River Basin Programme

The focus of Oxfam’s River Basin Programme (RBP) in Bangladesh is to reduce people’s vulnerability to floods. The programme also works to ensure that small producers and farmers are able to improve their livelihoods in river basin areas, through better disaster management, and access to markets.

A Land of Rivers

For many people around the world, natural disaster is a recurrent fact of life, rather than a freak event. Being properly prepared is vitally important for vulnerable communities – it can mean the difference between life and death; between survival and destitution.

The Ganges-Brahmaputra and Meghna River Basin is one of the most disaster-prone regions in the world. Many people who live here are poor, and are frequently overwhelmed by floods, river erosion, and other life-threatening extremes of weather. Each year, millions face losing their homes, crops, animals, livelihoods, and even their lives in floods caused by monsoon rains.

Floods affect people's lives

Extensive floods affect a large number of people in Bangladesh who lose whatever assets they have, and suffer from lack of work and wages. People who live in perennial flooded zones have low indicators in all sectors of health, nutrition, and education.

Along with floodwater, the rivers of Bangladesh carry huge amounts of sediments. The formation and pile-up of sediments may cause the creation of additional new land or islands, also known as chars. Alternatively, flooding could result in the loss of land as the water first eats into the soil and then destroys the land when it recedes.

Riverbank erosion

Riverbank erosion is a serious problem in Bangladesh. It disrupts the lives of many communities who lose valuable land. Disastrous erosions are mainly associated with the major river systems of the country, and are seen, among others, along the Brahmaputra-Jamuna, the Ganges-Padma (the Ganges), and the lower Meghna rivers.

Coping with the floods

For those who live through the floods, manual labour, and large-scale migration are the only forms of survival. They are often handicapped by shortage of food, indebtedness, gender discrimination, unemployment, little or no access to health and education, and social exclusion.

Sometimes their situation is worsened by the fact that they are located in remote areas where communication and access to local markets is very difficult.

Oxfam's work

The River Basin Programme (RBP) intends to demonstrate a robust intervention model that reduces the vulnerability of people, particularly women, living in char and haor areas. The focus areas are:

• Minimising the effects of flooding by constructing flood shelters, cluster villages and raised homesteads and increasing awareness on issues related to public health.
• Strengthening livelihoods by providing trainings for developing skills, financial support, and linkages with markets.
• Helping people being prepared by training them to cope and live with floods, providing emergency stock pilling and coordination, and undertaking advocacy for disaster preparedness with governments and other actors.
  

Achieving the goals and objectives of the River Basin Programme

• The RBP will be implemented with the active participation of key actors, programme participants, especially women.
• Working on a one-programme approach to integrate development, emergency assistance, and advocacy.
• Enhancing and strengthening the abilities of char and haor dwellers (Haor can be described as an island of marshy lands).
• Disseminating information about the progress of the RBP to donors, and the government, to generate interest in investing in char and haor areas.
• Building partnerships with NGOs and alliances

Preparing people to live with the floods

Oxfam’s River Basin Programme, covering 40,000 households in 350 villages, was launched in Bangladesh in 1999 and prepares people to live with floods. It ensures that their lives, and their ability to earn a living are disrupted as little as possible.

Oxfam works with communities, local partners, a network or agencies, and with the Government of Bangladesh to reduce homelessness, casualties, and the loss of possessions and livelihoods of poor people during the floods.

Some of the ways in which we work with communities is by supporting them to build self-help organisations, raised homes, flood shelters, accumulate savings, install sanitary latrines and tube-wells, and use rescue boats.

Raised homesteads

Homesteads are raised five to seven feet above water level, and to protect the raised earth from erosion, grasses and other plants are grown on it. Raised homesteads can be used all year round for kitchen gardening, and poultry and livestock rearing, giving families more food and income.

Flood shelters

Around three to five acres of raised land can accommodate 100-300 households. People reassemble their houses and bring their livestock to the flood shelter. Facilities include a community room for those without shelter, wells, latrines, fishponds, and areas for growing vegetables and planting trees.

Rescue Boats

Rescue boats, with life-saving equipment, are located around the areas most at risk of floods or river erosion. Besides rescuing people, the boats collect houses, belongings, and livestock, taking them to flood shelters and other places of safety.

In remote areas with no road access, the boats are used to deliver relief such as food, animal fodder, emergency shelter, and other essential items.

The boats are used all year round for transportation, and when not in use they can be hired out to raise some income.

Back to Bangladesh in depth overview

Last updated: July 06