Review of the Global Assessment Report on Disaster Risk Reduction: Enabling Child-Centred Agency

Abstract

The Global Assessment Report on the evidence base developed from child-centred disaster risk reduction projects in the Philippines and El Salvador provides an overview of institutional and legal frameworks that limit or enable developing capacity rather than focusing on vulnerability. In many countries, disaster risk management policy and functions remain focused on a humanitarian and aid driven emergency response agenda, often focusing on the immediate economic loss of the disaster event and the cost of rehabilitation and repair of major infrastructure. The evidence demonstrates that when communities including children are engaged in understanding the causal factors of differentiated vulnerability they can ensure specific needs are planned for before and protected during emergencies. Emphasising the value of engagement with children is not to expect them to have all the answers. Rather it reinforces the case for policy-making to include bottom-up processes to ensure approaches are context specific and take account of the needs of all community members.