UNCRD On-Line Forum
6 October 2004
Concluding Remarks
Dear All On-Line Forum Participants,
It is with great pleasure to send the conclusionary remarks for the entire Forum that has continued over the month. The discussions that occurred over the internet has raised very important topics that have been and continue to be issues that all constituents in disaster management should consider in their efforts.
This conclusionary remarks is by no means comprehensive nor extensive. In fact, it is planned to be a very brief summary to simply remind some of the major issues that have been raised through this forum. The very nature of this conclusionary remarks, for that matter the On-Line Forum, is to sensitise the disaster managers and other constituents of their thoughts and ideas. The objective of this Forum was, through such dialogue, collect comments/ideas of the disaster constituents to create a kind of "voice" book that would be incorporated in the publication to be submitted to the UN WCRD by UNCRD. It was meant to carry the voices of the people to the UN WCDR in January, especially because not everyone has the opportunity to physically attend and participate at this large event.
Through this concluding remarks, I would like to briefly sum up with 3 points each from TOPIC 1 to TOPIC 3.
TOPIC 1: CBDM and Governance
In discussing the issues of governance, all the participants were well aware of the importance and the need for well founded governance inimplementing CBDM. What is very interesting and important here is that "governance" and government intervention play a major role in what isinadvertently considered a "community-based" disaster management. In other words, CBDM, as a movement, is not an exclusive community activity. For CBDM to be successful and more importantly sustainable,government at all levels must be involved. Throughout the discussion, all messages seemed to reflect their opinions considering the above statement as the given.
What became the issues, however, were the ways in which the government became involved. The "how to" of government interventions were discussed at great length and depth. And from the start, it is very clear that there is no panacea that would solve the complexities and difficulties of setting perfect governance in the face of difficult problem
pertaining to CBDM. Nonetheless, some strings of concepts and ideas have echoed throughout the session.
First, it became very clear that good governance in CBDM requires CAPABLE government officials from the national to the most local level. Many officials involved in CBDM to know and understand. Hence, one of the first steps is to train government officials through capacity building measures. Of course, capacity building is not only applicable to the government but also to community citizens as well. In some cases, communities have already established their traditional system of disaster coping-mechanism. In this case, then, it would be important that their measures are considered and merged with the system of CBDM that is being promoted from "outside" influence. On the other hand, this may not always be true. In places where such community bond is weak or yet to have matured, awareness training and community-building efforts may be necessary at the beginning.
Second, issues of DECENTRALISATION were raised. Many voiced that government needs to operate with transparency and to be decentralisedenough to allow for distribution of government authority. Especially in cases of CBDM, it is important that the local government has the legal and substantial role in implementing CBDM. In association with the decentralised government system, people need to be empowered so that they are able to actively participate in CBDM activities, which call for a working democratic system. Since CBDM puts much emphasis on the citizen participation, a democratic environment is a must and needs to be not only legally accepted but practiced.
Third, issues of LEGISLATION were raised ranging from the need to legally frame CBDM at the government policy level to the need of allocating substantial funding specifically for CBDM. Without financial allocation, it would be difficult for CBDM to last, even if it were legally accepted by the government as part of its policy. Policy needs to be backed by financial commitment in order for governance to have a claw in realising CBDM. More importantly, in making the financial commitment, it should relate and correspond to the larger development scheme for the village/city/region/country as a whole.
TOPIC 2: CBDM and Civil Society/ Corporate Sector This topic has been an especially difficult but all the more important to explore in CBDM, precisely because of the lack of exploration on this part. But if there were any part of partnership in CBDM that ought to be further proposed and considered, involvement of civil society/corporate sector is a must. This topic also became a very interesting one because it expanded the definition of disaster management to include those of directly human-induced disasters such as environmental pollution, which corporate sector is heavily relevant to.
First, as moderator for this topic Hari mentioned, there are 2 ways of viewing the involvement by corporate sector: INTERNAL and EXTERNAL. The latter (EXTERNAL) is much more apparent in society today as we hear corporations around the world contributing to the aftermath of disasters through grant-giving, sponsoring, and in-kind donation. The former (INTERNAL) involvement is still relatively unknown (though existent) and untapped. And this area of exploration seems to be what could be considered a more enlightened area of intervention for CBDM. It is also an area that also requires partnership to be fully undertaken by all constituents.
Second, while there are many attributes of corporate partnership in promoting CBDM, it seems that there is first a need to understand the nature of corporate sector. Understanding corporate sector also means building trust. As with any partnership, element of trust is required and this ought to be built through mutual understanding of the underlying intentions of both parties. This suggests the need for extensive communication to take place so that partnership can flourish further.
Third, in this process of building partnership with the corporate sector, it can be suggested that the civil society organisations (NGOs) can act as the core mediator between government, communities, and the corporate sector. Between the 3 parties, civil society organisations play a major role in facilitating such partnership since they are the ones that work at the grass-roots level to voice out for the community and at the same time often have the expertise and capacity to discuss and negotiate with governments and the corporate sector. In this sense, civil society organisation is like a "glue" that could bind the varying constituencies together.
TOPIC 3: CBDM and Education
The discussion in education became one of the issues that expanded in many ways, which is an indicator that education plays a vital role in any activities. As many people responded to this session, it became clear that education has implications at all levels and comes in all forms, which is even more the reason why education is such an important element in CBDM.
First, as moderator for this topic Jaz stated, CULTURE of education is important in the sense that it is something that can be established (man-made) and has a long-term effect on how we live. In fact, CBDM should become a "way of life" for all. The way to create such a culture is by educating the people and having such knowledge be passed down from generation to generation. It is this culture of CBDM that would have a long lasting effect on the communities and in how they can live with disaster risk.
Second, in addition to building such culture, there is a need for much more INVESTMENT in this area. By investment, it does not only mean to allocate funds for official school curriculum but also other non-formal educational activities that would reach out to the more marginalized communities, as their needs for such knowledge and awareness are critical. Having derived a more complex society in this modern age, it is no longer sensible, much less fair, for the marginalized communities to be left in the dust with the expectation that they will somehow "manage" with their traditional coping-mechanism. Hence, creative and innovative means towards achieving CBDM education should be strategised by the government and other disaster constituents.
Third, above all, there is a need to DISSEMINATE knowledge of CBDM,which has the tendency to be stored in the drawers and on the shelves of think tanks, universities, and other organisations. The only time information would be truly meaningful is when it is actually applied and used by the people. Out of data collection and analysis, comes a need for practical application and sharing. Consequently, there is a need to consider and
strategise ways to get the information out to communities through various means, from the internet to traditional plays.
Next Move: Where and What Now?
Of course as mentioned before, the above summary is far from being comprehensive and/or extensive. In reality there is much more to be onsidered. But the above issues seem to have reverberated throughout the dialogue, which indicate the gravity of their importance.
All of the comments would be considered where some of them would be selected to make a "Voice Book" , which is a part of the publication to be submitted for the UN WCDR. In addition to this, these comments would be considered as a source for information/inspiration for the Cluster #4 recommendations to be submitted for the Cluster outcome at the UN WCDR. The moderators Hari (UNEP), Jaz (WHO/KC), Bishu/Eiko (UNCRD) feel that, as UN lead agencies of Cluster 4, it is not only important but necessary for these organisations to deliver the contentions raised through such a dialogue to a larger platform as is the upcoming world conference.
On behalf of the On-Line Team and Moderators, I want to thank all the participants who have inspired all of us in exploring, contemplating, stimulating and strengthening our thoughts and ideas on CBDM.
Eiko
(On behalf of the On Line Team)