An institutional model for collaborative disaster risk management in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region

Abstract

This article presents and argues for a collaborative model for disaster risk management in the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The research employed a qualitative study through a literature review and empirical research through focus group interviews to realize its objectives. As a key theory of multinational collaboration, neoliberal institutionalism—a subset of the international relations theory—was used to develop the SADC institutional collaborative model. The model combined the theoretical, political, and technical dimensions of collaboration to enhance buy-in for the disaster risk management and reduction function of governments. The model demonstrates the need for a multidisciplinary approach to achieving disaster risk management and reduction in the SADC and elsewhere, if the developmental objectives of disaster risk reduction are to be realized without interference in the domestic affairs of the member countries. This model is therefore grounded in seeking consensus and cooperation among cooperating states in a quest to ensure national implementation of the regional framework on disaster risk reduction.