Purpose

For flood early-warning systems to be fully effective, they must reach the end users and meet the different needs of women and men. Thus, a study on ‘Early warning systems from a gender perspective, with special reference to flood hazards’ was conducted in four countries as a part of the Hindu Kush Himalayan-Hydrological Cycle Observing System (HKH-HYCOS) project.

This report presents the methodology and findings of the study in Nepal.

Overview

•  The study has improved understanding of the existing flood early warning systems in Nepal, and suggests ways to make early warning systems more effective and responsive to the needs of vulnerable groups, and women in particular. The report suggests that, in view of the diversity of development issues and livelihood challenges that communities face on a day-to-day basis, it is important to tune early warning systems according to the local context.
• Gender inclusion in early warning systems tends to be limited to risk assessment and the participation of women in community groups and capacity building and training. Sensitisation on the development of gender-sensitive tools in early warning systems, including gender-sensitive risk assessment, gender-sensitive mechanisms for disseminating and receiving alerts, and response capacity-building of women and girls, is needed in order to make early warning systems in the country gender-sensitive and thus more effective.

Usage: Learning from experience

Audiences: National Society leadership; Technical staff

Reference: Shrestha, MS., Kafle, S., Gurung, M., Nibanupudi, HK., Khadgi, VR. & Rajkarnikar, G. (2014) Flood early warning systems in Nepal: A gendered perspective. ICIMOD Working Paper 2014/4. Kathmandu: ICIMOD. Pp.-1-66. Available from:http://lib.icimod.org/record/29959/files/Flood_EWS.pdf. [Accessed: 19^th September 2015].