Governance & Organisational Coordination

The success of disaster risk management efforts is critically dependent on political commitment manifested through good governance. Good governance includes the adoption and promotion of robust and sound policies, legislation, coordination mechanisms and regulatory frameworks, and the creation of an enabling environment that is characterized by appropriate decision making processes to allow effective participation of stakeholders, complemented by the appropriate allocation of resources.

What is DRR

Disaster risk reduction is defined by the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) as, ‘Action taken to reduce the risk of disasters and the adverse impacts of natural hazards, through systematic efforts to analyse and manage the causes of disasters, including through avoidance of hazards,reduced social and economic vulnerability to hazards, and improved preparedness for adverse events’. A hazard or shock becomes a disaster when it affects vulnerable communities. Community vulnerability is exacerbated by poor social, economic and physical development planning decisions. At the heart of DRR is the need to consider:
(a) in what ways communities and their development are vulnerable to disasters;
(b) how communities’development choices increase or decrease the levels of disaster risk to which they are exposed/ vulnerable; and
(c) to what degree community capacity can be strengthened to better deal with existing and future risk.
There is also a realization that ‘community’ is not a homogeneous entity. Its composition includes women, men, boys, girls, the elderly, poor, rich and the disabled, all of whom have differential access to power and resources, which in turn affects their vulner-ability and capacity. DRR includes efforts to minimise risks and related vulner- abilities. This includes efforts to prevent disaster risk, and to limit the adverse impact of hazards when they occur, through disaster mitigation, preparedness and response. Meaningful progress requires these efforts to be embedded in national development processes and fully institutionalised by government.