Synthesis report of GNDR regional consultations on strategy July 2015

[Draft 3: 1 September 2015. TDG]

Table of Contents

1.Purpose of this Report

2.Overview of Findings

Comments on GNDR Vision, purpose and objectives (Section 4)

Regional Problem Statement (Section 5)

Organization, coordination, governance and strategy at regional/ national level (Section 7)

Proposals for the global strategy of the network (Section 8)

3.Analytical Method

4.Comments and recommendations on the GNDR Vision, Purpose and Objectives contained in the current strategy and action plan for consideration by the GNDR Board

5.A regional problem statement concerning DRR and resilience.

External Context

Internal context

6.Successes

7.Comments and recommendations on organization, coordination, governance and strategy at regional and national level

8.Proposals for the overall global strategy for GNDR identifying strategic priorities and actions consistent with the vision, values and objectives of the network

A proposed organizing structure

9.Concluding notes

10.Annex 1: Comments on purpose and vision

11.Annex 2: Problem Statement themes

12.Annex 3: List of Regional Consultations

1.Purpose of this Report

As part of GNDR’s 2015 programme of strategy development consultations to establish a new strategy 2016-2020 members were consulted through a series of seven regional consultations (a list appears in Annex 3). The consultations were shaped to the needs of each region. For example in Southern Africa it was decided to bring community representatives and other stakeholders as well as GNDR members. The Asia Pacific consultation was designed with several steps to take account of the large membership and geographic diversity, with a survey and three sub-regional telecons before the main consultation. In other regions the format was of a single meeting of representative members.

Whilst the format varied, all consultations were requested to provide particular outcomes t support the strategy development process, specified in the guidance to consultations:

1. Comments and recommendations on the GNDR Vision, Purpose and Objectives contained in the current strategy and action plan for consideration by the GNDR Board

2. A regional problem statement concerning DRR and resilience. What are the particular opportunities and challenges in the region from a civil society perspective? In particular what are the dominant threats and underlying causes at regional and country level, who are the main actors in the region?, what is the role of government? What are the particular resource challenges? What are the particular challenges faced by Civil Society Organisations?

3. Comments and recommendations on organisation and coordination at regional and national level in the region, identifying ways in which GNDR can complement and collaborate with existing networks, platforms and organisations.

4. How can governance be developed in the region, taking account of existing structures and strengthening communication between board members and membership, and clarifying the role of Regional Development coordinators.?

4. Proposals for particular strategy elements and actions relevant to the region and the above problem statement, consistent with the vision, values and objectives of the network (taking account of any suggested modifications to these). It would be helpful to rank the elements seen as important in order of priority. For specified actions provide indications of costings.

5. Proposals for the overall global strategy for GNDR identifying strategic priorities and actions consistent with the vision, values and objectives of the network (taking account of any suggested modifications to these) What is the particular niche for the network?

6. Any other feedback which the consultations generate

This report has been produced by analyzing the outcome reports of all consultations according to the method outlined briefly below, to inform the board and the strategy sub-committee in developing the strategy, alongside other outputs.

2.Overview of Findings

Not all requested outcomes were addressed by the consultations. This report provides information on those outcomes which were addressed”

Comments on GNDR Vision, purpose and objectives (Section 4)

The overall concern in refining the Vision and Purpose was that the statements should have a broad sustainable development / resiience perspective and should link all scales – local, national and global – in action and learning

Regional Problem Statement (Section 5)

The external context still didn’t take account of the broaderresiience and sustainable development. At national level implementation is often reactive with limited consideration of underlying causes and the development pathways which create risk. Connection between actors at different scales is poor.

The internal context of the network faces major challenges. Connectivity, cohesion, collaboration and sharing of experience and knowledge are still limited and there is a need to strengthen the national and regional scales of the network. Members are concerned to increase access to resources at local level

A number of successes were also identified (section 6). Many of these related to strengthening collaboration, action and learning between local, national, regional and global scales

Organization, coordination, governanceand strategy at regional/ national level (Section 7)

There was broad concern to: Strengthen the national and regional levels of the network, Deepen collaboration between network members and build relationships with other stakeholders.

Proposals for the global strategy of the network (Section 8)

A wide range of proposals for objectives and activities were offered and are documented in Section 8. This report presents the range of proposals for objectives and activities synthesized from contributions from all regions. One particular means of organizing them into a structure of overall objectives and sub-objectives Is offered.

3.Analytical Method

  • Outcome reports were received from most regions. Exceptions were Southern Africa where the RDC was on study leave so a report collated by secretariat members who were present was used, and the West Asia and North Africa region, where a concise summary of objectives recommendations was provided.
  • The reports had line numbers added to them to enable referencing of all comments and recommendations
  • Comments and recommendations from each report were added to a database, including the region and line number reference
  • They were coded with reference to category, relevant objective if any, with a short description
  • This database was used as the basis of filtering and sorting material to synthesise together the contributions of all the consultations and formed the basis of this report

4.Comments and recommendations on the GNDR Vision, Purpose and Objectives contained in the current strategy and action plan for consideration by the GNDR Board

A limited number of comments were made by a few regions on the GNDR and purpose statements (see annex 1) which currently read as follows:

OUR PURPOSE: “Enable civil society to connect local to global and speak with a collective voice that drives action which reduces risk and increases the resilience of the most vulnerable.”

OUR VISION: “A world of resilient communities where vulnerable people are able to prepare for, mitigate against, recover from and adapt to hazards and a changing climate.”

The overall concern was that the statements should have a broad sustainable development / resiience perspective and should link all scales – local, national and global – in action and learning

  • There should be emphasis on the full range of threats, wider than natural hazards, including social factors and referring to root causes, including the idea of sustainable development
  • The national scale as well as local and global should be included
  • Linking local to (national to) global should include the idea of information sharing
  • The mechanism of change is through changed behaviour, particularly in community and government behaviour

Possible wording based on the above: ‘To build the ability of civil society to advance resilience-based development by linking learning and action at all scales’

5.A regional problem statement concerning DRR and resilience.

The comments from all regions who considered a problem statement were examined to identify emerging themes.

Participants felt that the external context was still one where the SFDRR didn’t take account of the broader resiience and sustainable development perspective which better reflects local realities and there was limited evidence that it would strengthen effective implementation. Risk governance generally faces the same challenges and at national level is often reactive with limited consideration of underlying causes and the development pathways which create risk. Connection between actors at different scales is poor.

They felt that the internal context of the network faced major challenges. Connectivity, cohesion, collaboration and sharing of experience and knowledge were still limited and there is a need to strengthen the national and regional scales of the network. Members are concerned to increase access to resources at local level:

The themes that emerged are summarized below, drawn from the table in annex 2.

External Context

Limitations of SFDRR

  • Lack of coherence with other frameworks
  • Lack of recognition of new risk creation
  • Lack of recognition of impact of conflict
  • Lack of recognition of impact of inequality
  • Lack of mechanisms for strengthening local capacities
  • Lack of mechanisms to access local resources
  • Lack of relevance to local realities

Need to address the wide range of threats impacting the lives and livelihoods of communities

  • ‘Everyday disasters’,
  • New diseases,
  • Sea level rise and climate change impacts generally,
  • Social tensions,
  • Conflict,
  • Technological disasters,
  • Poverty

Need to increase cohesion between all developmental frameworks

  • Need to engage with the full range of development actors
  • Ensure cohesive implementation
  • Challenge is that funding is often silo-ed.

Poor risk governance

  • Policy is often reactive, post disaster,
  • Little account is taken of root causes
  • The impact of maldevelopment and overdevelopment.
  • Implementation is patchy and accountability limited

Difficulty of engaging with governments

  • CSOS have limited engagement and collaboration with government
  • In some cases political space for engagement is shrinking.
  • Links between local and national government are often weak

Internal context

Need to make the network more cohesive

  • Weak coordination, communication and collaboration within the network, with a continuing need to move from ‘hub and spoke’ to ‘cats cradle’ collaboration
  • Limited ownership in some cases, perceiving the network as an external entity
  • Weak collaboration and limited coalitions with other networks and actors
  • Need to strengthen the network at the national level before growing further globally

Need to strengthen regional engagement and advocacy

  • Civil society is often uncritical and ‘co-opted’
  • Stronger advocacy for the critical role of CSOs in DRR is needed
  • GNDR needs stronger presence at regional level and at critical events (‘not just at UNISDR’)

Need to strengthen information and learning

  • Sharing between members is weak
  • Need for strengthening flows of technical knowledge and innovation
  • Need for strengthening community knowledge, training and organization

Local resource mobilisation

  • More emphasis on securing funding from private enterprise, governments etc
  • Funding needed for local initiatives
  • Community reflection and action requires resourcing
  • Funding at regional level needs to be more ‘durable’ (consistent)

6.Successes

Some participants recorded specific positive impacts of GNDR’s work. This was not requested but particular achievements were identified by participants in the Asia Pacific and Southern Africa workshops. Many of these related to strengthening collaboration, action and learning between local, national, regional and global scales:

Asia Pacific

  • Communicating everyday realities of people at risk to global level is the highest success of GNDR
  • Promoted local level implementation of HFA, strengthening community resilience
  • Action research promoted bottom-up understanding and promoted risk reduction
  • Build partnerships between different actors, CSOS, government etc
  • Awareness and advocacy based on AFL and VFL. Some limited impact on SFDRR
  • Growth of membership and links to regional networks

Southern Africa

  • AFL in malawi brings evidence of everyday disasters to government attention
  • VFL improved working relationship with local government (Zimbabwe)
  • AFL provided rare opportunity to move away from short term project interventions (Malawi)
  • Benefit of being part of global movement, increases insight regionally (South Africa)
  • GNDR increased awareness of HFA for govt 'taking HFA off the government shelf' (Swaziland)
  • Exchange of knowledge between community, CSO and university (Zambia)

7.Comments and recommendations on organization, coordination, governanceand strategy at regional and national level

There was broad concern to:

  • Strengthen the national and regional levels of the network
  • Deepen collaboration between network members
  • Build relationships with other stakeholders.

These points lead to particular recommendations as part of (4) Proposals for the overall global strategy The detailed recommendations are set out below, identifying the contributing group:

Strengthen regional influence on global
  • Strengthen CSO role in regional processes to address global
/ Central America
  • Increase the profile of Central America and Caribbean in the global scenes as a high vulnerability region
/ Central America
Strengthen national level of network
  • Structures and support for national and regional networks
/ Southeast Asia
  • Establish a national and regional structure for the network
/ West Africa
  • Consider a revised role for NCOs as national focal points. With an appropriate selection process
/ West Africa
  • Establish NCO type organisation as national focal point
/ Southern Africa
  • Capitalise on rich local understanding and engagement by supporting local level action
/ NAWA
Strengthen regional level of network
  • Participatory development of regional policy linked to new strategy
/ Central America
  • appoint an operational coordinator for Central America and Caribbean
/ Central America
  • Establish an action plan for Central America and Caribbean
/ Central America
  • Develop regional communications and representation
/ Central America
  • Structures and support for national and regional networks
/ Southeast Asia
  • Establish a national and regional structure for the network
/ West Africa
  • Establish a regional advisory committee,
/ West Africa
  • Consider legal registration as an entity in West Africa to support mobilisation of funds
/ West Africa
  • Separate southern and east africa and coordinate them separately
/ Southern Africa
  • Strengthen regional identity but without legal registration
/ NAWA
  • Establish separate Central Asia regional advisory group
/ NAWA
Strengthen collaboration between members and with other stakeholders
  • Need to strengthen identification with the network and ownership of GNDR by members
/ Europe and USA
  • Forge relationships with other strong agencies and networks in the region
/ CentralAmerica
  • Strengthen communication and dialogue through improved communications and use of ICTs
/ South America
  • Strengthen alliances, information and communication between members at regional level
/ South America
  • Build partnerships with UNISDR, UNHCR, ESCWA, UNEP, UNDP, OCHA
/ NAWA
  • Strengthen relationships with regional networks
/ NAWA
  • Demonstrate and promote the particular value of civil society alongside government actors.
/ West Africa

8.Proposals for the overall global strategy for GNDR identifying strategic priorities and actions consistent with the vision, values and objectives of the network

Participants at the regional consultations offered a wide range of proposals for objectives and actions in the forthcoming strategy. In the analysis of the consultation reports these were grouped under a number of emerging themes that were developed iteratively during the analysis reflecting the range of suggestions. These are presented initially organized under the themes in alphabetical order, followed by a suggested method of organizing them:

Capacity building for CSOs /
  • Develop a civil society implementation guide for all frameworks

  • Capacity development, institution strengthening, technical skills of member orgs, ability to capture case studies

  • build skills of members, training, particularly monitoring

  • build capacity by connecting people and knowledge together

  • should not have a role in capacity building other than for monitoring

Enhanced sharing of learning /
  • collect and share best practice on resiience building

  • multi-stakeholder dialogue to discuss local level findings (frontline etc)

  • link local findings to UNISDR

  • identify specific needs for knowledge brokering

  • promote research on results from Frontline

  • strengthen collaboration with academia to broaden knowledge

  • higher quality research in academic journals, stronger links to academia

  • ensure that local knowledge is taken account of

  • sharing of experience and best practice needs to be strengthened

Fund raising /
  • provide funding for local research and local actions

  • map funding streams for DRR and provide recommendations for improving them

  • reesources for implementation

  • community resilience funding facility and funding for specific community projects

Getting local voices heard /
  • VFL and Frontline type actions critical in closing post 2015 implementation gap

  • share local knowledge from communities with all networks

  • advocacy for and with actors from the Frontline

  • Maintain AFL / VFL at a lower frequency

GNDR influence on policy and implementation /
  • Develop evidence based advocacy based on VFL / frontline / 365 disasters

  • Convene a wide range of actors for joint advocacy at critical junctures

  • Create awareness of DRR within other networks and agendas

  • Coordinate media advocacy concerning DRR

  • Use local evidence (frontline etc) to produce papers etc to challenge for systemic change

  • Big challenge to GNDR to press for emphasis on action, implementation and accountability

  • Effective advocacy for particularly vulnerable groups and for their active role

Link developmental frameworks /
  • make interconnections between DRR, development and climate change explicit

  • link DRR, MDGs and CC working closely with partners from these thematic areas

Local action and learning /
  • Strengthen local action and learning and the role of CSOs in supporting this

  • 50% of GNDR budget devoted to community action to promote resilience

Monitoring /
  • build capacity of civil society to monitor Sendai framework

  • establish joint post-2015 bottom-up resilience monitoring framework

Regional institutional capacities /
  • Strengthen national and regional networks

  • National focal points and coordinating organisations required

  • establish national focal points

Partnerships and collaboration /
  • link DRR networks, pooling knowledge

  • bring regional and national networks together

  • build trust between actors to improve implementation

  • build partnerships with other orgs and particularly with government

Other /
  • emphasis on gender perspective and role of children and young people

  • ensure that members' voices are heard

  • Our action and messages should start from community level. Make sure we don't speak like others, always have community in mind

  • Ensure GNDR actions are people centred and seen to improve the situation of at-risk communities

  • Monitoring and evaluation team for all network activities, using international experts

A proposed organizing structure

The main purpose of this report is to synthesise the reports of all regional workshops. In the case of the recommendations for the global strategy, which are extensive, a method of structuring these recommendations into overarching objectives reflecting the nature and experience of the network is offered. There are many ways the cake can be sliced and this is just one! It is based on the following observations.