Programme in the Sundarbans positions young people as change agents, with child-led risk reduction, school safety and community action reshaping disaster preparedness across vulnerable coastal communities.
KOLKATA, West Bengal (Indian Catholic News) — Caritas India and its partners are working to build children’s resilience while making them active change agents in reducing disaster risk, shifting from seeing children as victims to recognising their capacity to lead preparedness and recovery.
As a frontline organisation in disaster response and risk reduction, Caritas India advocates for rights-based humanitarian assistance and community resilience, learning from local coping strategies and building a nationwide partner network working on prevention, mitigation and climate change adaptation, according to the Caritas India booklet on child-led disaster risk reduction titled “Children’s way to Disaster Risk Reduction.”
Caritas India says community is central to resilience building, noting that, “Resilience puts more emphasis on the community’s strengths rather than concentrating on their needs in an emergency. It does not focus on what is missing in a crisis (needs and vulnerabilities) but on what is already in place (resources and adaptive capacities).”
Children as change agents in DRR
The focus is now on making children active change agents in reducing disaster risk. In this context, Caritas India, with partner Pally Unanyan Samity Baruipur, piloted a Children Led DRR programme under the theme “Children as change agents in DRR”.
The document states that it “signifies the role of children in disaster risk reduction initiatives and brings forth an insight on how to build the resilience of children by capturing pieces of evidences from the field in the form of case studies and analysis.”
Executive Director Fr. Paul Moonjely said the document provides “evidence from the ground on Children led approaches on DRR and resilience” and aims to offer “a roadmap to CARITAS INDIA and its partners on how to work towards building children’s resilience”.
Assistant Executive Director Fr. Jolly added that children should not be passive victims, writing that Caritas India believes “Children are resources to be cultivated and mobilized for disaster preparedness, response, recovery, and resilience.”
The booklet notes that millions of children are affected by disasters every year and that, globally, “Each year 175 million are affected by disasters.” It also highlights the particular vulnerability of children to disruptions in health, education, water and sanitation when disasters strike.
From victims to active citizens
Caritas India has adopted a Child Rights-Based approach to Disaster Risk Reduction, marking “a shift from perceiving children as passive victims to children as agents of change for their own well-being and the development of their communities.”
The approach recognises children as programme participants and active citizens, involving them in decision-making, planning and accountability processes for preparedness, prevention and response.
In the ecologically sensitive Sundarbans region of West Bengal, Caritas India’s Child-led Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) programme has demonstrated how children can act as “protagonists for action in reducing risk and catalysts for behavioural change and collective action”.
Education plays a central role. And for this Caritas India has issued a document “Children’s way to Disaster Risk Reduction.” The document says school disaster education programmes are useful in increasing community disaster preparedness and that Caritas India’s Child-Led DRR programme is “a positive example of making education DRR friendly.”
Sundarbans pilot shows impact
Caritas India has worked on child-led DRR since 2016 and implemented a pilot in Gosaba Island in the Sundarbans, an area highly prone to floods, embankment erosion and cyclones. Through partner Palli Unnayan Samiti Baruipur, the project covered 16 sansads and 10 schools under two Gram Panchayats.
Children led participatory risk assessments using tools such as transect walks and resource and risk mapping. Their findings were presented to local government and incorporated into village development plans.
The programme also trained children in early warning systems, search and rescue, first aid and standard operating procedures for earthquakes, cyclones and floods, alongside psychosocial care.
Student voices in the booklet underline the impact. “We are the residents of a very remote island village in the Sundarbans where flooding is very common. We could not even learn anything about it in our school. But now we have come to know our risk, vulnerability and capacity after this programme and I promised to involve our friends in this process,” said Monidipa Sarder, a Class IX student.
Rinku Barman, a Class VI student, added: “We have learned very important things, we will share it with our family and friends.”
Parents have also reported changes. Arpita Das, a mother, said her daughter instructed her to prepare a family survival kit and safeguard documents when a storm warning was issued.
Caritas India said the programme is influencing local self-governance, with children presenting risk assessments at Gram Sansad meetings and seeing their recommendations included in development plans.
The organisation said it plans to train more student volunteers to carry disaster risk reduction messages from schools into communities, positioning children not only as beneficiaries, but as leaders in building safer, more resilient communities.
Established in 1962, Caritas India works across disaster relief and response, natural resource management, sustainable agriculture and livelihoods, good governance, anti-human trafficking, peacebuilding and health care, with a focus on HIV/AIDS and other communicable diseases.
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