This briefing presents lessons from the inclusive community Resilience for sustainable Disaster Risk Management project (incRisD) in South Asia and partner programmes. It highlights the need to: 1) understand the root causes of exclusion in disaster contexts, define excluded groups, and involve them meaningfully in reducing their disaster risks; 2) create a conducive policy environment that recognises the causes of exclusion and promotes inclusive strategies and allocation of resources; and 3) create an implementation architecture that involves all stakeholders and ensure community resilience through accountable risk governance.
Within these three areas of work the briefing offers ten recommendations.
- Exclusion needs to be recognised as a driver of risk specifically in the South Asian context; and excluded persons need to be seen as proactive participants and leaders in the resilience process.
- Existing policies need to deliver better results. For this, policies need to be responsive to regional learning and disaggregated knowledge related to different kinds of excluded groups.
- Inclusion needs to go beyond explicit measures related to disaster management, and include specific areas that require customised solutions, such as appropriateness and safety of the built environment.
- As emergencies affect excluded people much more than others, emergency response also needs to involve inclusive risk reduction.
- Meaningful participatory processes are needed to give voice to the concerns of the excluded groups and promote their leadership.
- Implementation of inclusion provisions in existing policies, legal instruments and rights is a primary need. Policies need to be followed up with legislation, administrative apparatus, planning and allocation of financial and human resources.
- Programmes and projects need to coordinate and collaborate with each other closely and meaningfully, mainstreaming inclusiveness across themes.
- An accountability framework needs to be put in place to ensure inclusive service delivery.
- Academia needs to be engaged and efforts need to be made to include validated and replicable indigenous knowledge, local innovations and science in strengthening inclusive DRR in research, training and education. Data sharing across stakeholders and sectors needs to be built using academic spaces.
- The private sector needs to help impart skills, support livelihoods, and develop assets through infrastructure and development. The business case for inclusive DRR needs to be recognised.
