Abstract

This paper reports programming experiences and dilemmas of planning an adult education intervention for vulnerable communities in a disaster situation. Disaster preparedness, poverty alleviation and education are usually considered distinct programs. The status of the seriously disaster-affected, who are also traditionally marginalized groups, is often so critical that immediate issues of health, nutrition and livelihood take precedence. Addressing these issues then seems to be the only way forward for rehabilitation and poverty reduction. Often education and particularly adult education gets overlooked in the process. However, rehabilitation, disaster preparedness and poverty alleviation programs without education cannot aim toward an adequate addressal of the problem because it is only through an education component that a lasting social capital can be built.