Building national and local capacity for disaster risk management in Cameroon

Abstract

Purpose A new framework to support the national and local capacity building plan for disaster risk management (DRM) in Cameroon is presented. For the past 30 years, after the general re-organisation of the civil protection department, capacity building programmes for DRM has been solely carried out for and by the Ministry of Territorial Administration and the Department of Civil Protection. The exclusion of businesses, civil society and community participation, among others, has been the main obstacle to capacity building programmes undertaken for DRM. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Based on interviews conducted among 200 informants by means of a process of participatory monitoring and evaluation as well as a duo capacity building workshop for DRM held in August 2017 in Yaoundé, this paper evaluated existing capacity building programmes for DRM in Cameroon. Findings Findings show that the greater portion of government representatives within the public administration lack capacity to address DRM initiatives at the local and national levels of governance. While recommending DRM programmes as a necessity for integration within civil administrative curriculum, this paper proposes six elements to address capacity building gaps for DRM in Cameroon. Originality/value The results demonstrate critical gaps in capacity building aimed at DRM, especially where single ministry or department monopolises DRM. The findings provide the government with a useful tool to review its national strategy for a disaster reduction policy and the drawing up of a national intervention plan.

Good governance and local level policy implementation for disaster-risk-reduction: actual, perceptual and contested perspectives in coastal communities in Bangladesh

“…Contextualizing DRR approaches in disaster management and governance involves multifaceted efforts in decision-making, and risk identification including several DRR-related global initiatives (Islam et al , 2020; Azad et al , 2019). Despite the widespread adoption of DRR initiatives, there remain a variety of challenges to effective management of disaster risks, including insufficient resources, mismanagement (Islam et al , 2017), lack of coordination, and governance failure (van Niekerk, 2015; Sovacool, 2017; Ashu and Van Niekerk, 2019). In Bangladesh, additional barriers to DDR include a distorted perception of risk among inhabitants (Sattar and Cheung, 2019), lack of resources and intervention capacity among local institutions (Alam et al , 2011), lack of institutional collaboration (Sovacool et al , 2018), poor gender inclusivity in decision-making (Hasan et al , 2019), governance failures (Bhuiyan, 2015), mismanagement of funds (Islam et al , 2017) and marginalization of local institutions (Choudhury et al , 2019).…”

“…Disaster governance is an emerging concept that encompasses both disaster risk governance through policy and decision making by mobilizing multi-level institutions, and disaster risk reduction (DRR) (Tierney, 2012; Fan, 2015; Zurita et al , 2015; Ashu and Van Niekerk, 2019). Disaster governance, as a concept and practice domain, primarily focuses on effective planning and intervention against extreme weather events, the assessment of risk and vulnerability at the local level and the enhancement of public awareness of disaster risk and vulnerability (Ashu and Van Niekerk, 2019; Islam et al , 2020). Disaster governance frameworks recognize the overlapping legal, institutional and social spheres involved in disaster management (Ahrens and Rudolph, 2006; Zurita et al , 2015; van Niekerk, 2015; Choudhury et al , 2019).…”

“…The Sendai Framework for DRR (2015–2030) and the UNISDR (2015) place particular emphasis on “good disaster governance” (Raju and da Costa, 2018; Ashu and Van Niekerk, 2019, p. 10), stating: “… it is necessary to continue strengthening good governance in disaster risk reduction strategies at the national, regional and global levels and improving preparedness and national coordination for disaster response, rehabilitation and reconstruction.” Both Frameworks highlight local government institutions as the main locus of national disaster policy implementation, as they are uniquely situated to empower local communities and build disaster resilience (UNISDR, 2015; Ashu and Van Niekerk, 2019; Uddin et al ., 2020).…”

Disaster management strategies and relation of good governance for the coastal Bangladesh

“…Disaster management is a budding thought that covers both the disaster risk approach through strategies and decision creation by mobilizing multi-level organizations and disaster risk reduction (DRR) [5][6][7][8]. Disaster management, as a perception and practice sphere, mainly highlighted the effective preparation and interference against severe weather events, the evaluation of risk and vulnerability at the local level and the augmentation of the public consciousness of the disaster risk and vulnerability [8,9]. Disaster management frameworks be familiar with the partly covering the legal, institutional and social globes engaged in the effective disaster risk reduction management [7,[10][11][12].…”

“…Contextualizing DRR approaches in disaster management and governance involves multifaceted efforts in decision-making, and risk identification including several DRR-related global initiatives [27,28]. Despite the widespread adoption of DRR initiatives, there remain a variety of challenges to effective management of disaster risks, including insufficient resources, mismanagement [9], lack of coordination, and governance failure [8,11,29]. In Bangladesh, additional barriers to DDR include a distorted perception of risk among inhabitants [30], lack of resources and intervention capacity among local institutions [31], lack of institutional collaboration [29], poor gender inclusivity in decision-making [32], governance failures [33], mismanagement of funds [9] and marginalization of local institutions [12].…”