Participatory rapid appraisal: Feudalism, floods ranked as major problems

The participants conducted a detailed PRA to understand what local people think about all the challenges they face.

MULTAN: Feudalism, floods, poor governance and corruption were ranked as major problems by the participants of Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA) in Multan and adjacent areas.  

The exercise was part of a five day long workshop on Disaster Risk Reduction, which was conducted by Pattan Development Organisation at the Pakistan Disaster Preparedness and Learning Centre, Pattan Regional Office, Multan.

Around 15 National NGOs and many government officials participated in the workshop.

The participants conducted a detailed PRA on various hazards, risks and vulnerabilities with local communities along Bund Bosan, Nawabpur and Gulgasht areas, to understand what local people think about all the challenges they face.

The appraisal findings revealed that inhabitants of the flood prone areas live in a constant fear of floods ruining their lives again and were deeply unsatisfied by government efforts.

The participants continually highlighted that the two most major problems they face were feudalism and poverty.

Other consistent hazards highlighted by the people were inflation, epidemics and traffic accidents.

According to the findings, people also believed that changing just a few things would not do any good and that the entire system should be restructured for better working.

At the end of the workshop, Khawaja Alqama, Vice Chancellor Bahauddin Zakariya University (BZU) distributed certificates and prizes to the participants and said that he agrees with the findings.

“People calling feudalism a hazard is a very interesting finding,” Alqama said. “The biggest challenge with regard to feudalism is the mindset which develops in result of it,” he added.

The BZU VC said that however people are coming out of that mentality as time goes by.

“Ignorance is a by-product of feudalism and another major contributor that makes people further vulnerable is the element of fear,” Alqama told the participants.

He congratulated Pattan and all participants for taking part in the appraisal and announced that the BZU is fully willing to cooperate with Pattan and other NGOs in the field of disaster research and studies.