Why does community-based disaster risk reduction fail to learn from local knowledge? Experiences from Malawi

Šakić Trogrlić, Robert; Duncan, Melanie; Wright, Grant; van den Homberg, Marc; Adeloye, Adebayo; Mwale, Faidess. 2022 Why does community-based disaster risk reduction fail to learn from local knowledge? Experiences from Malawi. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 83, 103405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103405

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text (Open Access Paper) 1-s2.0-S2212420922006240-main.pdf - Published Version Available under License Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. Download (2MB) | Preview

Abstract/Summary

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.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijdrr.2022.103405
ISSN:	22124209
Date made live:	08 Dec 2022 15:16 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/533708

Actions (login required)

View Item

Document Downloads

More statistics for this item...