Mainstreaming disaster risk reduction: a tool for development organisations

In recent years a large amount of work has been done to increase awareness of disaster risk reduction (DRR) within the context of development. Much remains to be achieved, however, before it acts to effectively reduce loss of life, livelihoods and property, and to safeguard development gains.

This paper proposes a tool by which development organisations can incorporate DRR initiatives into relief management and development planning and programming. This tool is supported by a series of performance targets and indicators developed to support this integration and outline the scope and progression of the strategy to mainstream DRR. The targets are created to enable organisations to: establish where they are within mainstreaming DRR activities into ongoing work; and to identify issues to be addressed with realistic measurable goals. There are 6 indicators: Policy, Strategy, Geographical Planning, Project Cycle Management, External Relations and Institutional Capacity.

The authors have identified key influences on mainstreaming DRR into development planning and programming:

• institutional capacity
• institutional blockages, also including issues of workload, lack of leadership, control and lack of skills and knowledge.

Despite increasing recognition among organisations and donors of the need for this mainstreaming process, very little work has been undertaken to influence the implementation of such a process and so this tool is a significant development to achieve this objective.