Community Based Risk Reduction Course

Introduction

Risk and risk reduction has increasingly established itself in the rhetoric of government and non-government actors in the world over.  As risk reduction activities have proliferated, we are increasingly held to account, has risk been reduced?  It is a difficult question to answer.  What is the evidence risk has been reduced or not?

Community-based disaster management refers to risk reduction programs designed primarily by and for the people in certain disaster-prone areas. Disaster mitigation using government and institutional interventions alone is insufficient because they pay little attention to addressing community dynamics or perceptions.

At the same time, local communities are often either unaware of these formal disaster management interventions or they find the interventions inappropriate due to the lack of recognition of community’s vulnerabilities and capacities, or they lack the external resources or technical support to supplement their own initiatives and capacity. Just as every individual, family, organization, business, and public service within a community will be affected by a disaster; each has a role to play in managing disaster. Looking at it practically, the multitude of actions must be taken to implement an effective disaster management program requires the participation of the entire community

Part of the difficulty is simply the confusion around the terminology.  Risk and risk reduction have a precise technical definition which is often confused with more general notions of the word.  This lack of clarity is reflected in the often asked question, what is the difference between community development work and risk reduction activities?

Distinguishing risk from general needs is important.  Communities, removed from the cumbersome lexicon of the development sector, are clear on the risks they face.  They are also clear on what must be done to reduce their exposure or vulnerability to those risks.  Community risk assessment is a process intended to systematically identify those risks and actions to reduce risk.  Our experience suggests that whilst community assessments comply with outlined methodologies, they do not in fact identify risk, but rather prioritize community development needs.  In part, our difficulty in proving that risk has been reduced begins at this point.

This training aims at demystifying community based risk reduction and understanding the core concepts of the practice through defining the roles of all players and the roles of communities.

No of Days

5 days.

Target Participant

Professionals of all disciplines who are interested in learning better ways to manage local level disaster risks and contribute towards a sustainable community development, mid-level professionals in community-based disaster risk management, post-conflict / post-disaster humanitarian response, reconstruction and sustainable community-based development sectors get most out of this course.

Course Objectives

•          Describe the role of local authorities in Community-based Disaster Risk Management
•          Discuss the key hazards, vulnerabilities and capacities at the local level
•          Explain the rationale and process of community-based disaster risk management
•          Discuss the Disaster Risk Management System in your country
•          Define the key terms and concepts like hazard, vulnerability, capacity, risk, disaster, disaster risk reduction Describe the administrative, political, social and economic structure of the area