Ecuador: Voices of Resilience

Plan is a development and humanitarian organisation that promotes the rights of children, adolescent and young adults and equality for girls, adolescent girls, and young women. In Ecuador, Plan monitors and works on emergency reduction, preparedness, response and recovery in many communities across twelve provinces of the country. Plan closely collaborates with local authorities, community leaders and public and private entities for the implementation of its projects.

Zurich Ecuador is the local business entity Zurich Insurance Group and one of the local project partners supporting Plan in the implementation of the flood resilience project to reduce risks, prevent disasters and improve the environment of those who are affected year after year by the rainy seasons and, increasingly, the "El Niño" phenomenon.

Brithany

Brithany is part of the DRM leadership school implemented within the project. She is 16 years old and lives in a community in the coastal province of Manabí. This region annually faces challenges caused by the winter season due to heavy rains and this year, in particular, the presence of the "El Niño" phenomenon, which not only affect Brithany and her family, but also the entire community. The knowledge gained within the leadership schools on risk management has resulted in Brithany and other young women and girls forming a task force for activities on behalf of their community. Brithany provides support in school reinforcement for girls and boys, where they run workshops to learn new skills in an age-appropriate way.

“We focus not only on academics but also on values. Being with other girls and boys has been very nice”, Brithany mentions when she explains how the girls contribute to improving the lives of people in their community.

Daleska, who is nine years old, is part of Brithany's school reinforcement classes in disaster risk management. She says she is very happy to attend the classes and strengthen her skills. "It is a lot of fun when we sing and dance the family song and share it with my colleagues and friends in the community", she says, smiling.

Dereck

Dereck is eight years old and lives in the province of Guayas. He participated in one of the project activities to learn about risk management. What he liked most was to see, through a theatre play based on children's story, how he was able to identify the risks in his community, the possible dangers around him and what he could do to protect himself from them.

“These are the activities that catch our attention the most as children. We learn and have fun at the same time". Dereck recalls that in winter it is difficult for him to get to his school because some areas are flooded, and he has to wait for the water to recede before he can get through or find other routes; his parents do everything they can to make sure he does not miss classes because he loves to share and learn.

Dereck, like other boys and girls in the project areas of the "Building Resilient Cities in Ecuador" project, says with excitement that they would like to participate in more spaces like this and "have fun".

Amparo

In the city of Guayaquil, Amparo has been living in her community for seventeen years. She is 35 years old and has been working as a community leader for ten years, obtaining benefits for the families in her sector.

Where she lives, the streets are damaged and there is no access to water in the houses. Amparo explains that for the tanks, which bring the water, to be able to go up the hills, they have to write letters to the municipality and wait several weeks for the machinery to solve the problem. Seeing the needs of the people in her community, she became motivated to help them. Amparo has had to knock on doors to receive donations for the families in her community, especially when help is needed for health or street repairs.

When she received a phone call from Plan to support the activities of the project, Amparo got down to work. In a subsequent meeting she learned more about the project "Building Resilient Cities in Ecuador" and knew that by participating in the project, she would be able to achieve the tasks that cost her so much time and effort, such as municipal administration, much more efficiently.

Amparo remembers the minga (community work) organised through the project, where everyone with machetes and brooms cleaned and improved their community. Her house has been adapted for talks and meetings, and she has even made chairs out of recycled tires. She feels very motivated and wants to continue contributing to the project, so that it is sustained over time as it benefits all families, including girls, boys and young people. Amparo's role contributes to the strengthening of community organisation and the empowerment of families, providing them and the project team with awareness-raising about the risks they are exposed to and encouraging them to take proactive measures.

Brithany, Dereck and Amparo are three of the many voices from different parts of Manabí and Guayas who have been able to explain the impact of the project on their lives, supplying basic needs such as safe water through water purification workshops, risk management training and activities that prepare them for the arrival of the rains and the "El Niño" phenomenon. This includes the development of community risk management plans, identifying evacuation routes and flood-safe zones, eliminating sources of infection through waterborne diseases, and coordinating risk mitigation and flood response activities with the authorities.