established by the State Council Emergency Management Experts Council, The Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management Institute of Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Education, and Beijing Normal University. WET has set up a training station at Sichuan University, Chengdu, to provide mental health training and to establish a mental health system in the disaster area. The station also explores several models for the development of self-help survivor groups in the disaster areas, and provide policy recommendations -- based on their interventions with the survivors -- on humanitarian aid, shortterm settlement and long-term re-location, community rebuilding, and livelihood redevelopment, in particular an assessment of the mental health impact of these immense social adjustments (which are often as distressing as the damage bought by the disaster itself). Beijing center of WET focuses on the policy dialogues with nearly 100 experts in relevant fields, corresponding to over 50 international experts, channeling resources to the disaster areas, forming partners with government agencies, civil society organizations, and private firms, as well as disseminate policy recommendations to central policy making bodies through its policy briefs and research papers. It has established Chengdu base to coordinate the work in Sichuan quake areas, and Wudu Base to coordinate the work in Gansu quake areas. Qiang Minority working group is formed and is in operation. It has established international networks, and hotlines for policy and psychosocial assistances. A media center has been efficiently linking the experts, the policy studies, the ground zero situation, and the other information with the TVs, internets and newspapers. Working papers o NGOs and on donation managements have been drafted. Up to June 20, over 10 policy workshops have been held, and dozens policy recommendations were made. 17 groups with 105 experts (including 5 oversee groups) were arranged to the quake areas. 200 volunteers were trained to participate in the psychosocial assistances and in research in the situation of the affected people. 23 policy briefs and 13 policy working papers were produced. Midterm report with 126 pages has been completed and it covered the first stage assessment of eight policy areas: tax, finance, transfers, land, insurance, geared support, social resource mobilization, and social policies (social administration, community, employment, social services, etc). It has tested two disaster resources management software and created the Chinese version of the software, and translated 359,468 words of international experiences.
WET work has gone to three distinct stages, first stage had focused on the emergency policies and social response mechanisms, and it ended in May 31. Then the effort was shifted to the resettlement management policies. The report was completed in June 20. The third stage, now, is focusing on the planning policy, and mid- and long-term reconstruction and redevelopment issues. As we have witness the remarkable achievements of the national and local governments in rescue and resettlement effort, the speed of the reconstruction of the basic infrastructure is also outstanding. The earthquake damaged 48,276 kilometers’ water pipelines, and 53,295 kilometers’ roads, by June 27, 44,128 kilometers’ water pipelines and 52,301 kilometers’ roads were repaired. The economic damages and losses were estimated, however, the social losses and social damages have not been assessed. Currently, we don't know the grief trajectory of children, adult, teachers, parents, and grandparents in bereavement. We have no idea of percentage of population in the disaster affected areas being affected by the trauma, especially on the nonvisible aspects of functioning such as psychosocial, emotional, social network, confidence, stamina and resilience. While the roads and water pipelines can be repaired in two-month period, the damage and the impact on the people, will take years, perhaps their whole life, to get over. Building the houses will take six months, but building a community is a long-term effort.
Section II - Goals and Objectives The goal is to build the capacity, in terms of policy recommendations, training, knowledge transfer; evidence-based practice, model building, and long term follow up. WET aims to conduct a comprehensive social damage and need assessment, provide evidencebased policy suggestions, create capacities in program design, management, monitoring and evaluation, and assess the effectiveness of different approaches in helping the affected people and the communities. In addition, it intends to explore the models, and identify the best practices which can be replicated and sustainable. For the model building, WET is establishing a comprehensive rehabilitation program focused on children in earthquake-affected areas that aims at providing a comprehensive rehabilitation program for children that reflects that best practice from around the world and making this experience into policy so that damages can be minimized in the future. The program will achieve the following objectives: 1.
To assess the social damages of the earthquake on communities, on families, on individuals, on social networks, on local organizations, on social support system, on public and social services deliveries, on livelihood and employment, on marriage and land ownership. The assessment will provide evidences for short-, mid- and long-term reconstruction and redevelopment policies, and for designing intervention programs.
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To develop the capacity of communities, local government agencies and volunteer networks to provide quality rehabilitation intervention to children in earthquake affected areas;
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To ensure that children in earthquake affected areas have access to quality assistance, rehabilitation and education;
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To identify the needs and provide input for intervention programs. To create a pool of potential programs for better allocating the donated funds and resources.
Section III - Program Components and Activities The program will consist of two components and will be implemented in partnerships with government agencies, non-governmental organizations, universities, schools and community based organizations at the national, regional, and community level.
3.1 Child Focused School and Community Rehabilitation This component of the program will focus on providing quality rehabilitation to children in communities and schools in line with the government’s community and school rebuilding programs Mianyang, Deyang and Dujiangyan cities in Sichuan. WET will link the program in 700 schools identified by China Education TV as the “Classes in the Air” program. The program focuses on short and medium term intervention for children between 3 – 6 and school-age children (6 – 15). 3.1.1 Technological Resources The program will provide a platform for professional educators and child psychologists from the College of Psychology, Beijing Normal University to work with the teachers, social workers and volunteers to provide individual and group therapy sessions to children affected by earthquakes. The Wenchuan Earthquake Taskforce will build its program on two pools of technical resources: 1) the College of Psychology and the College of Sports of Beijing Normal University, and 2) Right To Play China. The College of Psychology of Beijing Normal University will develop psychological support training modules to train teachers, social workers and volunteers to provide psychological support and therapy to children traumatized in the earthquake. The College of Sports of Beijing Normal University will develop exercise routines for teachers and volunteers to use to work with children in school. The program will also partner with Right To Play China to incorporate post-disaster rehabilitation with sport and play orientated holistic child development methodology, and introduce three child development curriculums to children with different needs. Happy Healthy Children The Happy Healthy Children’s Resource is a resource which promotes fun, play and effective learning for children, ages 6-12. It consists of 2 manuals containing valuable teaching information and over 150 physical activities and games. Through games, activities and discussion, the resource aims at the development of the whole child. The symbol of the resource, 5 coloured balls, is a reminder of 5 areas in which the child
must grow. The red mind ball represents activities aimed at intellectual/cognitive development. The black body ball represents activities focused on physical development. The yellow spirit ball represents activities focused on emotional development. The blue peace ball represents activities focused on social development. The green health ball represents activities focused on development in the well-being of the child: mental, physical and social. The Happy Healthy Children’s Resource works toward the development of the whole child. Separately, each ball represents a vital aspect of the child’s development. Together the balls represent the full development of the whole child, which is the aim of the Happy Healthy Children’s Resource. The HHC resources will be adopted to meet the needs of children affected by earthquakes and focus more on the confidence building and developing social skills. Early Child Play The Early Child Play Resource (ECP) promotes fun, play and effective learning for children, ages 2 -5. It consists of 2 manuals that contain valuable teaching information and over 60 physical activities and games. The Early Child Play Resource teaches young children through the physical activities of: individual play, also called parallel play, and group games, also called cooperative play. The purpose of the ECP Resource is also to develop the whole child: physical, intellectual, emotional and social. This development is accomplished through games and activities related to Right To Play’s symbol of the five coloured balls. Separately, each ball represents a vital aspect of the child’s development. Together the balls represent the full holistic development of the young child. Abilities First The Abilities First Resource is a resource targeting children and youth ages 5 to 18 with a focus on inclusion of children with disabilities. Currently in draft form, the Abilities First Resource builds on the philosophy, principles, suggestions and ideas of all Right To Play Leader Manuals and the Right To Play Training workshops for Leaders. It emphasizes the commitment of Right To Play to all children to have the opportunity to play and learn together. Through games and sports activities attitudes toward those with a disability will change. This curriculum will adopted to specifically work with children who became disabled from the earthquake. 3.1.2 Delivery Model The program will deliver its program through a network of local teachers, social workers, and volunteers under the model illustrated below.
Trainer Trainers
Trainers – University Teachers, Social Workers, and Volunteers Activity Leaders and Support Providers – Local Teachers, Social Workers, and Volunteers
Children
The program will first develop a network of trainers who can provide training in child psychological support and sport and play orientated holistic child development. The trainers will be selected from a pool from professionals from Beijing Normal University, Sichuan University and other accredited education institution, registered social workers, and volunteers with abundant social work and child development experience. The trainers network will then provide training to local teachers, social workers, community health workers, and volunteers who are working with children in schools, communities, and temporary camps. The trainer network will provide follow up technical support to these activity leaders and support providers on a regular basis. 3.1.3 Early Childhood Care and Development Program At present, the national post-disaster rebuilding policy does not cover children under six. The program will work closely with communities and families to provide basic health and care and child development services to these children. 1. Early Childhood Care and Development Curriculum Development The program will use international, national and local expertise to develop early childhood care and development curriculum to be implemented to the disaster affected areas. The curriculum will look at children’s needs in health, physical, social and intellectual developments and how to provide these services to children in varied settings such as community, centers, and temporary camps. 2. Building a Training, Technical Support and M&E Team The program will establish a training, technical support and M&E team to provide training, contextualized follow-up technical support and program M&E to local teachers, care takers, and volunteers. The team will consist of professionals from Beijing Normal University, Sichuan University and other accredited education institution, registered social workers, and volunteers with abundant social work and child development experience. 3. Building the Capacity of Local Service Providers The training team will then provide training to local teachers, social workers, volunteers, and community health workers to enable them to use the Early Childhood Care and Development curriculum to children through early childhood care and development centers, home-based service centers and informal parent groups.
4. Curriculum Delivery and Follow-up Technical Support The trained social workers, teachers, volunteers and health workers will follow the curriculum to deliver early child development services to children. The training team will provide continued follow up support to them and monitor the quality of the program delivery. 5. Facility Improvement The program will improve the facility and equipment of early childhood care and development center and home-based service centers, such as learning and play materials, sanitation facilities, and health facilities. 6. The Cisco-ECCD Caravans The program will set up a few mobile early childhood care and development (ECCD) center on a van, the Cisco - ECCD Caravan to cover children from communities without any early childhood care and development services. The mobile center will provide volunteer teachers and play and learning materials to children, and nutrition supplements on a regular basis (around three half days per week.) 3.1.4 School-age Children Rehabilitation Program The program will work with school-age children in both temporary camps and permanently rebuilt schools to provide rehabilitation assistance to these children and support the current education programs in these schools. The program will support local school teachers, social workers and volunteers to provide individual and group psychological counseling sessions and sport and play orientated holistic child development and recovery programs. The program will provide children from different communities with varied needs through three models. Model 1: the Cisco - School Play Caravan This model is designed to reach children from remote communities in smaller schools where the capacity of teachers and volunteers are low. The teachers, social workers and volunteers are trained centrally in project counties and then travel to remote schools a few times each week to deliver psychological support and group play programs. The group play programs will include routine exercise developed by the Beijing Normal University and Happy Healthy Children curriculum developed by Right To Play. The program will reach the eighteen townships that suffered the worst damage by the earthquake. Model 2: the Home for Children Program This model will provide long term investment to improve teachers capacity and set up support and play centers in schools for children to receive psychological support and therapy and group play for reinforcement and further development. 1) Comprehensive Teachers Training The program will provide comprehensive training to teachers to improve their capacity to provide quality education and support to children in the post-earthquake environment. The training will include child centered teaching methodology, safety management, psychological support , child protection, and child participation. The training will be
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provided directly by leading trainers and lecturers from Beijing Normal University and other leading education institutions. Post-disaster Child Psychological Support Module Development The program will develop a psychological support module specifically for children affected in the Wenchuan earthquake to provide psychological support and counseling to help children to recover from their traumatic experience. Happy Healthy Children and Ability First Curriculum Adaptation The program will adapt the Happy Healthy Children Curriculum for children affected by the earthquake and localize the Ability First Curriculum and integrate it into the Happy Healthy Children Curriculum to support children who have become disabled because of the earthquake. Building a Training, Technical Support and M&E Team The program will establish a training, technical support and M&E team to provide training, contextualized follow-up technical support and program M&E to local teachers, social workers, and volunteers. The team will consist of professionals from Beijing Normal University, Sichuan University and other accredited education institution, registered social workers, and volunteers with abundant social work and child development experience. Building the Capacity of Local Schools The program will select local teachers, social workers and volunteers who work directly with children from temporary camps and re-built schools to enable them to provide rehabilitation intervention to children using sport and play orientated methodology. Curriculum Delivery and Follow-up Technical Support The trained social workers, teachers, volunteers and health workers will follow the curriculum to provide rehabilitation intervention to children. The training team will provide continued follow up support to them and monitor the quality of the program delivery. Facility Improvement The program will help schools and temporary camps to set up Home for Children, a facility where children can find psychological support and child friendly learning and play environment. The Homes will provide books, play material and group games for children to use and participate.
Model 3: Distant Learning and Support Program In schools where teacher’s capacity or resources are extremely low, the program will set up distant learning centers to enable children access learning and support beyond their immediate communities. The program will provide training to teachers to enable them to help children to access specific on line resources and learning contents in coordination with the training activities described in Model 2.
3.2 Social Damage Assessment 3.2.1 A Comprehensive Social Damage Assessment and Disaster Intervention Policy Studies The effort of a comprehensive social damage assessment aims to correct the problem of information asymmetry caused mainly by three factors: 1) due to the pre-quake difference in social and economic development, and the different impact on different areas, the policies and program designs face enormous challenges. 2) because the urgency of resettlement and policy making process, the local conditions change rapidly. The programs and policies cannot respond as fast as the condition changes. And 3) due to the damage on grassroots organizations, information flow speed, and mechanisms intensified the information asymmetry for policy and for interventions. The dynamic and temporal factors must to be considered if efficient policies and interventions can be implemented. A comprehensive household, community, and organizational survey will be conducted in the quake areas. Study sample will be drawn based on the Mercalli intensity. Because the level 7 was the set-level of the building earthquake-resistant standard in Sichuan, for those areas with a Mercalli intensity >=7, human casualties and assets damages are severe. There are more than 13 million people, 90 counties, over 900 townships and 9,000 villages were hard bit by the earthquake with the Mercalli intensity >=7. The heterogeneity of the affected communities and the population groups require more diversified and tailored policies and programs to target the specific needs of the individuals, families and communities. In addition, the program will conduct a series of evaluations and research to improve China’s national policy on disaster reduction, relief and emergency management. Evaluation will be conduced on the following issues: • The overall relief response and emergency management system; especially localized system building. • The capacity of relief response in different government line agencies; • Medium and long term relief program for vulnerable population, including children; • Effective participation and coordination of the civil society. 3.2.2 Dissemination & Learning Network Building After the research is conducted, WET will organize a series of activities to promote and disseminate the document to update officials and policy makers on reconstruction and redevelopment policies, and disseminate the need assessment to private sectors and NGOs, and feedback the key issues to research institutions both domestically and internationally, and promote best practice and lessons learned from existing intervention programs.
Publication of the research in Chinese and English. Create a working paper series and eversions of the publications.
Creation of program pools for interventions.
National conferences on after-quake social and economic policies: after the completion of each research, a conference will be organized at the national level among the officials from the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the
State Council Working Committee on Women and Children, and other line ministries to present the findings and policy recommendations, discuss the gap between current policies and the status of reconstruction and redevelopment.
Internal workshops within government line agencies: workshops will be organized by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the State Council Working Committee on Women and Children within their system to disseminate the research findings and the existing intervention programs.
National & regional training sessions with government and NGO practitioners: training sessions will be organized at the national and regional level for government and NGO practitioners to promote best practice and analyze lessons learned on existing intervention programs and form a working group of government and NGO practitioners for program collaborations.
Facilitating the design and implementation of the intervention programs targeting different areas, different groups and different needs.
Public Awareness Campaign & Support Mobilization: While disseminating research results among policy makers and central government agencies and building the capacity of government and NGO practitioners at the national and regional level, WET will proactively work with its partners to promote public awareness and mobilize public support.
Section IV - Key Performance Indicators The success of the program will be measured by the following key performance indicators. 4.1 Deliverables for Research and Capacity Building Production and publication of research on the social damages of the Wenchuan earthquake; A program pool for NGOs and for other social organizations. A network of concerned government officials and NGO practitioners with increased understanding and strengthened capacity on the community redevelopment; Documentation and assessment of existing intervention programs; A sustainable resource mobilization mechanism to support intervention for the earthquake affected areas. 4.2 Deliverables for Child Focused School and Community Rehabilitation
More than 300 teachers, social workers and volunteers are trained; 3500 children participated in the early childhood care and development programs and school rehabilitation programs; 80 children received assistance from the Cisco-WECARE Fund; More than 200 teachers, social workers and volunteers used effective rehabilitation intervention to assist children;
More than 2000 children received effective rehabilitation interventions and achieved development in health, physical, intellectual, emotional, and social capacity.
Section V - How Cisco Can Be Involved In addition to providing financial resources, Cisco can be involved as a core partner of the program in various ways: 1. Co-sponsoring and Co-hosting the Policy Dissemination Conferences and Workshops Cisco will be involved as a co-sponsor and a co-host of the various policy dissemination workshops for central government agencies in partnership with the National Disaster Relief Committee and establish itself as a leading corporation in disaster relief, reduction and emergency management, which is very in line with Cisco’s core business and community investment priorities. 2. Staff Engagement Cisco employee can have both short and long term engagement in the program. Long Term Engagement: if Cisco employee can participate in the program as a full time volunteer for more than one month, they will be selected and trained by the local training team and work directly with children in the early childhood care and development program and the school rehabilitation program as volunteers that lead sport and play sessions for children. Short Term Engagement: if Cisco employee can participate in the program for a few days throughout the program duration, they will participate in a one day event in summer camps or during school semesters. The one day event is called the Mini Olympics. The objectives of the Mini Olympics is to 1) Promote life skill learning among children; 2) Team building and cooperation in conjunction with some healthy competition for employees and among children in the school; 3) Provide employees with an opportunity to spend a day mobilizing the community in a participatory, memorable way, either as a participant or activity leader; 4) Foster learning initiatives already linked to program goals.
Section VI - Partner Organizations •
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The National Disaster Relief Expert Committee and The Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management Institute of Ministry of Civil Affairs and Ministry of Education will provide support for policy consultation and channels for policy impact for this program. The School of Social Development and Public Policy (SSDPP), previously the Institute of Social Development and Public Policy (ISDPP),Beijing Normal University: SSDPP was established as a center of rigorous academic inquiry that also trains practitioners and consults with government to apply the latest thinking in social policy design and implementation to the practice of public policy in China. At the School,
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social development is defined as “development that is equitable, inclusive, and sustainable, that is responsive and accountable, and which empowers the poor and marginalized to participate effectively.” In China, social development takes place in the context of a transition from a centrally planned to market economy, and takes the form of transformation from a paternalistic state to a participative civil society. Effective and fair participation of citizens in the process is essential to ensure the formulation of effective social policies that lead both to equitable outcomes and to sustainable economic and social development while minimizing the tendency for economic development to divide societies into distinct sets of ‘winners’ and ‘losers.’ Specifically, as an organization committed to promoting China’s social development, SSDPP, through its research, education, consulting, and training programs, seeks to: Influence public policies to promote equitable and sustainable outcomes; Empower citizens to participate effectively in the process of social change; Boost domestic capacity by training and educating practitioners and future leaders in the field of social policy. The School will be manage and coordinate the implementation of the program and lead policy research and impact activities in this program. The Beijing Normal University Education Foundation is one of the country’s leading university foundations that provides financial and capacity building support to children, students and education related institutions both in the university and across the country. The Foundation will be responsible for the financial management of the overall funding of this program, providing a tax deductible receipt to Cisco, generating quarterly financial report to Cisco, and providing support for external independent audit of this program. The Fund will directly manage and monitor the investment in school facility improvement. The Foundation will also coordinate the participation of the College of Education and the College of Psychology of Beijing Normal University in this program. Right To Play is a global leader in developing and delivering specially designed programs that use sport and play as tool to foster the healthy physical, social and emotional development of children and youth. Working in both the humanitarian and development contexts, Right To Play has projects in more than 20 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. Right To Play started its work in China in 2007 and have established partnerships with various central government agencies and multinational businesses. In this program, Right To Play China will be responsible for curriculum development, training trainers, training school teachers, social workers and volunteers and providing follow up technical support and monitoring the delivery of curriculums.
Section VII - Budget The total budget of the program is 5,151,800 RMB with 3,211,800 RMB from Cisco and the rest of the total funding from Beijing Normal University, Right To Play China and other local partners. A budget breakdown by component is provided below. The detailed budget will be provided based on further feedback from Cisco. Program Component 1 – Child Focused Rehabilitation 1.1 Early Childhood Care and Development Curriculum Development Teachers Training and Local Capacity Building
1,000,000
Building Community ECCD Centers Cisco ECCD Caravans 1.2 School Age Children Rehabilitation Program Curriculum Development Teachers Training and Local Capacity Building Model 1 Implementation Model 2 Implementation Model 3 Implementation Program Component 2 – Social Damage Assessment 2.1 Surveys 1,200,000 Gansu: 2 counties and 30 communities Sichuan: 5 counties (Quake Intensity 7,8,9,10,11) and 75 communities 2.2 Dissemination & Learning Network Building 300,000 Cisco Staff Engagement Total Section VIII - Program Implementation Plan Need to be revised.
100,000 2,600,000