Introduction
Disaster preparedness is a very important concept which should be taken seriously. The contemporary society is exposed to lots of emergencies which necessitate a proper knowledge of disaster management skills. I am considering writing this plan to give insightful information on how such disasters can be managed (McKenzie, 1997). Without a well plan, it may be so challenging to deal with this problem. Therefore, it should be properly implemented to help achieve many results as possible.
- Purpose of the program;
The purpose of the program will be to reduce the risk and losses that occur due to emergencies and disasters among the target population by implementing the emergency Preparedness and Disaster Plan. It will help in addressing the loses which have been suffered by many people as a result of the unending disasters.
- Program Participants;
The program will incorporate diverse stakeholders who will be from both the community in which the program will be carried out as well as from a pool of professionals who will be the leaders in the implementation. The participants will include, but not limited to the following entities;
- Community based organizations; these will include youth groups and women groups that have the same goals as the program.
- Faith based organizations; the churches and the Muslims groups shall also form part of the implementation team so as to reach their members with the program activities and concepts.
- Local leaders; the local government officials such as the state governors and local political representatives will be included since they act as gate-keepers in the community.
- Government agencies and representatives; the government ministries and commissions that have the same legal functions as the program will be included in creating better relations with the government and aligning the program purpose to the government objectives as well.
- Private sector representatives; these will be sampled by corporations that deal in the same line of businesses as may be of interest to the program such as the ones that manufacture emergency safety equipment that could be used in educational demonstrations.
- Program sponsors and donors; these are individuals and institutions that will offer either monetary or in kind support to the program.
- The program staff including the volunteer professionals; the core of the implementation team that will oversee the overall progress of the program.
- The target population; these are the actual beneficiaries of the program that the program intend to reach with the have impact on.
- Other non- governmental and not for profit organizations that have the same purpose as the program and that will not have any conflict of interest with the program.
- Recruitment Strategy;
The participants shall be selected through criteria that will ensure that each and every one who gets involved in the program will be adding value to it (McKenzie and Smeltzer, 1997). The participants are selected also in a way that will consider gender sensitivity, culture diversity, skills and expertise diversity and religion diversity to create the best synergy that will drive the program to success. The major factors which will be considered in selecting the participants will include;
- The expertise of the participant; the participants with the required in achieving the program goals will be considered first.
- The interest that the participant has or might have in the program; when the program will have effect on the participant then the participant will be considered for inclusion in the program.
- The value in terms of time, money or service that the participant will bring into the program; the participants who will bring substantial gains or efforts will be considered first.
- The influence that the participants has or might have among the target population; these will comprise of the community gate-keepers who will be able to sway the target population to support the program.
The more there program will be faced with the difficulty of selecting the participants the more this criteria will be made tougher.
- Methodology of Discussion Sessions;
The program will follow a simple schedule of meetings and discussions that will give the implementation team members time to recapture and forge the way forward. There will be three sessions each week of three hours each for the program staff and other stakeholders excluding the target population (Green & Kreuter, 1991). These sessions will be guided by the program staff members and each session will be split in to three parts; the first part of one hour will be used in sharing the experiences in the field, the next will be used in combing predictable challenges that the team might face in the coming activities and the last hour will be spent giving solutions to thee problems. In this way, the implementation team will always be at per with the progress in the program. These meetings will be done late in the evenings so snot to interrupt the normal daily activities of the program.
There will also be one major meeting once a month that will also include the target population or their substantial representatives to assess the impact of the program on them and their feeling about the program. These will be held at the target population’s convenience but will be two hours long. The meetings will take place aright in the community to encourage the target population’s attendance.
- Evidence-based program to be used as a guide;
The PRECEDE-PROCEDE model (Cottrel, Girvan and McKenzie, 1999) was used in drawing the program plan. All the nine phases of the model was considered with the uniqueness to the target population considered and relevant modifications done to let it fit in the context. As outlined by Gren and Kreuter (1991), the first five phases that are PRECEDE steps will be carried out in the area the program is to be implemented somas to draw relevant assumptions and strategies for the next four phases of PROCEDE part.
- Specific Activities to be carried out by the implementation team;
The program will explore its required resources that will be essential in meeting the needs of the activities. Each activity will then be linked to a specific immediate output which will again be linked to a specific outcome. Each of the processes will have a benchmark from which the level of achieve, can be quantified for monitoring and evaluation purposes (Green & Kreuter, 1991).
The actual inputs will include personnel, funding, supplies, space, time and equipment. These are intended to enable the program carry out activities which are; educating the target population on topics of emergency preparedness and disaster planning, providing the target population with facilities that are necessary to counter emergencies or disasters to the extend that they can and the outcomes will be the outputs will be the increased awareness among the target population on emergency preparedness and disaster preparedness (Cottrell, et al., 1999). The overall outcome will be the reduced deaths, casualties and material losses due to emergencies or disasters.
- Anticipated Challenges;
The program expects to meet a number of challenges that include;
- Limited funding that might slow the progress of the program as it may not be able to carry on with the scheduled activities.
- Rejection of the program by the target population due to misinformation or lobbying by groups that reap benefits from the status quo.
- Unfavorable government legislation that might limit the legitimate capability of the program to reach its highest potential in addressing the needs of the target population.
- Tight schedules of some the targeted stakeholders would make it difficult to harmonize program activities and let it proceed as planned without delays and misses.
- Unforeseeable and unfavorable weather conditions that can affect program’s outdoor activities and require rescheduling that might slow down the progress of the program activities.
Works Cited
McKenzie, J. E., 7 Smeltzer, J. L. Planning, implementing, and evaluating health promotion programs: A primer (2nd Ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon. 1997
Green, L. W., & Kreuter, M. W. Health promotion planning: An educational and environmental approach. (2nd Ed.) Mountain View, CA: Mayfield. 1991.
Cottrell, R. T., Girvan, T. J., McKenzie, F. J Principles and Foundations of Health Promotion and Education. Allyn and Bacon. . 1999
