UN-SAARC Regional Essay Competition - Women & Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience ($500 top prize | SAARC member countries)

Deadline: 31 August 2012

The International Day for Disaster Reduction is a day to celebrate how people and
communities are reducing their risk to disasters and to raise awareness about the importance of disaster risk reduction (DRR). In 2012, the theme of IDDR ‘Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience’ aims to highlight the role that women and girls play in risk reduction. While they are often marginalised and unrecognised, women and girls are powerful ingredients of society who can bring the changes though unique knowledge and skills that are crucial while addressing or managing disaster risks. To commemorate IDDR 2012, it is proposed to conduct a regional essay competition in the SAARC member countries on the theme of the IDDR 2012 selected by UN ISDR ,‘Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience’.

THEME: The Theme of this year’s competition is ‘Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience’. The essay should depict the aims to highlight the role that women and girls play in risk reduction.

OBJECTIVES
The objectives of the regional essay completion are:

• To create awareness among the young generation about disaster risk reduction in the SAARC region;
• To provide an opportunity to the young to observe and respond to the specific issues concerning women and girls on a theme of emerging concern in the region; and
• To promote regional cooperation for DRR among the people of the region.

TARGET GROUP: The competition is open to two categories of age 15-18 years and 19-22 years for the nationals of the Member States of SAARC as of 31 August 2012 which is the deadline of the submission of entry at the national level. In other words, eligible participants would be those that were born from 31-08-1994 to 31-08-1997 for the category 1(12-15 years) and from 31-08-1990 to 31-08-1993 for the category 2(19-22 years).

DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION OF ENTRIES: Essays must be submitted to National Focal Points of the respective country of the participants on or before 31 August 2012. National Focal Points of the member states must submit the 1st winning entry to the SAARC Disaster Management Centre on or before 17 September 2012.

METHOD OF ENTRY

• Language of the essay: Essays can be submitted in respective local languages or in English at the national level, and the National Focal Points on Disaster Management should translate the 1st winning entry in to English and send to the SAARC Disaster Management Centre to seek entry for the Regional competition.
• Word limit :The completed Essay should contain 1000 -1500 words
• The essay should be accompanied by a suitable title not exceeding 10 words.
• The essay should portray the theme - ‘Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience’ within the SAARC member countries.
• A participant can send only one entry.
• Participant must be a resident of the SAARC member countries, including those citizens of SAARC region residing in other countries.
• All details of the entry form must be completed in English or be accompanied with a translation in English.

PROCEDURE FOR SENDING THE ENTRIES: The essays should be sent along with the entry forms in original on or before 31st August 2012 to the National Focal Points on Disaster Management or any other authority designated by them in the member states. The contact details of the National Focal Points of SDMC in the SAARC member countries are as given below:

AFGHANISTAN Dr. Mohammad Daim Kakar,
Director General,
Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA),
Shah Mohmood Ghazi Watt, Opp. Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan
Email: kmd786@yahoo.com,
janaqa.haidari@gmail.com,
karimi27@yahoo.com

BANGLADESH Mr. Ahsan Zakir
Director General
Disaster Management Bureau,
Disaster Management & Relief Bhawan
4th Floor, 92-93, Mohakali C/A
Dhaka-1212, Bangladesh
Email: dmb@btcl.net.bd

BHUTAN Mr. Chencho Tshering
Department of Disaster Management
Ministry of Home and Cultural Affairs,
Post Box No.133 ,Tashichho dzong, Thimphu, Bhutan
Email: chencho@mohca.gov.bt , nwangchuk@mohca.gov.bt

INDIA Mr. R. K. Srivastava,
Joint Secretary (Disaster Management),
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Government of India New Delhi
E mail: jsdm@nic.in , dirdm3-mha@nic.in

MALDIVES Ms. Fathimath Thasneem
Deputy Minister
National Disaster Management Centre,
H. Rihijehi Koshi
Ameenee Magu
Male’, Republic of Maldives
Email: fathmath.thasneem@ndmc.gov.mv

NEPAL Mr. Lakshmi Prasad Dhakal
Joint Secretary,
Ministry of Home Affairs,
Kathmandu, Nepal,
Email: lxd321@gmail.com , pradipkoirala@yahoo.com

PAKISTAN Dr. Zafar Iqbal Qadir
Chairman,
National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA),
Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan,
Email: Chairman@ndma.gov.pk

SRI LANKA Ms. S. M. Mohamed
Secretary,
Ministry of Disaster Management & Human Rights,
Govt. of Sri Lanka, No: 498, R. A. Del Mel, Mawtha,
Colombo-03, Sri Lanka,
Email: siththymarina@yahoo.com
B-Wing, 3 Floor
NDCC Tower Jai Singh Road

FOLLOWING CRITERIA WILL BE ADOPTED FOR ADJUDICATION

Essays should contain:

• Observations on the theme: ‘Women and Girls: The Invisible Force of Resilience’ from SRRAC countries/locations with real life examples where relevant
• An analysis of the main issues highlighted in the essay
• Forward looking and practical recommendations for further improvements

Presentation style

• Focus and relevance to the theme
• Clarity in the build of arguments
• Creative and clear presentation

AWARD AND CERTIFICATE OF MERIT

Winners at both national and regional level shall receive awards and certificate of merit as under:

Categories 1 and 2 Prizes

• 1st Prize Regional Winner: 500 USD, Certificate
• 2nd Prize Regional Winner: 300 USD, Certificate
• 3rd Prize Regional Winner: 200 USD, Certificate
• All National Winners: 100 USD (to be mobilized by National Focal points), Certificates

Member States may consider providing additional prizes/rewards for their respective national winners.

1st and 2nd place Winners of the Regional competition will be invited to join the annual event at United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok, Thailand on 12th October 2012. Their travel and accommodation costs will be covered by UNISDR Asia Pacific Secretariat.

FOR DETAILS CONTACT:

Mr. Singye Dorji,
Director (ENB)
SAARC Secretariat,
Tridevi Marg, P.O. Box 4222,
Kathmandu,Nepal
Phone: : 00977-1–4228929, Fax: 00977-1–4227033,
email: dirbhu@saarc-sec.org
Website: www.saarc-sec.org

Dr. Satendra, IFS
Director,
SAARC Disaster Management Centre,
NIDM Building, IIPA Campus,
5-B, I.P. Estate, MG Road, New Delhi-110002.
Phone: 0091-11-23702445, Fax: 0091-11-23702446
E-mail: dir.sdmc@gmail.com
Website: www.saarc-sdmc.nic.in

Mr. Jerry Velasquez,
Senior Regional Coordinador,
Email: velasquezg@un.org

Ms. Madhavi Ariyabandu,
Regional Programme Officer,
UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction for Asia & the
Pacific (UNISDR-AP),
UNESCAP Building - 8th Floor, Section-A,
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue – 10200,
Bangkok -Thailand
Email: ariyabandu@un.org,
Website: www.un.org

Download: entry form, concept note

CONTACT INFORMATION:

For queries: dirbhu@saarc-sec.org

For submissions: see list of contact persons by country above

Website: http://saarc-sdmc.nic.in/