Capacity development for disaster risk reduction: Eastern Visayas, Philippines

With disaster vulnerability on the rise, interest in developing the capacity of local actors as an effective response has increased. However despite this increase in interest and a small yet growing amount of literature on the subject, what capacity development for disaster risk reduction involves and how it is implemented is still an emerging practice. This research explores how the capacity of local actors—individuals, organisations and institutions that primarily operate at the community level—can be developed to manage disaster risk and strengthen resilience. Capacity development is a locally driven process where people and organisations obtain, strengthen, maintain and adapt their capacities in order to achieve development objectives over time. Disaster risk reduction involves reducing disaster risk through efforts to reduce exposure to hazards, lessen vulnerability and improve preparedness. The resilience concept can be understood as the ability to anticipate, avoid, plan for, cope with, recover from and adapt to shocks and stresses. This dissertation first reviews the literature to explore the capacity development, disaster risk reduction and resilience concepts and their application. In order to better understand and critically evaluate how capacity development is done in practice, primary qualitative research was conducted in the Philippines with focus on the Eastern Visayas region, which was devastated by Typhoon Haiyan (locally known as Yolanda) in 2013. Typhoon Yolanda was a new kind of disaster event that resulted in unprecedented destruction. In this context of change and uncertainty, traditional ways of developing capacity and reducing disaster risk may not be sufficient. The research highlights the need to focus on strengthening resilience-oriented capacities that equip people to take advantage of change and adapt to it, while encouraging learning. Based on the findings the following 10 recommendations are proposed for organisations and practitioners seeking to develop the capacity of local actors for disaster risk reduction: 1. Invest in prevention and mitigation, not only response and preparedness 2. Strengthen technical and functional capacities; 3. Improve absorptive capacity by investing in livelihood groups; 4. Focus on adaptive capacity; 5. Support the emergence of learning; 6. Conduct capacity assessments early and use them to inform programme activities; 7. Use a variety of activities to develop capacity; 8. Plan ahead for capacity and knowledge retention; 9. Ensure DRR plans consider long-term risks; 10. Be humble