An institutional model for collaborative disaster risk management in the Southern African Development Community

Abstract

The view of the world constituting distinct countries with fixed political boundaries to safeguard their territorial integrity and to prevent encroachment is gradually diminishing. This is particularly the case regarding the development policy and trajectories of nations and communities. As a concern for sustainable development, the disaster risk management and reduction discipline is no exception to this reality. Since the late 1980s, global collective measures were instituted to refocus and implement disaster risk management and reduction as a concern for sustainable development. The acknowledgement of disasters as the manifestation of unresolved developmental and service delivery problems specifically influenced this global drive. Concerted global efforts were put in place such as, but not limited to, the declaration of the decade 1990 to 1999 as the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) and the adoption of its action plan, the 1994 mid-term review of the IDNDR which culminated in the adoption of the Yokohama Strategy: Our Common Future; the 2001 introduction of the United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR) and the subsequent adoption of the Hyogo Framework for Action 2005-2015: Building the resilience of nations and communities to disasters in 2005. These globally driven frameworks influenced regional and sub-regional measures for driving the disaster risk management and reduction agenda. Notably was the adoption of the Africa Regional Strategy for Disaster Reduction in 2004, the SADC multi-sectoral disaster risk management strategy in 2001 and associated national policies, legislation and implementation frameworks. All the frameworks, irrespective of their level of application, were founded on the need for a multidisciplinary, multi-level, integrated and continuous measures aimed at reducing the risk of hazards and disasters. Various reports generated through global, regional and national implementation systems point to the fact that collaboration on disaster risk management and reduction measures is critical for the success of any disaster risk reduction system. This is because collaboration enables the mobilisation of various capacities while also galvanising the rare and much needed technical capacities necessary to enhance the disaster risk management and reduction system. There is also a benefit in sharing resources that are ordinarily not available in any one of the countries or localities. Bilateral and multi-lateral collaboration has therefore proven to be a cornerstone for an effective disaster risk management and development systems. It however needs to be planned judiciously and implemented carefully to avoid prejudices. The SADC is an organisation of 15 member states established with the goal of driving regional integration and economic growth, peace and security in the southern African region and administered through a Treaty. Within this context, the thesis aimed to develop an institutional model that is tailored for the realisation of a collaborative disaster risk management system in the SADC. To achieve its objectives, the study employed theoretical as well as empirical dimensions. With regard to its theoretical dimension, the study conducted a literature review on international relations with a focus on neoliberal institutionalism as its theoretical frame of reference. It also reviewed documents on disaster risk management, development and climate change programmes. To complement the theoretical dimension, the study undertook the empirical research by means of qualitative methods. The empirical research involved the conducting of focus group sessions with participants in SADC member states, the SADC secretariat and relevant state and non-state actors. The sample for the study therefore involved officials of all disaster risk management units of every one of the 15 SADC member states, the SADC DRR unit as well as state and non-state agencies. The findings of the study revealed that disaster risk management and reduction are functions which require the collaboration of states. Also, international organisations and non-state actors have a crucial role to play in facilitating and supporting collaboration between and among states. In the same vein, it was felt that international organisations should rather fulfil a facilitating role than a front-running role when supporting collaboration. This is because collaboration between states should be founded on the identified needs of member states. To this end, the intellectual hold of neoliberal institutionalism was confirmed with the exception of the relevance of the Iterated Prisoner‟s Dilemma (IPD) in the disaster risk management collaborative system. Consequently, the thesis provides the reader with an outline of the institutional model for collaborative disaster risk management in the SADC. The model is founded on the balance between the political and technical ownership of disaster risk management and reduction in the SADC.