Flood Resilience Program Annual Meeting “Strengthening resilient communities with joint actions”

The Annual Event of the Resilience Program had as its central theme the presence of the community volunteers, who gave testimony of four years of work in communities of Tabasco. The joint action between the Alliance and the society has generated an aware population that understands that an organized community is the first step for local resilience.

On January 25^th, 2018 in the 51 floor of the Torre Mayor in Mexico City took place the Flood Resilience Program Annual Meeting with the aim of sharing the results achieved through the four year community intervention in the 20 communities of the municipality of Jonuta, Tabasco in Mexico.

The podium was attended by the spokespersons of the Alliance: Javier Rodríguez Della Vecchia, CEO of Zurich México, Fernando Suinaga, National President of the Mexican Red Cross, José Antonio Monroy Zermeño, General Director of Mexican Red Cross, and Walter Cotte, Director of the Americas for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

This year, the meeting highlighted the representation of the local communities through five volunteers, who gave evidence about the community change they have experienced regarding resilience:

• Elvia López Mendoza (community Nuevo Mundo)
• Eliborio López Reyes, (Zone Brigades Coordinator, community Monte Grande)
•  Janet Peralta Cruz (General Coordinator of Promoters, community 15 de Mayo)
•  Yngrit Nayerit Pérez Cruz (Zone Brigades Coordinator, community Boca de San Antonio)
• Rubicel May Valencia (General Coordinator of Community Brigades, community Torno Largo 1B)

As well the field team was also present: Gabriel Reyes, Liliana Sosa, Itzel Bejarano, Jairo Hidalgo y Eduardo Escobar.

The Zurich spokesperson, Rodríguez Della Vecchia talked about why Zurich has allocated resources to strength resilience community. Later Fernando Suinaga took the floor pointing out the Program main outcomes and also he shared those challenges involved in the alliance between the Mexican Red Cross and Zurich. 

During the Event, the main Results of the Program were shared, emphasizing how the 3 lines of action (Community Education, Micro-projects and Brigades) have meant a seed project that leads to community and institutional strengthening. The Program was defined as unprecedented, which is translated into the first step to generate great physical, social and cultural changes around the prevention, response and recovery from a flood. 

The General Director of Civil Protection of the Interior Ministry, Ricardo de la Cruz Musalem congratulated and recognized the effort made by both the Alliance and the communities, and himself committed to offer the brigades of Jonuta trainings about Civil Protection, promoting the resilience strengthening.

The annual meeting of the FRPM was concluded with the final interventions of the spokespersons of the Alliance. Walter Cotte emphasized the outcomes of the Program pointing out that Mexico has delivered significantly relevant results, which value was represented by the community volunteers. Javier Rodríguez Della Vecchia resumed the requests of the volunteers to express that Zurich is interested in giving continuity to the Program in Tabasco, but in a different way, and now are the communities who “have the keys of the house”, and invited the volunteers to continue replicating the Program through the transmission of knowledge in new communities in a more autonomous way.

Testimonies of the community volunteers

Elvia López Mendoza described that before the FRPM the walls of their homes were made of wood prone to pests and humidity; now they have concrete material walls. However, she mentioned the way they had to organized themselves as a group to obtain the ceilings, highlighting the importance of the social cohesion.

Don Eliborio López Reyes, for its part, talked about the importance of having resources in order to carry out the community projects. Due to the geographical conditions of the region it is not easy to commute among the communities, to get into some of them is necessary to use a cayuco (small vessel) and for doing that they need gasoline for the engine. Don Bori is convinced of the importance of continue with the community projects by sharing the trainings and the messages from which the volunteers had being part, that is why he asked for the continued contribution of the resources making sure that by this way the leaders can continue sharing their knowledge.

The General Coordinator of Promoters, Janet Peralta Cruz expressed that thanks to the skills provided by Red Cross, now they are able to give first aid services in case an accident or emergency be presented in the communities. She mentioned that she is very proud of herself because they had saved people.

Yngrit Nayerit Pérez Cruz, the General Coordinator of Zone Brigades, shared that since she realized the presence of the Red Cross in the region she wanted to be part of the institution. She became a volunteer as soon as the Red Cross team arrived to her community and since then she has been actively engaged in the brigades and she is focused on transmitting the knowledge to the communities which are on her charge. She is convinced to continue with this work and to scale up the social dynamics in other communities.

Don Rubicel May Valencia, General Coordinator of the Community Brigades concluded the volunteers panel pointing out those difficulties which were faced at the beginning of the Program. He accepted that at the beginning they had a deep distrust because they were used to receive immediate aid as groceries, nevertheless, the Resilience Program since then emphasized that they wouldn’t give them material things but they would give them trainings in order to improve their way of life. In his testimony, Don Rubi recognized that over the years the Program has give them a lot, while before they know how to manage the flood problem, now, thanks to the acquired skills they cope with the floods in an organize way, by the social cohesion that they had strengthened. Don Rubicel emphasized that the Program helped them to shift their thinking.

It was emphasized that the achievement of the objectives of the Program had been done with the participation of the whole team. The outcomes were reached thanks to the dedication and constancy of the community technical team along the four year intervention, that’s why the field team: Gabriel Reyes, Liliana Sosa, Itzel Bejarano, Jairo Hidalgo y Eduardo Escobar were recognized by their exceptional work in front of all the invitees.