Disaster risk management (DRM), including disaster risk reduction (DRR), has received increased attention – particularly community-based DRM (CBDRM). Despite limited implementation and very limited evidence, some findings emerge:
- Factors of success have included:
– Work that is multi-sectoral, integrated and multi-hazard.
– Good programming, with high-quality analysis, implementation and knowledge management.
– Meaningful engagement with communities, over longer times and culturally attuned.
– Ownership and leadership on part of communities and key actors.
– Cooperation and trust among DRM institutions.
– Strong DRM capacities, and effective capacity-building.
– Creating social inclusion and space for equality within local settings, especially regarding gender.
– Context, depending on locations and past experiences with disasters. - Factors of failure have included:
– Little room for DRR in development, and the lack of sustained, integrated and systematic approaches to CBDRM.
– Top-down, technocratic, reactive practices, and a focus on immediate issues.
– A lack of capacities, resources or will among DRM actors.
– Political economy dynamics (including in local government), along with institutional confusion and rivalries.
– A lack of community ownership and the failure to truly engage with communities.
– Inequalities and exclusions adversely affect groups such as women and girls or minorities.
– Poor quality in some programmes.
– The hurdles of urban settings, such as lack of space and complex multi-sector endeavours. - Learning from and enabling communities’ informal DRM and broader changes:
– There is untapped potential in enabling communities’ informal DRM, working with their local knowledge and practices related to hazards, risks, vulnerabilities and risk management.
– Broad social changes, such as improved telecommunications and roads, have had positive effects.
