This
week we will be looking at the role of communities in DRR. As we have
seen in the discussions so far, local communities have a very important
role to play in terms of increasing urban resilience. From Latin America
we have chosen two community capacitation programmes to share with you,
which focus on reducing disaster risk. We would like to invite you to
view the article on Local Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin American
Urban Areas and the interviews related to programmes in the city of
Manizales, Colombia, and urban areas in the State of Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil. These cases show how communities have been involved to reduce
local disaster risk.
The discussion this week will focus on the role of communities in DRR. It will be very interesting to hear about different capacity building programmes that are taking place in our cities and how communities are confronting climate change challenges and reducing disaster risk.
As we have discussed already several times in the Learning Alliance so far, each city, or each neighbourhood, suffers from distinct risks and vulnerabilities. For that reason local solutions are arguably going to be the most effective. In order to devise and implement local solutions, it seems that the involvement of the community will be critical. It may be the case that city institutions actively seek the involvement of communities in a top-down approach, or it may be the case that the community (along with civil society) come together to put practical changes in place in a bottom-up manner because it is in their vested interest. We would like to invite you to read the article by Jojo Hardoy, entitled, Local Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin America.
In addition, this week we would like to share two specific cases with you from particularly vulnerable urban areas in Latin America. One is Manizales, Colombia, which is a mountain city characterised by steep slopes, that is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters (volcanos, earthquakes, floods, landslides). The other is the hilly region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, where a number of small cities, including Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo, are regularly affected by heavy rains. Both of these urban areas have specific community involvement and capacity building programmes to reduce disaster risk.
For the case of Manizales we are looking at a programme called Guardians of the Mountainside, and we have an interview with Ashley Coles. This project, known as Guardianas de la Ladera, has a strong top-down approach, whereby the local government employs predominantly single mothers to carry out local monitoring and maintenance of slopes and dissemination of information regarding DRR among the community. These women receive bi-weekly training on related techniques. More information on this case can be found in the Resource Library.
For the case of Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, we will be looking at the creation and training of local community groups, known as NUDECs, led by the NGO CARE Brasil. For this we have an interview with Daphne Sorensen, who worked closely with communities and put together a NUDEC training manual. CARE’s approach was distinctly bottom-up, whereby community members voluntarily signed up and worked together to come up with local strategies pertinent to their specific needs. This training was carried out in three different communities, and adapted to the local realities and needs of the individual members. A short video about this training can be found in the Resource Library.
This week we would like to encourage you to enter into discussion with one another about the following questions:
1. Do you know of any community-level DRR programmes in your cities? If so, do they follow a model which is more similar to that of Guardianas de la Ladera, in Colombia, or the NUDECs in Brazil? What do you think that the strengths and weakness are of such an approach?
2. Do you think that either of the Latin American examples might successfully be adapted for implementation in your local reality? If so, why? And how might you go implementing such a programme?
As always, we would like to encourage you to both share your experiences and interact with one another.
Please log in to access this discussion's related materials and to add a contribution http://ella.practicalaction.org/learning-alliances-6
Best wishes,
Charlotte Heffer
Moderator
ELLA Learning Alliance on Climate Resilient Cities
The discussion this week will focus on the role of communities in DRR. It will be very interesting to hear about different capacity building programmes that are taking place in our cities and how communities are confronting climate change challenges and reducing disaster risk.
As we have discussed already several times in the Learning Alliance so far, each city, or each neighbourhood, suffers from distinct risks and vulnerabilities. For that reason local solutions are arguably going to be the most effective. In order to devise and implement local solutions, it seems that the involvement of the community will be critical. It may be the case that city institutions actively seek the involvement of communities in a top-down approach, or it may be the case that the community (along with civil society) come together to put practical changes in place in a bottom-up manner because it is in their vested interest. We would like to invite you to read the article by Jojo Hardoy, entitled, Local Disaster Risk Reduction in Latin America.
In addition, this week we would like to share two specific cases with you from particularly vulnerable urban areas in Latin America. One is Manizales, Colombia, which is a mountain city characterised by steep slopes, that is extremely vulnerable to natural disasters (volcanos, earthquakes, floods, landslides). The other is the hilly region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, where a number of small cities, including Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo, are regularly affected by heavy rains. Both of these urban areas have specific community involvement and capacity building programmes to reduce disaster risk.
For the case of Manizales we are looking at a programme called Guardians of the Mountainside, and we have an interview with Ashley Coles. This project, known as Guardianas de la Ladera, has a strong top-down approach, whereby the local government employs predominantly single mothers to carry out local monitoring and maintenance of slopes and dissemination of information regarding DRR among the community. These women receive bi-weekly training on related techniques. More information on this case can be found in the Resource Library.
For the case of Teresópolis and Nova Friburgo, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, we will be looking at the creation and training of local community groups, known as NUDECs, led by the NGO CARE Brasil. For this we have an interview with Daphne Sorensen, who worked closely with communities and put together a NUDEC training manual. CARE’s approach was distinctly bottom-up, whereby community members voluntarily signed up and worked together to come up with local strategies pertinent to their specific needs. This training was carried out in three different communities, and adapted to the local realities and needs of the individual members. A short video about this training can be found in the Resource Library.
This week we would like to encourage you to enter into discussion with one another about the following questions:
1. Do you know of any community-level DRR programmes in your cities? If so, do they follow a model which is more similar to that of Guardianas de la Ladera, in Colombia, or the NUDECs in Brazil? What do you think that the strengths and weakness are of such an approach?
2. Do you think that either of the Latin American examples might successfully be adapted for implementation in your local reality? If so, why? And how might you go implementing such a programme?
As always, we would like to encourage you to both share your experiences and interact with one another.
Please log in to access this discussion's related materials and to add a contribution http://ella.practicalaction.org/learning-alliances-6
Best wishes,
Charlotte Heffer
Moderator
ELLA Learning Alliance on Climate Resilient Cities
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