| dc.description.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. | en_US |
