Resilience and Disaster Risk Reduction

Disaster Risk Reduction is an important concept that has helped shape the appeal for a unified approach that puts emergency and development on a continuum of response rather than in separate programmes. Disaster Risk Reduction also reflects a better understanding of the cost of a late response and also addresses the importance of preventing crisis outcomes to common hazards and/or mitigating the worst effects. Disaster Risk Reduction is often coupled with Resilience Strategies because the overall policy and programme goals go hand in hand. Development work aims to create economic growth and hence promote communities that are resilient in face of economic shocks. Early emergency response aims to safeguard assets and by extension livelihood resilience, and thus prevent major food and livelihood crises after a hazard. These two concepts reflect the shift toward a more unified approach to humanitarian and development aid.

FEG has been involved in addressing how these concepts can work in practice. In Ethiopia, FEG developed an Integrated Resilience Strategy for UNICEF, WFP and FAO. The key goal was to recommend how to position joint inputs within strategic national programmes. Further to this work, FEG designed the Ethiopia National Disaster Risk Management Investment Strategy Framework for the World Bank and Government of Ethiopia. FEG also supported UNICEF, WFP and FAO in Uganda, developing an Integrated Resilience Strategy focused on Karamoja. This work has been further strengthened by FEG’s input into WFP’s Regional East and Central Africa Resilience Review.

FEG also works on understanding and measuring resilience at a household level using HEA. Find out more here.