TURNING PRACTICE INTO
POLICY: Linking Good Practice
Community-based Disaster Risk
Management with Government Policy
and Practice
What is it?
 An information resource to be used for advocacy
in Disaster risk reduction (DRR)
 It introduces the idea that there are Principles of
good practice in community based disaster risk
management that can be used by decision-makers
for DRR
 It identifies the challenges facing governments in
incorporating good practice into DRR policy and
planning
How can it be used?
 The information can be used to shape advocacy
strategies
 It can help in influencing government officials
 It can help NGOs understand the government
perspective in shaping DRR policy
 It can help governments understand the NGO
perspective in influencing DRR policy
How is the research presented?
In two Phases.
Phase 1- Identifying good practice Communitybased disaster risk management (CBDRM)
Phase 2-Identifying challenges in linking
CBDRM with government policy and practice
How was the research done?
Phase 1- Spoke to communities in Asia and
Africa, and questioned international DRR
experts for their views on good practice in
CBDRM.
Phase 2 – Interviewed governments in 6
countries – Afghanistan, Burkina Faso,
Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger, Zambia
Phase 1
Phase 1 found that:
 Good practice CBDRM is based on important
‘principles’ that are applicable in most contexts
 Examples of CBDRM fall into a list of topics
 Good practice CBDRM operates in a loop where
the principles of CBDRM are applied to make
improvement in the implementation of topics
resulting in specific examples of CBDRM.
Phase 1
Diagram of
Good
Practice
CBDRM
Phase 1 Conclusions
 Understanding the context in which a particular
CBDRM activity takes place is crucial.
 Commitment to valuing the principles of good
practice within the different topic boundaries
leads to examples of good practice CBDRM
 If the process is right, the examples of good
practice will follow.
 Principles of good practice can be applied
globally
 Country governments, donors, NGOs and
communities can use the Phase 1 research to
identify what good practice CBDRM looks like.
Examples of Principles:
 DRR Integrated with Recovery Activities
 Mainstreaming DRR with Development plans
and Policies
 The Involvement of Local Government
 The Participation of Local Stakeholders in
Decision-making
 Involvement of all government departments and
other stakeholders in DRR planning
 Multi-stakeholder engagement when designing
DRR policy
Phase 2
 In 2006, Tearfund issued a questionnaire to expert
DRR academics and practitioners around the
world to identify why CBDRM is not better
supported by governments.
 In 2007, Tearfund also sought local and national
governments’ perspectives on CBDRM through
semi-structured interviews facilitated by Tearfund
staff and partners in Afghanistan, Burkina Faso,
Ethiopia, Malawi, Niger and Zambia
Phase 2: Examples of questions asked
“Can you explain the reasons behind your
government’s current level of expenditure on
disaster risk reduction?”
“What would cause your government to
allocate more resources to it?”
Phase 2 diagram
of Challenges
linking practice
and policy
Phase 2 Conclusions:
Phase 2 found that there are:
 Government-related issues that can hinder the
allocation of resources for CBDRM eg lack of capacity
 Community-related issues that can hinder the flow of
information on CBDRM to government eg. Lack of
influence at govt level
 Government AND Community-related issues that can
act as a barriers t linking CBDRM with government
policy and practice eg. Lack of trust
Phase 2conclusions continued…
Suggests methods to overcome the challenges
facing:
 Governments for example: Providing regular,
ongoing training for key staff
 NGOs for example: attending govt meetings and
consultations
 Governments and NGOs for example: Set aside
assumptions about each other
The way forward:
Governments, donors and NGOs all have an
important role to play in addressing these challenges.
Tearfund recommends that:
 NGOs use this information resource to improve their
advocacy
 Govts use this information resource to engage better with
DRR perspectives from civil society
 Govts work in consultation and partnership with civil
society and other stakeholders
 Donors develop their institutional capacity for DRR
Where to find the research?
It can be found on the Tearfund Website under
Disaster Risk Reduction reports:
http://tilz.tearfund.org
Or for a hard copy of the CD Rom, please email mairo.retief@tearfund.org