SEVERAL consultations were held with a wide cross-section of local stakeholders, from September 10-13 in the boardroom of the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) towards ensuring appropriate, innovative, creative and gender-sensitive approaches and materials for the development of a national public education campaign aimed at raising awareness on Flood Risk Management in Guyana.

The consultations were carried out by two consultants, Paul Sanders and Kimberly Brian from the Jamaican company, ESL Management Solution Limited contracted by the CDC to design and develop the pilot programme for the public education campaign.
CDC has oversight over Guyana’s disaster risk management efforts and ESL Management Solution Limited specialises in providing consultancy and technical service to clients on a range of environmental services including environment risk management.
As a first step in developing the material for the national public education campaign, the two consultants over four days held a series of small focus group meetings with stakeholders with the aim of garnering insight on what must be addressed in developing long- term strategies to deal with the country’s flood risk management.
“We have been holding meetings since Monday; we have held about nine meetings so far… a wide cross- section of the society we have been able to interact with and, I think that we have gotten some very significant issues, input and views as to how we will go about developing your programme,” Brian reported on the consultations.
She explained that discussions in the meetings would have centred on “what the government is currently doing (with regards to disaster risk management,), improvement that the people have noted in terms of the government’s response to risk, and government’s level of preparedness even say since 2005 coming back to now.”
Information was also sought on the role of the communities, groups and ordinary persons in the country’s risk management process and the specific needs of vulnerable groups such as women and children during this period. Also discussed were the most suitable and appropriate means of disseminating the public education campaign following its completion, Brian said.
Stakeholders’ participation in meetings is critical to the success of any country developing a national campaign; Sanders said and applauded CDC’s initiative of hosting the focus meeting.
He said the CDC is ensuring the input of all Guyanese, at all walks of lives and at all levels on an issue which is of national interest.
“Disaster management is not just government effort alone…it’s a national effort,” he continued.
He assured that the focus group meeting results will allow for the crafting of a unique national public education campaign that meets the needs of all involved.
The two consultants will be analysing all of the responses and will be preparing a report on the discussions and the recommendations. The information will be taken to Jamaica and used as a guide in the development of the public education campaign on flood risk management for Guyana.
The improvement of Guyana’s flood risk management preparedness has been an on-going effort of the CDC since the major 2005 flooding.
In July, the CDC launched Exercise Flood Gate 2012, in Region Three which tested; the region’s capabilities of managing their own resources during a disaster, the national response to a disaster, and the mechanism in place in the event Guyana could not have dealt with the disaster and needed to seek outside assistance, was successful because of participation of stakeholders along with the level of planning that was put into it.