TY - JOUR
T1 - Why does community-based disaster risk reduction fail to learn from local knowledge? Experiences from Malawi
AU - Šakić Trogrlić, Robert
AU - Duncan, Melanie
AU - Wright, Grant
AU - van den homberg, Marc
AU - Adeloye, Adebayo
AU - Mwale, Faidess
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors wish to thank all the individuals that volunteered their time to take part in this study. Also, we thank the Scottish Government for funding this research through the Hydro Nation PhD Scholarship awarded to the first author. We also thank Tanja Hendriks from University of Edinburgh for providing valuable feedback. Melanie Duncan's contribution to this article was supported by British Geological Survey NC-ODA grant NE/R000069/1 : Geoscience for Sustainable Futures. Melanie Duncan publishes with permission of the Executive Director, British Geological Survey (UKRI). Finally, we thank the three anonymous reviewers whose comments have assisted us to significantly improve the quality of the paper. This work was included as a contributing paper to the 2022 Global Assessment Report published by UNDRR.
Funding Information:
Upon arriving at the district, and before starting a specific project, NGOs are obliged to present their planned activities to the District Executive Committee, which provides NGOs with guidance, including in which areas they are supposed to implement their activities. Furthermore, drawing on civil servants’ specialities, local government supports NGOs with technical expertise (e.g., District Water Officer assisting NGOs with setting-up community-based early warning systems). Finally, district government officers are in charge of the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of projects implemented by NGOs.The authors wish to thank all the individuals that volunteered their time to take part in this study. Also, we thank the Scottish Government for funding this research through the Hydro Nation PhD Scholarship awarded to the first author. We also thank Tanja Hendriks from University of Edinburgh for providing valuable feedback. Melanie Duncan's contribution to this article was supported by British Geological Survey NC-ODA grant NE/R000069/1: Geoscience for Sustainable Futures. Melanie Duncan publishes with permission of the Executive Director, British Geological Survey (UKRI). Finally, we thank the three anonymous reviewers whose comments have assisted us to significantly improve the quality of the paper. This work was included as a contributing paper to the 2022 Global Assessment Report published by UNDRR.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Author(s)
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - It is often taken as given that community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) serves as a mechanism for the inclusion of local knowledge (LK) in disaster risk reduction (DRR). In this paper, through in-depth qualitative analysis of empirical data from Malawi, we investigate the extent to which CBDRR in practice really takes into account LK. This research argues that LK is underutilised in CBDRR and finds that current practice provides a limited opportunity for the inclusion of LK, due to five prime obstacles: i) current approach to community participation, ii) financial constraints and capacity of external stakeholders, iii) the donor landscape, iv) information consolidation and sharing, and v) external stakeholders attitudes towards LK. In CBDRR, a strong dichotomy between local and scientific knowledge is maintained, and further re-examination of community-based approaches in practice is needed to make them truly transformative.
AB - It is often taken as given that community-based disaster risk reduction (CBDRR) serves as a mechanism for the inclusion of local knowledge (LK) in disaster risk reduction (DRR). In this paper, through in-depth qualitative analysis of empirical data from Malawi, we investigate the extent to which CBDRR in practice really takes into account LK. This research argues that LK is underutilised in CBDRR and finds that current practice provides a limited opportunity for the inclusion of LK, due to five prime obstacles: i) current approach to community participation, ii) financial constraints and capacity of external stakeholders, iii) the donor landscape, iv) information consolidation and sharing, and v) external stakeholders attitudes towards LK. In CBDRR, a strong dichotomy between local and scientific knowledge is maintained, and further re-examination of community-based approaches in practice is needed to make them truly transformative.
KW - Community-based disaster risk reduction
KW - Indigenous and local knowledge
KW - Knowledge co-production
KW - Participation
KW - Sub-saharan Africa
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85141261384&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103405
DO - 10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103405
M3 - Article
SN - 2212-4209
VL - 83
JO - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
JF - International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction
M1 - 103405
ER -